If a person has the ability to control the release of gas from the stomach, then in animals it is absent. Frequent loud belching in your dog is not an indicator of his bad manners, but a signal for the owner, who should pay attention to the health of the animal and its diet.
Burping from your pet is not abnormal if it happens rarely enough. However, recurrent belching may be a sign of some kind of disease of the gastrointestinal tract, or it may indicate that you are feeding the animal unsuitable food for it. What is belching, why does it occur and how to deal with it?
Causes of belching in a dog
Such a phenomenon as belching is an involuntary discharge of gases from the stomach through the oral cavity; in many cases it is accompanied by a specific sound and smell. It is not necessary, but a small amount of its liquid contents can be ejected from the stomach into the oral cavity.
What can provoke a belching in a dog? An excess amount of gas, which is normally present in a small amount in the stomach, may be due to fermentation processes inside it - as a result of eating certain types of food. Also, the reason can be the swallowing of a large amount of air during the meal - this happens if the dog is greedy and quickly grabs food. Finally, belching may indicate the presence of certain medical conditions.
Frequent belching can occur due to the fact that the sphincter separating the esophagus from the stomach does not have a tight enough closure - it can be either congenital or acquired pathology. Gastritis, peptic ulcer and other diseases of the gastric mucosa make it difficult for the normal digestion of food, as a result of which the eaten is in the stomach for too long. This causes putrefactive and fermentative processes with the formation of hydrogen sulfide inside the stomach, a symptom of which may be a fetid belching in the dog.
The dog is belching: what to do?
If your pet is burping too often, which clearly causes discomfort and soreness for the dog, there is probably something wrong with it. Be sure to show the dog to the veterinarian without delaying a visit to a specialist. He will ask you about the animal's lifestyle, its diet and take all the necessary tests.
It is not always possible to diagnose pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract in dogs by visual examination. You may need to take an X-ray of the stomach, an ultrasound of the internal organs, or other examination. Based on its results, the veterinarian will be able to diagnose the animal and prescribe treatment.
