Black Stool...very Worried!

[Guest lulubea]

Hello! We've had our adopted Grey for about 9 months now. She's never had what we would consider "normal" poo. What really worries me is that about once every 3-4 weeks she'll refuse to eat for a day, start having very loud gurgly stomach noises, get the runs, and have 1-2 black stools. I've always heard black stools are bad, so the first time this happened (about 3 weeks into having her), I rushed her to the vet. The vet did two fecal exams and a blood exam and all came back negative for worms. She didn't seem too worried and basically said Lulu probably just has an extremely sensitive stomach and that we should try different foods until we find one that clears up the black stools. We are on our 5th food now and still the same result. I should also say that during Lulu's "episodes" she doesn't appear to be in pain, have a lack of energy, or stop drinking water.

 

This black stool every month can't been good for Lulu...what should I do? Back to the vet? A 6th brand of food?

[Time4ANap]

A negative fecal only means that particular stool was negative. A dog recently off the track quite possibly has worms, even though she has been dewormed by the adoption group. It sometimes takes multiple tries to get the worms during their hatching cycle.

 

A black stool needs to be taken seriously. I would go ahead and de-worm again even if the test is negative. You may also need a couple weeks of Flagyl (Metronidazole) to help heal the stomach.

 

To start, you might want to fast for a meal or two and then go to a bland diet. Fasting may or may not be needed. There are those here in favor of it, and others who are not. Definitely start a bland diet though. Feed a combination of boiled and rinsed hamburger or chicken along with mushy overcooked rice or pasta until the stools return to normal. You may want to divide this into 4 smaller meals per day instead of 2 large ones to make them easier on the tummy.

 

Some people add oatmeal or other ingredients as well, so you will get several suggestions for bland food. When cooking the chicken or beef, be sure to rinse it after cooking to get all of the grease out of it. Cook the pasta or rice in lots of extra water and make it mushy so it's easier to digest. After a few days you might want to add something like scrambled eggs to give it some variety and more protein. I have also used Evanger's Dog Food, plain canned chicken (no other ingredients in it) for a bland diet. It;s very digestible and requires no cooking. Just add rice or pasta as above.

 

So, get another vet appt ASAP and ask about de-worming and metronidazole, and get the bland diet started. It's not a quick fix, but with a little time and patience your pup should be fine.

[LaFlaca]

Tummy gurgles sounds like gastritis. May be internal parasites. Black stool worries me. Could be blood. Vet visit a.s.a.p.

[greysmom]

It's worrisome that your vet just dismissed the black stool without trying to find a cause - it generally means blood is entering the system and being excreted, which is not good by any definition. And the fact that it is reoccurring is doubly troublesome. Adding on to the fact that she's never had good stools despite changing foods and I'm also saying it's probably a parasite, most likely hookworm, and that it needs to be taken care of sooner rather than later as hooks can really mess up a dog's intestines permanently.

 

Go back to your vet - or another vet - and request another fecal exam, and a prophylactic worming just in case that's the issue. Before you go in, lok through the reent threads in the Health and Medical section about drug resistant hookworm treatments. Dogs coming out of the southeast are now carrying this around the country and they are the devil to get rid of. There is also a thing called "larval leak" where the hooks actually hide in the dog's tissue during treatment and then reemerge later to reinfect the dog's digestive tract. It can take multiple treatments over the course of many months to finally kick them out for good.

 

Metronidazole/Flagyl might be useful, but I've come to be ambivalent about it due to possible harmful neurological side effects. It's a choice you (and your vet) need to make for yourself.

 

My vet always advises three negative fecals following a deworming - once three weeks after, two months after and 4-5 months after, before you can say they are finaly worm free.

 

I would also add that it's not helping that you are changing foods so often (even though your vet advised it). You didn't give any details about what you've tried and if any of them worked at all in firming her stools. The hooks are the likely culprit, but it could also be a food intolerance. Giving her a bland diet during treatment is a good suggestion too. There are many threads here in this section about what a bland diet looks like that you can search through.

 

If all the foods you've tried have been chicken-based or beef-based then trying a "novel" protein like fish or duck or venison is your next step. Ask your vet about a food trial to see if that helps once you've gotten the hooks under control.

 

Good luck!

[JohnF]

Probably needs low dose Zantac (Ranitidine) as a prophylactic. Black tarry stools are from the upper part of the digestive tract. Sometimes the hyper sensitivity remains and could be part of a long term health problem that has caused scarring. Remember, their stomach acid is 20 times stronger than ours. It's like playing Russian Roulette until you can get this fixed as a random ulcer might 'burn' through onto an artery causing heavy blood loss and/or even perforation into the body cavity.

The cyclical nature you describe does suggest parasites or incomplete healing though.

 

Try feeding Royal Canin Vet. Gastro-Intestinal canned food for a few days and transition to a quality hypo-allergenic food like my Peggy has (Peggy suffers long term gastritis and needs the Ranitidine, which is why I mentioned it). Her kibble has 27% chicken, 7% trout and 2% Salmon. When I tried one with mainly Salmon it made her worse.

[XTRAWLD]

Owned greyhounds for years and still learning from wonderful knowledgeable folks.

 

I have no comments but hope you figure it out soon!

[GeorgeofNE]

I'd try a new vet. I agree with Chris. Black stools CAN indicate blood in the stool, and there can't possibly be a vet on the planet who doesn't know that. If your dog's stool is truly black and your vet truly dismissed your concerns, to me that would be a good cause to consider a new vet.

[GreyTzu]

Black tarry stools are an very prompt Vet visit in our house.

 

However, the once a month or timing truly makes me think hookworms. We went through this with Danger. I ended up repeated worming him for several days in a row every week or about a month. After that, never another with him.

 

We use wormer from PetsMegaStore, which is an Australian site that has awesome prices and does not require a prescription for most products. We have never had as issue with the products from there, nor the shipping time.

[Redfishingirl]

Just going to say- sometimes we are advised to give Pepto for tummy upset and that will cause black stool also. You didn't mention one way or the other so I thought I would throw it out there just in case.

[dixidoll]

My new dog tested negative for worms. I thought she just was not healthy looking and not gaining. I purchased panacure from tractor supply and dosed her 3 days. Worms came out. And yet her stools tested negative. Another dog has not had good stools for about a year. We changed food, did pepcid,you name it we tried. When we dosed new dog we dosed her, and now her stools are picture perfect stools. Worms can fool you and the Dr. The 1 stool you take to dr, may be clear. We dosed new dog 3 days every 2 weeks, 3 times. She is healthier looking, hair great, gaining, no gurgles in stomach. Worms was the answer.