The first time I ever heard "the gulpies" I had no idea what they were. At first, I thought my dog, Koda, a Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier, just had the hiccups. Although he was gulping along with the hiccups at the same time, and they seemed very aggressive. He seemed to be pretty distressed. He was obsessed with eating anything he could. He was eating rugs, dust bunnies, dirt, rocks, you name it. If it was on the floor or ground and loose, he ate it. The first time we experienced this, he ate a rug. I was pretty freaked out and called the vet because I was concerned that it would cause internal problems. My vet made me give him hydrogen peroxide to make him throw up. He did throw up, but nothing came up with it other than fluid. However, the next day, I found a pile of vomited rug fibers, so I guess he must have thrown up again later during the night.
Needless to say, this episode terrified me, and I wanted to find out what was going on. I am your typical crazy "Google" person and use Google for everything! I am notorious for searching out symptoms and trying to find answers for things I don't have answers to. I jumped on my computer and typed, "my dog is hiccup gulping and eating everything." Nothing initially popped up that described exactly what I had witnessed. However, I kept searching and eventually came across a couple of threaded discussions. I was surprised that the majority of the people talking about these symptoms were Wheaten owners. Although, not exclusively. There were a few other breeds that had experienced this as well, but it still seemed to be more common with the Wheaten breed.
Another interesting fact was that everyone that had experienced this with their dog stated that none of their vets could diagnose the issue. However, many were saying that they thought it was related to acid reflux and would give their dog some Pepcid, Tums, or Pepto and it seemed to stop the problem. Most would say the episodes would last between 20 to 30 minutes, although it could be less, or go longer. There was also discussions that it could be caused from food allergies or possibly eating their food too fast. Some suggestions were to change to a grain-free diet, put their food in bowls that slow down their eating, as well as lift their bowls higher for eating, as it may ease digestion.
(To be continued)
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