My dog is vomiting bile, not eating, and losing hair. What to do?

Hi. Sorry honey isn't feeling well. Being lethargic, quiet, and vomiting can occur for alot of different diseases or conditions. It can be from a dietary indiscretion, a food sensitivity, a GI infection,  pancreatitis, metabolic and endocrine conditions, foreign bodies in the intestines, and more.   The best thing for vomiting would be to get him seen and try to get to the bottom of the cause.  But he will need an exam and some diagnostics.  In the meantime, you can try a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice for 3-5 days, then slowly change back to her regular diet if doing well. The hair loss can be caused by bacterial infections, allergies, metabolic, or endocrine diseases. Your veterinarian may do some bloodwork to check for those conditions and also some skin testing. Good luck.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Vomiting and inappetence can be observed with conditions such as gastroenteritis, pancreatitis, dietary indiscretion, gastrointestinal foreign body ingestion and obstruction, among other possibilities. She may be having side effects to the medications administered. Hair loss and scratching are likely due to allergies. For this reason, I highly recommend that you have Shelby evaluated by a veterinarian for further assessment and treatment as soon as possible as I am afraid she is likely becoming dehydrated. They would be able to check for these possibilities and also check her hydration status and give her medications to make her feel better. Good luck!

I would recommend a broad spectrum deworming to see if that helps. Then, if it hasn’t been done yet I would run some blood work. If that is normal then I would encourage you to have her stomach and intestinal tract biopsied. Are you planning to spay her? If so I would recommend discussing the possibility of obtaining biopsy samples at the time of spay. This is something I have done frequently. This will give you the best information possible about future treatment to keep her GI tract as healthy as possible. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.

Those are all very general signs of illness, and I would be concerned there is a GI issue or underlying illness if she is both losing hair and unable to keep food down/losing weight. Parasites, obstructions, viral illnesses, infections, organ issues, metabolic diseases, etc can all be potential causes, so it would be best to seek out veterinary care from your vet or an ER clinic as soon as possible.

Hi, and thanks for your question. Although pic would help to determine the underlying cause, this is probably due to an allergy, although it could also be infection or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment, then ask the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation. If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try to discover the cause of the allergy. Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollens, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair any possible skin lesions (like steroids and antibiotics). Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.

Oh my - it sounds as though Riley has a lot going on. It's likely that his excessive licking is associated with the hair loss that you've noticed, as licking is a sign of itchiness in dogs. I agree that his whining sounds like a sign of discomfort. This could all be associated with his other issues, or due to other skin conditions, like mange, ringworm, or allergies. Vomiting, diarrhea, weight gain, and excessive urination could be due to a number of different health conditions. Some of these possibilities include gastrointestinal viruses, inflammatory bowel disease, kidney disease, liver disease, endocrine disorders (such as Addison's disease), or food allergies. The challenge is that all of these conditions are treated very differently, so it's important to figure out the root cause of all of Riley's issues. At this point, Riley really needs to be examined by his vet and have some diagnostic testing performed. I assume that your vet will likely recommend some baseline bloodwork to check on his organ function, as well as a fecal flotation test for parasites, and skin testing to see if any infectious conditions are present. Based on their findings, they'll be able to come up with the best course of treatment for Riley. I hope that everything goes well!

Advantix and other flea medications can occasionally cause hair loss where the medication was applied, but shouldn't change skin color or cause shedding. She may have dry skin due to the environment, her food, or allergies. Many dogs like to eat fabric and it's generally behavioral and not related to a medical condition. Some dogs eat non food items due to nutritional deficiencies but things like dirt and rocks are more likely than fabric. If she continues to vomit I'd recommend taking her to your veterinarian for an exam. X-rays might be recommended to make sure she doesn't have fabric in her stomach.