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My dog retched but only vomited bile. Is it bloat or indigestion?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | German Shepherd | Female | spayed | 2 years old | 55 lbs

Piper is a German Shepard pit mix. She was napping earlier and started retching. It continued for about 10 seconds and she only vomited a small dot of bile. She retched one other time a few weeks ago, also not producing anything. Should I be worried of bloat or torsion, or does it seem more like indigestion?

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Claudia Fioravanti

Veterinarian

Published on January 13th, 2019

Hi, if the retching has ceased after those 10 seconds and after Piper brought up that little bit of bile I would not worry about a possible Bloat/GDV. With bloat and gastric torsion, normally they are unable to settle, pacing around distressed and on and off retching unproductively. They are salivating, and looking very distressed. As time goes by, the tummy becomes swollen but this is not always visible until things have progressed quite a bit. Hope this helps ! I would wait and keep an eye on her, if she vomits/ retches again within the next hour, have her checked over so she could have some medications to help her and make her feel better ! If she should look distressed, panting, and pacing I would have her checked over right away.

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    Answered By Dr. Massimo Orioles, DVM, Cert AVP, MRCVS

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    If she keeps retching and trying to vomit without any success, bloat and possible torsion are definitively something to be concerned about and a check up would be required. If not retching or trying to vomit any more, I would suggest to withhold food for the next 8-12 hours and then start feeding with a bland diet based on boiled chicken and rice in small portion every 6 hours for the following 48hours. Then gradually reintroduce the normal diet over 5 days. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!

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