Excess saliva in dogs mouth causing vomiting

Question
My 5yr old collie/springer spaniel X has started to get a great deal of saliva in her mouth, causing her to vomit which was determined to be due to a sensitive stomach, but nothing seems to be helping her.  Yesterday and today I have taken a cloth to wipe the extra saliva away from her mouth and she has managed to enjoy her run without being sick.  Do you know what might be causing the excess saliva.  She does not have this problem about the home just when she goes for her exercise.  I will gladly carry on wiping her mouth if it helps her but it is taking the enjoyment of her walk away from her.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Trish,

Have you had your dog examined by a veterinarian? Diseases of the salivary glands and ducts are not uncommon in dogs, and excessive salivation can be a symptom of almost any infection or lesion in the mouth.

Ptyalism is the term used to describe excessive salivation or drooling in dogs. Depending on the the problem that is causing the hyper-salivation, there are various treatments, but it's something that should be brought to your vet's attention. It's a separate issue form your dog's sensitive stomach.

Secretion of saliva is under control of the autonomic nervous system, which controls both the volume and type of saliva secreted. This is actually fairly interesting: a dog fed dry dog food produces saliva that is predominantly watery, while dogs on a meat diet secrete saliva with much more mucus. Because your dog has a sensitive stomach, she should be receiving a special diet, but changing to either a canned or dry formula might help with the volume of saliva produced.

Dramamine, the over the counter motion sickness medication can help with excessive salivation (once a medical reason has been ruled out) but you'd need to get the correct dose from your vet. The big drawback to Dramamine is, it's an antihistamine and may cause drowsiness in dogs, so a run in the part after receiving Dramamine might not be a great idea, if your dog has the sleepy reaction.

Best of luck,
Patti