Dog Vomits

Question
We have a 7 year old female English Bulldog who has always had a fairly sensitive digestive track. About 6 months ago, we finally found a dry and wet food combo (Canine Caviar brand) that really has been working well with her system, until recently it seems that is. Now that the heat has started to move in here in Southern California, she seems to get worked up perhaps after a walk in the morning and/or after running up our stairs. She makes a noise like she is trying to clear her throat, then vomits after that. There is some partially undigested food in her vomit from the night before it looks like. This has been happening each morning for the past 72 hours. She is eating and drinking fine and is not exhibiting any lethargy, so I assume she is healthy otherwise.

My question to you is what might be the cause or causes of her vomiting and what can we do to prevent it? Is it the heat or that she gets overly excited? Or even overly exerted from the walk and stairs? Could it be the food since there is some left undigested? We give her a Lamb and Pearl Millet dry food with a small amount of Turkey canned food as a topper, both made by Canine Caviar in case that helps.

Any feedback and/or suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank-you.

Answer
Some vomiting goes with the gagging. What's causing the gagging is the issue here.

I'm not a vet but I can give you some suggestions. First of all, have you checked her weight since she started on this food? She might have crept up a few pounds since starting on it, and even 5 pounds on an English Bulldog can cause problems with their breathing.

They already have a disadvantage there due to being brachycephalic (shortnosed basically)so any impediments to her neck and upper airways will cause these kinds of problems.

It could also be that there is more pollen in the air and that is causing excess mucus buildup for her.

I would get her weighed at the vets and check it against her weight from her last check-up. Could be that this food is causing weight creep you were not aware of.

Then you can assess how much you are feeding her and adjust accordingly. While you are there, have the vet take a look at her throat just to be sure she doesn't have some inflammation in there from a grass seed or something.