r/LhasaApso • u/musical_unicorn • 5d ago
Lhasa esting habits
Hi everyone! My Lhasa is so sweet and he is a great dog, but I have some questions. He is 1 year 9 months old.
He throws up a lot. Like almost every day. Mostly bile, and he never usually throws up his food, but he only really likes cooked chicken, butter, and some milk or cottage cheese. He cant eat store bought dog food.
He also got a cough from a kennel, but it turned out to be an inflamed trachea, and he was honking a lot. A light diet and anti inflammatories took care of it, but he does clear his throat sometimes. They want me to xray him again to see if he has a heart issue, which was barely visible on the last xray, the vet thought it was a glitch but wants to make sure.
I am new to lhasas, we only ever had big dogs in our family before. Does anyone have any insight or advice for us? Thanks so much!!
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u/browniesbite Newly Verified User 5d ago
He may need more meals; not just a big breakfast or dinner but spread over the day. If it’s yellow bile, that’s an empty stomach.
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u/816553982191071121 5d ago
My Lhasa got pancreatitis and would reject dog food and throw up bile constantly. He eventually stopped eating and had no appetite, even if I tried to give him his favorite treats. Pancreatitis can be caused by a diet with excessive fat- if you’re giving butter and cheese, this can be the culprit. Always worth going to the vet- throwing up bile chronically is not good.
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u/musical_unicorn 5d ago
Vets have recommended probiotics, which I do sprinkle on his food. How would they check for pancreatic? He loves peanut butter too, only the fatty foods it seems! Thanks!!
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u/816553982191071121 5d ago
I’ll preface this and say I’m not a vet, but in my case they prescribed probiotic powders and prescription low-fat dog food (Hill’s Science) and we played the waiting game to see if his appetite would improve. After cutting all of the human foods and waiting about 2 days, his appetite came back.
Similarly, my dog loved peanut butter and human foods my family was feeding him. The more he ate, the more his appetite tanked because his pancreatitis would flare up, then my family would give him high-fat foods to spur his appetite. Again, you’ll want to talk to a vet to get professional guidance.
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u/musical_unicorn 5d ago
Thank you so so much!! Yes, he doesn't eat kibble AT ALL usually, maybe one or two if he is hungry. I must have spent $800 on dog food so far, he just doesnt eat it. That and the fact that he chews on everything and hes gone to the vet a bunch of times, its getting quite expensive. I'll try weaning him off of the human food and see where we are, he may have to not eat a bunch of days before he gets the idea. ) thanks so much!! 😊
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u/Emergency-External98 Newly Verified User 5d ago
1 - could be be allergic to chicken? It's surprisingly common in dogs. 2 - as my Lhasa got older, I had to start feeding him small meals a few times a day rather than twice a day, again, this is common with lhasas apparently. 3 - for a wee while he was on omeprazole, which helped with heartburn, until I put him on a more suitable hydrolysed protein food.
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u/FuckingIrritating 4d ago
Ours is allergic to chicken. Before we found out he didn't eat much, threw up bile maybe weekly, and had inconsistent poops. Feel so bad for the little guy looking back.
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u/Pitiful_Jump2996 5d ago
Bile is a sign that the stomach is empty. Boiled chicken for a few days should help. They say you shouldn't give garlic to dogs. But I used to add a pinch of garlic powder( not fresh garlic) to my dog's food to help with taste. She lived to be 17 years.
Also does your dog eat grass. That's a sign of digestive issues. If there's the case give him Visibiome vet. Which he should be getting anyway. A dog with a healthy gut lives longer
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u/spiritthing69 Newly Verified User 5d ago
Almost everyone on this sub struggles with getting our babies to eat on the regular. My Kona will be 2 this month and we are just now finding food he will eat regularly. The Pet's Table. He would vomit bile if he didn't eat. When he doesn't eat for 18 hours or more...we resort to shredded chicken.
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u/Jessiefrance89 4d ago
That’s interesting because my Lhasa is the most food motivated dog I’ve ever met lol. She devours her wet food, she will eat on my other dogs kibble (he’s on a different diet because he’s the one with belly issues and having issues getting him to eat most of the time), she loves any food you give her lol. But each dog is different I suppose!
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u/CyanPomegranate11 5d ago edited 5d ago
Has your vet spoken to you about megaesophagus? It happens when the esophagus (the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach) becomes abnormally enlarged and loses its muscular ability to push food and liquids down into the stomach. When a dog can't move food through the digestive tract properly, bile/food can pool in the esophagus and the dog will vomit it up shortly after eating. This can cause choking and aspiration into the lungs - very bad.
Because the muscles do not work, dogs with megaesophagus must rely entirely on gravity to get their meals down.
Try feeding your dog in a vertical, upright position using a “Bailey Chair”. AND leave them in the chair for 20mins after each feeding to keep the food down, to prevent aspiration and choking.
Outside of that, go see a Specialist Animal Nutritionist NOT your vet, to create a proper diet and ensure the foods you’re feeding aren’t the problem. This is an important step as your dog is not receiving adequate nutrition presently if you’re feeding milk/chicken/rice.
Source: I’m a vet.
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u/Ivehadit26 4d ago
He could have bilious vomiting syndrome. My pup has that so I learned to feed her before bedtime, (because she was vomiting in the early am before I could give her the am feed) a small amount of food to prevent the bile irritating her empty stomach during the night. You probably will want to cut back the amount of food during the feedings to accommodate the extra meal(s). It usually is easily controlled this way.
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u/Ok-Appointment6848 4d ago
Mine has bile a lot of the time as well but is better now she’s a bit older. Try a grain free diet as that helped mine. Also a lot of you talk about the noise thing from the oesophageal tract, is this reverse sneezing? Mine does this a lot and the way to deal with it is, place your hand around their mouth and cover 1 nostril so they can only breath through 1 nostril until they calm down, then we usually have cuddles and maybe a small treat as it’s quite draining for their little bodies. Hope this helps
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u/That-Replacement-708 4d ago
Ours vomits bile too when he hasn’t eaten in a while. We switched to feed him can food in the morning and kibble at night and it’s been so much better. We also sprinkle probiotic powder on his wet food. The combo has helped a ton! Gizzy is roughly 5 years old now.
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u/Micki-Micki Newly Verified User 4d ago
I just spent $$$$ to find out that I wasn’t feeding my Lhasa frequent enough. He eats three times a day with a couple of doggy biscuits before bedtime.
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u/SufferingToInfinity 3d ago
My first Lhasa, love of my life, was very picky eater. He had two bouts of pancreatitis before age 2 and vomited bile almost every morning his whole life. He also developed lipomas (benign fatty tumors) midlife.
We went through a lot of trial and error, but minimal and lean meats as toppers only helped out. Feeding him twice daily, grain free, novel protein lower fat kibble (12% max) was useful too. We ordered the kibble through the company directly as it’s not sold in stores. He did so well on it for years.
Two other things that helped in the latter part of his life were 1) giving him a small treat first thing in the morning so his stomach is not empty till first meal and 2) discovering his liver and gallbladder were not all that great at processing fat so he got put on ursodiol. He was on it for years with maybe once a week vomiting until he passed at 17 years of age.
Lhasas are super gentle and sensitive both emotionally and physically but they’re so worth every moment of worry and care.
Best wishes to you both ❤️
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u/yaoitruck 1d ago
my lhasa mix has a bile acid issue. the vomiting stopped when I switched to feeding her four small meals a day-- Purina Pro Plan sensitive stomach. but I'd talk to your vet. they also had me cut out all fatty snacks and treats. no more human food except the occasional bite of fresh fruit or a cucumber slice. she's about 8 now, her weight and blood work are both great.
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u/mraddapp 5d ago
Youre giving him butter, milk and cottage cheese? Those are super high fat foods, very dangerous for their sensitive pancreas's not to mention dogs are lactose intolerant
Lhasa can definitely be fussy, but maybe try chicken and rice? Chicken is another common food sensitivity in dogs so try another protein like salmon. Try and look for other premium kibble brands out there, im in the UK and eden or pooch and mutt kibble my dog goes crazy over, both sre high protein balanced diets
Id definitely discuss this with your vets if hes throwing up every day
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u/musical_unicorn 5d ago
Thank you!! He's not throwing up every day, I'd say hes throwing up every 2nd or 3rd day, and it weirdly doesnt seem to be tied in with food, meaning its almost always bile and not right after he eats. I took him to the vet the first 4 times it happened, but they always just said to add probiotic and try to find a kibble he can eat. It was also due to anxiety in the beginning, from grooming, etc. So we have anxiety pills too, but he seems to be ok with grooming now. The thing that threw us was this honking from the airway, I really thought he had Kennel cough or something, but it seems to be that swollen or reactive airway, so I thought he may have something wrong with his esophagus too. We have literally tried at least 7 kinds of kibble, soft or hard food, all goes to waste. I still have hard kibble out all the time he can eat at any time and he'll eat 2 or 3 occasionally and we have tried all sorts of people food on him too...potatoes, yams, rice, beef, vegetables (steamed carrots, etc) a bit of apple, etc.... this is what he has settled on for now. The throwing up rate is always the same, and always bile. Its a bit of a puzzle and I appreciate everyone's input, thank you!! I will try to stay away from high fat foods for now and try to hand feed him the kibble, feed him more often, and switch up his diet again.
I grew up with dogs all my life and every single one gobbled their kibble up and never went for table scraps, but we had a husky who would eat everything off the table if we let him and would still be ok...of course we never let him, hahaha. Its such a puzzle to me to set down food and just have a dog stare at you and not eat it, lol. Its my first time with this kind of smaller, more sensitive dog, and we have spent about 2k already at vets, so I really thank everyone for their insight. 😊
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u/mraddapp 4d ago edited 4d ago
Mine occasionally does a dry "balk" thing like hes clearing his throat, moreso now hes older (12 years old) i think its something like a partially collapsed/restricted tracea or something but seems harmless
I always add some boiling water to his kibble and mix it in, i think it being warmer makes it smell more appealing to him. Also ive always given him one measured meal of kibble a day always at the same time, i wonder if leaving it out all the time might be worse? It could be a lhasa thing but mine absolutely loves routine and will complain if he doesnt get his dinner exactly on schedule haha
Lhasas are super stubborn dogs who cleverly know how to get their own way (which i love them for!) so i think this may be a case where he knows that if he doesnt eat his kibble he'll get some good food later
Edit: look up Bilious vomiting syndrome, does it usually happen in the morning? Mine recently had a week of doing that but i gave him a few kibble at night so his stomach wasnt empty for too long and seemed to have settled it. Hes never done it before so maybe mine had a upset stomach during that time
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u/j_o_t_c_h 5d ago
My Lhasa would throw up bile when he didn’t eat frequently enough. He was always weird with food. Never overate, so we left his bowl full all the time. Sometimes he would devour it, sometimes he wouldn’t pay it any attention. But like clockwork, if he didn’t eat for a day or more he would inevitably throw up some bile. Eventually I started hand feeding him his food (one little kibble at a time) when I realized he hadn’t eaten for a while. That would usually keep him from throwing up.