Once A Week Gurgle (beware, Lots Of Poo References)

[Guest sweetpea]

It's a long complicated little story, so bear with me.

 

Once a week, for the past 3 to 4 weeks, in the morning Sweet Pea will have very noisy gurgling in her stomach. As my sister said, "her bowel tones are phenomenal, it sounds like she's got a small animal in there!" She will be off her food that day, but doesn't seem to be in distress, she seems just perplexed by all the noise she's making. She'll usually have a small greasy stool, and then the next day she's fine. Back on her food, back pooping like normal. Then last week, same thing, noisy gut, not interested in food, small greasy stool but this time followed by a little bit of bloody mucous. Next day fine, back to normal. This week (Wednesday), noisy gut in the morning, not interested in food, she was listless (out of character) and at 5:30 pm she produced a small bloody stool, not streaked with blood, actually bloody throughout, and smelled very coppery. We took her to the ER vet, with our baggy of poo. Her weight is good, no temperature, no vomiting, not dehydrated. Vet suggests antibiotic course {because if there's blood in the poo, then there's a possibility for poo (or other bad stuff) to get into the bloodstream}, bland diet, fecal exam, wait and see.

 

So far so good, she's on metrodinazole (antibiotic) and sucralfate (for stomach acid), she loves the chicken, rice and cottage cheese, or boiled hamburger and rice; her stools are improving and she's back to her perky self (she's downright rowdy at times). Of course, since the gurgling is so episodic, it's hard to tell if it's our interventions or just the cycle of her gurgle. When I re-introduce kibble I plan to go back to the sensitive stomach Nutro (we have been feeding her Costco lamb and rice). So, long story long.....

 

Is this anything you've experienced? Do you have any suggestions or are we missing anything? 'Haven't heard back from the vet on what the fecal exam discovered, if anything. I think the wild googly in all this is the "once-a-week" aspect of it.

 

Thanks for your time,

Buzzy

 

[Guest mandm]

Since it seems to be pretty regular, I would wonder about two things:

 

--Is there something in your weekly schedule, for example, a weekly long day away from home, that may be upsetting her?

 

--Maybe parasites? I'm not sure about the egg cycles of various worms, maybe someone else could help out here, but maybe her stomach troubles are following an egg cycle. Which ones hatch/shed every week? I think I have heard that either hooks or whips do something every 2 weeks which could cause digestive upset, but I don't really know.

[Guest greyhound]

Our boy Ed had the same problem.

 

For 9 years. We would say that he had a war going on, in his stomach. Everything turned out fine, and Pepto Bismol tablets were always at hand. He just had his tummy days.

[Greytlady94]

Gurgling may be hunger, an empty stomach. Could it be that Sweet Pea is fed at an earlier time some days so her tummy is empty and gurgles? Try giving her a snack before bed, even just a slice of bread.

[Guest alannamac]

Bandit does this too (without the blood in the poo though.....that needs to be watched by a vet) and I've learned to circumvent it by never feeding him turkey. He LOVES turkey, but every time, the next day his stomach is churning....you can hear it from across the room and it goes on into the night and he won't touch his food that day. All he wants to do is go out and eat grass and then "barf a salad" Seems to feel better but still won't eat. Even avoiding turkey this still happens on occassion (I think he sneaks into the cat food sometimes and that does it too). I've found the easiest way to settle his stomach and get him to eat during the "churning stomach events" is to pop a tablespoon of peanut butter in his mouth.....the sounds are still audible, but he seems to settle and be interested in food within an hour or so after the peanut butter.

Anyway, so maybe your pup is getting into one specific food that is causing this? (but again the blood in the poo indicates something is disrupted on the lower end of his GI tract and you really want a vet to keep watch)

 

 

[Greytlady94]

Anyway, so maybe your pup is getting into one specific food that is causing this? (but again the blood in the poo indicates something is disrupted on the lower end of his GI tract and you really want a vet to keep watch)

 

I agree, this is something the vet needs to check.

[Guest AKJZD]

Our boy Jake and his littermate (both were adopted at the same time) went through something very similar. His littermate tested positive for hookworms (he had been dewormed twice already). Jake had tested negative for parasites, but had been so sick with loose stool at the time of testing it is very likely the test was not accurate. Jake was dewormed too, and now both are doing very well. I would be sure to follow-up on the stool exam to be sure it is not parasites. I hope Sweet Pea is feeling better soon!

[Guest carol]

Hi, My non greyhound dose this every Monday, she know that I go back to work.She doesn't every Monday morning and tummy has some very loud noises coming from her.Then she doesn't eat dinner.The next morning she is fine and back to normal.

[Guest sweetpea]

Vet called with fecal exam results, negative for everything. She's doing great on the homecooked diet, a much better appetite than before with kibble, but with all the moisture in the rice and meat, she has to be walked every 2 or 3 hours to pee. I'm going to slowly re-introduce sensitive stomach kibble, and I think the slice of bread at bedtime will be a good addition. I thought she might be getting too hungry at night, but she didn't seem to ever really tear into the kibble (kind of disinterested).

Thanks for all your helpful advice; we have been very diligent about monitoring what she eats, after a couple of episodes with the cat food.

So far so good, fingers crossed it keeps up.

Buzzy