Persistent vomiting and blood vomiting have very serious consequences. Deep chested breeds of dog can have painful vomiting and abdominal swellings from a condition called gastric torsion. Infections such as parvovirus, distemper, leptospirosis and hepititas sometimes cause bloody or projectile vomiting when the whole contents of the stomach are ejected. Inflammation of the pancreas (acute pancreatitis) and colon (colitis) cause vomiting and pain.

Treatment

Veterinary attention is required for severe vomiting and gastric torsion which needs immediate life saving surgery. Preventative vaccinations protects your dog against viral diseases such as parvovirus and the bacterial diseases are cured with antibiotics. Specific drugs can treat acute pancreatitis and colitis.

Diarrhoea

Dogs can get diarrhoea with very little discomfort when it is due to food intolerance, under active pancreas (chronic pancreatitis) or roundworms. More serious symptoms such as explosive diarrhoea or watery, sometimes with blood can occur with bacterial and viral infections like salmonella, parvovirus or hepatitis.

Treatment

Fasting for 24 hours then eating a small bland meal should cure the dog's diarrhoea. Contact your vet if the symptoms continue for two days or more. Explosive, bloody and painful diarrhoea needs immediate veterinary attention.

Overeating or weight gain

Sugar diabetes causes your dog to be craving great quantities of food, increased thirst and weight loss. If your dog's body does not produce enough digestive enzymes (pancreatic hypoplasia) he will be always starving, although he will be wanting to be eating massive amounts of food. An under active thyroid gland (hypothyroidism) slows down the metabolism but encourages weight gain, together with some hair loss and lethargy. Boredom can also make a dog eat more and if you have more than one dog they may compete for food.

Treatment

Sugar diabetes is treaded by insulin injections that you give your dog every day. Pancreatic hypoplasia is treated with enzyme supplements and is diagnosed by testing the blood and stools. The thyroid gland problem can be diagnosed through a blood test and treatment can control it. If your dog has none of these problems then you must assume that your dog is bored or competition between dogs is causing the weight gain. Your dog may need to be fed on a low calorie food that can be purchased from your local Pet Shop.

Constipation

The anal glands may be blocked, infected or abscessed and causing the dog to be constipated. If the dog licks or drags his bottom on the ground it may be because he can't open his bowels. If your dog swallows bones they can sometimes collected and block the large intestine or he has an enlarged prostate pressing on the colon, pelvic fractures or nerve damage can all be quite serious conditions that can cause constipation. A bulge on either side of the anus could be a perineal hernia impacted with faeces.

Treatment

Anal glands can be emptied by your vet, by squeezing them until they are empty but your dog will need antibiotics if they are infected or abscessed. Impacted bones need enemas and if this doesn't work, sometimes surgery to manually evacuate the stool. Prostate enlargement is treated with hormones and antibiotics. Pelvic fractures can be repaired surgically but any nerve damage is often irreversible.

Loss of appetite

If your dog asks for food but can't eat it, it could be either he has discomfort in his mouth or the pain is somewhere else. He may not even ask food if he feels nauseous. Excited or worried dogs sometimes lose their appetites.

Treatment

A lack of appetite in a dog that normally enjoys his food is an indication that something is wrong. A veterinary examination will determine the cause.