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My Dog Has Diarrhea But Acts Fine, What Should I Do?
Diarrhea is a very common disorder in our canine friends. It isn’t something to cause alarm if it’s the first time to get your pet. Not that you ignore it. I mean, do you cancel your appointment just because you had the runs in the middle of the night? You surely not as it’s just a normal experience that you know has to do with either what you have eaten or drank for supper.
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Similarly, don’t take it too hard on your dog which has diarrhea. But since he won’t sit down to tell you what he has eaten or how he feels, come up with your odds. If you have had a dog for a long time, I am sure you know how hard this can be. It can even become harder if your dog is still wagging the tail high in the air. Please follow till the end what should you do when your dog has Diarrhea but acts fine?.
Why Your Dog Has Diarrhea But Acts Fine
In most cases, dog diarrhea is usually not a serious problem and is treated with home remedies. Before you give your dog any medication, though, it’s important to know and understand the various causes of the disorder. In case your dog develops an acute problem, he’s likely to have sudden diarrhea which will last in only a couple of days. If he has an underlying disease which triggers gastrointestinal issues, on the other hand, he probably will have chronic diarrhea.
Just as in humans, it’s very hard to detect a chronic disease in a dog during its early stages. You will think the disease is not there, but slowly and secretly it’s causing some serious internal harm. This is why you’ll find your dog has diarrhea but acts fine for weeks until you notice other symptoms like weight loss and lack of appetite. After consulting your vet, it’s then you realize your dog has kidney disease and not allergies as you had thought.
Chronic Diarrhea
Just as its name suggests, chronic diarrhea only occurs when your dog has a chronic disease growing. Since the disease will be developing little by little, your Poodle will act ordinarily, making you think the loose stool is all normal. Even so, the condition is not as pleasant as you’ll have to clean up the mess regularly.
There are various chronic diseases which can cause diarrhea in your dog but still leave her living normally. When you notice your dog has loose stool more than usual, it’s very crucial to consult the vet and have him checked. Majority of people, nevertheless, ignores and start working on home remedies. Since he’s hopping around and seems just fine, they feel the checkup unnecessary, particularly after considering the expensive veterinary bills.
Some of the possibilities that you ought to consider if your dog has diarrhea regularly include:
a) Stomach Or Intestinal Ulcers
This condition occurs when sores/ lesions form in the lining of the stomach which protects the gastrointestinal tract from acid-induced injury. The sores crop up when the dog’s stomach secrets high-levels of gastric acid or if the protective lining is irritated. If left untreated, the stomach ulcers can make your dog contract anemia or gastrointestinal perforations which causes shock and sometimes even death.
Due to the impairment of the digestive tract, the ulcers will cause diarrhea in the dog and even irritation of the intestines.
b) Liver Disease
The two key roles of the liver are the removal of toxic elements from the blood and the digestion and conversion of nutrients. While the process of “disposal”, the liver is highly susceptible to damage, which will then make your dog contract hepatitis inflammation and diarrhea.
Liver disease can be life-threatening, particularly when it fails to function.
c) Colitis
The colitis disease involves inflammation of the colon, which will then limit its ability to absorb water and store feces. Just as with people, the disorder can catch your dog due to a variety of reasons. Some of these causes include irritable bowel syndrome, food allergies, gastrointestinal infections, intestinal parasites, and damage to the colon.
Although it might sound less dangerous, the Colitis makes a dog run hot and hard for him to defecate. It’s, thus, important for you to deworm your Poodle or beagle or bulldog regularly and also feed him a well-balanced diet.
d) Hormonal Imbalance
In case your dog has issues with certain glands, it becomes hard for her to produce the required hormones to manage the bodily functions. This will cause some side effects like the Underactive adrenal gland, which will then cause the Addison disease (hypoadrenocorticism). This condition predominantly catches young to middle-aged dogs.
One of the major symptoms of Addison disease is intense diarrhea and vomiting. The disorder can be exasperating as the affected dog will have to be treated with hormone injections throughout.
e) Kidney Disease
Both in human and animals, the kidneys play a very crucial role in the metabolism and filtering body’s waste as urine. Kidney disease is caused by factors like leishmaniasis which occurs due to exposure to Leishmania parasite. If left untreated, the dysfunction will lead to renal failure and symptoms like diarrhea. In real extreme cases, the condition can even make the body to shut down.
To protect your dog from the chances of having kidney disease, the veterinarians advise that you give your dog a lot of water. Also, keep toxins out of the reach of your pets.
f) Irritable Bowel Syndrome
By definition, the Irritable bowel syndrome is a chronic irritation and discomfit of the bowel of the dog, leading to occasional diarrhea. You can also find your animal has mucus in the stool or he’s vomiting and bloating. The condition can occur due to a variety of reasons, including diet intolerances and the deficiency of dietary fiber.
g) Stress
Stress is another factor which can stimulate nervous bowels and cause diarrhea in your dog. The condition arises because of instances like the presence of other pets, or loss of a loved one. To minimize the risk, you have to make the environment of the dog conducive and stress-free.
Well, now you have them. Those are the common chronic illnesses which can make your canine develop diarrhea and still not change his normal behavior. Again, always take your dog to the vet when the symptom persists or other symptoms like vomiting or dullness appear.
Use the Stool to Examine Your Dog Faster
While examining your dog’s loose stool, don’t just concentrate on the consistency of the defecation. Monitor the nature of the droppings as well. Each color tells its story differently, thus, you can identify what is bothering your dog even faster.
Soft stool: if the stool of the dog is soft but has no visible blood or mucus, it means the cause is dietary change or indiscriminate eating. In case you have changed the diet of your dog recently, keep an eye on the poop and if there’s no improvement, alter it again.
In some cases, the soft stool can also signal the existence of intestinal parasites, such as Giardia.
Soft stool with mucus: this type indicates your dog has parasites or parvovirus infection. For the former, you can also see some worms and eggs. To control it, pay regular visits to the vet for your dog’s check-up and deworming.
Greasy gray stool: this shows that the diet of your dog has too much fat, so, a change in diet is needed. Too much fat can cause inflammatory disorders such as pancreatitis, which can be even life-threatening. Please, don’t take your dog’s diet for granted. It’s important.
Black tarry stool: this shows there’s old blood somewhere in the dog’s digestive system. This can suggest the gastrointestinal tract has an injury, or a disease like cancer is present.
Watery diarrhea in low volumes: this is characterized by the dog having over five bowel movements in a day but each time he excretes low volume of diarrhea. This indicates there is a problem in the large intestine. Unfortunately, it’s hard to identify the cause since the condition could be caused by various reasons, including ulcers, cancer, or polyps. For quick diagnostic results, provide your vet with a sample of the stool she can use to run the test.
Watery diarrhea in large volumes: the problem involves your dog having three to five bowel movements in a day and excreting a high volume of loose stool every time. This symptom indicates your dog’s small intestine has a problem. The problem, nevertheless, can be caused by different reasons, ranging from injury, bacteria, food allergies, or viral infection. Similarly, your vet will help determine the main cause of diarrhea, hence, carry with you a sample of the stool as you visit.
A firm, soft, or runny poop that has blood is a sign of a serious health problem and requires intervention as soon as possible. The fresh blood means it’s current bleeding which could be a perforated intestinal wall or eruption of tumor or ulcer.
What Now?
Well, I guess I need not say it since it’s pretty obvious: Diarrhea is the major symptom of any health problem which might be affecting your dog internally. Sometimes it can be difficult to diagnose the cause of the symptom, yeah. But considering you now know the various types of loose stool, I’m pretty sure you need the veterinarian lesser than before.
In case your dog has diarrhea but is fine physically, monitor what she excretes closely as there are high chances of her having chronic infection.
