My 2 year old golden retriever keeps gagging as if he needs to vomit but never does. He also will not stop eating grass. I know they usually do this to vomit but he still hasn't vomited. Both problems started 2 days ago... anyone know what's wrong?

2 days... sounds like he needs to be seen by a vet. He may have something lodged.

Hi ryan... he could have some sort of throat infection.The fact that he's gagging doesn't always mean that he's going to vomit, it could also be an allergic reaction to something.
He might have swallowed something he shouldn't have, it may have gone down but scratched his throat on the way, a bit like we do sometimes.

Best take him to the vet, they'll sort him out very quickly, he'll be fine.

Don't leave it though just in case he has something stuck there.. ok

Or It Could Be Nothing Serious Take Your Dog To The Vet Just To Have Him Checked Out I Have A 3month Old Rottweiler And She's Being Doing That Since Day 1 Never Stopped Since Ive Taken Her To Dozen Of Vet But They All Say The Same Thing Its Nothing Even The X-ray Shows Nothing

My dog for the last day or more has been gulping hard. But he eats, drinks, chases the ball but he seems desperate to eat plants, even dry fox tails... he chokes every now and then like he wants to throw up but doesn't...

This could be the beginning of congestive heart failure. My beagle would do this where he would not be able to stop gagging ( mostly in the evening), and have a strong desire to eat grass. ( dog doesn't know why he is gagging, so wants to eat grass to make himself puke).

Years later, my Lhasa Apso is starting to do this. It ALWAYS occurs at night when he is trying to sleep. He has a strong gag or 2, and starts licking everyhing in the house. Carpet, floors, you name it. He goes hysterical until you let him outside so he can eat grass too. He never gags anything up, and eventually his desire to eat grass subsides and he comes into the house. For the rest of the night ( and sometimes the next day) he swallows hard and it sounds like he is has a swollen throat or something.

You have two things going on here. First, dogs DO NOT eat grass to make themselves vomit. Mostly they eat grass because it probably has a certain appealing taste. It is the time of the year for the grass to be nice and fresh. Because they vomit afterwards is simply because the grass is irritating to the stomach.

If any animal really 'needs' to vomit, the body does it on it's own. Only people think vomiting is the answer to a 'night of excesses'. If anything, ridding themselves of liquid that hasn't gotten entirely into their system will usually improve their well-being in the morning. Is your dog that logical and knowledgeable?

On the other hand, if we have a slightly upset stomach, we frequently eat a little something because it often helps. This logic isn't beyond a dog's ability to come up with... and grass is often too handy to pass up. That it makes them vomit is not the intent of the dog, it usually just happens as I said before, whether they have an upset stomach or not.

The second thing is, possibly, tonsillitis, or an otherwise 'sore throat'. Dogs have tonsils and if/when they 'swell, they create the need to swallow to get rid of whatever must be in their throat. This doesn't take conscious thought... it's a reflex. Eating grass at this time may further irritate the throat, and stimulate the gag reflex even more. For example, anything actually stuck in the throat causes a more frantic animal, and won't permit either vomiting or swallowing anything besides liquid to happen.

Do whatever you can to discourage his eating any more grass for a day or two. Then, if there is no improvement, a trip to the vet would be more in order.

Just to point out, the original thread, started by Ryan, was started in 2008, and Ryan never came back to update us on his dog.

The piggyback question started by Sandkat was posted in June 2010. Because he posted on an old thread, and didn't start his own, his question wasn't seen, and therefore never answered.

I'm fairly sure that he's found a solution to his dogs situation in the last 10 months. :)

Please check dates before posting. Although any information is helpful, it's unlikely anyone will even see your post because of the age of this thread, especially the OP, who hasn't posted in almost a year.

Thanks.

Appropriate comment, I also remind myself.
However embarrassing it is to have done so, it is equally irritating to have those OLD questions keep reappearing in the 'recent' updates. They seem far removed from the recent category.. In this age of electronic wizardry, can not the database of questions not include a date, and filter to preclude them from appearing, as I have seen, years later? As you suggested, it is unlikely to be seen at such a late date. Then why did it appear just lately?

I guess I'm just spoiled, from a site that took care of answered, and ancient questions.

Thank you for the gentle admonition, anyway.

No worries. It happens to all of us.

I agree that these old questions shouldn't pop up. Lately it's been happening more and more. I don't know why.

I've posted on old threads too. Unfortunately there's no way to archive them. We do want the threads available for others to view, in case they have a similar issue. In order to close it someone has to manually go to each old thread and shut it down. Too many threads to consider doing that. :)

The OP (original poster, right?), should be the one to close the thread by simply accepting one, or all the answers received. Make it a check box, and have that be the selector for archiving? Maybe it's simply a matter of won't, rather than can't do it, but , 'tis not for me to say. Thanks for the 'ear'.

Typically a good sign that the thread is older than the hills is the amount of views. No way does a new thread get over 2000 views.. That's usually what I look for before I answer lol

I have to disagree with allowing the OP to close his her own thread. That's too much like wiki answers. Next we'll have the OP choosing which answer is best. How the heck would they know? If they knew the best answer, they wouldn't be asking the question. ;)

Most times they choose the answer they want to hear, not the most accurate one.

But, since I can close this thread, I will.

That's the thing, I spent a good hour or more individually closing all the old threads, every single one of them.
I think in the new skin they can post on whatever they want, closed or not which is worrying.