We are the proud owners of a 6 month old female Boston Terrier. Since about June, she has had chronic vomiting and regurgitation. Our Vet has done about every test - x-ray, ultrasound, and fluoroscopy and has diagnosed her with GERD but she continues to projectile vomit bile, phlegm, food and water, in addition to her regurgitation.

We are very frustrated with our situation as we love our puppy and hate to see her sick and lethargic from the stress of vomiting. We have already spent over $3,000 on tests and hospital visits - got the pet insurance too late - but would do anything to make her better.

Has anyone experienced this before? Any suggestions? Any advice/recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Hmmmmm True GERD is pretty rare in dogs. Does she have a hiatal hernia?

How did you vet suggest you treat her? Have you contacted her breeder? If she has always had this problem the breeder should take her back and replace her with a healthy puppy at the very least.

I know, I am sure you are too attached to her at this point in time but this is not a good thing and she will not live long if she can not keep food or water down her long enough to get hydrated or get any nutrition from the food.

You can try a raw diet. Raw meat and bones digest in about 4 hours compared to cooked and/or processed foods taking up to 12 hours. You could also give her some digestive enzymes and probiotics which she may be totally lacking.

If you need help and support in going to a raw diet with her, I highly recommend Whole Dog Forums at http://www.wholedogforums.com it is an online community much like this one only there are many long time breeders, health care practioniers and Naturopatic vets, etc. there as well.

Even a raw diet might not be the answer if she has a genetic defect but at this point, you have nothing to lose in trying to see if it helps...

Let us know how she does..

Jeannie Thomason

What food are you feeding her?

My female has a very sensitive stomach.

I was feeding Sony and Henry Iams, I recently switched to Canidea.

I have heard that Science dog food is pretty good for sensitive stomachs.

Keep in mind that Canidea and Science are premium dog foods and cost a bit more but for me it's worth it.

Iams gave my dogs pretty bad gas. Since I switched to Canidea the gas is almost completely gone. And they gobble it down like it was gold.

They both LOVE the Iams biscuits. I won't be switching those

Beware of Greenies, the dogs love them and they do make the breath smell good but I had a 500.00 emergency room visit for my female. She got the bigger end stuck in her throat.

My pup Sophie use to throw up sometimes after eating, or spit up undigested food, foam, her water, on top of snoring worse than my grandmother ever did. She needed her soft palate lasered as it was too long (common in this breed) and she was great after that (though I am the one whose pup got osteomyelitis in her tail bone as the breeder docked her tail but did not tell me). Anyways, our vet actually mentioned signs similiar to the one you mentioned and what we experienced and said that when he spayed her he would measure her palate and do the procedure. He came from the Univ. of GA whose mascot is bulldogs and was very knowledgeable about this. It worked!

Good luck!
Michelle

Jackson has a VERY sensitive stomach. Though, GERD was never specifically mentioned he has all those symptoms.
When he was younger he would throw up multiple times a day. We also went through all the tests at the vet. Medi-cal gastro wet works wonders for him. Dry food is the worst, so is cheap wet food. Table scraps are just not possible. My vet was actually telling that many of the “high end” regular retail foods are often too rich for dogs with sensitive stomachs. For example, Jackson cannot handle anything Eukanuba it makes him so sick and gives him the worst acid reflux.
You should just test out different foods. Sadly, some trial and error is required. Most dog food brands have a sensitive stomach food. Try those. Also, if a brand name does not have a sensitive stomach series specifically try mature dog (usually better only after your dog is 1 year old (at least) but if your dog can't keep anything down any food is better than no food). Jackson did not get sick from Science Diet mature dog. We don’t use it because the can is smaller than his Medi-cal gastro cans and more expensive.Sorry to say but cheap foods are most likely out of the question. Jackson can't stomach any of them. I had to do an intense search of all the Medi-cal retailers to find the cheapest spot (1.80$ a can).
I hope this made sense.
Good Luck!!!! Keep us posted!

the cause of the puking is that the stomach is empty. if you'd rather not use medicyn a half a slice of brown bread before you go to sleep works wonders!