Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Common causes of vomiting in dogs and how tests help diagnose
By Rosé, A & Neiger, R·Published in Tierarztliche Praxis. Ausgabe K, Kleintiere/Heimtiere·2013·Small Animal Clinic, Germany·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Causes of vomiting in dogs and usefulness of clinical investigations.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 213 dogs was referred to the vet mainly for vomiting, and they found that most of these dogs had an underlying health issue. The most common causes of vomiting were gastrointestinal problems, but many dogs also had systemic issues, including kidney problems. The study highlighted that no single test could diagnose the cause of vomiting, and often multiple tests, like blood work and urinalysis, were needed to find the problem. Understanding this can help pet owners know that if their dog is vomiting, it might take several tests to figure out what's wrong.
People also search for: dog vomiting causes · kidney problems in dogs · dog vomiting treatment · why is my dog throwing up · tests for dog vomiting
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To find the most common diagnoses of dogs where vomiting was the main reason for referral and to determine the usefulness of various diagnostic investigations. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 213 dogs referred for vomiting as main or one of the main causes were analysed retrospectively. Diagnosis was reassessed and categorized into six groups, namely gastrointestinal, systemic, non-gastrointestinal abdominal, neurological, miscellaneous or no diagnosis. All diagnostic investigations were reviewed to assess their usefulness to reach a diagnosis. The usefulness of a diagnostic investigation was scored into the following four groups: enabled a diagnosis; assisted a diagnosis; no assistance, diagnosis reached by another procedure; no assistance, no final diagnosis made. RESULTS: In 203 dogs (95.3%) a diagnosis was reached and was categorised as gastrointestinal (43.7%), systemic (27.7%), non-gastrointestinal abdominal (16.4%), neurological (1.4%) and miscellaneous (6.1%). Laboratory tests enabling or assisting a diagnosis as blood tests in 12.2%; 26.8%, as faecal analysis in 6.6%; 1.4%, as ultrasound in 5.2%; 17%, as cytology in 3.3%; 4.2%, as urinalysis in 2.3%; 9.9% and as radiographs in 1.9%; 8.5% of all cases. CONCLUSION: Overall, there was a high incidence of dogs referred for vomiting with non-gastrointestinal diseases. Amongst them, renal problems were most commonly seen, which emphasises the need to perform a urinalysis in most dogs with vomiting as major complaint. However, vomiting can be due to a large variety of underlying pathophysiological mechanisms and no single problem seems to be much more common compared to other problems in a referral institution. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Based on this investigation it is not possible to clearly state a most useful single diagnostic test in dogs with emesis, however, it could clearly been shown that more than one test is often needed to reach a final diagnosis. This is important for owners to understand but also for referring veterinarians.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23403783/