Morning Stomach Upset in Dogs: What Do We Use for the Occasional Bilious Vomiting Syndrome?

I have to emphasize that this tip is meant to mend an occasional morning stomach upset only.

While it has become accepted that for some dogs waking up with an upset stomach every morning can be normal, I do not believe that. If my dog was consistently nauseous in the morning, I’d want to know exactly why that is happening.

Morning Stomach Upset in Dogs: What Do We Use for the Occasional Bilious Vomiting Syndrome?

Jasmine, for example, did have this issue consistently, whether or not she got something to eat before bed. Only years later she was finally diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Ever since she was a puppy she would refuse her breakfast and generally wouldn’t eat anything until after a walk.

It is a familiar scenario.

A dog might frown at their breakfast, try to eat grass, their stomach might start making grumbly noises.

For Cookie, eating grass normally helps, however, when it’s time for it to come out, the long pieces make that business quite challenging. Overall, I don’t mind my dogs munching on the grass a little bit but in excess, it can irritate the GI tract.

The theory is that this happens from acid build up in the stomach.

One of the recommendations I got from our vet was giving a soda cracker before bed. We did try that, and Cookie loves soda crackers for some reason, but it didn’t seem to make any difference. Plus I didn’t want to make it a habit and how would one predict what is to come the next morning?

The first time I got a similar idea was when Cookie was on NSAIDs after her injury.

She was out for lab workup so she had to skip her breakfast. The whole trip added up to a long day and by the time Cookie came home her stomach was all unhappy and making all sorts of noise. There was no way I could convince her to eat anything in order to give her the meds.

Going with the theory that it was from too much acid in the stomach, I remembered that at one time Jasmine was taking Tums to help with that. We did not have any but we did have calcium pills. Should work the same, right? So hubby pillinated her one of those. Not long after that the stomach upset cleared and I was able to feed and medicate her.

Cookie gets her belly upset in the morning every now and then.

When that happens, all she wants to do is to eat grass. Then, one morning, I remembered how well the calcium pill worked and I got the bright idea of offering her a little bit of sour cream. To my surprise, she accepted it even though she was refusing any other food. I fed her a bit of that and shortly after her stomach settled quite nicely.

I’ve used that for quite some time now and it works every time.

I’m sure plain yogurt could be used as well, however, we don’t always have that. We always do have sour cream. I believe that either would work the same.

Of course, if your dog happens to have an issue with dairy, don’t try this trick. Otherwise, though, it is safe and so far it’s been very effective.

I would not use Pepto Bismol for my dog but I have no reservation offering a bit of safe sour cream.

If you decide to try it, let me know how it worked for your dog.

Don’t forget, though, if your dog gets upset stomach daily, and/or is vomiting, do see a veterinarian.

Related articles:
Vomiting in Dogs: What’s in the Vomit?

Further reading:
Vomiting Bile in Dogs

Categories: Bilious vomiting • Conditions • Stomach acid build-up • Stomach upset

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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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