puppy throwing up

Question
I have two wire hair puppies, 6 weeks old. everytime they eat thier food they throw up and try to eat it. Do I need to change thier food. It is can food, Natural Life. I have tried the dry food but they can not eat it yet.

Answer

Hi Brenda,

You didn't say what food you're feeding your puppies. They should receive a puppy food diet for their first full year. If your pups are just throwing up their food, but not having other symptoms, such as diarrhea then the the problem might be they're eating too quickly. Eating the food that's been thrown may seem gross, but it won't hurt your puppies in any way. It may be that they weren't weaned correctly, and are having trouble with solid food. If this is the case, eating the regurgitated food would actually be helpful for them.

I'm not sure what you mean by they can't eat dry food yet. Once puppies have been weaned from their mother's milk, they can eat any kind of solid food, including a dry puppy food diet. At first, add a little warm water to the dry food and let it soak in. Over a period of about a week, reduce the amount of water you add until they're eating the dry puppy food.

To slow down a puppy or dog that's eating too quickly, you can put an obstacle in the food bowl which the dog needs to work around, in order to get at the food. It needs to be an object that's too large to be accidentally swallowed, try using a tennis ball. Alternatively, you can forget the bowl and scatter the food right on the floor. Your puppies will eat slower as they'll need to walk around to get all the bits of food.

If the problem continues, the pups should be examined by your veterinarian. If your pups have other symptoms, such as diarrhea, don't delay in seeing your vet.

Best of luck,

Patti