Picture this: It\u2019s 11 p.m. on a Saturday night. You\u2019re roused from your slumber by the sound of your dog throwing up all over the bedroom floor. With a deep sigh, you crawl out of bed, flip on the light and kneel down to clean it up. But wait, you see something dark-colored in the vomit. Blood. Your heart skips a beat. Your dog is throwing up blood. Is a dog vomiting blood life threatening? Do you need to rush your dog straight to the emergency clinic?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n What are the next steps to take for a dog vomiting blood? Photography \u00a9Rasulovs | Thinkstock.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A dog vomiting blood can be a sign of a serious emergency or a minor problem. \u201cIt sounds gross, but you should look closely at the vomit,\u201d says Kelly Diehl, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, scientific communications advisor for the Morris Animal Foundation<\/a>, a nonprofit foundation that funds animal health research. \u201cIs it a just a thread or a few streaks of red blood? Is it a volume of fluid that\u2019s very red, like fruit punch? And is there anything that looks like coffee grounds?\u201d<\/p>\n A small amount of red blood in your dog’s vomit could be caused by simple stomach irritation. \u201cIf [your dog has] an upset stomach and [he\u2019s] been vomiting<\/a> a lot, the stomach becomes so irritated that [he] can have a little bleeding,\u201d Dr. Diehl explains. \u201cSometimes, we see stomach bleeding in pets that are taking non-steroidal [anti-inflammatory] drugs.\u201d So, a dog vomiting blood that looks like just a few\u00a0flecks or streaks of red blood is not necessarily very serious. As long as the bleeding and\/or vomiting doesn\u2019t get worse, you could potentially wait until the next day to contact your vet.<\/p>\n In some cases, a dog vomiting blood necessitates an immediate trip to your veterinarian (or the emergency clinic<\/a>, if it\u2019s after hours). A dog vomiting blood that is uniformly bright red signifies a large amount of bleeding. Black or dark-brown blood that looks like coffee grounds indicates the bleeding has been going on for a long amount of time, so that is very concerning. \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t realize that\u2019s dried, partially digested blood,\u201d Dr. Diehl explains. \u201cThat is almost always serious, even more serious than a streak of red blood.\u201d<\/p>\n Another factor to consider with a dog vomiting blood is your dog\u2019s demeanor. Is your dog acting fairly normal other than throwing up blood, or is he very lethargic and depressed? A dog vomiting blood who\u00a0is also acting very sick\u00a0should go to the vet immediately, even if it\u2019s the middle of the night.<\/p>\n Additionally, a dog vomiting blood should be checked for other sources of bleeding. \u201cFor example, if [your dog] ate something like rat bait, that can cause [him] to vomit blood, but [he’s] usually bleeding somewhere else, too,\u201d Dr. Diehl says. \u201c[He] might be bleeding from the mouth or the nose and swallowing it. Any kind of bleeding that doesn\u2019t seem to be slowing down, from the nose or the mouth, or any other signs of bleeding, including bruising on the skin or passing blood in stool<\/a>, is an emergency. You don\u2019t wait \u2014 you go right in.\u201d<\/p>\n The answer is easy with a dog vomiting blood\u00a0during normal business hours. Call your veterinarian, describe the blood you saw, and ask if your dog needs to come in immediately or if you can take a wait-and-see approach.<\/p>\n However, if your dog is throwing up blood after business hours, consider the appearance and the amount of blood, how your dog is acting, and whether he has any known medical issues or is taking any medications that might be contributing to the bleeding. \u201cIf it\u2019s really a lot of red-looking vomit, versus a streak or flecks, you should come in right away,\u201d Dr. Diehl advises. \u201cWhen you see that much bleeding, you should go in, even if your pet seems to be okay. And if your dog starts feeling really lousy, even if you\u2019ve just seen a little bit of blood, you should go in right away.\u201d<\/p>\n If you choose to wait until morning, always call your vet to report what you saw, even if your dog seems to be feeling better. \u201cDon\u2019t ever just completely blow it off,\u201d Dr. Diehl says. \u201cEven if you don\u2019t see the blood anymore, call and talk with your veterinarian about what your next step should be.\u201d<\/p>\n Tell us:<\/strong> Have you ever dealt with your dog vomiting blood? What caused your dog to vomit blood and how did you treat it?<\/p>\n Thumbnail:\u00a0Photography by Kickers \/ iStock.<\/em><\/p>\n This piece was originally published in 2018.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Did you know? Vomiting blood or coffee-like material can be a sign of gastritis in humans. Find out more >><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Pet expert Jackie Brown has spent 20 years following her passion for animals as a writer and editor in the pet publishing industry. She is contributing writer for\u00a0National Geographic\u2019s Complete Guide to Pet Health, Behavior, and Happiness: The Veterinarian\u2019s Approach to At-Home Animal Care\u00a0(April 2019) and author of the book\u00a0It\u2019s Raining Cats and Dogs: Making Sense of Animal Phrases\u00a0(Lumina Press, 2006). Jackie is a regular contributor to pet and veterinary industry media and is the former editor of numerous pet magazines, including\u00a0Dog World,\u00a0Natural Dog,\u00a0Puppies 101,\u00a0Kittens 101\u00a0and the Popular Cats Series. Prior to starting her career in publishing, Jackie spent eight years working in veterinary hospitals where she assisted veterinarians as they treated dogs, cats, rabbits, pocket pets, reptiles, birds and one memorable lion cub. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two sons and miniature poodle J\u00e4ger. Reach her at\u00a0jackiebrownwriter.wordpress.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Is Your Dog Vomiting Blood? What to Do Next<\/a> by Jackie Brown<\/a> appeared first on Dogster<\/a>. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren’t considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Dogster.com.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n The post Is Your Dog Vomiting Blood? What to Do Next<\/a> by Jackie Brown<\/a> appeared first on Dogster<\/a>. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren’t considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Dogster.com.<\/p>\n Picture this: It\u2019s 11 p.m. on a Saturday night. You\u2019re roused from your slumber by the sound of your dog throwing up all over the bedroom floor. With a deep sigh, you crawl out of bed, flip on the light and kneel down to clean it up. But wait, you see something dark-colored in the vomit. Blood. Your heart skips a beat. Your dog is throwing up blood. Is a dog vomiting blood life threatening? Do you need to rush your dog straight to the emergency clinic?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n What are the next steps to take for a dog vomiting blood? Photography \u00a9Rasulovs | Thinkstock.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A dog vomiting blood can be a sign of a serious emergency or a minor problem. \u201cIt sounds gross, but you should look closely at the vomit,\u201d says Kelly Diehl, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, scientific communications advisor for the Morris Animal Foundation<\/a>, a nonprofit foundation that funds animal health research. \u201cIs it a just a thread or a few streaks of red blood? Is it a volume of fluid that\u2019s very red, like fruit punch? And is there anything that looks like coffee grounds?\u201d<\/p>\n A small amount of red blood in your dog’s vomit could be caused by simple stomach irritation. \u201cIf [your dog has] an upset stomach and [he\u2019s] been vomiting<\/a> a lot, the stomach becomes so irritated that [he] can have a little bleeding,\u201d Dr. Diehl explains. \u201cSometimes, we see stomach bleeding in pets that are taking non-steroidal [anti-inflammatory] drugs.\u201d So, a dog vomiting blood that looks like just a few\u00a0flecks or streaks of red blood is not necessarily very serious. As long as the bleeding and\/or vomiting doesn\u2019t get worse, you could potentially wait until the next day to contact your vet.<\/p>\n In some cases, a dog vomiting blood necessitates an immediate trip to your veterinarian (or the emergency clinic<\/a>, if it\u2019s after hours). A dog vomiting blood that is uniformly bright red signifies a large amount of bleeding. Black or dark-brown blood that looks like coffee grounds indicates the bleeding has been going on for a long amount of time, so that is very concerning. \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t realize that\u2019s dried, partially digested blood,\u201d Dr. Diehl explains. \u201cThat is almost always serious, even more serious than a streak of red blood.\u201d<\/p>\n Another factor to consider with a dog vomiting blood is your dog\u2019s demeanor. Is your dog acting fairly normal other than throwing up blood, or is he very lethargic and depressed? A dog vomiting blood who\u00a0is also acting very sick\u00a0should go to the vet immediately, even if it\u2019s the middle of the night.<\/p>\n Additionally, a dog vomiting blood should be checked for other sources of bleeding. \u201cFor example, if [your dog] ate something like rat bait, that can cause [him] to vomit blood, but [he’s] usually bleeding somewhere else, too,\u201d Dr. Diehl says. \u201c[He] might be bleeding from the mouth or the nose and swallowing it. Any kind of bleeding that doesn\u2019t seem to be slowing down, from the nose or the mouth, or any other signs of bleeding, including bruising on the skin or passing blood in stool<\/a>, is an emergency. You don\u2019t wait \u2014 you go right in.\u201d<\/p>\n The answer is easy with a dog vomiting blood\u00a0during normal business hours. Call your veterinarian, describe the blood you saw, and ask if your dog needs to come in immediately or if you can take a wait-and-see approach.<\/p>\n However, if your dog is throwing up blood after business hours, consider the appearance and the amount of blood, how your dog is acting, and whether he has any known medical issues or is taking any medications that might be contributing to the bleeding. \u201cIf it\u2019s really a lot of red-looking vomit, versus a streak or flecks, you should come in right away,\u201d Dr. Diehl advises. \u201cWhen you see that much bleeding, you should go in, even if your pet seems to be okay. And if your dog starts feeling really lousy, even if you\u2019ve just seen a little bit of blood, you should go in right away.\u201d<\/p>\n If you choose to wait until morning, always call your vet to report what you saw, even if your dog seems to be feeling better. \u201cDon\u2019t ever just completely blow it off,\u201d Dr. Diehl says. \u201cEven if you don\u2019t see the blood anymore, call and talk with your veterinarian about what your next step should be.\u201d<\/p>\n Tell us:<\/strong> Have you ever dealt with your dog vomiting blood? What caused your dog to vomit blood and how did you treat it?<\/p>\n Thumbnail:\u00a0Photography by Kickers \/ iStock.<\/em><\/p>\n This piece was originally published in 2018.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Did you know? Vomiting blood or coffee-like material can be a sign of gastritis in humans. Find out more >><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Pet expert Jackie Brown has spent 20 years following her passion for animals as a writer and editor in the pet publishing industry. She is contributing writer for\u00a0National Geographic\u2019s Complete Guide to Pet Health, Behavior, and Happiness: The Veterinarian\u2019s Approach to At-Home Animal Care\u00a0(April 2019) and author of the book\u00a0It\u2019s Raining Cats and Dogs: Making Sense of Animal Phrases\u00a0(Lumina Press, 2006). Jackie is a regular contributor to pet and veterinary industry media and is the former editor of numerous pet magazines, including\u00a0Dog World,\u00a0Natural Dog,\u00a0Puppies 101,\u00a0Kittens 101\u00a0and the Popular Cats Series. Prior to starting her career in publishing, Jackie spent eight years working in veterinary hospitals where she assisted veterinarians as they treated dogs, cats, rabbits, pocket pets, reptiles, birds and one memorable lion cub. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two sons and miniature poodle J\u00e4ger. Reach her at\u00a0jackiebrownwriter.wordpress.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Is Your Dog Vomiting Blood? What to Do Next<\/a> by Jackie Brown<\/a> appeared first on Dogster<\/a>. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren’t considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Dogster.com.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat to do about a dog vomiting blood<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nIs your dog vomiting blood and exhibiting these symptoms?<\/h3>\n
The bottom line on vet attention for a dog vomiting blood<\/h3>\n
About the author<\/a><\/h3>\n
Read more about dog health on Dogster.com:<\/h3>\n
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What to do about a dog vomiting blood<\/h3>\n
<\/p>\nIs your dog vomiting blood and exhibiting these symptoms?<\/h3>\n
The bottom line on vet attention for a dog vomiting blood<\/h3>\n
About the author<\/a><\/h3>\n
Read more about dog health on Dogster.com:<\/h3>\n
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