Why Is Your Dog’s Stomach Making Noises, Is It Normal?

Most people are curious about why the stomach of their dog makes noise. If you are one of them, I’ll explain some of the reasons why this happens, its treatment, and some preventive measures you can use. The noise inside your dog’s stomach is normal. However, there are times when it is accompanied by alarming symptoms that indicate serious health problems for your dog. If your dog has one or more of these symptoms, seek the help of veterinarians immediately.

Dog’s Stomach Making Noises: Explained

The noise in your dog’s stomach is usually caused by moving gas through its digestive system. The gas moving within the intestines is called borborygmus in medical terms. It’s not usually audible unless you’re placing your ear against your dog’s stomach.

While making rumbling and gurgling noises sometimes is normal for a dog’s stomach, it may also indicate severe disease. Among the observed symptoms are lethargy, diarrhea, fever, vomiting, loss of appetite, and depression. If these symptoms appear, take your dog to a veterinarian. A veterinarian can determine the primary reason for the noise in the stomach and the appropriate treatment methods.

Reasons Why Dog’s Stomach Makes Noises

Here are some of the factors that can explain the noises in the stomach of your dog. Digestion is a natural cause behind it, but there are also cases where it is a result of alarming diseases such as intestinal parasites, swallowing air, starvation, foreign objects, pancreatitis, and inflammatory bowel diseases or IBD.

Digestion

During the digestion process, the gastrointestinal tract breaks down the food that moves around along with the gasses involved in the process. Some of the organs that function during digestion also move a bit that explains why a dog’s stomach produces noise. There are instances where the sound is louder than normal, when there is a lot of gas in the digestive tract, or when there is increased activity in the gastrointestinal tract. A dog eats food in an empty stomach, for instance.

Intestinal Parasites

One of the reasons why the stomach of your dog is making noises might be due to intestinal parasites. These parasites can make your dog very sick. The worst thing is that intestinal parasites can also be transferred to humans. It can pose a threat to puppies that can lead to poor growth and development.

Here are the common intestinal parasites:

• Roundworms – a dog with major roundworm infection, mostly puppies, can experience one or more symptoms including vomiting, diarrhea, dull hair, pot-bellied appearance, weight loss, and more.
• Hookworms – it is a parasite that attaches to the lining of the intestinal wall and consumes your dog’s blood. It hatches egg through your pet’s digestive tract and spreads through dog feces in the environment.    
• Coccidia – a single-celled parasite that lives in the intestinal wall of your dog. It is most prevalent in puppies as well as older ones.
• Tapeworm – a dog may be infected with this parasite when if it accidentally swallow a small infected flea. Fleas carry tapeworm’s larvae which can cause itching of your dog’s bottom.
• Giardia – a protozoan parasite infecting the dog’s gastrointestinal tract leading to weight loss, diarrhea, and lethargy.

Intestinal parasites can cause:

• Vomiting
  • Swollen abdomen
  • Diarrhea
  • Emaciation
  • Failure to nutrients absorption
  • Lethargy
  • Intestinal obstruction

Swallowing Air

A dog hurrying to finish his meal will most probably swallow a lot of air along with his food. The air within their intestines produces noises within their stomach. It can also cause stomach pain, choking, vomiting, and flatulence to eat too quickly. Swallowing air while eating can trigger bloating, some researchers say. It’s a hazardous disease for dogs that may lead to death.

Bloating or gastric dilation occurs when the stomach expands and dilate due to air. If a dog is not treated properly for this disease, it may lead to death. The reason behind this is that the blood vessels in the intestinal wall and abdominal cavity are tightened by a bloated stomach that causes hypovolemic shock.

Hunger

Most people think of stomach noises as a sign of being hungry. But it turns out to be one of the possible reasons why their stomach makes noises. Before lunch and breakfast, these hunger noises are most specific. Therefore, many vets suggest 2 or 3 small served meals instead of one feisty meal.

A dog with an empty stomach may vomit bile, this disease is called the syndrome of bilious vomiting. You can feed your dog with some home-made food such as rice and well-cooked, cooked potatoes, and skinless chicken to treat this. If the symptoms persist, take him to a veterinarian for adequate mediation.

Foreign Object

Unfortunately, dogs may be too curious, which leads them to swallow foreign objects such as fabric, rock, plastic, or toys. When foreign objects arrive in the digestive tract, they can initiate a painful blockage that may lead to constipation, gagging, lethargy, vomiting, and your dog refusing to eat.

Intestinal blockage can cause a hole tear in the intestinal walls. It is a severe, life-threatening disease for your dog, so be sure to keep small objects away from their reach. If you know a foreign object has been swallowed by your dog, send it to a veterinarian immediately.

Pancreatitis

The pancreas is a gland that secretes hormones and digestive enzymes. Once it produced an excessive amount of digestive enzymes, this can break down the pancreas of your dog. When your dog’s stomach is making noise, it might the pancreas having trouble. An inflamed pancreas is the result of genetic predisposition, obesity, high fat diet, trauma, hypothyroidism, and medications.

Other symptoms include:

• Pain
• Continuous Vomiting
• Distended Abdomen
• Dehydration
• Weakness
• Fever
• Loss of Appetite

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Another reason why the stomach of your dog makes noise may be due to inflammatory bowel disease, a digestive tract infection. This condition of health in dogs is most frequently triggered by infectious agents, abnormalities of the immune system, genetics, and the response of their body to a specific protein in their food. Some of the particular food allergens that cause IBD to dogs are food additives, preservatives, wheat, milk proteins, and meat proteins.

When your dog has this condition, you may notice him experience vomiting, depression, loose bowel movements, mucus in the stool, and anorexia. In some cases, IBD can be very dangerous and refractory to treatment. More so, it is essential if you discuss it with a veterinarian immediately when they develop.

Dog’s Stomach Makes Noises Treatment

If the noise in the stomach of your dog comes with other symptoms, instantly take it to a veterinarian. These professionals can identify your dog’s condition. However, they will need to know the medical history of your dog and other information to help with the treatment.

The initial step a veteran will perform to your dog is physical examination such as taking his temperature, weight, palpitations of the abdomen, and heart rate. Other examinations like serum chemistry panel, complete blood count, fecal exam, urinalysis, and abdominal x-rays might also be included.

For treating internal parasites, a vet will recommend deworming medications for your dog. He may also suggest disinfecting and cleaning the toys and bedding of your dog, which are some of the primary parasite carriers. Aside from that, you may also need to remove your dog’s feces in your yard where your pet is exposed.

If your dog swallowed a foreign object, removal through surgery is highly needed. One of the most popular methods is through endoscopy, wherein a long tube enters the dog’s mouth to pull the foreign object out of the stomach.

A vet will most probably encourage you to feed your dog with supplements of pancreatic enzymes for pancreatitis and alter their diet to a low-fat diet. Finally, dogs with the inflammatory intestinal disease may be handled with immunosuppressants, corticosteroid and antibiotic drugs, and dietary changes.

Preventive Measures

One of the best ways to prevent the accompanying issues of noise in your dog’s stomach is to get a deworming medication treatment for him. This way, intestinal parasites won’t be able to grow inside their intestines, and it can kill the existing parasites. Also, do not feed fatty foods to your dog, especially table scraps. It among the causes of pancreatitis which you have to avoid.

You can also provide smaller meal servings for your dog like 2 to 3 meals per day and separate feeding him from other dogs. This way, he will slow down eating since he has no competition for the food. If you think that this method is not working on your pet, you can find slow feeder bowls for dogs in stores. Some of the things you can find at home that can provide a similar benefit are flipped over dog bowl or cheap bundt cake pan.

Conclusion

To sum up, dogs are adorable creatures that need adequate care and affection, just like all livestock. Moreover, it is essential to understand what causes their pain, how to treat them, and the methods you can do to avoid the reoccurrence of such circumstances.

Keeping your dog’s health in the best condition can allow them to live longer and better. It can also enable them to communicate more nicely with you and others. So, make sure you give them the appropriate care to prevent other health problems that come along with their stomach rumbling and gurgling.