Mary Allen
Sudden diarrhea in dogs is very – really very! – often before. Read here why that is, what you can do and how you can tell if your dog is in serious danger.
Acute Diarrhea: When to the Vet?
The next day when your dog
- has had diarrhea for more than three days
Today if your dog
- is a puppy and passes frequent diarrhea
- showing signs of dehydration (see below)
- has bloody diarrhea
- Losing a lot of fluids (frequently passing watery diarrhea)
- has abdominal pain (see below)
- looks very restless
- seems listless
- not eating and/or not drinking
- often vomits
- has a fever over 40°C (normal temperature in dogs = 38 to 39°C)
How Do I Know if My Dog is Dehydrated?
- His mucous membranes are sticky and dry.
- A raised skin fold disappears only slowly.
- The eyes may appear sunken.
Emergency: If a skin fold remains, your dog is lethargic, and has cold legs, please take him to a veterinarian immediately! These are signs of severe dehydration or shock.
How Do I Know if My Dog Has a Stomach Ache?
- it moves slowly and possibly stiffly
- he arches his back up or
- he assumes the “prayer position”: low in front, high in the back or
- he assumes other unusual positions, e.g. supine
- he strains frequently and in an effort to defecate
- he withdraws or reacts aggressively when you try to rub his stomach
Acute Diarrhea: Possible Causes
The causes of acute diarrhea can be divided into three broad categories:
Either, the dog has
Taken something that does not suit him, for example:
- Rubbish from the side of the road or from the garbage can
- Food unsuitable for dogs (e.g. milk or spicy food)
- A new feed from one day to the next (sudden change of feed)
- Feed with poor hygiene (e.g. raw meat contaminated with bacteria)
- Poor quality feed (e.g. with poor protein quality or a lot of carbohydrates)
- Bones or foreign bodies irritating the gut
- Poison, chemicals, drugs
A gastrointestinal disease, for example:
- An acute gastrointestinal infection caused by viruses and/or bacteria
- Gastrointestinal parasites: worms (helminths) or protozoa (e.g. giardia)
- Gastrointestinal inflammation from another cause, e.g. allergic or autoimmune
- Inflammation of the pancreas
A problem outside the gastrointestinal tract, such as:
- Stress, fear, pain, or excitement
- Infectious diseases (e.g. travel diseases such as leishmaniasis, Ehrlichiosis)
- Organ disease, e.g. kidney failure
- hormonal disease (e.g. Addison’s disease, hypothyroidism)
Well prepared for the vet
If you take your dog to a vet for diarrhea, it makes sense to take a stool sample that is as fresh as possible with you, for example, to check for worm eggs or other pathogens. Also, your vet will ask you a number of questions to prepare for, such as:
- When did diarrhea start and how often does it occur?
- Has your dog had the same symptoms before?
- What do you feed (including treats)?
- Have you changed anything about feeding recently?
- Has your dog eaten anything unusual lately?
- Has your dog had the opportunity to eat something unobserved?
- Have you been abroad with your dog lately?
- When and with what was last dewormed?
- Are other animals in your household or in the neighborhood sick?
Your answers will provide valuable clues as to the cause of the problem and allow your veterinarian to select the best treatment.
Acute Diarrhea: How to Help Your Dog
If your dog is fit apart from diarrhea, there is a good chance the problem will go away on its own within a few days. You can support this self-healing process very well with the right care.
What to feed with acute diarrhea?
If possible, your dog should fast for the first 12 to 48 hours. Unless he is already weak and/or very young – then please go to the vet.
Fasting makes sense because the nutrients in the food have an osmotic effect, which means they draw fluid into the intestines and thus increase diarrhea. In addition, there is an increased risk of developing food allergies in acute diarrhea because the intestinal barrier is disturbed. However, your dog should not fast for longer than two days, otherwise, the intestinal wall cells (enterocytes) starve and may be damaged.
After fasting, only bland food is recommended for three to seven days. Please increase the amount of food slowly and feed several meals a day so as not to overload the ailing gastrointestinal tract.
The classic bland dog food recipe is chicken, rice, and cottage cheese. For a 10 kg dog:
- 125 g chicken meat
- 300 g soft-boiled rice
- 125 grams of cottage cheese