During summer, it is normal that your dog will get extremely hot after a long day of training or being outdoors. However, you suddenly realize your dog is throwing up afterward. As such, you will result in cooling it down with a couple of ice cubes.
However, it is not a new concept for dogs to throw up after taking the ice. If you have never experienced such a problem and suddenly it starts to throw up, it can be worrisome. You would probably wonder whether you have been doing it all wrong by giving your dog ice, or maybe it is developing some allergies.
Continue reading this article as we have prepared detailed information to answer why your dog throws up after eating ice and other related questions.
Why Does Ice Make My Dog Throw Up?
Is this a sudden change of behavior in your dog, or has it been so since you got the dog? It is essential to understand when the problem started to determine the exact cause of your dog throwing up. The following are the reasons why your dog is throwing up after consuming ice.
Stomach aches
Ice in itself is not likely to cause stomach problems; however, when a lot of it is ingested, it can result in bloating. As such, if your dog takes the ice, it might end up consuming more water than required, resulting in bloating. This is a life-threatening situation, and your dog might result in vomiting. Thus, when your dog is extremely thirsty, avoid giving it ice; instead, you can crush some ice cubes into liquid and mix it with tap water.
Chocking
It is not a common factor as most dogs do not crush the ice; rather, they drink the melting water of the ice cubes. However, if your dog enjoys crushing the ice with its teeth, it might end up swallowing bigger particles and hence getting choked. This might lead to throwing up in an attempt to get off the choker.
Health problems
If your dog has health issues, especially stomach-related, it is likely to throw up after eating, upsetting the staff like ice. An excellent example that could be making your dog vomit after taking ice is if it has pancreatitis. It is recommended to seek a professional opinion from a veterinarian, especially if this behavior is a sudden one. With proper diagnosis, your dog will receive proper treatment, and it will stop vomiting after taking the ice.
Too much ice
Could it be that you are feeding your dog with too much ice? How many times a day do you feed your dog with ice? What quantities do you feed him? All these questions need an honest answer if you wish to determine the course. Ice is excellent at helping the dog cool after a hot day and even keeping its teeth clean. However, excessive ice feeding can be harmful to the dog. It can cause him to develop severe reactions such as vomiting. No matter how hot it is or how badly your dog needs ice, minimize the amount of ice it can take per day.
How Do You Handle Your Dog’s Vomiting?
Identify the trigger
Does your dog take lots of ice cubes only to come out even before digestion? While this is commonly known as regurgitation and is common among many animals, cold stuff like ice cubes can trigger this effect. If your dog vomits every time after eating ice, it is best to minimize the intake or eliminate it.
Visit a veterinarian
Vomiting is not always an indication that your dog is sick. Most of the time, the situation resolves itself without intervention. However, if the vomiting worsens, it is best to visit a veterinarian for a proper diagnosis.
Give it some belly rub.
Since stomach ache is one of the reasons that could cause vomiting, it is advisable to rub his belly gently to provide comfort. If the stomach issue is too serious, it will go away in a while, and vomiting will stop.
Can Ice Cubes Upset A Dog’s Stomach?
The general answer to this question is No. Ice cubes do not cause stomach upset in dogs. However, eating or drinking too fast, regardless of the temperature, can cause bloating and stomach aches. It is essential to maintain close observation of your dog while drinking to ensure it drinks moderately.
Remedies For An Upset Stomach In A Dog
If your dog has some stomach ache issues, how can you help in resolving the problem? The following are some tips on how you can address your dog’s stomach aches.
Ice cubes
If your dog’s stomach issue is causing diarrhea, it is essential to keep it hydrated. You can opt to use ice cubes instead of water to ensure it gets enough liquid in its body. However, since taking too much water can cause further stomach aches instead of helping, it is essential to monitor the amount of ice your dog is taking.
Bone broth
This is another thing that you can use to keep your dog hydrated while soothing and healing the stomach aches. Simmer the meat with apple cider vinegar until the meat falls off. Continue simmering until the bone marrow has been extracted and released into the water. Cool the water and feed your dog daily.
Canned pumpkin
If your dog is suffering from indigestion, canned pumpkins can be your best resolution. This is because they contain a glycemic index that slowly absorbs any foreign material that might be upsetting the stomach and promotes proper digestion. You can feed them with ½ teaspoon of canned pumpkin for smaller puppies, while adult dogs can get up to 75 pounds.
Visit a veterinarian
If your dog’s stomach issue is beyond home remedies, it is best to seek professional advice. The veterinarian will examine your dog and determine the root course of your dog’s stomachaches. In most cases, the health issue is treatable with medication or can require surgery.
Can Ice Cubes Make A Dog Sick?
Contrary to the myth that ice causes bloating, gasping a large amount of air while drinking very fast is what triggers bloating in dogs. Thus, ice is generally not harmful to your dog. However, it must be given in the right form to avoid choking. While putting some ice cubes in your dog’s drinking water is an excellent way of cooling its body, feeding your dog ice cubes can be dangerous. Why is feeding your dog with ice cubes dangerous?
Teeth breakage
Naturally, dogs are aggressive eaters. Feeding your dog with ice cubes can result in its teeth being brittle following aggressive chewing. While this is by long-short likely to happen, it is best to give your dog crushed ice.
Choking
While dogs love to crush the ice between their teeth, it can endanger their lives. This is because if it accidentally swallows the cubes, it can get choked. This is another reason why you should not feed your dog with ice cubes. Instead, give your dog ice as a reward and, while crushed into smaller particles that cannot chock.
Vomiting
Vomiting is another reason why you should not give your dog ice cubes. If you feed your dog with ice cubes regularly, it might become intolerant to excessive cold resulting in vomiting.
Is It OK For Dogs To Eat Ice?
Ice eating among dogs is not harmful, and therefore, it is OK for dogs to eat ice. Especially during summer, ice is great in keeping your dog hydrated and refreshed. However, safety precautions should be considered to avoid causing injuries to the dog’s teeth, among other issues.
What Are The Health Precautions?
First, it is essential to crush the ice into smaller pieces to avoid your dog getting choked.
Avoid giving too much ice to your dog as it can result in an upset stomach.
Monitor your dog’s ice intake to avoid aggressive drinking, which could result in bloating due to gas buildup.
If your dog has dental issues, avoid giving it ice and other cold stuff as it can irritate the nerves.
Is Ice Good For Dogs?
Hydrating dog’s body
Ice plays a significant role in making the dog’s body stay hydrated, especially during hot summer seasons. Dogs, in most cases, take ice to cool their body. Also, if they have diarrhea, ample fluid can be achieved through the consumption of ice.
Teething
Ice cubes can help with teething among puppies. Thus, if you have a puppy and would like to facilitate his teething processes, giving him ice can be an excellent solution.
Should You Give Ice To Your Dog?
From a general point, the answer is yes. You can feed your dog with some ice whenever deemed appropriate. While ice cubes are not necessarily harmful to your dog, they can potentially result in some health-related issues, including endangering the life of your dog if it gets choked.
As such, the shortcomings outweigh the benefit, which is cooling the dog. In this case, the decision depends on the individual.
What can you do to minimize the risks associated with feeding ice cubes to a dog? To minimize this shortcoming, avoid feeding your dog on ice cubes as they are from the fridge. Instead, crush them into liquid or smaller particles that can easily be swallowed without any problem.
Also, give it moderation to prevent excessive water intake or gasping lots of air while aggressively drinking the ice.
Can Puppies Eat Ice?
Dogs can eat ice while still, they are puppies. It is recommended to give puppies ice cubes while they are teething to help ease their itching gum. However, avoid giving too many ice cubes as their bodies are fully developed to handle extreme coldness.
Further, you can give your puppy frozen toys to help with teething. Alternatively, you can create homemade soothers using frozen vegetables like carrots or even twisting a clean cloth and freezing it for a while.
What Is The Best Way To Feed Ice To Your Dog?
While ice itself is not harmful to the dog, it can endanger the life of the dog if not properly given. How do you prepare ice for your dog to minimize endangerment?
Put a few ice cubes in the dog’s water bowl. The cubes will melt, making the water cool to the desired temperature needed to cool your dog, especially during summer.
Crush the ice particles into smaller particles for the dog to chew. With smaller particles, the risk associated with choking is greatly minimized.
Making an ice lick is another way you can keep your dog entertained, cool and safe at the same time during the summer session.
How much ice do you give your dog?
Moderation is the general answer to this question. Avoid feeding your dog with too much ice in a single day as it can result in vomiting, among other health-related issues.
But how much is too much? There is no exact measure, but you should keep your ice for extreme summer seasons.
Why Does My Dog Like Ice Cubes?
Body cooling
Normally, dogs do not sweat. Instead, they cool their body through panting or through their paw pads. They, therefore, rely on external ways to cool themselves. Drinking cold stuff like ice is one way of cooling their body, especially during summer.
Dehydration
Just like humans, dogs require to stay hydrated all the time. During summer, when they are panting, they lose a lot of water, and therefore replacing the same amount of water intake is necessary.
Teething
If you have noticed your puppy loving ice cubes, it is because it helps them in teething. The jaws are swollen and painful during teething, and by taking the ice, they are soothed, and the dog feels relaxed.
Love Of Chewing
Dogs generally love chewing things. Thus, the love for eating ice cubes could be from the desire to chew. However, since too much intake of ice has its limitations, it is essential to continue with precaution. Allow your dog to chew as it is good for its teeth.
How Else Can You Cool Your Dog?
Ice licks
This is a great alternative to ice cubes for safely cooling your dog. However, you have to be keen on the amount of intake your dog consumes.
Cooling vest
During the outdoors, especially in summer, keep your dog comfortable and cool by using a cooling vest.
A wet towel
This is another way you can keep your dog cool, especially when you are indoors. Soak a clean towel in ice water and wrap it around the dog’s body. This will keep the dog cool and active.