Is Blood in Vomit an Emergency?

If your dog vomiting blood isn’t an emergency, what is?

Vomiting itself signals a problem. Visible blood in the vomit takes it into another dimension. If a person was vomiting blood, they’d be scared and they’d be in pain. Is that different for a dog?

Is Blood in Vomit an Emergency?

How much blood is too much?

Any kind of bleeding is an emergency in itself based on the amount of blood loss. And then there is a consideration for the reason behind it which in itself can be an emergency as well.

Does it look like blood?

Blood in vomit can either look like blood or it can look like coffee grounds.

In general, blood that looks like blood comes from bleeding in the stomach or upper part of the small intestine. Blood that looks like coffee grounds is partially digested and comes from “lower down” the GI tract.

Other symptoms

If your dog is vomiting blood, they might also show signs of

  • loss of appetite
  • pain
  • weakness
  • lethargy
  • and changes in the stool

Severe blood loss in itself can lead to anemia; a body cannot function without blood.

What can be behind bloody vomit? Anything from:

  • GI disease
  • foreign bodies
  • trauma, infections
  • parasites
  • poisons
  • tumors
  • ulcers
  • clotting disorders
  • inflammatory and autoimmune diseases
  • metabolic disorders
  • liver failure …

Further, any severe vomiting can cause enough damage to the tissues to cause bleeding.

Depending on the amount of bleeding or the underlying cause, vomiting blood can be life-threatening. Severe blood loss alone can cause to organ failure.

Blood in vomit requires prompt medical attention. What if your dog got into rat poison? What if they had internal bleeding from a serious medical condition? At the very least, call your veterinarian.

Related articles:
Blood in Dog Vomit: Why Is There Blood in My Dog’s Puke?

Further reading:
Vomiting of Blood in Dogs (Hematemesis)

Categories: Blood in vomit • Emergencies • Symptoms • Vomiting

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Jana Rade

I am a graphic designer, dog health advocate, writer, and author. Jasmine, the Rottweiler of my life, was the largest female from her litter. We thought we were getting a healthy dog. Getting a puppy from a backyard breeder was our first mistake. Countless veterinary visits without a diagnosis or useful treatment later, I realized that I had to take Jasmine's health care in my own hands. I learned the hard way that merely seeing a vet is not always enough. There is more to finding a good vet than finding the closest clinic down the street. And, sadly, there is more to advocating for your dog's health than visiting a veterinarian. It should be enough, but it often is not. With Jasmine, it took five years to get a diagnosis. Unfortunately, other problems had snowballed for that in the meantime. Jasmine's health challenges became a crash course in understanding dog health issues and how to go about getting a proper diagnosis and treatment. I had to learn, and I had to learn fast. Helping others through my challenges and experience has become my mission and Jasmine's legacy. I now try to help people how to recognize and understand signs of illness in their dogs, how to work with their veterinarian, and when to seek a second opinion. My goal is to save others the steep curve of having to learn things the hard way as I did. That is the mission behind my blog and behind my writing. That is why I wrote Symptoms to Watch for in Your Dog, which has turned out being an award-winning guide to dog owners. What I'm trying to share encompasses 20 years of experience.

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