Dog Diarrhea Has Bright Red Blood

Hi Jane,

You wrote,
“For the last 3mos, my dog has been having extremely loose stools mixed with blood”…

“he has always been able to hold his stools before and not have accidents, but now it’s a problem.”

“I’ve been giving him innova evo for small dogs, for over 5 years”

Did you change to a different diet, and that is when the bloody diarrhea started 3 months ago?

Did he have a vaccination 3 months ago?

Having a chronic loose stool with blood, is symptomatic of colitis or inflammation of the colon. This can be caused by:
1. Inflammatory Bowel Disease-Due to emotional distress, and/or underlying disease

2. Parasites–If a stool sample was done on loose stool, it may be a ‘false’ negative. Loose stool will be diluted, making it more difficult to find parasites. A repeat of the fecal when his stool is more formed should be done.

3. Adverse reaction to a vaccine.

4. Change of diet

At this time, I think a switch to a RAW diet would be too drastic for his inflamed intestine. Here are some suggestions:

DIET:

1. Feed a bland diet. Homemade would be best, until his stool improves. It is odd that he would be overweight, having diarrhea for 3 months, a dog would usually lose weight!!
If his normal weight should be 10-12 lbs, then he will need 200-225 calories per day. Feeding 3-4 smaller meals will be easier on his GI tract.

Therefore, feed him 50-55 calories FOUR times daily, or 75 calories THREE times daily would be best.

You can try chicken or turkey baby food, plus cooked white potato. Or mix baby food with cooked rice. There are about 66 calories in one jar of chicken baby food, and 70 calories in one jar of turkey baby food. http://calorielab.com/foods/baby-food/84

There are 204 calories in one cup of cooked white rice.
So, he could have 1/2 jar of baby food plus 1 TBSP of cooked white rice per meal, THREE times daily. Or 1/2 jar of baby food plus 1/4 of a small cooked white potato, no skin, THREE times daily.

2. Probiotics–you need to add acidophilus to each meal. Find a brand in a capsule form, such as PB8. Open one capsule and sprinkle into each meal. This will provide the ‘good’ bacteria that he is losing due to the diarrhea.

3. Homeopathic remedy-Phosphorus 6C or 12C. Dissolve one pellet into a glass 2oz dropper bottle filled with Spring Water. Succuss, or shake by hitting the bottom of the bottle against the palm of your hand 20 times before each dose.

Give him 1/2 dropperful by mouth, TWO times daily for the next 3 weeks.

4. Another resource for vets knowledgeable in homeopathy is AVH.org.

5. Kaopectate, a mix of Kaolin (clay) and Pectin (from apple), to help coat the lining of his intestine and calm it, and the clay will help to absorb some of the excess liquid. Available from a holistic veterinarian. **NOT** the over-the-counter HUMAN Kaopectate. This contains aspirin, which is toxic to dogs. He may need to take some of this to help control the loose stool while the homeopathic remedy, diet and acidophilus start to work.

He may need a repeat of the blood work to double check the Addison’s. Lack of hair, slow to have hair grow back and being overweight, is more indicative of a low thyroid, or even Cushing’s Disease, not Addison’s.

Please keep us posted by coming back to this page and clicking the ‘click here to add your own comments’ link below.

Take care,
Dr. Carol Jean Tillman

DISCLAIMER: The above should never replace the advice of your local veterinarian, as they have the ability to evaluate your dog in person.

I didnt know if dogs got cdiff or not, but I was worried about it, so will get the probiotic.

Where would i get the Phosphorus from?
Thanks Jane

I didnt know if dogs got cdiff or not, but I was worried about it, so will get the probiotic.

Where would i get the Phosphorus from?
Thanks Jane

Hi Jane,
Regarding Prince, you wrote,

“I will do the baby food, can i do both the chicken and turkey, or just pick one….”

It would be fine to alternate, I would not do both chicken and turkey in the same meal.

You wrote,

“….I will use potato, he can’t digest rice. When I first got him at 1.6lbs he had horrible diarrhea and the vet said he was allergic to corn, we tried chicken and rice, then had to use chicken and mashed potato, then after he was better, went to the innova.”

Potato is fine. And I see that he has had chronic diarrhea since puppyhood! That is about the time of the first vaccinations, also.

You wrote,

“I didn’t know if dogs got cdiff or not, but I was worried about it, so will get the probiotic.”

It has been documented that dogs can get Clostridium difficile, (or Cdiff). But, don’t worry, it is not contagious between humans and dogs, nor dogs to humans.

You wrote,

“Where would i get the Phosphorus from?”
Homeopathic phosphorus is available at any place where homeopathic remedies are sold. It is a fairly common remedy. Try health food stores. Or on-line. http://elixirs.com/phosphorus.cfm,
http://homeopathyplus.com.au/simplexes-p/
ABC Homeopathy–this company offers the choice between two companies to place your order, Hylands or Washington Homeopathic. And both of them offer a HUGE selection of potencies. I suggest you order from one of these if you cannot find anything local.
http://www.abchomeopathy.com/shop.php

Another resource for vets knowledgeable in homeopathy is AVH.org.

Please keep us posted by coming back to this page and clicking the ‘click here to add your own comments’ link below.

Take care,
Dr. Carol Jean Tillman

DISCLAIMER: The above should never replace the advice of your local veterinarian, as they have the ability to evaluate your dog in person.

Hi Jane,
The homeopathic phosphorus will still help him, even though he has not had ‘consistent’ diarrhea. But it does sound like his condition has worsened with the presence of blood, and increased urgency.

Please keep us posted by coming back to this page and clicking the ‘click here to add your own comments’ link below.

Take care,
Dr. Carol Jean Tillman

DISCLAIMER: The above should never replace the advice of your local veterinarian, as they have the ability to evaluate your dog in person.