My dog has started burping rather a lot and I don’t know if this is normal? At first, it was just after he’d eaten, but I’ve noticed he seems to do it throughout the day now, and on a few occasions I’m pretty sure he has vomited into his mouth. This is really quite disgusting. Do you know what might be causing it?
Graham Finch advises…
This may be normal, or it may be a sign of an underlying problem. Burping and hiccups are quite common in young pups and reflect their developing stomach and intestinal function, developing tolerance to new food types and so on. Essentially, it’s a release of gas from the digestive process.
Frequency is key here – how often does this occur? Does it occur after every meal? Or once a day? Or every few days? I would be much more concerned if it occurred every meal.
Age is also important – is this occurring in an older individual who has had no previous problems? Are there any other signs of gastrointestinal disturbance? Diarrhoea?
Should your companion have had no previous issues and just started this, the first thing I would think about would be diet – have you changed his food recently? Do you feed raw food or a commercial diet? It is possible this could be a sign of a food intolerance and a change of diet to a more easily digestible food type may be enough.
The concept of food intolerance is an article in itself, but basically elements of the diet affect the gut and in turn affect the digestive process. This is not the same as a food allergy. Should a change in diet have no effect, then further investigation would be necessary.
I hope that helps; this is probably not a major cause for concern but I would talk this through with your vet
