Dachshund Vomiting Issue

Question

My wife and I have noticed over the past two years that our dachshund will vomit almost exclusively in the evenings around the same time maybe once or twice a week. It is always yellow bile and has a copper smell to it. It is usually preceded by him swallowing excessively and acting very urgently to get outside. Once in the yard he will eat grass hurriedly until he barfs. After he vomits he is fine.

We have taken him to the vet for this multiple times and they've done x-rays and blood work and find nothing unusual or out of the ordinary. He is not overweight. He does have horner's syndrome although it flares up very rarely (less than five times ever in his life and never for more than a few hours).

He has had the exact same kibble his entire life. He is 7 this year. We typically feed him once in the morning. I've tried varying his food schedule to see if maybe he is vomiting because he is hungry. Sometime this seems to stave it off for awhile but inevitably he will vomit again.

A few things to note:

• We moved houses in the last year, but the vomiting was happening before that
• My wife and I are both very anxious people by nature. Something terrible happened to us in the last year that made our anxiety even worse. I'm not sure if maybe he can sense that and it is driving him to vomit more.

I would appreciate any suggestions or advice from folks who have experience with weiner dogs. I've had one other before our current pup and he never did this.

Answer 1

I'm a bit confused, because your vet should have been able to explain this behavior rather easily. I'm not 100% sure about the smell you describe -so could be something different-, but the rest absolutely sounds like acid reflux.

So if your dog behaves normal otherwise and your dog didn't eat anything significant for hours before it's really just that.

Eating grass is instinctive behavior to ease up getting stuff out (hard remains like bone bits, hair, etc.).

Also dogs are usually very clean about the places where they sleep/eat/play, therefore the urgency to get outside.

The throwing up is just their way to handle the too high amount of acid in their stomach.

We typically feed him once in the morning.

This exactly fits my expectation and supports my theory.

The potential solution/remedy:

Don't feed your dog just once per day. Reduce the amount of food by half, but feed twice per day with about 7-8 hours between. The exact times might need some experimentation. I promise you, this issue will disappear pretty much instantly.

If this isn't an option for you for whatever reason, make sure the dog at least gets some bigger treat about 1-2 hours before the typical "throwing up time". This might be enough as well, although it could just add a delay.

Although note that the dog might need a bit less food this way as its body might burn less calories with food "more readily" available, i.e. no "starving".

Bonus note: feeding two smaller amounts is usually also more healthier and less risky for the dog, although things like gastric torsion are less likely in Dachshunds I think.