Behavior

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4 min read

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Why Do Dogs Always Puke On Carpet

Behavior

|

4 min read

|

Why Do Dogs Always Puke On Carpet

Common

Irregular


Introduction

Living with a dog is one of the best things in life. One of the best things to come home to is a canine with a face so excited to see you; tail wagging and ready to jump into your arms and lick your face. Your beloved pooch can easily help you get over a bad day at work. However, one of the things which dog owners don’t want to come home to is puke on their favorite expensive carpet. 

Dog puke and owning a dog go together like french fries and ketchup or peas and carrots. However, dog owners still can’t help but ask, why do their beloved pooches vomit? How can they prevent it? Should they take their dog to the vet every time they come home to puke on the carpet?

The Root of the Behavior

Your dog might simply be vomiting because he has eaten something his stomach does not agree with or he might just have eaten more than he should. However, vomiting can also be an indication of something far more serious. It is possible that your pooch has swallowed a toxic substance or may also be suffering from a medical condition that needs immediate medical attention. Vomiting is also associated with systemic and gastrointestinal disorders which require urgent evaluation by a veterinarian.

Vomiting is generally a non-specific symptom. There are at least a dozen abnormalities or diseases which are capable of causing dogs to vomit. Some dog owners think the worst and believe that their dogs’ gastrointestinal tract is affected when they see puke on the carpet, but wearing such blinders can make you miss the diagnosis. 

Some of the things to look out for are the frequency of vomiting, the time of day it happens, the material found in the puke, anything unusual that might have been ingested, your dog’s normal diet, and other symptoms which may have been observed. It may make you queasy, but you need to look at your dog’s vomit to see if there are foreign objects. Look for food products he might have eaten such as wrappers, pieces of objects, crumbs, and other things. Some foods that can be dangerous are fruit pits, raisins, mushrooms, chocolate, and avocados.

A thorough physical examination may also be required with a few blood and urine tests to evaluate your dog’s kidney, liver, pancreas, as well as ultrasound and other imaging studies. If you have come home to puke more than a few times over the course of a month, pick up the phone and schedule a visit to the veterinarian to figure out the cause. As with other maladies, the sooner the problem is addressed, the better the outcome will be.

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Encouraging the Behavior

Needless to say, puke on the carpet is not something that any dog owner wants to encourage or wants to happen. If you are one of the numerous dog owners in the world shaking their heads as to why their beloved canine pukes on the carpet, you might be relieved to know that this is not deliberately done by your pet. 

If you are a dog and you need to hurl, you want something to hang on to and your carpet provides more support than the bare floor. It also resembles grass more, hence its place as number one favorite puking spot indoors. Usually, homes also have more carpeted areas so even if by random choice, your dog’s puke will hit the carpets more often than the floor. 

How do you prevent episodes of your dog puking on the carpet? Do not suddenly change your dog’s diet and always remember to use a gradual approach because sudden dietary changes may cause intestinal upset in dogs. Refrain from giving your dog toys that can be easily swallowed or chewed into pieces. Another thing which dog owners must remember is not to give their dogs bones because bones are routinely implicated for puking episodes. 

Other Solutions and Considerations

Just like humans, there are times when dogs need to puke, not because they want to but because they ate something bad or they have had a major episode of gluttony and need to get rid of the extra food. It is not a good thing to always think the worst, but there are other things that you need to pay attention to in order to determine if it is a simple case of having eaten too much or if it is something more serious.

Remember, however, that an occasional or isolated bout of vomiting is probably nothing. What you should look out for is frequent or chronic vomiting. In addition, acute and sudden episodes are sometimes signs of pancreatitis, foreign bodies, bacterial infection, heatstroke, car sickness, viral infections, or ingestion of toxic substances. 

Conclusion

Puke on the carpet is the last thing you want to see when you come home from a long day at the office. You would not want to end up scrubbing the carpet after a full day of work. You can prevent this from happening by making sure that you do not feed your dog anything that might make their stomach upset such as table scraps, bones, or any toy that can be easily chewed into little pieces. If there is frequent vomiting, lethargy, and diarrhea, take your dog to the veterinarian right away.

Written by a Shiba Inu lover Patty Oelze

Veterinary reviewed by:

Published: 02/06/2018, edited: 01/30/2020

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