Why Is My Dog Feeling Nauseous 2025? Vet Guide to Symptoms & Relief 🤢🐾

By Dr. Duncan Houston BVSc

Dogs can’t say they feel sick—but their body gives clues. Nausea may be silent or include drooling, lip-licking, gagging, or swallowing. Understanding what causes nausea, how to respond, and when to seek help ensures you’re giving your pup the best care. Let’s explore the signs, causes, vet protocols, and home solutions to help your dog feel better quickly.

1. 🧭 What Is Nausea in Dogs?

Nausea is the queasy sensation before vomiting. Dogs can’t verbalize it, but their bodies react:

• Lip‑licking, excessive drooling, and swallowing
• Hunched posture, reduced activity, reluctance to eat
• Retching, gagging, belching, yawning, drooping eyes
• Some vomit yellow bile if empty stomachs irritate the gut

2. 🤔 Common Causes of Nausea

Nausea may result from:

• Diet changes or eating too fast/too much: A Common upset stomach.
• Motion sickness: Car travel can cause drooling and vomiting—often resolved with pre-trip fasting or medication.
• GI irritation: Gastritis from toxins, grass-eating, or foreign items.
• Infection or inflammation: Parasites, pancreatitis, viral or bacterial illness.
• Toxins: Household cleaners, plants, and meds causing GI upset.
• Chronic disease: Kidney, liver, cancer, and reflux.

3. 🚨 When to Contact Your Vet Immediately

• Persistent nausea or vomiting >24 hrs.
• Cannot keep down water or food
• Blood in vomit or stool
• Lethargy, weight loss, fever, belly pain
• Ingestion of a foreign object or toxin.

4. 🩺 Vet Evaluation & Diagnostics

Your vet will take a detailed history—when symptoms started, diet, travel, toxin exposure—and perform exams including:

• Blood work + urinalysis to assess organ function
• Fecal tests for parasites
• X-rays or ultrasound if obstruction or pancreatitis is suspected
• Endoscopy or biopsy for reflux or GI disease

5. 💊 Medical Treatments & Relief

Antiemetic Medications

• Maropitant (Cerenia): Blocks nausea signals—effective for stomach upset and motion sickness.
• Metoclopramide (Reglan): Speeds digestion—good if slow emptying is a cause.
• Ondansetron (Zofran): Rarely used variations, not first-line.

Other Supportive Medications

• Antacids (famotidine, omeprazole) for reflux or ulcers.
• Prokinetics or antacids for reflux disease
• Probiotics like FortiFlora or Woopf digestive chews for gut balance.

Tailored Treatment (if needed)

• Parasite deworming
• Toxin treatments or GI protectants.
• Surgery if obstruction is identified.

6. 🏡 Home Care Protocols

• Withhold food & water for 3–4 hrs, then begin small sips of water.
• Offer a bland diet: rice with plain chicken or low-fat cottage cheese.
• Feed small, frequent meals—teaspoon-sized for small dogs, golf ball-sized for large.
• Water as ice chips first, then slowly ramp up
  
• Track appetite, poop, behavior—reach out on Ask A Vet app if unclear

7. 🌱 Natural Remedies & Soothing Aids

• Ginger: Small doses can calm some dogs.
• Acupressure: Trainers teach gentle techniques for motion sickness.

8. 🐾 Breed & Life Stage Considerations

9. 🛡️ Preventing Future Nausea Episodes

• Introduce new food slowly over a week
• Avoid access to trash, toxins, and foreign objects
• Fast before travel or give an antiemetic
• Keep parasite prevention and vaccines current
• Reduce stress with routines,

10. ✅ Final Takeaways

• Nausea can signal mild upset or serious disease—monitor carefully
• Look out for drooling, lip licking, gagging, and bile
• Vet ASAP if prolonged, bloody, or includes other symptoms
• Cerenia, Reglan, and antacids help, but tailored based on the cause
• Home care: fasting, bland diet, hydration, probiotics
• Preventive measures keep your pup comfortable long-term