Diarrhoea

 

First of all it is prudent to point out that dogs with chronic diarrhoea may be off colour but are generally still eating and active. If your dog has acute or bloody diarrhoea it is best to get him to the vet as soon as possible.

To start with it helps to differentiate between small (intestinal) and large (colonic) bowel diarrhoea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

	Small Intestine	Large Intestine
Frequency of defaecation	Normal	Increased
Amount of faeces	Lots	Small amounts frequently
Urgency to go to toilet	Absent	Present
Mucous in faeces	Absent	Present
Blood in faeces	Absent	Present
Meleana (black tarry faeces)	Present	Absent
Flatulence	Present sometimes	Absent
Weight loss	Present sometimes	Rare
Vomiting	Present sometimes	Occasional

 

Once this is established you can consider which ailment affects which part of the gastrointestinal tract.

 

	Small Intestine	Large Intestine
Parasites	Hookworm and whipworm	Hookworm and whipworm
	Giardia	Giardia
	Coccidia
Diet related	Lactose intolerance	Fibre deficiency
	Gluten intolerance	Food hypersensitivity
	Food hypersensitivity
Infection	Campylobacter/salmonella	Campylobacter/salmonella
		Clostridia
Inflammatory/inflitrative	Eosinophilic enteritis	Eosinophilic enteritis
	Lymphocytic plasmocytic enteritis	Lymphocytic plasmacytic enteritis
		Histiocytic enteritis
		Pseudomembranous enteritis
Cancer	Adenocarcinoma	Lymphosarcoma
	Lymphosarcoma
Miscellaneous	Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency	Stress
	Cushings disease

 

How do you diagnose what the problem is?

 

Your veterinarian will run a series of tests including faecal tests, blood tests and possibly even a colonoscopy with intestinal biopsies taken.

 

How do you treat chronic diarrhoea?

 

Treatment will very much depend on the cause of the problem. Your veterinarian will be able to prescribe medication as necessary.

 

There are general treatments that are available over the counter which help to firm up the stool and repopulate the good bacteria in the bowel. These probiotics come in various forms.

A lot of diarrhoeas will respond to dietary therapy, either in the form of a highly digestible intestinal specific diet or a hypoallergenic diet.

It is best to thoroughly deworm your dog as intestinal worms are easily treated.

Giardia (a protozoal disease) can be treated with various dewormers but sometimes antibiotics are needed to clear it completely.

Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency is caused by the pancreas inability to produce digestive enzymes and is characterised by fatty stools and lack of weight gain. It can be treated by supplementing the diet with pancreatic enzymes or pigs pancreas obtained from local butcher.