Before I take my 10 yr old to the vet (as it's an ordeal for both him & me) can anyone give me any advice please?
For a while now he's been sick most mornings, either early hours of the morning or when we get up/on our walk.
Most of the time it's the yellow bile, sometimes (if early hours) brown vomit with partially undigested food.  This morning it was 1am and brown vomit.  Yesterday it was 7am and yellow bile.
He gets fed twice a day (morning and late afternoon), then we've been giving a couple of biscuit treats at bedtime to see if it makes any difference.  Sometime it does, but he's being sick more often than not.
He's completely fine in every other respect, not off his food, etc.
Does anyone have any idea/advice before I make a vet's appointment, or advice on what I should ask them to check/test for?
Thanks in advance.

I would not be worried about yellow bile alone. However, it does sound like there is something else going on that may need further investigation. Have you wormed him recently? That would be my first move just to rule that out and probably the first thing the vet will ask you if you have done. It does sound like a trip to the Vet may be in order though - just to be on the safe side.

Thanks.  Yes, he was wormed just before Christmas.

I had one who'd do this (not an oldie initially) and I tried everything I knew to sort this out.   Including giving him a small meal of tinned Chappie last thing.   Eventually I found a food that didn't cause this - Winalot.   It was a nuisance having to have him on a separate diet, but frankly as it stopped all that, it was worth doing.

It's usually either a sign of an empty tummy, or perhaps some irritation (which would be caused by the stomach having nothing to work on, perhaps?) causing a digestive upset.

It might be worth getting your vet to run bloods (I'm not sure I'd worm him unless a fecal check suggests this is needed - it's putting a chemical into the system after all), in case something is going wrong, age-related.

ps   You might try putting some natural (unflavoured - and preferably goats) yogurt on his food and see if this helps.

https://www.winalot-dog.co.uk/senior/feeding_my_senior_dog.html    We used a dry complete, not tinned however.

Thanks MamaBas
I did try the natural yoghurt for a while but I'm not sure that it made much difference.  I'll get some more today and try again.
He's on Burns weight loss food and is now at s nice weight so I've been increasing his food slightly.  Perhaps, as you suggest, he just needs a final, small meal before bed.

my girl has this - vet said it was caused by colic most likely so we added a probiotic feed supplement to her food promax (normal dose for 3 days then reduce to just a tiny bit a day) by doing that and changing her feeding times so that she had food more often (every 8 hours) it stopped.  It only started with my girl after spaying a 8 years old.  You also have to be vigilant to stop them eating grass when they have an upset as that obviously just continues the vomit cycle.  Vet recommended adding a little spoon of cottage cheese as a sort of snack between meals aswell but she wont eat it.

Thanks Tinar. Went to vet this morning & surprise surprise, she tried to sell me a prescription food.
I'm going to space out his food a bit more & try the natural yoghurt again.

I've had this with my young GR in the past. She has occasionally bought up some bile during the night, but on this occasion it was every night and more of it, she was also not wanting to eat breakfast until later which given her breed is the point I sit up and take notice. Took her to the vets and she was prescribed a sort of anti indigestion type of pill, sorry can't remember the name, for a few days. That cured her immediately and she has only had the odd bile episode since.
My vet told me about a dog that had a similar problem and treated in the same way as mine, but the bile and sickness kept returning regularly, so after this went on for a year he decided to operate to see what was going on. On the day of the operation the dog was being prepared for the op when it was suddenly sick and up came a piece of stick which looked as if it had been down in the stomach area a long time, so he cancelled the op. The dog was fine after that and has had no reoccurrence so he assumes the stick was causing the problem.

My dog is inclined to chew up and must swallow bits of stick even though I try to stop her, and I have wondered ever since if this has caused the bile episodes.

How about giving him some slippery elm with his food it will settle any irritation. It works well for dogs and humans.

Thanks,  vet gave me some zantac liquid for him,  perhaps that's what you had?
He doesn't chew sticks or anything,  he's quite good as far as that's concerned.

That name rings a bell although it was in a tablet form.

I was given zantac too - had to sign a form before being allowed to take it because its a human indigestion medicine (mine was in liquid form not pill) - and it definitely was - pure peppermint smell and everything.  It worked so far as stopping her tummy growling and her trying to find grass - doesn't get rid of the issue though.

oh yeah - and one other thing - my sisters cocker was hospitalised for 5 days once over Christmas a few years back because he was being sick with bile, off his food and getting dehydrated - on the fourth day they were going to xray and do scans (ultrasound scans I think) with a view to operate if there was a blockage in the stomach - he had scans but there was nothing to find - he was sent home on 5th day with various medications and no explanation but an assurance that he was drinking more and starting to recover from whatever it was.

Following day I was looking after him while sis was at work............... he threw up a pair of thong type knickers and a load of string which we think was a rope tug toy once .........then he went nuts running around happy demanding food by barking at the cupboard it was in.  He was fine after that.  Sis on the other hand was a nervous wreck, less well off, amazed that they hadn't seen anything and busy sticking bricks on top of boards ontop of laundry baskets doggy proofing the house and muttering about he wouldn't have done it if she wore bucket knickers....

Thanks Tinar,
He's not off his food and not dehydrated - in all other ways he's fine.
He's also not a "scavenger" type, he doesn't eat anything he shouldn't in as far as clothes, shoes, etc.
It's the liquid Zantac that we've got (didn't have to sign anything), so we'll see how we get on with that.
Thanks.