Blood in pups stool

Love's_Sophie

Hmmmph...if a vet told me that blood in my dog's stools were 'nothing' I would be finding a new vet.

As a rule, blood in stool or urine is not something to NOT be concerned about!!!

The blood could be internal bleeding, or Coccidioccis, or some other internal parasite. I would watch her carefully and perhaps get a second opinion.

Anela

I agree with most of the above, however.

I panicked a few years ago when my newly adopted dog did this. I have a "city vet" and a "country vet". City vet said to bring in the dog and a sample, country vet said it was not unusual for a dog to do this, unless it continues for a few days.

Lesson I learned from country vet: If the situation is not life threatening, let mother nature do her thing for a while and see what happens. This lesson has saved me huge amounts of time, frustration and money.

Anela

mrsd211

Today is about 4 weeks since all of this started. After talking to the vet, I went ahead with having her spayed. After the surgery the vert called me to let me know that that part went fine, but since she had her opened, she went ahead and pulled out her intestines and bowels to check for anything unusual, fortunatly she found nothing as far as lumps. But she said she still has a lot of blood and mucas and is quite inflamed. She is now on antibiotics and flagyl and eating a special food from the vet. She's so sleepy from the surgery still, I just hope this clears up this time. The vet feels strongly that it is a dietary problem.

mrsd211

Pippa was diagnosed with Colitis. I'm so happy to have a diagnosis after a month of not understanding what was going on! The blood seemed to be worse today so I called the vet to see if it was "normal" for her condition and they said yes, with the meds she's on, I should see improvement around Monday. So my question is for anyone who's dog has had this... Does it really get better in a couple of days? She was on this medication before and I saw no improvement... although they did only give me 6 pills the first time. She's on Flagyl. I feel so bad for her. Also after reading a little about it on the internet, weight loss is almost gaurenteed, she's not even 5 lbs., she can't afford to lose weight! Should I feed her as much as she can eat while she's going through this?

Renoman

Do not feed her as much as she can eat - that will stress her digestive system and that's not what you want to do. Did your vet tell you frequent small meals for the first week? That's what I did with Buck - he had 6 very small meals throughout the day. She should do fine if you keep her on the meds and don't make any food changes again. The flagyl is pretty fast acting. Just don't try to rush it. Don't worry about the weight loss now - just get her system calmed down and back normal.

Buck has colitis. It didn't take nearly as long to diagnose him as it did in your case, but he was treated with flagyl, I was told to add lactobaccillius to his diet, which I did for a short time then stopped. He's been fine since he was treated.

The key with colitis is to avoid any sudden changes, and keep the diet bland and easy - like a person with an ulcer needs to do. Do not keep changing from wet to kibble, or changing formulas of food. Any sudden changes could cause a recurrance of what you just went through.

The best advice I can give you from my experience is Keep It Simple. Keep the food the same, keep the feeding times the same, if you feed only twice a day, you might want give a treat or two midday. Just so there's something in his stomach.

I know I keep saying don't change foods, but the Nutro you were feeding might be too 'rich' for your dog. You might consider another food. If you do, the change needs to be done slowly - and I mean slowly. I would start by adding about 5 pieces of kibble to what he's eating now and over the course of 2 weeks - or longer complete the change. Having said that, now is not the time to change. Wait until she's improved.

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mrsd211

Thanks for the response, Renoman. I have already decided to not put her back on the Nutro, I think that's what started this whole mess. She is currently on Purina EN, I mix canned with the dry, (more dry than wet), should I just be giving her one or the other and if so, which one is best? I did some searching on the internet and noticed that Natural Balance Fish & Sweet Potato was recommended a lot for dogs with this problem, I printed out the info on that food and will take it to the vet when she has her follow up appointment to get her opinion on it. I plan on having both dogs on the same food, which ever one works for Pippa and NEVER changing it again. It's such a gross problem and with her not being fully house-trained yet, Spot Shot has become my new best friend.

Renoman

Lucky for me Buck is house trained and I didn't have the added grossness of cleaning up the carpet

Natural Balance Fish and Sweet Potato is very good for dogs with colitis. Salmon is easily digested and not in any way rich. My vet highly recommends it for colitis. It will work great for your other dog as well.

For right now don't change anything. You'll only succeed in upsetting her system again. Leave things as they are until you see your vet again. If your pup is improved and your vet gives the ok, then you could slowly (I can't emphasize enough that you need to go slow - you seem to have a tendancy to jump too quickly. Not trying to be rude, just my observation from your previous posts )

Add only a few pieces at a time to their current food and gradually increase.

mrsd211

That isn't rude, I've had big dogs that would eat anything prior to my 2 little ones now. Once I got Maggie, I was very careful when I changed her foods, but after Pippa, them eating each others foods was becoming an issue and I just made dumb decisions in trying to fond one food for both of them, I have defenatly learned my lesson! I won't be changing anything until the vet okays it.

Renoman

It will all be fine in the 'end'.

mrsd211

I just had to re-read this thread. It seems like Pippa has had this problem forever! She is 9 months old now and is still suffering from diarrhea. I have taken her to a different vet and we have been aggressivly trying to figure out what is going on with her. Her bloodwork was done and to quote the vet she is "severely anemic and has an extremely high white blood cell count". My first thought was cancer, but the pathologist reviewed her results and does not find evidence of cancer. I'm sure there was more to the results than what I quoted the vet, I've just heard so much latley, my head is spinning. So the not cancer part is great news, but we still have no answers. We are currently waiting for the results of a more in depth fecal culture which is testing for things like salmonella. Partial results have so far come back negative, they're still waiting for the salmonella. I don't think that's it, it seems to me this has been going on too long to be that. I do hope it is something as simple as an infection, but they need to find out what soon. I know that she can't go on the way she is forever. I noticed in one of my posts, I said she was 5.5 months old and weighed 4.6 lbs. She's 9 months old now and only weighs 4.8 lbs. She is VERY boney. She eats fine, she plays, she does sleep a lot but she always has been more mellow than my other one. I just have no idea. I do love our new vet, I know they are doing everything they can to find the problem. They call to check up on her, and the doctor always takes my calls.
So here's some of the things going on with her, whether they're significant or not, they are either facts or things that I think are unusual...

• chronic diarrhea (sometimes with blood; goes about 4-6 times a day and 2-4 times at night; small amounts)
• anemic
• high white blood cell count
• very boney (but has very normal appetite; eats 3 meals a day)
• 'mystery' spots in her ears (these appeared around Nov. and are flat & black; freckles maybe, but she hadn't been outside a lot and they seemed to have appeared overnight)
• gurgling noises in her belly (I noticed this about a couple weeks ago)
• active/playful (not extremely, but she never really was)
• yeasty smelling eye goo

If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to throw them out.

crazydays

I feel so bad for you and your pup- what a nightmare.
What tests did they do to determine no cancer? Has she had a colonoscopy?
What definitive test told the she had colitis? Has the pup been seen by a internist- specialized in pathophysiology. I am wondering about her going to a Vet Hospital.
This little pup has a overwhelming process going on between weight issues, hunger, immune disturbance-wbc count high, eye infections, anemia.
How are they treating her anemia?
I am wondering if she has polps or a tear somewhere inside her bowel that causes her to bleed. I know colitis causes irritation that can result in blood loss. I am just thinking out loud.
You are so caring to have been dealing with all this.
Big hug for sure!!!!!

mrsd211

The only tests that has ruled out cancer was her bloodwork. There must have been other results that ruled it out, the anemia and white blood cell count was all my brain grabbed on to at the time. The vet did say that the pathalogist strongly feels it's not cancer. I'm afraid that if her current fecal culture all comes back negative, a colonoscopy will be the next step. The vet prescribed a short round of Baytril just incase it turns out to be an infection. But she threw up her 1st dose within an hour of taking it. The doctor told me to cut it in half and give her a half twice a day, instead of all at once. If she throws up again, we'll have to stop giving it to her. Everyone at the vet is working on this mystery, I am really impressed with how they are handling it. The colitis was determined when she had her spay and they pretty much pulled her insides out to look at her. But I question that now, because NOTHING is helping her and they might have just said that because it was the only thing that made sense. If I had stayed with the 1st vet (we've been with them for 9 years, but I'm done with them now!), she would die. I was in there all the time buying the food they told me to feed her and calling them asking, "... are you sure this is okay...?" they just told me it was a food allergy and that I had to give her body more time because she's small... I think because she is so young, they were never even going to look at anything other than a food allergy.
Sometimes I think a diagnosis would be easier if she acted sick. I don't think it's anything contagious, because we have another yorkie that is perfectly fine and after 4+ months, I think she would have got sick by now.
The vet has told me this couldn't have been done by the food change, but I'm always going to wonder because this all started around the same time.

crazydays

At least with the colonoscopy they can see into her bowel-if there are tears, polyps, tumors etc. She is bleeding from somewhere. The anemia is caused by blood loss. I just don't know how they have ruled out cancer by only taking a blood test. You have many questions for sure.

mrsd211

Agreed! I don't think they have 100% ruled out cancer, but feel that it may be an infection or some other digestive/intestinal disease more than the cancer. I should hear something soon. I did give her the 1/2 dose of the Baytril and so far so good, it's been a couple hours. I'm just keping my fingers (and toes) crossed that the current tests shows a positive so we can begin the proper medication.

Elana55

My first thought was with Shalva's.. and I was thinking Coccidiosis. the issue with that is the dog may show diarrhea and blood in the stool but if she is not shedding the oocysts, the stool comes out as negative. Repeated frequent testing is the only way to isolate the issue.

Now reading through this I must say I am stumped. I have a few things I am wondering but with you working so closely with yur vet I don't want to add to the confusion.

Do keep us postes as to the results and outcome.

The only question I have is if anyone tested her for pancreatic insufficiency? The description of symptoms you list does not strictly fit with this, but I am wondering.

mrsd211

I honestly don't know if they have tested her for that, I don't think so. To date, she's had 4 fecal tests, 1 of them is the current one that is not the basic test. This one is much more in depth and they are looking for toxins. She's had her insides looked at throughly during her spay and she had bloodwork done. I don't know if there is more than one type of blood test, nobody has mentioned doing another one. I do think she will end up having a colonoscopy, but I also think that just might be what finds the problem. Or that's what I'm telling myself, anyways. If she goes through that and they still don't know what's going on then my hope will begin to disappear because what else can they do after that? It's a very strange situation, for sure!

mrsd211

All fecal tests are negative. Normally that would be good news, but in this situation it's not. Pippa goes in tomorrow morning for more blood tests, this one for a liver shunt. She doesn't really fit the symptoms, but we just want to be sure. The next step if that is negative is surgery and biopsy... The vet said a endoscopy won't even be needed because she very possibly is too swollen inside to get a good look. She doesn't appear swollen, but I'm not the expert. The biopsy seems to be the surest way if it comes to that. I just want to know what's going on inside her little body.

crazydays

Mrsd- I am thinking about all you are going through. Hang in and good luck ok!

mrsd211

Okay, so today I spoke with a woman whom I was possibly going to work for. She owns a crystal/oil shop... here's a little description of her...

"...she discovered that she has a natural gift of hands that heal – perhaps part of her Native American heritage, she is a Reiki Master..."

I'm not normally into that, (I called her to let her know that another potential job is in my near future), but while I had her on the phone, I mentioned Pippa and her situation and asked her if she ever works with animals. She listened to my story of Pippa's medical history and symptoms and said she felt she was stressed. Ahhh... stress is the 1st thing the vet asked me about and I said she wasn't. But this 'healer', without any knowledge of Maggie (our other yorkie), said she feels she's stressed because of "another animal". I was floored! When the vet asked me about it, I said no, not even thinking of Maggie, but after the other lady mentioned it... OMG... Maggie is SO stressful to Pippa! She isn't mean to her, but she is aggressive when she wants to play and looking back Pippa has always walked on eggshells around Maggie.
I looked up the signs of stress in dogs and she surely fits them. Shaking, licking her lips (or whatever dogs have), diarrhea and other ones.

I most certainly am still looking for a medical diagnosis and will continue until we have answers. But with all tests coming back negative, stress seems a very likely possibility. I'll talk to the vet about that when she calls me, probably today.

And so if that's what this whole mess is, what now? These are my surrogate babies and removing one from our family isn't an option. How do I get peace and tranquility among them?

I hope I don't sound off my rocker, but when you're in a situation like this and nothing is working and you're getting no answers, I think it's natural to start looking in different places. I AM DESPERATE for answers. She can't continue the way she is, she will die.

mrsd211

Well good news and bad news. The results came in today from the shunt test and all signs of that point to a liver shunt. What the...???!!! The vet said that a normal level of whatever they look for is 7, Pippa's is 98. I'm just speechless and confused, so is the vet. Pips doesn't fit most of the symptoms, but what little I've read about this, I did read that not all dogs with liver shunts have all the symptoms. On top of this, I also found out that the 1st vet, that was sure it was nothing more than a food allergy, had me feeding her z/d which is SUPER high in protein and she needs the exact opposite. So for the past 3+ months, she's been eating either the z/d (18% protein) or the fish & sweet potato (21% protein). Just wonderful! I've been feeding her the worst thing I could feed her. I have to start feeding her low protein. This poor dog has been through so much in her 9 months. I also contacted the breeder, whom I've been keeping updated on Pippa, to let her know what is going on and she can't believe it either. She said in her 34 years of breeding, she's only had 1 puppy that had a liver shunt. I also wanted to let her know that I don't expect anything from her (her health guarentee was for 3 months), but she assured me that if, god forrbid, anything does happen that she will take care of us. I feel she is an extremely good breeder, I was in a yorkie group and quite a few of the members had pups from this breeder, she's also an AKC registered breeder.
So that's what's going on for now. I have amoxicillin & flagyl, vet said she'll be on these long term, possibly forever.

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