When to be concerned about diarrhoea by Steve Dean

Another long article, but worth a read.

Created: 03/09/2014 (Dog World Newspaper)

When to be concerned about diarrhoea by Steve Dean

Diarrhoea is an unpleasant experience for two reasons – it is often an unexpected event and you rarely find it where you would prefer it to be. In addition, diarrhoea smells awful and in more serious terms it may be a signal of something of considerable concern.

However let’s hear the good news right at the start, diarrhoea is, on most occasions, transient and of very little consequence for the fit adult dog. In fact, it is worth keeping in mind that distasteful as it is, diarrhoea is a normal defence mechanism of the bowel.

This is relevant because dogs are happy to scavenge and nearly every active dog will eat the most unspeakable things quite readily. Some people will search for deficiencies in the diet when dogs do this but actually the desire to eat rubbish is all part of being a dog. They are in effect designed to gobble anything that might be food quickly and vomit it later if it proves unwise.

In short a dog’s life consists of detecting odours, locating something potentially edible, catching it, eating it and, if it does not agree with the digestive system, either vomiting or passing it through the bowel as quickly as possible (ie diarrhoea). We have to some extent modified this behaviour in the pet dog but the basic instincts surface to a variable degree frequently. This is why dogs consume nearly anything from sticks and stones to bizarre items such as golf balls, knives and in one memorable case a motorbike kick starter shaft – for the younger reader this was about 12 inches of metal found on a motorbike before electric starters became the standard.

Diarrhoea is not necessarily due to an infection and there are many things that may influence why ‘food’ (as the dog sees it) may go on to cause diarrhoea. It is a personal belief, although I accept there is no factual proof, that both Seasonal Canine Illness and Alabama Rot will eventually prove to have an underlying caused related to a yet to be identified toxin consumed by dogs in the countryside. It will be in some occasional constituent of a dog’s naturally acquired diet that has a seasonal and regional distribution, but I digress from the main topic of diarrhoea.

Liquid, semi-liquid or soft faeces are the output of an irritated bowel and the underlying process of the bowel’s reaction is intended to eliminate the offending material as quickly as possible. It is diarrhoea because more fluid is entering the bowel than being absorbed from it and this is all part of the reaction with the aim of diluting the offending material.

We can probably agree the dog’s bowel is usually fairly effective at this. There are however many underlying causes of inflammation or irritation of the bowel and broadly they fall into four categories – toxic effects, outright infection, mechanical irritation (including parasites) and a functional physiological failure. It is worth noting however that diarrhoea is not always life threatening unless it is so acute the patient suffers a rapid net loss of fluid (dehydration) or the diarrhoea is persistent over time (chronic) and results in poor nutrition or chronic dehydration, leading to debilitation.

So these are the signs to look for that signal the need to consult veterinary advice. In summary immediate veterinary assistance is recommended where diarrhoea is repetitive in the short term (several times in a day), repetitive in the long term (once or twice daily for many days or repeated days of diarrhoea over a longer period). One episode is likely to be self-limiting and it is always worth waiting to see if the dog will repeat the passing of diarrhoea before rushing to the vets. Often they will not.

To that short list of worrying signals we can add any evidence of dehydration, the appearance of copious amounts of blood in the faeces and any associated repetitive vomiting.

Depression is not necessarily an important indicator where it’s the only other symptom as this is not unusual during the first few hours. Depression or quietness often improves once the offending material has been expelled.

The age of the dog is also important, for diarrhoea in a healthy adult dog will always be less of an immediate problem than diarrhoea in a young puppy (especially if it is still being suckled by the mother). In addition diarrhoea in an elderly dog should also be investigated fairly quickly because in both young and old, these age groups have modest reserves to deal with the consequences of either dehydration or chronic debility.

So how does all this work in practice for the average adult dog? Essentially you wake one morning to find a mess on the floor (and probably on the wall, on the carpet and under the skirting board). It looks like liquid faeces and smells very bad. The dog is often cheerful and is pleased to be let out when it may well pass some more diarrhoea, they do try not to mess their home environment.

However, there is no evidence of vomiting and your dog appears to be otherwise unaffected. This is the common type of case that will almost certainly improve with nothing more than the withholding of food for 24 hours and frequent access to water – in small quantities.

Reintroduction to food should be in small amounts and it is traditional to recommend that either fish or chicken based diets are given with rice, although we have found white pasta to be a good substitute for the rice and often without any meat on the first occasion.

There are many supportive treatments that can be given at this time too. They include probiotics (proprietary products that contain a variety of live bacteria commonly described as ‘friendly’ – because they do no harm) and prebiotics (the new idea containing ingredients to promote the growth of natural bacteria in the bowel) and various mucosal protectants and adsorbents, considered to bind with bacterial toxins or provide a protective layer over the lining of the bowel – kaolin is a good example.

Opinions differ regarding the real value of these products but as they are generally considered to lack any harmful effect and as they make owners feel as if they are doing something positive, they are worth a try. Certainly, given the classical course of events typical of 24-hour diarrhoea, as recovery appears to be closely related to the administration of such remedies, it is not surprising that these treatments are believed to be effective.

Not all diarrhoea is so innocent and so next time AVV will consider some of the common causes of the more serious forms of diarrhoea and what dog owners should be doing about them.
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Good post.
I'm never without Gastropect in the fridge.

This is a very informative article, thank you.