Vomiting is the most common reason people call us unsure whether to come in. The answer depends almost entirely on what came with it. One tidy episode in a bright, playful dog is a different situation from the same thing in a dull, listless dog with a swollen belly, and that gap is where the decision sits.
This is a guide to telling them apart at home.
First: is it actually vomiting?
This distinction matters more than owners expect, because it changes where the problem sits.
Vomiting is active. There is heaving, the abdomen contracts, there is usually some warning, and what comes up is partly digested and often yellow or foamy.
Regurgitation is passive. Food simply falls out, often undigested and sometimes in a tube shape, frequently soon after eating, with no retching at all. The animal is often puzzled by it rather than distressed.
Regurgitation points at the esophagus rather than the stomach, and it carries its own risk because material can go down the wrong way. If what you are seeing is passive and repeating, tell us that specifically.
Come in now, do not wait
Any of these means an immediate visit, to us if we are open and otherwise straight to a 24-hour emergency hospital:
- Retching repeatedly with nothing coming up, especially in a deep-chested dog, and most of all with a belly that looks swollen or tight. This is the one that cannot wait an hour. It can be the picture of a stomach that has twisted, which is rapidly fatal without surgery.
- Blood in the vomit, fresh red or looking like coffee grounds.
- A cat vomiting repeatedly, particularly a cat who is also hiding, off food, or straining in the litter box.
- Vomiting with a known or suspected swallowed object, string or thread above all, or anything from the garbage.
- Vomiting after access to anything toxic, including rodent bait and antifreeze.
- Collapse, weakness, pale gums, or a painful abdomen alongside the vomiting.
- Vomiting in a puppy or kitten, who dehydrate in hours rather than days.
- Unable to keep water down for more than a few hours.
Same day, but not a middle-of-the-night run
Book a visit for the same day if your pet has vomited more than two or three times, has kept it going for longer than a day, has diarrhea alongside it, has lost interest in food for more than a meal or two, is an older animal, or has an existing health condition that makes dehydration riskier.
An older cat who has started vomiting once or twice a week deserves a visit even though no single episode looks dramatic. Owners often describe this as the cat just having a sensitive stomach, and it is one of the more common ways a long-running problem gets missed for months.
Reasonable to watch at home
One episode, in an adult animal who is bright, drinking, interested in food and behaving normally, with nothing worrying in the list above, is reasonable to watch at home for the rest of the day.
Rest the stomach for six to eight hours rather than offering more food, keep water available in small amounts, and then offer something plain and small. If anything on the urgent list appears, stop watching and call us.
What not to do: do not fast a puppy, a kitten or a diabetic animal, do not withhold water for long, and do not give anything from your own cupboard. Several ordinary human stomach and pain products are harmful to dogs and dangerous to cats.
What we actually do
The examination tells us a surprising amount before any test: hydration, gum colour, whether the abdomen is painful, and whether anything feels wrong in it. From there, imaging and blood work are what separate a stomach upset from an obstruction, an organ problem or something hormonal, and they are the reason we can stop guessing.
Where an animal is dehydrated, fluids do more good in the first hour than anything else. Our medical team handles the ongoing cases, the chronic vomiters and the ones that turn out to be about something other than the gut. For anything that cannot wait, we have urgent care during our open hours.
Our hours, and the days we are closed
We are open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. We are closed on Thursdays and on statutory holidays.
Please plan around that Thursday closure, because vomiting does not. If your pet has anything from the urgent list on a Thursday, on a statutory holiday, or outside our hours on any other day, go straight to a 24-hour emergency hospital. The one our site refers to is Canada West Veterinary Specialists at 1988 Kootenay Street, Vancouver, (604) 473-4882. Do not hold a retching, swollen-bellied dog overnight waiting for us to open on Friday.
If it is a same-day concern rather than an emergency and today is Thursday, call us on Friday morning, and use an emergency hospital instead if your pet worsens overnight.
Common questions
My dog vomits yellow foam first thing in the morning. Is that serious?
It is usually an empty stomach, and it often settles with a small meal last thing at night. If it happens most mornings, or the dog is losing weight or seems uncomfortable, it is worth investigating properly rather than managing around it.
My cat brings up hairballs. How often is too often?
More than about once a month is worth mentioning. Plenty of what owners file under hairballs turns out to be vomiting with a hair in it, which is a different thing and has different causes.
My dog ate grass then vomited. Did the grass cause it?
Probably the other way round, and often neither. Grass eating is common and mostly normal. It is only interesting when it is new, frantic, or paired with other signs.
Can I give a human anti-nausea remedy?
No. Human stomach and pain products are not safe to give pets, some are dangerous to cats in small amounts, and they mask the signs we need to see. Call us instead.
How long is too long without eating?
About a day in a healthy adult dog. Much less in a cat, where going off food for even a couple of days can set off a separate liver problem, and much less again in puppies and kittens.
Speak to the team at Brentwood Animal Hospital
If you are not sure which list your pet is on, call us and describe what you are seeing. We would far rather talk it through than have you guess. Remember we are closed Thursdays, so use an open emergency hospital that day.
Published by the team at Brentwood Animal Hospital.
This article is educational in nature and is not a replacement for hands-on assessment of your own pet by a veterinarian.
Brentwood Animal Hospital
4489 Hastings Street, Burnaby, BC V5C 0L6
Phone: (604) 900-8383
Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 9:00 am to 7:00 pm; Saturday and Sunday 9:00 am to 6:00 pm; closed Thursday and statutory holidays