[Dan The Man]

For the last two nights, my 6-month-old pup has been having some sort of diarrhea problem. He is fine all day, but starting around 10 pm, he starts getting up every hour or half-hour he wakes up and starts whining to be let out. When he gets out he runs to the edge of the property and lets out a dribbly stinky mess. This continues until about 6 am, by which time I have lost an entire night of sleep. I am pretty sure that by the time the sun starts to come up, he has nothing left to poop, but I don't want him trying it inside anyways. From then on he is fine for the rest of the day.

I was thinking that he might be trying to force it out as a way to mark territory because he is always going in different spots along the fence, but why in the middle of the night?

Nothing has changed in his diet except for a dental chew stick, but he has had those for several days before the problem and I took them away after the first night. Any ideas? The sleep deprivation is killing me.

 

[Pepper]

I would consult a vet, that doesn't sound normal.

Stop giving the dental chew sticks too, and see what happens.

 

[Mac'N'Roe]

Yeah, the chew stick may be the problem. Chew sticks and anything rich like that gives my two the runs every time. Once the tummy is upset, it takes a few days for things to settle down. A vet visit could be in order...they can give you something to settle the tummy. Pumpkin helps too. (just a little...and pure pumpkin only..no pie filling).

 

[Dan The Man]

But why only at night? His poops are solid all day long. Has anyone else had a dog that was fine during the day but had diarrhea at night?

 

[CerbiesMom]

Yes, my little dog has that happen also. Always at night. It's unpleasant to wake up to. We made some diet changes, and we're not seeing it as much.

 

[Katzyn]

I would check with the vet, too.

Does he seem stressed out at night, scared or something? Stress can causse diarrhea.

Either way, I'd still check with a vet.

 

[petra'smom]

Perhaps since he goes so often at night during the day he is pretty much empty, then he eats during the day and the cycle restarts.
Definetly try taking away the treats, you can try to offer him a bland diet of boiled rice and boneless and skinless chicken and see how he does on it. The boiled rice must be the bulky part of the meal. You can offer this 2-3 times a day until the stools seem better formed. Then you can gradually re-introduce the regular diet.
If he is better on this bland diet then something in his food must be bothering him. If he does not get better, suspect an underlying cause such as parasites. I think having his stools checked for parasites and protozoans would be a great idea.

 

[Dan The Man]

His stool is fine during the day. He poops and its solid as normal. After about 8pm he starts needing to go out. No anxiety either. He will be sleeping soundly and suddenly wake up and run to the door. He has been outside 4 times between 8pm at 12am tonight. Normally he needs to go twice or 3 times in an entire day.

 

[petra'smom]

That is very odd! I would start by having a vet rule out parasites, as these are often causes of diarrhea. You can drop off a fresh fecal sample to your vet and they usually can give you the results the same day. Has your dog been fully vaccinated for Parvo? I would also try the bland diet and see how it goes. At this point you can only go by exclusion (ideally with the help of your vet) to find out what is going on. Also, (I think I understood you keep him outdoors during the day) are you sure that the diarrhea does not continue outdoors during the day? Could it be when outdoors he is eating stuff that may be causing his stomach upset?

 

[zorba]

I am going through the same thing with my 3 month old pug. He had a vet exam on the 3rd of March and they discovered he had Giardia. I have since treated him and he went for his 2nd vaccination on Monday. Since then he has had the runs, but only at night. Until then, he would go outside for his normal bathroom breaks and get right back to sleep.

Lately, he whines to get out of his kennel and then runs to the door (sometimes he doesn't even make it that far) and lets out a runny #2. Tonight he went on the tile in the porch and it was nearly clear (well, you know, as clear as you would think it could get whilst coming from his bowels).

I brought in a stool sample to my vet yesterday to check if the Giardia has been cleared up. I thought it might be the rawhide that he has been chewing on so I removed that and any treats. Perhaps it was the rawhide and will take a few days to clear up. I hope it is something as simple as that, and not more serious. I am worried.

If the OP, or anyone else has found any resolution for this, please post. Thanks.

p.s. note the posting time..

 

[Dan The Man]

Well it's night 4 now. He got cooked rice today. As of 12am there has only been one messy poop, which is an improvement over the other nights. I still have no idea why, and I am not going to pay $70 to see the vet for a problem that aught to go away on its own.

 

[dakotajo]

I have just recently been going through this the past 2 nights with my 9 month old pup, and only at night! around 2:00 am it starts and usually 1 or 2 accidents. Last night she had the runs and the night before and it always happens in the middle of the night and this will be night number 3 so today I gave her one big treat this afternoon and that's all the treats so I will see maybe if it was some other treat I was giving her that was causing it. I hope you find out the problem and I'm hoping this is the last of it for me too

 

[zorba]

My little guy had diarreha again last night, but it wasn't quite as severe as it had been the other nights. Nonetheless it was still there. Poor little guy.

This is the 4th night that he has had this issue. I am still awaiting the results of his fecal and am not giving him any treats for at least a week in order to help clear this up.

 

[BobSD]

Hi, I could be way off base with my reply, but i feel you should know! Those dental chews you are talking about my vet pushes them also. All it is, treated raw hide, which can become lodged in your dog's belly and cause all kind of problems encluding the runs.

My dogs were getting those chews and I started to get concerned when I saw what large peices they were swallowing. I feel if nothing got lodged in your dogs tummy then it should straighten out on itself other wise the digestive track may have to be checked. It great for the vet, he makes money selling something that may require surgery so he makes more money

 

[Dan The Man]

Well the problem has finally sorted itself out after the fifth night. I don't know what triggered it. It may or may not have helped that yesterday I gave Chico an exercise marathon to wear him out.

 

[zorba]

Well the problem has finally sorted itself out after the fifth night. I don't know what triggered it. It may or may not have helped that yesterday I gave Chico an exercise marathon to wear him out.

Well that is good. My little guy was up every hour last night, and although the stool is looking a bit better and he can actually wait until he gets to the outdoors before he loses it, he (and me) are still up through the night.

It is really strange because the first one he takes at about midnight looks like a normal, healthy stool--from there it just deteriorates. During the day, (although he only went once) it was also normal looking.

I have a vet appointment for him on monday. In the meantime the girl at the vet clinic told me to have him eat white rice for his last meal of the day.

 

[zorba]

UPDATE:

I took Billy to the vet today (although he didn't wake up at all last night, he still had the squirts before bedtime) and here is what we found.

The vet did a gram stain on his feces and found clostridium (?) in it--apparently an abundance of a bacteria that is always there. We gave him a shot of antibiotics and I have a amoxil for him and some fortinflora (?) to bolster his intestinal foritude .

Also, the vet said that there was no real significance with the diarreha only being at night--it is just a matter of when his cycle was timed--figures.

He had a #2 that was the most solid that it has been in awhile and has had no squirts to this moment.

Hopefully things solidify for him soon.

 

[dog bedding]

This is all good information. Every once in a while one of my four dogs gets diarrhea pretty bad. I'm glad you all have been through this too and shared your experiences. This will help me next time this happens.

 

[zorba]

UPDATE #2--

Once again, Billy slept through the entire night again (thank goodness) and this morning he got up and had a very healthy, solid looking #2. Finally.

 

[Pambaknj]

I have a 12 week old yellow lab and every night she has diarrhea at least once. It’s just awful because it’s a mess to clean up in the middle of the night. I’m taking her to the Vet on Thursday and bringing a sample to hopefully figure this out???