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Originally Posted by Lolli_lah  Could you elaborate a bit on what that means? Overgrowth of bacteria? What are immediate concerns with that? Thanks so much for your reply! |
Anyone or thing (animal and human) that eats food has bacteria in their system, to help break down the food. There are good bacteria and bad bacteria (that can cause illness). Usually the good bacteria keeps the bad bacteria in check, but sometimes the bad bacteria can get out of control... this is when one might see unexplained vomiting or diarrhea for a day or two until the good bacteria corrects the situation. If it doesn't self-correct, then the vet may prescribe antibiotics, which kill all the bacteria in the gut, and it can take a week or two for the good bacteria to build up again.
I recommended you see your vet because of your dog's history with having a sensitive tummy. Probiotics are products that contain billions of good bacteria that can help digestion. They can also help prevent any bad bacteria from taking over by basically overloading the dog's system with the good bacteria, making it extremely hard for the bad bacteria to thrive.
Any smelly belching or passing gas is a sign that the digestive tract is not functioning at 100%. Good digestion isn't foul smelling, and food shouldn't be creating excess gas in their system. This can be a sign that good bacteria is lacking, food is not being digested completely and leaving the system as it should.
If her belching is smelling like poop (literally) it means food is not passing through her system, and she could have a blockage somewhere. Usually bloating and gasiness will occur at the same time. This could be an emergency situation and needs to be evaluated by a vet asap.
If it's a sour smelling burp, then her food is sitting in her tummy too long, and is turning sour and producing gases. Many dogs will vomit at this point, if alot of sour food is in their tummies. One may see some bloating here too.
If it's sour with no bloating, the food may have stayed in the tummy too long, but is now moving it's way through. One may notice alot of 'tummy noises' coming from the dog, and possible gasiness.
Some dogs are more prone to picking up things and being affected by bad bacteria that ends up in their system. Others aren't affected to much at all, and it just passes through.
Many times if a dog's system is overloaded with bad bacteria, it will show up in their poop. The vet will be able to see it in a sample under the microscope.
Hope this helps...
