Hello, My name is Barbara and I live in central England.
My lovely 7 year old German Shepherd has developed a Hiatus Hernia (Acid Reflux). I first noticed this a few months ago when Sophie was continually burping and was uncomfortoble lying down. I had her checked out at the vets and they decided to put a camera down her oesophagus into her stomach and found that the oesophagus was very inflammed . She was not being sick at all and her stool is normal but it was the irritation of the acid that kept comming up from her stomach. The vet put her on Zantac which did no good at all.He also tried some drugs which made her hyper, they were to take the food through her stomach faster therefore reducing food comming back into her oesophagus.
I then tried her on Hill's Prescription food low fat I do not know if it is sold in the USA. However Sophie is not used to dry food and only knows how to eat raw meat and bones. Besides which it cost a fortune for a small bag.
However experimenting with a bit of charcol and half a Gavascon (antiacid tablet) each time she eats 3 small meals per day we have it under control. I do hope this helps others but I am open to other ideas which might help. The vet did say that know one knows how Hiatus Hernia's come about but Sophie is a very excitable (got to be doing dog) which does not help, and this acid reflux is quite common in dogs. Any feed back would be appreciated. The weather here is awfull by the way thundrstormes rain and more rain every day love to the Great USA
from Barbara Worcestershire xxxxx