My dog makes loud swallowing noises at night. Is new food the cause?

Hello! Thank you for your post! Is there a chance that Peewee may have gotten into something? The swallowing noise you were describing might be him trying to vomit. Also, if he ate a toy or got into the trash and ate something he shouldn't have, something may have irritated his throat or is stuck back there. If he continues to make this noise, I would get him seen by his vet just to be safe. Otherwise, if he stops I would just continue to monitor and if it doesn't recur then I would not worry. Please contact me with any other concerns that you may have. I'm also available via consultation

It sounds like she experiencing nausea so she may need an anti-nausea medication, like Cerenia, an antacid, and/or a gastrointestinal protectant to help treat. It might also help to put her on a hypoallergenic diet, like z/d or d/d. You could also add a probiotic to her diet and see if that helps. If it continues than you could take her to an internal medicine specialist for an endoscopy and intestinal biopsies to get a definitive diagnosis.

Poor guy. This sounds like Bennett may be experiencing some acid reflux. Typically this affects pets when they have an empty stomach (at night) or early morning. Ask you vet about doing a trial run with some antacids to see if this helps. You can also feed him a late night snack (small meal) to see if this helps Otherwise consider having some bloodwork ran to check his organ function for any further clues. I hope that Bennett is just experiencing acid reflux and can be managed well soon! Best wishes and take care.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! He is adorable! I think that a course of prednisone could potentially be added to better control the IBD so it has an all day effect. Another thing that can be tried if your veterinarian (who knows all his medical history) thinks is a good idea is changing him to another IBD type diet such as Royal canin ultamino. This diet has proven to be very effective for both IBD and skin allergies. Good luck and have a great day!

It's likely to be something in the new food that Empire is not tolerating well, it could also be the sudden change, you can try going back to the puppy food and gradually switching him to the new food over 10 days, start with 90% puppy and 10% adult food, increase the adult food ratio by 10% every day. if it doesn't solve the problem you may need to switch to a different brand of food.

A sudden diet change can cause digestive upset, especially if the switch was sudden. In most cases, a gradual switch is needed to help the body adjust to the new food. It would be best to pick up any food for a few hours, and then offer a bland meal of boiled chicken and rice to help settle Jack's stomach, then return to his old food. Once his tummy has settled down, you can then start transitioning to the new food over a period of 7-9 days (I would recommend only adding in one new food at a time, instead of both a new wet and dry food, to minimize upset). You can add in 25% new food to the mix every 2-3 days as long as he seems to handle eating the mix. If he continues vomiting, worsens, or switching back to the old diet doesn't improve his symptoms, then it is best to seek veterinary care to rule out any other underlying issues or illnesses that may be the cause of his vomiting.

Some puppies can make noises while they eat, which can be normal, and if Bojangles is eating too quickly he could be choking a little which is causing the gag. Trying to get him to slow down in his eating and drinking with a slow-down bowl (or placing a few tennis balls in the bowl) or feeding smaller meals more frequently may help. If he is choking a lot, acting like he can't breathe or is painful, is vomiting or can't keep anything down, or seems in distress from it, a vet visit to rule out anything is always best.