# urgent advice please...."gulping"



## Shawneeshep (Dec 26, 2004)

*urgent advice please...."gulping"*

suddenly, at 10:30 pm my 2 yr old Suzi started gulping rapidly, licking, acting restless; wanted outside; pottied, came right back in. This continued, alternating with brief periods of rest; paged vet. He thought GI upset. Gave her pepto-bismol. cycle continued, getting more intense. (no gastric tightness) paged vet again; he was certain allergy (I feared bloat, or something in her throat);
he said to give her 40 mg benadryl which I did (luckily she eats well
anything). It's about 35 min after the benadryl and she is less restless. I googled "canine gulping, licking" and the first post that came up was the only decent one, but it described to a T Suzi's behavior, and it was a long posting from members of a Bernese Mountain Dog group. They call it "the gulpies" and gave various theories of cause, treatment. Almost everyone said their dog wanted outside, as did mine, and all said those that went outside wanted to eat grass (my backyard dog run is covered with woodchips, no grass), and the grass caused upchuck, big burp with relief.

Anyone have any experience, advice for this? I am a wreck, with fear (I nursed my beloved Beatrice for 2 years with severe health problems, including paradoxical hypothyroidism and SIBO, so don't want anything to happen to this happy cute little pup Suzi!)

I should say that not one single thing of our life, daily routine was any different today than any other.

Thanks so much!


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## IliamnasQuest (Aug 24, 2005)

*Re: urgent advice please...."gulping"*

I've had dogs do what you described - in fact, my oldest chow used to do it frequently when she got older. She would keep swallowing, would want to lick the floor (which made her pick up hair), would pace and be restless and want outside (often trying to eat grass). I always suspected she had an irritation in her throat that caused it, and I've seen a couple of my other dogs do this on occasion too. 

My biggest concern with Kylee was the possibility of bloat because as she swallowed over and over, her abdomen would get full and tight. I'm sure she was swallowing air. So I would massage the bloat points on the inside of her hind legs, would walk her around some outside in hopes that she would have a bowel movement (to help pass gas), and would give her simethicone (usually Phazyme) to help diminish the gas in her stomach. It always worked and I did it dozens of times over her last few years.

And not once did the swallowing/licking seem to mean anything serious. In watching the dogs when they went through this, it seemed like what we would feel like if we got hair on the back of our throat and couldn't get it swallowed down. Of course, the dogs can't think through WHY they might feel that way and so they get restless and eat grass to try to upchuck the problem. I usually offered bread, sometimes with a bit of liquid on it, and that sometimes helped which furthered my thoughts that it was something in their throat. And sometimes the problem continued for hours and hours before it finally resolved itself. 

Hopefully what your dog is going through is similar because nothing bad ever came of this problem. If she's swallowing a lot, I'd watch her abdomen for swelling to make sure she's not getting full of air. But other than that, if it's like Kylee's problem, she'll be fine. If you have some simethicone, you can give that as it won't hurt and will help with any gas formation. 

Good luck, hope it all goes well!

Melanie and the gang in Alaska


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## im4dogz (Dec 10, 2006)

*Re: urgent advice please...."gulping"*

This sounds exactly like what dogs do when they want/need to throw up. lol Maybe if you made her upchuck she'd feel better. You could make her drink some peroxide, or go down the street to a yard that has nice, long grass? 

That's about all I can think of. I wouldn't pull my hair out over it. I would worry if this happens a lot or doesn't go away though.

Is there anything she could have eaten to make her feel bad?


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## pupresq (Dec 2, 2005)

*Re: urgent advice please...."gulping"*

I don't have any useful advice or experience about this one but have you checked her the pigment of her gums to make sure she's getting enough oxygen? The allergy hypothesis worries me.


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## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

*Re: urgent advice please...."gulping"*

1. Can you take her out front where there is grass (or someplace where there is)?
2. I would rather be the crazy dog lady and take her in to rule out bloat/GDV than to sit up all night watching her and worrying. 

He wasn't thinking you were describing a reverse sneeze was he? 

Keep in mind I am not the calmest person when it comes to my dogs, but I have not regretted taking them in when it is something that is scaring me. BTW-with a GDV, the faster they are seen, the better and there are some variations as to presentation. Not to be even scarier. 

Hope I am all wet and that she is fine, but having had a dog who bloated/torsed, I am now always on high alert for GI things.


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## Yogi's Mom (Mar 11, 2008)

*Re: urgent advice please...."gulping"*

The very signs describe what both of our dogs do when they are having a bloat problem. For me, I am like Jean and will take them to the vet just to make sure. Gunny has seen the emergency vet twice, both times too much gas in the tummy and Mylanta helps him to pass that gas. He would just keep going crazy with the gulping and licking the air, very alarming. My other dog, who is a basset hound has had a great deal of trouble with this and had to have a tube passed to get rid of the gas as well as stay overnight. I keep Mylanta on hand at all times. I don't wait too long with this sort of thing and if I feel the dog is getting too distressed, off to the vet we go. I would rather spend the money and make sure then worry all night long whether or not the dog is going to be fine. It takes about 20 minutes to get to the emergency vet, 40 minutes to get to the regular vet and I figure if the dog gets better on the way we can always cancel. One other thing, every single time this has happened I couldn't see where anything different happened that day but I figure something must of stressed the dog out and I really believe that stress does contribute to bloat greatly as well as genetics.


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## Shawneeshep (Dec 26, 2004)

*Re: urgent advice please...."gulping"*

to all of you above, thanks for the input. 

first, not a thing about our day was different, food, nothing.

I wondered about using peroxide to make her upchuck! Didn't have the nerve to do it on my own.

I certainly hope the vet didn't think I was describing reverse sneeze; it was nothing like that.

I did take her outside--after settling down with the benadryl, after an hour nap, she woke and started in again, and I so there we were, at 3:10 am outside (I am a huge wuss at night, out in the boonies where we live!).....and the immediate first thing she did was start ripping up grass by the mouthful! I let her do a bit, then while she did NOT upchuck, she did have a normal stool and settled down after that. Today she is fine, but very subdued.

Unfortunately there is no 24 hr vet clinic around here--at least close. My vet is great in that he and the clinic are like 2 city blocks down the road, and he answers calls right away. I was sort of hoping he'd say he'd meet me there, but he's laid-back, didn't seem to think it required that. However today he did say that if it recurred, he wanted to do a full lab work-up as close to the episode as possible: he had one other dog in his practice with the licking mostly, and it turned out to be pancreatitis.

Thanks again!


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## Shawneeshep (Dec 26, 2004)

*Re: urgent advice please...."gulping"*

Oh, thanks for the simethicone/Phazyme suggestion.....am getting some to add to my medicine supply; makes perfect sense!


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

*Re: urgent advice please...."gulping"*

I had the exact same problem you're discribing twice this week with Cash. Pacing, restlessness, wanting to go outside and eat huge mouthfulls of grass, gulping. Once he threw up and felt much better, the other time I gave him some Pepto and it seemed to help.


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## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

*Re: urgent advice please...."gulping"*

I would get something to relieve gas rather than pepto, just in case it's the beginning of bloat...


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## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

*Re: urgent advice please...."gulping"*

Lisa-I was wondering that-can't bloat last/come on over days or something? I seem to remember hearing that? 

I hope both dogs are doing well.


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## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

*Re: urgent advice please...."gulping"*

With Max, in hindsight, I saw signs about a week before he bloated. I have read that they can go in a state of partial bloat, or the stomach can even twist and untwist for periods of time. That part really sucks. At least I was there when the "for real" bloat happened. Whew!

Dogs are doing okay, they are stable, summer is tough on them. Been away from the board because of family stuff again (elderly parents), and the dreaded hard drive failure (aaaargh!). Thanks for asking


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