This morning, around 2am, Kavik threw up three times and had diarrhea all over his kennel. His throw up was like black sludge consisting of pure mulch, including unaccountable small wooden chips and sticks. His diarrhea was also all black, but I didn’t notice blood or bile in either his stool or throw up. He’s always obsessively eaten grass, dirt, bugs (especially mayflies) and sticks, I’m always pulling things out of his mouth, but this time it seemed to be too much for his system. After sleeping for a couple hours after that horrible episode in which he cried and clawed at his kennel for over an hour, he was still feeling bad from the side effects. The whole ears flat and ‘I don’t feel good’ look, but he wasn’t lethargic and ate a half cup of dry food (instead of giving him a full cup like usual) and drank some water at the usual time in the morning. I don’t know if it could have contributed, but the day before he received his lyme and bordetella vaccines and showed no ill effects that I know of.

After coming back from morning classes there’s no sign of further throw up so I know he can keep a little food down. I just gave him another half cup and he’s acting like he’s still starving. I’m afraid to give him more since I’m sure his stomach is still tender. I warmed up a little bit of chicken broth in the microwave and gave it to him thinking it might help his stomach.

Has anyone experienced this before or have any tips or suggestions? On how to prevent this from happening again or to make him feel more comfortable?

He just pooped outside and it wasn't diarrhea, but it was literally a little pellet of compacted sticks. The stool was still black which i'm guess is from the fresh mulch he ate.

Kavik_the_Havoc wrote:

He just pooped outside and it wasn't diarrhea, but it was literally a little pellet of compacted sticks. The stool was still black which i'm guess is from the fresh mulch he ate.

Digested blood will cause black stool, maybe what he ate has cause lacerations in his throat or stomach, If he's no better by tomorrow I would have him checked out just to be sure.

Kelli0713 wrote:

Digested blood will cause black stool, maybe what he ate has cause lacerations in his throat or stomach, If he's no better by tomorrow I would have him checked out just to be sure.

I didn't think of that. I'm used seeing blood as dark red clots. Poor puppy if he has internal lacerations. I'm watching him closely and will definitely take him to the vet if he throws up again or if his stool doesn't return to normal. He's not acting lethargic, but he's definitely not being as hyper as he usually is. I suppose I wouldn't either if I had been sick all night.

One thing I just learned is some types of mulch are toxic to dogs. I have no idea what kind he ate since it was put in by the apartment complex.

Here is a picture of the mulch. I'm fairly certain it's standard black mulch.

I'm a bit of an overreacter (is that even a word?) lol anyways, I'd take him to the vet asap. Who knows what he ate? Something could be stuck in his stomach/intestines, or as mentioned above it could damaged. Or you can wait it out and see if things get better after a bit, but better safe than sorry some times right?

Also make sure he is drinking water, with diarrhea and vomiting he's probably pretty dehydrated. If he won't drink you'll have to find a way to make it happen (I put my fingers in his water and played with it so he licked at it, and when that failed I used a dropper and basically squirted into his mouth and made him swallow it...a little mean sadly but it was for the best).

vegeta819 wrote:

I'm a bit of an overreacter (is that even a word?) lol anyways, I'd take him to the vet asap. Who knows what he ate? Something could be stuck in his stomach/intestines, or as mentioned above it could damaged. Or you can wait it out and see if things get better after a bit, but better safe than sorry some times right?

Also make sure he is drinking water, with diarrhea and vomiting he's probably pretty dehydrated. If he won't drink you'll have to find a way to make it happen (I put my fingers in his water and played with it so he licked at it, and when that failed I used a dropper and basically squirted into his mouth and made him swallow it...a little mean sadly but it was for the best).

I try not to over react and let things sort themselves out unless the problem is clearly not going to resolve itself. If he were a month younger I might have overreacted and gone straight to the emergency clinic since he was still so small. There's no shame in that.

So far he's drinking normally and has eaten what I've given him with no problem. The most promising thing I’ve seen is when he pooped just a minute ago. He let out another pellet that was half compacted sticks and half stool. This time the stool was a normal, solid light brown color with no mush in between. He thankfully seems to be pushing it all out of his system.

How is Kavik doing? hope he is all better.

Kelli0713 wrote:

How is Kavik doing? hope he is all better.

He's much better. Thank you for asking. No more vomiting besides what he initially had and his stool is back to normal other than being a little mushy. I'd like to think he learned his lesson, but he's right back to trying to eat sticks and everything else he isn't supposed to.

Glad to hear he if feeling better. Hope you don't have to go through that again.

Me either. I can't imagine throwing up sticks let alone pooping them out. It couldn't have been pleasant. Kavik took it like a trooper.

Kelli0713 wrote:

One thing I just learned is some types of mulch are toxic to dogs. I have no idea what kind he ate since it was put in by the apartment complex.

So I know this is a couple days old and I am really glad Kavik is doing better. I just wanted to point out that anytime mulch has coloring (i.e. black or red) it has been stained or dyed and the stain and dyes are what can be toxic to dogs. If it just looks like sticks and leaves that have been through the wood chipper it shouldn't hurt them (other than the potential obstruction/laceration issues).