Pooping blood.... again.

[Shalista]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

im tempted to say that as well. it DID go away when he switched and it DID come back when he switched back to kibble.........

 

[JudyN]

Actually... there is a possible link. Dogs can pick up hookworms from eating soil. If he's not getting what he wants from his diet, he might eat soil in an attempt to compensate. On raw, he may be less inclined to eat soil. I don't suppose you've observed any links between diet and soil eating?

 

[Shalista]

he's never eaten SOIL but he does eat grass when his tummy is feeling poorly.

 

[Shalista]

Well maybe it WASNT that. been a week after he popped his pills and hes gotten a lot worse. pooped six times on our walk (normally only once) and 2-3 of those times was just straight blood. calling the vt again tomarrow...

 

[JudyN]

Oh no... funnily enough, I was just wondering earlier how he was getting on. Maybe raw will be the answer after all but you need to work with the vet for now and see if the hookworm is still there. Fingers crossed you get a proper resolution soon.

 

[Shalista]

His behavior is way different today to. normally he doesnt give a fig for me but he's been following me around and whenever i stop moving he lays down. definitly not feeling great.

 

[merlina]

Oh rats! Definitely a time for your vet to rethink diagnosis...you must be so concerned.

 

[Mad Murphy]

Good luck with the vet... I hope Bax feels better soon..

 

[Shalista]

and we're back.

I came out with a "try this and see."

he recommended additional blood testing looking specifically at white blood cell count, but more pressingly an ultrasound of the abdomen.

he backed off on both those things though and set me up with a different plan to try for a week or two and we'll fall back on the blood test and the ultrasound if this doesn't work.....

so for the foreseeable future bax is

BACK on the high fiber diet that gave him mucusy loose stool the LAST time AND did not solve the blood

he's also back on pumpkin puree which he loved when he was raw so no loss there

and he's on an anti-inflammatory/antibiotic med.

to be honest, I'm not brimming with confidence but I REALLY don't want to take him to the hospital for the ultrasound cause....$$$$$$$$$$. so we're gonna try this and see.

given his previous experience with high fiber dog diets, I don't think I'm going to follow that part of the plan given that the kibble he's currently on he was on for 7 months with no symptoms and I KNOW his gut doesn't like high fiber.

as to WHY all this happens? I got a collective shrug of A) maybe diet and B) sometimes dogs get stressed and poop blood, more likely so if they are small. possibly a mix of both these things. given that bax has never really been a paragon of calm centered reason I'm tempted to not disagree with him.

So wait a week and see?

 

[Ari_RR]

I would actually think that ultrasound of abdomen would be the thing to do first. Why would there be a need to go anywhere, would your vet not be able to do it at his practice?

 

[Shalista]

Nope, he said he doesnt do them because he wants an..... expert to? he rattled off some title of some kind of specialist he'd want to do it.

 

[JudyN]

Don't be afraid to say 'I can't afford it - is there anyone reliable who could do it for less?' That's not to say you wouldn't do it if it was the only/best option.

You may need to have a discussion about raw feeding too. If Bax is (consistently?) fine on raw and not on commercial food, then it would surely make sense to see if this is the solution before spending shedloads of money and putting him through the procedure. You can go armed with info that shows he's not going to suddenly die of salmonella or puncture himself with a bone.

Of course, you don't want to not investigate if there could be something seriously wrong. I can't imagine that there can be if it is fixed by a change of diet... though bear in mind I'm not an expert and common sense isn't always reliable.

 

[Shalista]

i talked to him about raw and he didnt like raw because it didn't have the full spread of alllll the nutrients. it wasnt the bone or the salmonella he didnt like.

and agree, im not super worried about his guts being misplaced given that a change in diet fixed everything.

im not closed to the option of raw OR the ultrasound but if this fixes it...... i'm willing to give it a try.

he IS super anxious and high strung, there IS a condition that causes bloody stool that is more common in small high strung dogs thats fixed this way.

 

[Shalista]

well he's back on regular poops. poops twice a day, solid, no blood. i've done so little im tempted to say he just recovered on his own.

i DIDNT do the high fiber diet.

i HAVE given him pumpkin with every meal.

i gave him....two? pills but i keep forgetting them and i think im going to discontinue them.

I do think we're at least going to finish the can of pumpkin. i'll prolly keep up with it and buy him another can as a preventative measure and because he likes it and its good for him and its cheap.

Fingers crossed he stays healthy.

(Oh yeah and after all of this? he went from 13 lbs to 10. soooo i got some fattening to do)

(Side note... if it IS the pumpkin that helped fix it this would explain why he had no bloody poops on raw. he always got a tablespoon of pumpkin with his raw. in which case i speculate it wasnt the MEAT it was the PUMPKIN that kept him healthy all those years.... but pure speculation on my part)

 

[Caro Perry]

C

(Side note... if it IS the pumpkin that helped fix it this would explain why he had no bloody poops on raw. he always got a tablespoon of pumpkin with his raw. in which case i speculate it wasnt the MEAT it was the PUMPKIN that kept him healthy all those years.... but pure speculation on my part)

Could be - I give Harri a few spoons of butternut squash ( easier to get than tinned pumpkin for me) on the rare occasion he gets a runny tummy. It seems to sort him out really quickly.

Glad everything seems better

 

[merlina]

I use sweet potato with the same results!

 

[Janer]

Yep I used sweet potato on Spike x only a bit but it worked . So glad he’s doing better x