dog burps loudly after eating

candygirl wrote: »

This sounds like anxiety to me , and it's amazing he is part lab, as all mine were canine dustbins
Think you need a second vet's opinion though x

It definitely is anxiety. He's half whippet, to balance out the labrador greedy guts!

He'll start trembling the minute I say "do you want your dinner?"

Then sit salivating, staring at his food, till he gets up and flees looking for somewhere to hide.

It's like he's frightened to eat.

I'm throwing his food out constantly and it drives me mad.:(

Helen2k8 wrote: »

If a vet said my 9 year old dog wasn't worth the effort, I'd find a new vet. Unless, perhaps, I had a great dane or something similarly huge and short lived.

It sounds to me (disclaimer - not a vet!) like there is or has been some sort of stomach upset that is now either causing physical or psychological issues.
You say it started at 3 years old, did anything in particular happen? Chewed a bottle of household cleaner, or got a stick stuck in their mouth, or.... some sort of internal injury?

Trying the pets at home raw food sounds worth a go, and I would also change your routine. Don't ask about "dinner", don't mention the D word! Perhaps just say "Time for food" or something instead, put down the bowl of food, and walk away. See what happens then.

I agree though with the vet that it's not a physical problem, but anxiety. I don't know why he's anxious - he has no need to be.

But if the smoke alarm battery needs changing, and beeps, he's a nervous wreck, shaking and panting, till the noise is stopped.

Not remotely bothered by things like fireworks though.

When he finds food in the street, like an old KFC bone, he'll freeze and stare at me as if to say, "can I eat it?". Of course I tell him to leave it, and he does, but then if someone offers him a bit of their sausage roll, he'll do the same thing, and scoff it only if I say "go on then".

Sometimes he does that with his food, as if needing my permission to eat.

I say "go on then" and he will sometimes start to eat, then change his mind and walk away. Unless it's steak trimmings or bits of chicken!

He's a very much loved dog, but definitely a very complicated one!

Nebulous2 wrote: »

Do you need to take the food away at all?

We feed our dog on demand. He lives on dried food and basically if his bowl is looking empty or nearly empty whoever is passing will wash it out and top it up.

That means there is absolutely no dramas about food and he eats when he wants. Sometimes he eats after his morning walk, sometimes he doesn't eat until tea time. Quite regularly he will eat after we have gone to bed.

It wouldn't work for every dog - particularly where there are concerns about them putting on weight, but it works for us.

The problem with that is, in this weather, the food will sit untouched in his bowl all day, and because there are doors and windows open, flies come in, and go to the food in the bowl.

So then I have to throw the food away. I have known him not to eat anything at all for two whole days, at which point I'm desperate for him to eat ANYTHING at all, so that's where the bits of chicken etc. come in.