Corgi throws up when he drinks water

Our little guy has a problem - about half the time he goes to his water bowl to drink, he ends up pretty quickly throwing it up. We've had him about 3 months (he's maybe 3 years old) and while this wasn't a problem we noticed in the first few weeks, it quickly got to where we are today.

For the past month or so, we've been limiting his water - not leaving a full bowl out. We'll put a little bit of water in his bowl and try to refill it after he empties it. This hasn't really worked, because he will take a big drink with whatever is there and then throw it up - within 15-60 seconds of finishing his drink.

Maybe he's drinking to fast or trapping gas or something. I know this isn't specific to the breed and other dogs have this. I've found 2 possible solutions - there's some special bowl that tries to slow their drinking down or we can take away his water bowl and get him a water bottle like rabbits drink from.

Does anyone else have any suggestions? Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Sunni A. on April 18, 2009 at 1:08am

I've got my dogs in the past to drink more water by doing the soak the food in hot water thing, so the kibble absorbs all the water. This has always worked well for upping the water consumption. Is your water the same, you didn't switch from well water to city water or anything? Are you suddenly cleaning her bowl w/ soap regularly, and she is tasting soap?

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Permalink Reply by Amanda on April 18, 2009 at 8:55am

Dax will throw up if he plays and then drinks too fast or too much, or after he eats and drinks too fast or too much. It could be that, or there could be something wrong. I can't really give any advice, but it does happen to my little one. He's probably just drinking too fast, I would try the bowl that makes him drink slower, that may help.

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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on April 18, 2009 at 10:04am

When was the bowl last washed? Plastic ones tend to trap bacteria, stick with stainless steel, glass or ceramic bowls.

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Permalink Reply by Frank on April 18, 2009 at 11:36am

Thanks for the replies so far. In response:

1 - to Sunni, the issue is not figuring out how to up water consumption. It's that he drinks, then throws up
2 - to Amanda - I think it's exactly this. For whatever reason, he drinks and then throws up. It doesn't feel like he's drinking overly fast, but maybe he is. He tries to get it in there too quickly, maybe he takes in a lot of air, I don't know. But it's a similar problem
3 - to Sam - we wash the bowl at least twice a week. It's ceramic. I don't think it's bacteria. And given how quickly it happens after he drinks, I believe it has to do with "how" he drinks more than it does "what" he drinks.

My wife wants to get him the rabbit-style water bottle and hang it in his crate.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Dadisman on April 18, 2009 at 4:49pm

Rocky does this sometimes when he drinks lots of water at one time. He never loses much of the water he just consumed so I don't worry, I just mop up the mess. It's not a big deal for me.

Try the bowl that slows down their drinking. It is most likely that he is drinking too much too fast. Be sure you don't limit his water consumption especially with summer coming on and with any luck, warmth!!

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Permalink Reply by Cindi on April 19, 2009 at 12:11am

It does sound like he's simply drinking too fast. You can get the water bottles that they have to lick to get the water out. It slows them way down and helps control the throwing up. Another consideration is to raise his bowl so he's not lowering his head to drink.