- Cats
- Pet Health Insurance- The Blue Pill or the Red Pill?
- Pet Health and Chemical Cleaning Agents
- Pet Health and Life Extension
- Dogs
- Probiotics for Cats and Dogs: Soil Based vs Dairy-Based
- Protect Your Plants and Pets
- Pet Health Insurance- The Blue Pill or the Red Pill?
- Exotic Small Pets
- Pet Health and Life Extension
- What is the Best Food for Nursing and Weaning Kittens and Puppies?
- Pet Health and Chemical Cleaning Agents
- Horse & Ponies
- Probiotics for Cats and Dogs: Soil Based vs Dairy-Based
- Animal Care Products for People: Yay or Neigh?
- Pet Health Insurance- The Blue Pill or the Red Pill?
Dog Diarrhea Causes and Remedies
05/24/2008 - By Robert Hart is Vice President of Vitality Science, a company that formulates scientifically proven, While their are any number of causes of dog diarrhea a few simple remedies can quickly restore GI balance
Man’s best friend tends to have a strange palette. Rarely will a dog pass up eating a bug, or a funky morsel: the funkier, the better. Should you happen to catch them in the act, they will often gulp it down before you can extract it from their vice-like grip. No telling how many different kinds of bacteria and pathogens such morsels are harboring.
However, their palette is not restricted to bugs and food morsels. Food wrappers, aluminum foil, tinsel seem to be enjoyed by dogs. One has to wonder if part of the driving force behind CDs and DVDs was eliminating cassette tape. This, too, shall pass.
Such indiscrete eating habits often lead to diarrhea, or vomiting. Many times, you only see the effects of what they ate. And where do they do this?
It seems like your most expensive throw rug is the flooring of choice- of course. But, they look up at you with such sad eyes (do you think they practice it when you’re not home?) it’s hard to scold them.
Other possible causes:
Diet Change
Merely changing brands of dog food can cause a few days of diarrhea. Most people don’t realize that commercial dog foods are mostly indigestible grain protein. But the fact is, any diet change, even to raw, should be introduced gradually to minimize the problem.
Table Scraps
Contrary to hat the commercial pet food industry tells you, well prepared table food has significantly more nutritional value than commercial pet food. However, dogs should not be given spicy scraps, rich or salty foods. Both go down fast, but can come out just as fast.
Water
In spite of its’ toxic nature, chlorine remains the choice of municipal water treatment plants. Although it does a good job of killing bugs, you don’t want to drink chlorinated water because it has the same kill effect on the good bacteria that is necessary to maintain GI balance. It has recently been reported that municipal water in the US contains a cocktail of medication residue. Carbon water filters will not remove these residues. Consider getting a reverse osmosis system for drinking and cooking water.
Cleaning Products
If you buy concentrated cleaners and do not dilute them sufficiently, your dog (or cat) can breathe in toxic fumes. Also, strong cleaning agents can burn your pets’ pads. They lick their pads to stop the burning and ingest the chemicals which often causes diarrhea, or vomiting.
Remedies
The conventional veterinary approach is to administer antibiotics and withhold food and water for 24-48 hours. This is no longer the best choice. Why?
Typically, GI upset occurs when the bad bacteria in the GI tract gets the upper hand on the good bacteria. Common sense tells you that what you that the sooner you replenish the good bacteria, the sooner the GI tract returns to normal.
Soil-Based Probiotics (SBOs) are slowly, but surely, replacing antibiotics. Why? SBOs introduce good bacteria that quickly restore balance to the out of control bad bacteria. Importantly, SBOs restore balance without needing to withhold food or water.
Monitor your dog’s demeanor. If after 12- 24 hours of giving them SBOs, you do not see positive signs of restored energy, and normalizing of stool, make an appointment to see your vet.
During this time, limit your dogs’ intake to beef, chicken, or vegetable broths and begin gathering stool samples. Time date them for your vet. You might want to store them in a cool place, like a cooler.
If your dog has strong digestive odors, it could have an intestinal obstruction. But typically, it’s caused by a steady diet of commercial pet food.