I have a 8 month old boston terrier pup. About 4-6 weeks ago, I came home from work and let him out of his kennel. He went outside to use the bathroom then came back in like normal. 15 minutes later, he started heaving. I took him outside and he was heaving so hard that every muscle in his body contracted. He heaved for several minutes and finally threw up a small amount of whitish-yellow foam. THe puddle was about the size of a half dollar. As soon as he threw it up, he fell over. I grabbed him and he was tense and unresponsive. It took him about 2 minutes to come around, but then he jumped up and ran inside and came back with his ball. He acted like nothing had happened. I thought it was just a freak incident and maybe he was just exhausted from heaving. I left it at that, but then 4 or 5 days later he did the same thing. This time it took him 2-3 minutes to come around after he fell over. I thought maybe it was siezures. I took him to the vet the next day and the vet ruled out siezures. He did a blood test, x-rays, and a cardio stress test. He said the dog was perfectly healthy as far as those tests showed. We discussed several things and the final ruling was that he was heaving so hard he was exhausted and the lack of oxygen while throwing up was making him pass out. He stays in a kennel during the day while I am at work, and previously I always kept water in the kennel for him but no food (he ate in the mornings before I went to work and again in the evenings when I got home). The vet thought that maybe he was getting a little acid buildup in his stomach from being hungry and that made him throw up when he got out of the kennel and ran around. So I started leaving food in his kennel. A few days passed and I thought maybe that is all it was, then it happened again. Every time this has happened, it has been 15-20 minutes after I get home. I talked to the vet again and he thought maybe the dog was just getting extremely wild when I let him out, so I tried putting him on a leash when I got home instead of letting him run wild outside. No difference, several days later he did it again. I got home from work, let him out, then came back in. I flipped on the TV and he had been laying on the couch beside me for 15 minutes before it kicked in. I also noticed another trend....he starts licking his lips a lot every time before he starts heaving. THe vet said this indicates that he is getting nauseated from something, but we still cannot figure out why. I took away all his pig ears, raw hides, and treats....so the only thing he is eating now is his dog food (Eukanuba). THe last few times he has done it, it has been less severe. He still heaves incredibly hard for 3-4 minutes and throws up, but he hasn't fell over the last couple times, just staggered like he was weak in the knees. But then he rebounds and is fine the rest of the evening. He gets much more excited when I throw a ball or wrestle around with him than he does when I let him out of the kennel, so I dont' think he is over-exerting himself with excitement when I come home. This has happened I believe 8 or 9 times now. We'll go about a week with no occurrances, then it'll happen a couple days in a row. He never throws up on days that I'm home all day or days when I only leave him in the kennel for a couple hours at a time. I removed the blanket from his kennel, thinking maybe he was eating strings off it or something. Still happened again. I'm out of ideas and I think my vet is just throwing out wild guesses at this point....he wants me to have the dog in next week for an EKG. But due to the fact that it is so predictable, occurring 15-20 minutes after I come home, I'm thinking it may be separation disorder. He stays in his kennel all night and never whimpers or whines, but he knows I'm in the next room. I'm wondering if he is just freaking out during the day while he is there by himself? I'm almost out of ideas, but I put a TV in there with him to break the silence this morning. We'll see how that works. I know people who worry a lot can get an upset stomach from worrying.....can this happen to dogs? If it continues, I'm going to set up a video camera and see how he behaves during the day, but as far as I know he has never had a problem being in his kennel. He goes in there on his own some nights when he is tired and doesn't seem to mind being locked up in there, but then again these symptoms only show after I've been gone for some time, like an 8 hr work day. If I put him in his kennel and go out and mow the yard or something and only leave him for a few hours, he is fine when I let him out. I've been off work for 3-4 days in a row and he's stayed out and ran around and never had a problem, but then I'll go back to work the next day and come home and he'll puke and pass out. I've also tried leaving him out of his kennel and he is kind of leary about being home by himself. He has stayed out 5-6 hrs while I was gone and when I come home he will be hiding under my bed, in my bed, or in his kennel. I can call him and call him, but he won't come out until he sees me (usually he is peaking out from under the bed). That kind of makes me wonder if he is just really nervous being there by himself in his kennel and builds up a little stomach acid. He had an episode friday when I got home from work, so saturday when I left for about 5 hrs I left him loose in the house. When I came back, like clockwork 15 or 20 minutes after I got home we were sitting on the couch and he started heaving. So it is not seems to be more about being alone than being in the kennel. And he snaps out of it so quick, I have a hard time believing anything is seriously wrong with him. But I'm about out of ideas. If the TV doesn't help, I am going to borrow my brothers Pug and let the two of them run around together in the house for a few days while I'm at work. Maybe with another dog there, he won't get so worked up (if that is what is causing this).

I've also thought about changing his dog food, but I've always fed my dogs Eukanuba and thought that was really good food. I've had some recommendations to try Innova.

Anybody have any thoughts or ideas? I've never seen anything like this. And while I don't want to NOT take him to the vet if something is seriously wrong, the tests and guesses are getting extremely expensive.

Thanks


Neal