Anyone that has any experience with owning a dog has probably dealt with one wave of diarrhea in a dog . If that's the case then you understand how challenging this can be both due to the mess the puppy may create and also because you could be worried about your puppy, wondering what could possibly be causing the problem.
There are many reasons behind diarrhea in the canine, varying in severity from mild gut upset to malignant cancer. Diarrhea can be acute, meaning the difficulty has come up all of a sudden over the past few days, or lingering, meaning the problem has been present for some time. Most cases of acute diarrhea in an otherwise fit adult dog are due to gastroenteritis, which is soreness or infection of the intestinal tract. Dogs are natural scavengers and eat organic matter without much discretion. Many cases of gastroenteritis are a result of ingestion of a dead animal or annoying plant or mushroom in the yard. In most situations the owner is not conscious that the dog has eaten the item and a definite cause can't be identified. The good news is that most cases of gastroenteritis are self-limiting, meaning they may resolve on their own without medical treatment. But there are some techniques you can implement to hurry this process along.
The very first thing you need to do when you happen to notice your dog has diarrhea is to evaluate your dog for any other abnormalities. Is your dog also throwing up or refusing food? Is your dog scattered around more and not wanting to play? Does your dog look swollen or act distressing? If the answer to any of those questions is yes, then your dog might be afflicted with something more serious than gastroenteritis and may need vet care. Also take your dogs age and breed into account. For a puppy or a toy-breed dog, their small body size means that even mild diarrhea may cause significant dehydration pretty quickly.
If your dog has no symptoms aside from the diarrhoea and is an otherwise sound adult dog with a case of gastroenteritis, the most important thing you can do to stop the diarrhoea is to withhold food from the dog. Withholding food for 12-24 hours will permit the GI tract to rest while not adding any new irritations. Water should not be withheld and, in reality the dog should be prompted to drink water or eat ice cubes to stop dehydration. Once you have fasted your dog for 12-24 hours and the diarrhoea appears to be improving, you can begin feeding a bland diet in tiny amounts. You can make your own tasteless diet at home using lean ground turkey and white rice. Be sure to cook the ground turkey never serve raw meat to a dog, as they're susceptible to the same food-borne sicknesses we are. Feed the tasteless diet in tiny amounts (about 1 tbsp per 10 pounds of body weight) every hour or so for the subsequent 12-24 hours. As long as the diarrhoea continues to become better you can continuously increase the amount of the bland diet over the next 1-2 days, then transition back to your dogs normal diet over 3-4 days.
If your dogs diarrhoea does not improve with the above diet or reoccurs, you could be dealing with something more major than simple gastroenteritis, or your dog may need a special antibiotic or other type of medication that can only ever be prescribed by a veterinarian.
There are many reasons behind diarrhea in the canine, varying in severity from mild gut upset to malignant cancer. Diarrhea can be acute, meaning the difficulty has come up all of a sudden over the past few days, or lingering, meaning the problem has been present for some time. Most cases of acute diarrhea in an otherwise fit adult dog are due to gastroenteritis, which is soreness or infection of the intestinal tract. Dogs are natural scavengers and eat organic matter without much discretion. Many cases of gastroenteritis are a result of ingestion of a dead animal or annoying plant or mushroom in the yard. In most situations the owner is not conscious that the dog has eaten the item and a definite cause can't be identified. The good news is that most cases of gastroenteritis are self-limiting, meaning they may resolve on their own without medical treatment. But there are some techniques you can implement to hurry this process along.
The very first thing you need to do when you happen to notice your dog has diarrhea is to evaluate your dog for any other abnormalities. Is your dog also throwing up or refusing food? Is your dog scattered around more and not wanting to play? Does your dog look swollen or act distressing? If the answer to any of those questions is yes, then your dog might be afflicted with something more serious than gastroenteritis and may need vet care. Also take your dogs age and breed into account. For a puppy or a toy-breed dog, their small body size means that even mild diarrhea may cause significant dehydration pretty quickly.
If your dog has no symptoms aside from the diarrhoea and is an otherwise sound adult dog with a case of gastroenteritis, the most important thing you can do to stop the diarrhoea is to withhold food from the dog. Withholding food for 12-24 hours will permit the GI tract to rest while not adding any new irritations. Water should not be withheld and, in reality the dog should be prompted to drink water or eat ice cubes to stop dehydration. Once you have fasted your dog for 12-24 hours and the diarrhoea appears to be improving, you can begin feeding a bland diet in tiny amounts. You can make your own tasteless diet at home using lean ground turkey and white rice. Be sure to cook the ground turkey never serve raw meat to a dog, as they're susceptible to the same food-borne sicknesses we are. Feed the tasteless diet in tiny amounts (about 1 tbsp per 10 pounds of body weight) every hour or so for the subsequent 12-24 hours. As long as the diarrhoea continues to become better you can continuously increase the amount of the bland diet over the next 1-2 days, then transition back to your dogs normal diet over 3-4 days.
If your dogs diarrhoea does not improve with the above diet or reoccurs, you could be dealing with something more major than simple gastroenteritis, or your dog may need a special antibiotic or other type of medication that can only ever be prescribed by a veterinarian.
About the Author:
Cathy Doggin's is a number one writer on all kinds of dog health issues. She writes on subjects like dog with diarrhea. When not writing about dogs, she can be discovered volunteering at a local shelter or speaking on the rights of animals.
No comments:
Post a Comment