Please Help....

The habit of eating rocks can be extremely dangerous because it can lead to a blockage and necrosis of the gut. Has he held down anything at all, or is he just vomiting up a bit of one meal each day? Is he refusing any meals? Is he drinking and keeping water down or does it come back up too? Does he act lethargic or stand with an arched back (indicating pain)? Has his condition worsened over the last three days?

I think at the least, (no real symptoms other than one small spit-up every day) I would go to a vet tomorrow, even if your vet is not available. If he is showing any "extra" symptoms like those I listed above, I would find an emergency vet and head there today.

It is impossible to see a dog's condition over the internet so I would err on the side of caution. Better to make an extra trip to the vet than face other horrible possibilities from waiting too long.

This could turn into a huge problem as rocks could cause an intestinal blockage. It is very important not to let him turn this into a game with him trying to k3p the rocks. I would carry and offer him a high value toy for the rocks to try to keep him from swallowing them. He will probably loose interest in them in time if not too much is made of them. At least my boy did. I wouldnt let him loose to dig up or find rocks. Try to keep him entertained till he gets over them. I kind of wonder if something is missing from his diet to cause him to crave the odd things. I would put him on a better food like Natures Variety Prairie for now. Watch this boy carefully for a while.

He never spits up any food. It’s a yellowish spit. He is acting the same... He eats all his food and drinking the same. Still playful and sleeping the same. I would have never of know he was eating the rocks but I found them one day. He hasn’t spit up anymore rocks just yellowish spit. We are keeping a VERY close eye on him now when we potty and play. His stools have no signs of rocks and are solid (as always). After reading a bit on some other posts could it be the food. And the rocks were just a onetime thing?

melbrod said:

The habit of eating rocks can be extremely dangerous because it can lead to a blockage and necrosis of the gut. Has he held down anything at all, or is he just vomiting up a bit of one meal each day? Is he refusing any meals? Is he drinking and keeping water down or does it come back up too? Does he act lethargic or stand with an arched back (indicating pain)? Has his condition worsened over the last three days?

I think at the least, (no real symptoms other than one small spit-up every day) I would go to a vet tomorrow, even if your vet is not available. If he is showing any "extra" symptoms like those I listed above, I would find an emergency vet and head there today.

It is impossible to see a dog's condition over the internet so I would err on the side of caution. Better to make an extra trip to the vet than face other horrible possibilities from waiting too long.

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Ditto on this! Get this dog to vet for an x ray. This is a VERY bad habit. Em did this when I first got her and it took a long time for me to trust her outside without supervision. She doesn't do it now. Don't know if it is a nutrient deficiency problem or not. I have also heard it was because they were hungry. But I know she hasn't hurt for food since I've had her and she was in excellent health/shape when I got her. Breeder was feeding Iams and I switched her to wellness after that. Now we're on Nature's Variety Prairie.

LindaH said:

This could turn into a huge problem as rocks could cause an intestinal blockage. It is very important not to let him turn this into a game with him trying to k3p the rocks. I would carry and offer him a high value toy for the rocks to try to keep him from swallowing them. He will probably loose interest in them in time if not too much is made of them. At least my boy did. I wouldnt let him loose to dig up or find rocks. Try to keep him entertained till he gets over them. I kind of wonder if something is missing from his diet to cause him to crave the odd things. I would put him on a better food like Natures Variety Prairie for now. Watch this boy carefully for a while.

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I will change his food tonight. (Slowly). I have been putting his pooh in the holes and he stops but finds a new spot to dig. After he started to spit up we haven’t let him go outside without us. But we don’t want to always go out with him. He loves to play outside for hours and we have things inside we have to do. He has about 15 toys outside to play with. He doesn’t seem to have a favorite toy.

Throwing up a bit of bile (yellowish greenish fluid) early in the morning before his first meal can be a sign that he is bothered by an empty stomach. You could try feeding him a dog biscuit or a small bit of kibble right when he gets up just to calm his stomach until it is time for his morning meal.

The rock thing remains a worry. You report having to take rocks away from him after he digs in addition to a few rock in his vomit--that is enough to justify a trip to the vet just to check for the presence of more rocks in his gut, in my opinion. The only question to me is whether the trip needs to be right away or can wait a day. You may find nothing to worry about. But I'd rather a false alarm than a dog in emergency surgery because I waited too long.

if an animal does have a digestive 'issue' they sometimes will develope 'pica' ( eating of odd things).

I would change his food, he may be sensitive to an ingredient in the Science diet brand.

I feed and recommend Purina Pro Plan salmon and rice.

Hugz to Porter!

Like others said he may need a vet visit if he is throwing up and/or not eating, acting lethargic, etc.

The only way to fix digging is to go out with the dog and pick a plan of action. Some people give a dog an area to dig, others redirect, put on a long line, etc.

If Elka threw up rocks, we'd be at the vet.

Also, Adara's got a great idea with regards to having a designated digging area, if digging is really a passion for your dog (in addition to redirection and monitoring your dog). You could bury stuffed Kongs for him to find! Oh the fun!

But seriously. Go to the vet to rule out stuff still lurking in his stomach.

We got Oliver at 4 months and he put everything in his mouth. We thought we were watching him 24/7. One morning he puked up a sock! Thank God it came out. We had him xrayed and an ultra sound to make sure there wasn't anything else in him. We went as far as removing all the bark, grass, and anything else he could put in his mouth. We installed easyturf (fake grass) and he doesn't have anything in the yard to put in his mouth. The house is a different story, he loves mail and paper. I will be taping everything to the ceiling next week. The only problem, he will be able to reach it the following week.

Kyrah puked bile in the mornings. As Melbrod stated I started feeding her a dog biscut before bedtime. She to this day will puke bile if her tummy is too empty. Her stomach insists on being fed 3x's a day. Kyrah was obsessed with acorns when I brought her home. I tried putting hot sauce on them. She just licked it off. Needless to say I was out picking acorns early in the mornings. I also really worked on "drop it." Poor squirrels I dont think I left them anything. Thankfully by the next yr she was over them. With Lexi (rip) my other dobe it was mushrooms. I guess she didnt know why those weird things were there the next morning. I was out picking those every morning during that season. With that type of issues until you knew for sure that he wasnt eating rocks. I would not leave him outside unsupervised or fix it to where he is in a certain area with no access to the rocks. It could cost you a small fortune or his life.

Im just going on theory here but maybe she is lacking somekind of nutrient and she eats weird things to try and compensate? Science diet is not known to have good ingredients so I would wonder if getting a higher quality it would help? Kind of like them eating from the litter box can sometimes mean a lack of neutient (or they just like the taste ick! lol)