A dog is a domesticated animal kept in many homes as a pet and for security reasons because it seems that dogs tend to be very loyal. Around the world, almost every household owns a dog or two. Or, in some circumstances, some people have a home for dogs for either selling as pets or keeping them. In that case, it is normal for people to notice when dogs develop complications or get diseases. One of the disorders that a dog may get is diarrhea.
Dog vomiting and diarrhea? Diarrhea may seem like a simple problem, but it can actually be very complicated. In some cases, diarrhea doesn`t need treatment, but in other circumstances, like when it persists for more days, it needs immediate care. Diarrhea has a common canine affliction that varies in duration, and intensity from dog to dog. There are a couple of reasons dogs may develop loose stools. These triggers include; dietary discretion, change in diet, food intolerance, allergies, parasites, poisonous substances or plants, swallowing an indigestible foreign body, infections with common viruses, bacterial infections, illnesses, antibiotics, and other medications or stress.
Many veterinarians do not recommend self -diagnosing of your pet. However, it would be prudent if you learn how to determine the health status of your dog through an examination of the stool through four significant steps. It is worth noting that a dog`s stool should always be chocolate brown color. This gives a basis for examining or a picture of what is going on in your dog`s digestive tract.
If your dog`s stool happens to be black, then that could indicate gastric ulcers. If it`s red or has little blood droplets, you must be worried because this indicates a serious problem. Your dog can as well be eating alot of grass a reason why it can get green stool. But, if you don`t have access to a lot of grass- then green stool may be caused by the ingestion of poisonous substances. If it`s purple or slightly pink, then this is a medical emergency, which is a sign of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis.
There are two categories in which diarrhea in dogs may be grouped into; acute diarrhea or chronic diarrhea. Acute diarrhea appears suddenly in an otherwise healthy dog often due to dietary indiscretion, which is scavenging, stress, change in diet or viral, bacterial, or parasitic infections.
The other one, chronic diarrhea, can be caused by dietary allergies or intolerances, stress, some types of parasites, bacterial infections, pancreatic disease, inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, some types of cancer and diseases outside of the gastrointestinal tract. These are a liver failure or heart diseases. The health issues mentioned above should be discussed with your veterinarian and can require prescription medication.
In a recap, one of the most dilemmas of pet owners, especially dogs, is knowing and understanding when it is essential to take their dog to the vet for diarrhea. The following are the things that you should take into consideration; the history of the dog, how long it has been, how it looks, and other symptoms associated with diarrhea.
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Lina, DVM