Dog stomach gurgling gets a timely clinical reality check
Bottom line
Stomach gurgling in dogs is getting a fresh explainer for pet parents, with Whole Dog Journal publishing a September 9 article by Dr. Debra M. Eldredge, DVM, that frames borborygmi as both common and occasionally clinically meaningful. The piece explains that audible gut sounds can be a normal result of fluid, food, and gas moving through the gastrointestinal tract, especially around mealtimes or in dogs that eat quickly, but it also warns that louder or unusual gurgling can precede diarrhea, vomiting, or other signs of gastrointestinal upset. It points pet parents toward practical steps like slowing food intake, tracking diet triggers, maintaining routine, and ensuring water access. (whole-dog-journal.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this is a useful reminder that a common at-home observation often sits in the gray zone between normal physiology and early GI disease. Reference sources note that borborygmi reflect peristalsis and can accompany hunger or routine digestion, but they can also show up with dietary indiscretion, diarrhea, gastritis, parasites, bowel obstruction, pancreatitis, or other GI pathology. That makes client education especially important: stomach noise alone may not be urgent, but stomach noise plus vomiting, anorexia, lethargy, abdominal pain, retching, or distension changes the triage picture quickly. (petmd.com)
What to watch: Expect continued consumer education around when borborygmi are benign and when they should trigger same-day veterinary evaluation, especially for dogs with concurrent GI signs or suspected obstruction or GDV. (petmd.com)
Key facts
- Publication
- Whole Dog Journal
- Article date
- September 9
- Author
- Dr. Debra M. Eldredge, DVM
- Topic
- Dog stomach gurgling, or borborygmi
- Normal cause
- Fluid, food, and gas moving through the gastrointestinal tract
- Common triggers
- Mealtimes, fast eating, schedule disruption, stress, and food sensitivities
- Possible warning signs
- Diarrhea, vomiting, appetite loss, lethargy, abdominal pain, retching, or distension
- Practical steps
- Slow food intake, track diet triggers, keep a routine, and ensure water access
Whole Dog Journal has published a new pet-parent-facing explainer on dog stomach gurgling, or borborygmi, spotlighting a symptom that veterinarians hear about often but that can mean very different things depending on the rest of the clinical picture. In the September 9 article, Dr. Debra M. Eldredge, DVM, describes stomach noises as frequently normal, while also cautioning that they can be an early warning sign of gastrointestinal upset. (whole-dog-journal.com)
That framing fits with broader veterinary guidance. Borborygmi are the audible result of peristaltic movement of fluid, semisolids, and gas through the GI tract, so some degree of rumbling is expected in healthy dogs, particularly when they’re hungry or shortly after eating. Whole Dog Journal emphasizes common, non-emergent contributors such as fast eating, schedule disruption, stress, and food sensitivities, including reactions to rich treats or dairy in lactose-intolerant dogs. (whole-dog-journal.com)
The more important clinical point is what accompanies the sound. The article notes that unusual gurgling may come before diarrhea and sometimes vomiting, especially after a diet change, trash ingestion, or new treats. Other veterinary references expand that list considerably: increased borborygmi may also be seen with gastritis, parasites, bacterial or protozoal infections, swallowed air, food intolerance, and, in more serious cases, bowel obstruction. Merck’s veterinary guidance on gastritis also highlights vomiting, cranial abdominal pain, anorexia, and the classic “praying” posture as signs that warrant closer workup. (whole-dog-journal.com)
There’s also an emergency medicine angle. VCA notes that abdominal distension and repeated, unproductive attempts to vomit can be early indicators of gastric dilatation and volvulus, a true emergency, while persistent vomiting or diarrhea can point to obstruction, toxicity, or acute GI infection. That means the same client-reported complaint, “my dog’s stomach is gurgling,” can represent anything from normal hunger sounds to a case that needs immediate imaging and stabilization. (vcahospitals.com)
Direct expert reaction to the Whole Dog Journal article was limited, but the wider clinical literature supports its cautionary tone. A WSAVA congress abstract on chronic pancreatitis notes that low-grade or chronic cases may present with increased borborygmi, intermittent anorexia, occasional vomiting, and mild or absent abdominal pain, underscoring how subtle some GI disease can look early on. That’s a useful counterweight to the consumer tendency to dismiss stomach noise as harmless if the dog isn’t acutely ill. (vin.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary teams, this story is less about a new finding than about communication and triage. Pet parents increasingly arrive with symptom-specific online research, and this article is likely to shape expectations around what stomach gurgling does and doesn’t mean. The practical opportunity is to reinforce a simple framework: isolated, short-lived borborygmi in an otherwise normal dog may just need monitoring, diet review, and feeding-management changes, but borborygmi paired with vomiting, diarrhea, appetite loss, lethargy, abdominal pain, retching, or a distended abdomen should move quickly into diagnostic territory. (whole-dog-journal.com)
It also highlights a preventive counseling gap. Whole Dog Journal’s suggestions, including slow feeders or snuffle mats for dogs that bolt their food, trigger tracking, routine feeding schedules, and ready access to clean water, align with the kind of low-burden advice general practices can give before mild GI complaints escalate. For recurrent cases, though, the literature supports looking beyond “sensitive stomach” assumptions to diet history, fecal testing, imaging, and, in select chronic cases, endoscopy and biopsy. (whole-dog-journal.com)
What to watch: The next step isn’t regulatory or corporate, but educational: watch for more consumer-facing GI content that pushes veterinary clinics to sharpen triage messaging around when a noisy abdomen is normal, when it suggests self-limiting gastroenteritis, and when it may signal obstruction, pancreatitis, or GDV. (petmd.com)