Quick Question About Poops, Etc

[DevilDog]

I've had Sage for going on 4 weeks now.

 

* She has always had pudding poo. At first I figured it to be stress and was waiting it out.

* She's skin and bones, but the more i feed her, the more she poops it out, so that indicated to me that she's not absorbing any of the food as she should. It just goes right through her. I know sometimes she's starving because her belly growls so loud it wakes me up from a dead sleep. If her belly is empty for too long she pukes up bile. I've been giving her a cookie before bed as well as when I hear her tummy grumbles.

* Over the past week I figured the kibble she's on (Wellness Large Breed) just doesn't agree with her so I am considering a change.

* Yesterday morning her poop was nearly black soft-serve with mucous and a bit of blood.

* When I got home from work last night, there was 5 piles of diarrhea or puke in the apartment. I honestly don't know which end it came out of.. but i'm guessing she threw up considering that it was not black, and there was a lot of partially chewed kibble.

* I started her on a bland diet of rice and chicken for dinner (gave about a cup).

* This morning she had more rice and chicken and later, another black, mucousy and slightly bloody poop.

* She later threw up some bile and rice.

 

I called the vet and we're going in tomorrow morning. Any insight as to what the problem might be? What questions I should ask the vet or what tests I should suggest be done?

 

ETA: She's otherwise eating, drinking and acting normally. She's also gassy on and off.

Edited May 6, 2010 by DevilDog

[Guest Energy11]

Boy, sorry you are going through this!

 

I'd get a FULL blood panel, urineanalysis, stool sample, and go from there.

 

Could be liver, pancreas, worms, lots of things.

 

Others with IBD dogs can tell you more about that, as well. Could even be that.

 

If all of the above come back normal, maybe an x-ray to rule out any growths in the upper and/or lower GI tracts, and a possible ultra sound?

 

Wishing you much luck, and many hugs and prayers to get to the bottom of this!

[Batmom]

Black = digested blood so yes, needs to see the vet and get on some meds. If she throws up again, I'd take her today and get an abdominal x-ray.

 

Until she gets to the vet, make sure she stays hydrated -- you can add a little honey, molasses, apple juice, or broth to her water to encourage her to drink. If she can't hold water down, she needs the vet now.

 

 

Hopefully she's just got some way upset and irritated innards and a course of meds will set her on the road to recovery.

 

FWIW, every variety of Wellness I've ever tried has produced explosive watery diarrhea in multiple dogs. Obviously some people feed it and dogs do well on it but yowza, not here.

[Guest snakes]

My boy has similar symptoms when his anxiety skyrocked and he was on a food that didn't agree with him, his vomit was basically poop. His poops get liquidy, mucusy, and gassy, immediatly when i have tried him on new foods. He does really well on the less premium (lower fat/protien) foods like purina One and Iams naturals.

 

I would be very concerned about the blood though, that certainly is nothing to be messed around with.

 

Hopefully your vet will have some good ideas. Of course remember to bring a poop sample!

[Guest Energy11]

Black = digested blood so yes, needs to see the vet and get on some meds. If she throws up again, I'd take her today and get an abdominal x-ray.

 

Until she gets to the vet, make sure she stays hydrated -- you can add a little honey, molasses, apple juice, or broth to her water to encourage her to drink. If she can't hold water down, she needs the vet now.

 

 

Hopefully she's just got some way upset and irritated innards and a course of meds will set her on the road to recovery.

 

FWIW, every variety of Wellness I've ever tried has produced explosive watery diarrhea in multiple dogs. Obviously some people feed it and dogs do well on it but yowza, not here.

 

 

You can also mix Gatorade or Pedilyte 50/50 in her drinking water to help keep her hydrated.

[DevilDog]

 

FWIW, every variety of Wellness I've ever tried has produced explosive watery diarrhea in multiple dogs. Obviously some people feed it and dogs do well on it but yowza, not here.

 

Roscoe is on Diamond Naturals and does well. When i adopted Sage i got 3 of the large bags of Wellness for FREE! So I figured I wouldn't mess with Roscoe's kibble success and just started Sage on the Wellness. Yea.. needless to say, yesterday I rolled up the open bag of Wellness and stuck it in the back of the pantry. We're done with that.

[Walliered]

My dog came from the adoption group with VERY loose stools. Took him to the vet and spent way too much money to find nothing wrong. Switched his food to Dick Van Pattens Bison and Potato..his stomach problems cleared up in days..His stomach also growled like he was hungry, but it was all of that meal and by-products fermenting from his substandard food..Your vet will probably try to put him on Science Diet,. just remember they helped pay his way through vet school and he must stock their food.

[Guest Stripeyfan]

Definitely get to the vet. It sounds like there's inflammation in her stomach/intestines which accounts for the mucous, blood and not absorbing her food and you need to find out what's causing it. Myself, given that she's new to you, has always had bad poops, is skinny and constantly starving, but otherwise seems ok, I'd suspect parasites before anything else, so take a stool test in. Do you know when she was last wormed? We wormed our grey, Kelly, when we first got him as he hadn't been done for 9 months, but it wasn't enough to get on top of the infestation he already had (and that we didn't know about until he got sick a few weeks later). Now he has suspected IBD because of the damage the worms did. He also got VERY skinny at one point because the inflammation in his GI tract meant he wasn't absorbing his food. He can't eat anything except a soft, bland home cooked diet (rice/chicken) because the inflammation means dog food – ANY sort of dog food, no matter how hypoallergenic or limited in ingredients, even prescription stuff – irritates everything again. So it may not be the particular brand but just that the problems with her insides means she can't handle kibble at the moment.

 

I'd also starve her until after the vet visit if she's vomiting and the food's going straight through her as it's obviously not doing any good feeding her at this point; the irritation needs to settle down and her insides need to rest. Definitely make sure she stays hydrated though. Pedialite is a greyt idea as she will have lost nutrients/electrolytes thru the vomiting/D.

 

to Sage and hope she's better soon.

[DevilDog]

My dog came from the adoption group with VERY loose stools. Took him to the vet and spent way too much money to find nothing wrong. Switched his food to Dick Van Pattens Bison and Potato..his stomach problems cleared up in days..His stomach also growled like he was hungry, but it was all of that meal and by-products fermenting from his substandard food..Your vet will probably try to put him on Science Diet,. just remember they helped pay his way through vet school and he must stock their food.

 

pshhhh. There's no way I'll agree to pay an arm and a leg for them to sell me food! Science Diet no less! Blech. There are far too many other kibbles that are way better that I can try.

[AstasMinion]

Feel better soon, Sage!

[Batmom]

If your vet tries to give you a couple cans (not dry) of Hills/Science Diet I/D, take 'em. That one goes through a sick dog very well in my experience -- better than the chicken and rice one makes at home.

[Guest tinams8]

I agree to stop feeding until you see the vet. Worms would be my first guess (and a relatively easy fix). Good luck with the vet. Remember the stool sample.

[Guest GreysAndMoreGreys]

I have to agree with the last 2 posters.

The Science Diet cans can basically firm up any poop

Not something I would always want to feed my dogs but for certain situations, it works.

 

Hookworms can do a number on a dog's tummy which in turn of course will cause not so good looking poop.

[greyhead]

Sounds very much like the way Spencer was shortly after arriving in 2005. Turned out to be hookworm; however, it took nine months to find that out because the first two fecals were negative. Finally, in deperation, we went to another vet; his fecal found that he was "loaded" with hookworm.

 

Moral: a negative fecal doesn't mean there are no worms. It just means the worms are not shedding eggs that day. Now, I'd test once a week for a month.

 

I saw pictures at the vet's office of the channels hookworms dig into the intestinal walls. Each worm has six teeth and bites. We discovered then, btw, that he can't handle white rice.

 

Spencer later turned up with intestinal malabsorption, then a very nasty bacterial infection in the small intestine, and finally IBD. Sounds like your pup may have malabsorption too.

 

So don't let this go. It gets more serious over time. And write this on your palm if necessary: A negative fecal doesn't mean much of anything.

 

Good luck.

[greymatters]

Another vote here for intestinal parasites such as hookworm. I would definitely take a stool sample to your vet. We just went through this with our boy Merlin. We adopted him about two months ago - he had really loose stools when he first came home, but two fecal tests done within the first month were negative and we did a round of dewormer anyway, just in case. His digestive system seemed to settle down after the first few weeks and we thought everything was clear.

 

Then last week, he started showing the symptoms you describe: grumbly tummy, terrible gas, mucousy/bloody diarrhea, and then vomiting up undigested kibble. Went back to the vet and this time, the fecal showed hookworm. Good news here is that he's feeling much better after one round of dewormer and several days of flagyl (to help soothe his irritated GI tract).

 

This prompted me to do some quick research on the life cycle of these beasties, from which I learned that the incubation period for hookworm, from ingestion of infectious larvae to mature, egg-laying adults ravaging the intestine, is anywhere from 5 to 9 weeks. The fecal only detects eggs (= adults in intestine), and the dewormer only kills worms once they've reached the intestine - migrating larvae are unaffected by the meds. So our boy probably came to us in the early stages of this infestation, which was undetectable and resistant to treatment during that first month. My lesson learned echoes greyhead's moral: a negative fecal doesn't mean no worms. When in doubt, wait a few weeks and then re-test.

 

Good luck at the vet - hope your girl's feeling better soon!

[Hubcitypam]

Black blood poop is way more worriesom that mucus and red blood poop.

 

Man, you hate to trot the stories out over but with Rex and his colitis I came home one Easter to a kitchen filled with bloody 90# grey runs (these were red blood and nuscos) and a few smaller episodes later until we got the food right.

 

It went on and we had a standing script for flagyl and wormed and tested him for everything within an inch of his life several times over. Nothing came out of him I could scoop as opposed to hose in. I tried the highly recommended California, Natural, Wellness, the Dick Van Patten one and the similar sounding one in the brown bag...Natural Balance and Natures Recipe maybe? My brain is fried I got whipped so bad at work tonight.

 

I spent a zillion hours online researching and got so ticked off I threw a green bag of Iams in the cart one day and by the next day in transition his poops were firming up. It is the beet pulp which some here use as an add on tjhat did it form him. Never had anymore runs. People say it is crap food but it was what worked for Rex. Every dog is different.

[DevilDog]

Went to the vet this morning-

 

We have hooks and whips! Vet was surprised to see hooks in an adult dog.. he had to go double check when the vet tech told him.. but anywho. Prescribed panacur, and meds consisting of something to settle her belly and an antibiotic to help clear up her inflamed intestines. Not sure exactly.. I left the paperwork at home. I will know full results of the fecal tomorrow.

 

So hopefully in 2 or 3 days we'll see greyt improvement! I hope we don't have to go down any other roads.

 

Poor thing only weighs 52 pounds. Her racing weight was 60. Supposedly.

Edited May 6, 2010 by DevilDog

[Burpdog]

Vet was surprised to see hooks in an adult dog..

 

Why? Roundworm in an adult dog is unusal.....

 

Pancur for 5 days or 3? (5 is better)

[DevilDog]

5 days of Panacur.

 

And I have no idea why he was so surprised. He said the last adult he saw it in was 4 years ago in a dobie.

Edited May 6, 2010 by DevilDog

[Guest Energy11]

UGH!! Hate those worms!!

 

This is something that can be treated, though! Glad things will be on the mend soon!

 

 

[Guest greytmiles]

Went to the vet this morning-

 

We have hooks and whips! Vet was surprised to see hooks in an adult dog.. he had to go double check when the vet tech told him.. but anywho. Prescribed panacur, and meds consisting of something to settle her belly and an antibiotic to help clear up her inflamed intestines. Not sure exactly.. I left the paperwork at home. I will know full results of the fecal tomorrow.

 

So hopefully in 2 or 3 days we'll see greyt improvement! I hope we don't have to go down any other roads.

 

Poor thing only weighs 52 pounds. Her racing weight was 60. Supposedly.

 

Yay for clear cut problems and answers!

I'm sure your girl will be feeling better soon.

 

And just to reiterate what a few others have said about different poop-clues, here's a lovely chart!

 

... not the best site, but still a decent breakdown, imo.

 

Erin

Edited May 6, 2010 by greytmiles

[Guest Stripeyfan]

Vet was surprised to see hooks in an adult dog..

 

Why? Roundworm in an adult dog is unusal.....

 

Pancur for 5 days or 3? (5 is better)

Turned out Kelly had HUUUUUGE roundworm infestation when we got him, even though yes, this is unusual in adult dogs, so I guess the same goes for hooks and whips – some dogs are just unlucky! Our vet did say that sometimes, if a dog has had a nasty virus like HGE, it can then knock out their resistance to parasites because of the damage it causes to their insides – and then the parasites make it worse. We now have to worm Kelly monthly to prevent reinfestation as our yard is full of roundworm eggs and he could get them again just like that. So you may need to do this too. Hope your girl gets better quick and doesn’t have any lasting effects.

[greymatters]

5 days of Panacur.

 

And I have no idea why he was so surprised. He said the last adult he saw it in was 4 years ago in a dobie.

 

I read that hookworm is extremely common in puppies but that most adult dogs develop resistance. My vet also sounded really surprised when Merlin's fecal showed hooks. It made me wonder whether maybe greyhound puppies don't get exposed to hookworm like other pups (who often get it from mom) Maybe the pros here know something about this...

 

I've been told that worms are really common in kennels, so I suspect that's where our boy picked up his. Of course, it's also the time of year when weather conditions (here at least) favor larval development in the warm, moist soil, so who knows?

 

Anyway - so glad to hear that your girl's problem is treatable! It only took Merlin a day or two on the meds (same ones: panacur, flagyl, pepcid) to start showing significant improvement.

[greyhead]

I think when vets get savvy about greyhounds, they stop finding this kind of thing surprising. Spencer's first vet was surprised because we don't have hooks "in our area." Well, he's not from our area! (Seattle)

 

ETA: Do the monthly worming for sure. We use Interceptor. Even at that we have to use Drontal-Plus annually when he has a resurgence. Hooks encyst themselves, in the body and in the soil, and hatch when they feel like it. It's very hard, if not impossible, to be permanently rid of them.

 

Oh, and Iams Large Breed worked very well for Spencer for a long time after he was first treated for hooks.

Edited May 6, 2010 by greyhead

[Guest jackblu]

Went to the vet this morning-

 

We have hooks and whips! Vet was surprised to see hooks in an adult dog.. he had to go double check when the vet tech told him.. but anywho. Prescribed panacur, and meds consisting of something to settle her belly and an antibiotic to help clear up her inflamed intestines. Not sure exactly.. I left the paperwork at home. I will know full results of the fecal tomorrow.

 

So hopefully in 2 or 3 days we'll see greyt improvement! I hope we don't have to go down any other roads.

 

Poor thing only weighs 52 pounds. Her racing weight was 60. Supposedly.

 

Glad to hear you have results and on the road to feeling better. When Terry came in he was 20 lbs underweight, couldn't keep any food down and couldn't stop drinking. After he was put on 3 meds for the tummy and the bland diet his poop was still pudding like for a while. We have since put him on Metamucil, (can't find canned pumpkin anywhere right now), and after 5 days of it he is pooping much better, and drinking less. We still have 10lbs to add to him! Oh did I mention the 25 ticks we pulled off of him!!!!

Good luck with her.