Bug That Causes Peeing And Pooping Issues?

[Bizeebee]

Our 4yo guy came down with some kind of bug over the weekend, which had (what seems to us) an odd presentation. I'm hoping someone here might have an idea of what it might be.

 

Short story is that it started Saturday as a couple of peeing accidents inside (not explained by long interval between outside visits or anything like that), drinking tons of water, having to go outside many times per night/day (considerably more than normal), and transitioning Sunday to cow-pie poops and borderline diarrhea (fortunately all pooping occurred outside).

 

He's definitely not himself, he hasn't been sleeping on his bed in our room, does a lot of pacing around, getting up and down - clearly trying to get comfortable, has no interest in playing when outside (very out of character), and didn't do his normal rooster routine at the alarm this morning (also very out of character).

 

We started feeding boiled and rice today and we'll probably throw in some pumpkin and/or Olewo carrots since we have it. We figure if he doesn't improve in a day or two we'll take a fecal and urine sample to the vet and go from there.

 

My main question, though, is does anyone have any idea what kind of bug would potentially cause urinary and bowel issues?

I normally assume they would be separate, but maybe not?

Would a UTI cause bad poops?

Would a stomach bug make him want to drink and pee a ton?

 

I want to try to make sure the vet checks the right things if it comes to that.

 

The only other thing of note (that I can think of) is that he caught a rabbit in our yard a week ago - he didn't have a chance to eat it but obviously could have picked something up from it, or from its poop that was no doubt in our yard.

[Time4ANap]

Stick with the boiled meat and over-cooked mushy rice or pasts for a few days before adding anything like pumpkin or carrots. If you throw all of that in at once, you have no idea what actually works. Rice and pasta work best when cooked with lots of excess water and are overcooked, almost mushy.

 

Make sure he keeps drinking and monitor him for dehydration given the big poops / diarrhea. If he won't drink, you can try putting some chicken broth in his water to get him to drink.

[XTRAWLD]

It could just be a bug that would run it's course....certainly 24 hours is not unheard of, and it can take up to a week to start getting bowels back on track. Sometimes we give them things to alleviate issues, but their sensitive tummies react to what we are trying to help them with - i.e. giving them pumpkin when they've never had it before and you don't know how they will react. Fasting and then going to a bland diet is a must, and build back up from there. The reason fasting is so important is once diarrhea has started, the system has been activated to dump everything that comes in. The reason diarrhea is so watery is that the food moves through the colon so quickly, it can't remove the water from the food, nor the fluid in the system that helps digest the food. Continuing to feed food of any kind will just lengthen the amount of time your dog has diarrhea for. If the bowels are moving frequently, don't give even broth. Wait until it's stopped, then slowly introduce broth, and then bits of cooked meat. You can transition slowly over a day or two back to the regular diet.

If he's drinking a tonne and peeing a tonne it sounds like his system is actually performing like it should and at least he's not getting dehydrated either from all the D. Keep an eye out for dehydration, which can happen quickly - to do this, check for skin tenting - gently pinch your dog's skin together, a well-hydrated dog's skin will spring right back, a dehydrated dog's skin will tent up and stay like that for several seconds.

If he is acting uncomfortable and has D though something is certainly up. I'd personally be getting bloodwork done in addition to urine and fecal samples. You want to make sure the kidneys, liver, pancreas, etc are all operating properly. It could be a variety of things: Lepto, Giardia, etc., which he could easily pick up by licking infected urine/water left on blades of grass - but these bugs are longer lasting and require medication to rectify. They won't just heal up on their own from fasting and bland diets.

Gentle scritches.

[MaryJane]

If he cannot get comfortable I would be worried. This could be the start of bloat (gas) and with that, possible torsion. The pacing also indicates pain.

 

With the symptoms you are describing, I would probably not wait and instead, head out to an ER vet. It's already been 2 days ...

[Bizeebee]

Update: Vet started him on a antibiotic and antibiotic-like drug for sheath infection and broad spectrum stomach bug. Nothing of note in the UA or bloodwork (thank goodness!) and no Giardia. Bonus = first negative test for hookworm since we got him and started the Prison Protocol!! He's already much more peppy than he had been

 

She also wonders if the food we were transitioning him to is a little too high protein and *gasp* that the lethargy might be partially because of the lack of the (yucky) carbs (wheat & corn) he was used to in his old food. So, I guess we're picking up the food-finding journey once he's all healed up.