Canine Diarrhea Can Be Serious
"Common dog health problems"
Canine diarrhea can be a minor one-day annoyance or can quickly turn into a serious life-threatening ailment. When one of my girls get diarrhea I will treat it at home unless it last more than 48 hours. Hanna was sick.
Canine Irritable Bowel Syndrom - chronic diarrhea
Friday was a busy day for me. I was going 90 to nothing all day long. Every time I turned around I found an accident on the floor. It was not normal for either of my girls to be messing in the house and the runny mess I kept finding convinced me that someone was sick.
I was also babysitting my granddaughter who is 18 months old and was very very busy that day. So I admit I wasn't giving the dogs my full attention.
It was a bitter cold day so I couldn’t let the dogs stay out for very long, just to do their business and get right back in the house. I kind of thought it was Hanna because she just didn’t look well. She wasn’t her usual bouncy self.
Canine Inflammatory Bowel Disease
I knew you can also give a dog Pepto Bismol for mild vomiting and diarrhea. (Don’t use it in cats. It can be fatal for cats.)
But I didn’t have any on hand so I used Immodium. After the baby went home and checking on Hanna I gave her a small dose of Immodium. About midday the diarrhea seemed to have stopped so I just kept an eye on her and all seemed well.
Dog diarrhea treatment
Also Imodium or Kaopectate II can help relieve IBS. These anti-diarrhea products are useful in treating canine diarrhea. (What they do is decrease intestinal mobility and reduces secretion caused by certain factors and toxins.) The usual dose for dogs is 0.05 – 0.1 ml per pound of the dogs’ weight. It can be given every 8 hours.
If canine diarrhea continues for longer than 48 hours or your dog is inactive call the veterinarian. (NOTE) Do not use this if the dog had a head trauma or has abdominal pain along with diarrhea.
Canine Irritable Bowel Syndrome
The next day I took Hanna to the Veterinarian. The poor girl was still miserable and you could just see how bad she felt. Since it was apparent she needed more help than I could give her at home I called to make her an appointment that day. Sure enough she had IBS. The doctor gave her medicine for the diarrhea, antibiotics and put her on a bland diet.
We also found out she was a bit dehydrated and she wasn’t interested in drinking either. Hannas vet said if I could get her to drink by the next day they would have to put in an IV. She suggested I try chicken broth.
Hanna wasn’t interested in drinking so we pulled out the chicken broth as advised and sure enough that did the trick. I gave her about a half a cup ever hour. I didn’t want her to drink so much that it would cause her to throw it up.
By bedtime my girl was feeling better and there had been no more diarrhea, which I was really grateful for and I know Hanna was too.
If you still have concerns you may want to go to the following page and ask a vet what they think.
Ask A Veterinarian
Canine Diarrhea to Health Issues
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