
- Chronic vomiting after eating - In dogs, a meal should be digested and the stomach should be empty about 6 to 8 hours after eating. any vomiting of undigested food longer than 12 hours after the consumption of a meal should raise gastric alarms
- Stomach distention (swollen stomach)
- Lack of appetite (anorexia)
- Belching
- Eating of non food items (called pica)
- Loss of weight
- Accelerated - This is the least significant of the three and is usually related to medications or surgery
- Retrograde Transit - This one may be related to gastroesophageal issues like reflux or esophagitis or entero-gastric (vomiting and bilious vomiting syndrome)
- Delayed Transit - This one could be related to a multitude of conditions like megaesophagus or functional delayed gastric emptying (gastric dilatation, gastritis, ulcers, electrolyte disturbances), ileus (could be postoperative, drug induced or megacolon)
- Some blood disorders like low potassium or elevated urea or other imbalances in nitrogenous waste components in the blood
- Nervousness, stress, pain, fear or trauma
- Certain drugs for other health conditions
- Stomach diseases which include inflammation and blockages, stomach ulcers and parvovirus infection
- Stomach surgery
- Bloat or gastric dilatation (the canine’s stomach fills with gas or fluid due to an electrical misfire in certain gastric muscles)
- Esophageal reflux
- Abnormal functioning of the autonomic nervous system
- Many veterinary professionals will recommend dietary changes to resolve the delayed emptying issues
- In the event that recommended dietary changes are not successful at resolving the problems, then gastro prokinetic therapy will become very important; in this treatment, a gastroprokinetic drug or other agent will be used, improving the motility of the gastrointestinal system by increasing the frequency of small intestine contractions or by strengthening them (doing so without interruption of the normal rhythm)
- The addition of a particular gastroprokinetic agent or drug will be determined by the location within the gastrointestinal tract which has been determined to be delaying the emptying
- Some of the medications which could be used for gastroprokinetic purposes are Cisapride, Metoclopramide, Ranitidine, Nizatidine, Misoprostol and Erythromycin
- If an obstruction is found, stomach surgery will be needed to remove it and make appropriate repairs to the surrounding tissue
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