Cooper's Weak Tummy, My Mistakes, Caloric Intake
 

I'm sharing my story in hopes that it will be an eye opener for others. I think Cooper will be fine.

Thursday morning Cooper woke up and vomited bile. I'm familiar with him doing this as he's always had a fairly weak stomach. However it's been months, maybe ever 6 since I've seen him do this. Assuming he was hungry I fed him a cookie and he was fine. He and Max played throughout the day and Cooper ate both breakfast and dinner with no problems. We took our daily walk and spent some time training.

That evening after playing ball, Cooper drank some water and vomited it up all over the kitchen floor. Now I'm a little concerned.

Next morning Cooper wakes up and throws up bile. I call the vet immediately and visit 1 hour later. No fever, no pain, no mouth problems, not lethargic - everything checks out. My vet asks me about his food intake because she knows his food history and weak belly issues. I told her about 2/3 cup of Life's Abundance daily. She asked about treats. I explained that I've been giving more treats than normal because we have been consistently working on training for weeks. He's been getting Zukes, cookies, cheerios, Three Dog Bakery Treats, dehydrated fruits. And after telling the vet it became so obvious that I made my dog sick.

She prescribed over the counter antacid and said to watch him a few days. She gave him a shot of antacid to get him started. 3 hours later he vomited bile. I was able to get him to eat his kibble by throwing it across the floor and making a game out of it.

The next morning he vomited all of his food. I emailed my vet (it was sunday) because at this point I'm afraid it's something more serious - possible blockage. She explained that she didn't believe it was a blockage as Cooper would have vomited almost immediately.

Cooper is now on his 3rd day of chicken and rice. He hasn't vomited in 2 days and this morning I added a little kibble to his bowl. He is eating no treats whatsoever. He's also eating no cottage cheese in the evenings. I've been giving him cottage cheese with his Zyrtec every night because of his licking/smacking lips issues (which still hasn't stopped after 10 months). I'm thinking perhaps he's lactose intolerant.

I know this post is long but I'm getting somewhere with it. I learned just how much food I was giving to Cooper especially during training. He wasn't eating his regular kibble like he should have been because I was over stuffing him with treats and cookies! My vet showed me a shocking chart about calories and giving dogs people food. This was truly an eye opener.

Did You Know?

• Did you know that for a 20 pound dog, 1 small oatmeal cookie is the caloric equivalent of 1 hamburger or 1 entire chocolate bar for a person?
• Did you know that for a 20 pound dog eating just 1 hotdog is the same as a person consuming 3 entire hamburgers or 2 whole chocolate bars?
• Did you know only 1 ounce of cheddar cheese for a 20 pound dog has the same number of calories as 2 ½ hamburgers or 1 ½ chocolate bars do for a person?
• Did you know that if a 10 pound cat ate just 1 ounce of cheddar cheese it would be the same as if a person ate 3 ½ hamburgers or 4 whole chocolate bars?
• Did you know that just 1 potato chip for a 10 pound cat is the caloric equivalent of ½ of a hamburger or ½ of a chocolate bar for a person?
• Did you know that for a 10 pound cat, 1 cup of milk has the same number of calories as 4 ½ hamburgers or 5 chocolate bars do for a person?
(study by Hill’s Pet Nutrition)

Poor Cooper. I hope his tummy is back to normal quickly.

It's soooo easy to over feed during training sessions, I know I made Rhett sick with the treats the first couple of weeks of class before I switched to just the cheerios and carrots.

That is an eye opening chart. The cheese really took me by surprise, that's a favorite treat of Rhett and Scarlett's. Thanks for sharing the information.

WHOA!!! Well you sure opened MY eyes!!! Thank you sooo much for posting this!!! Sassafras will begin a lower calorie diet today thanks to you. I would feel HORRIBLE if I made my baby sick! :aimeeyork

Wow, sure enlightened me. Treats are now on the very limited list.

I hope Cooper is feeling better soon!

We like to use the Zukes Mini Naturals that are about the same size as a pencil eraser, and I then split them in half with my thumbnail for training. I believe each treat is 2 calories, so, in theory, when we train each treat is only 1 calorie. :)

Thanks for sharing...i try to limit treats to one in the morning when i go to work and one in the evening...my kids are always asking if they can give them treats and I tell them no...they havent been eating much of their kibble the last couple of days and now im wondering if someone is sneaking in some treats when im not there...

I've been training my dogs for about a total of 2 hours per day, split throughout the day. During walks they get treats when they heel. During the day they get treats when they "come". They get treats when they "QUIET". They get treats when they are calm in the car. I haven't particularly paid much attention to the amount of treats because we are so focused on training/rewarding. I split the Zukes in 1/2. But I'll give them a peanut butter dog cookie throughout the day or sometimes give them tiny pieces of chicken or cheese during training. Cooper loves carrots so I may give him a baby carrot as well. It doesn't seem like a lot at a time however at the end of the day I'm left wondering why he doesn't eat his food for dinner. They may chew a bully stick in the evening.

I'm hopeful that Cooper will start to feel better so we can resume training. I'll have to figure out how to reward him at that point. Max has a stomach made of steel.

Cooper also has a licking/smacking lips behavior in the evenings. My vet and I both thought/think it's allergies and he's been on Zyrtec. Cottage cheese is used as a vehicle to get him to take his pill. I'm certain it's too much cottage cheese or perhaps he can't have dairy.

I hope Cooper's tummy is feeling better soon!!

Great post Karen. :thumbup::thumbup: Good reminders for everyone.

For training, start alternating between treats and praise. Try using kibble taken from meal allotments for rewards and save the high-value treats for training new tricks or behaviors, maybe once a week. I often joke that Teddy doesn't work for free, but he has learned to do things for praise alone. That is part of the training, learning to do things for praise alone.

What about making the transition to clicker training? The click let's them know a treat is coming, but helps delay/reduce the number you actually give them.

I will definitely try kibble. I always figured he wouldn't accept kibble as a reward and he never did, probably because he was expecting a treat. Heck, Max would take a rock as a reward :)


Yes we are doing clicker + treats. And I have slowed down the treats during the walks especially because they understand the click means they are doing something good. I just think that all the past overfeeding may have finally caught up with Cooper. Once Cooper is regulated I will not be giving him any treats at all (until i can find out what doesn't agree with his tummy) and I'll try kibble as a reward. He's also ball obsessed but I haven't quite figured out how to use that as a reward. He sees the ball and then won't do anything.

A rock! :yelrotflm

Great post. The calorie comparison chart was an eye opener. I made the same mistakes with Buster when I was initially training him for the potty, come, etc and now have a dog that is 2lbs overweight and a treat addict. It has been hard getting him to reduce. I have drastically cut back his treats, and tried to cut back his food 5% but he just ended up eating his poop :(. I am trying to get him to exercise more but he is reluctant to walk lately and will sit down and not want to budge. I am not sure if the arthritis in his 2 front legs, LP in his 2 back legs one had surgery in Oct, are bothering him or if he is just being....a Yorkie. I hope Copper is feeling better.

I am so relieved Cooper is going to be fine. Thanks for sharing the story. I did the same thing with overtreating. After similar tummy upsets with treating Tibbe, I began to put some of his kibble in the Treat Jar and treated him with his kibble. He snorted and snorted at first as he definitely knew the difference but very soon he accepted the kibble treats as true treats and loves to get them now just as he did whatever actual treats I had been giving for regular training. Occasionally during reinforcement training of "Come", "Leave It" , "Stay" and some of those types of potential life-saving commands, I will give him true high-value treats such as small bits of hotdog or meat but his routine, daily training treats still is just kibble from the Treat Jar. He is more excited with the idea of showing off by completing his work and training and getting his praise and/or a treat reward than what than what kind of treat it is. And no more upset tummy from excess treats.

Poor Cooper...hope he is better! Thanks so much for this post, Karen. Very valuable information!
Kibble is good....also green beans for treats!