Hey, I have a chocolate Labrador here with some problems after being neutered. He was neutered last Thursday and has had a few issues that I don't know how to address properly. Basically, when he came home from the surgery, he was obviously a little tired due to the anaesthetic but seemed like he was recovering pretty fast. His stools were fine and solid up until 2 days later when he got up really early in the morning and was vomiting and had bad diarrhoea. His diarrhoea was turning redder and redder until it was literally just blood (looked similar to jam). We rushed him to the vets and he was given an injection and some antibiotics for us to give him at home every day. The odd thing was that when we took him to the vets he was REALLY lively just as he usually is. Over three and half days have passed since the injection and he has not defecated since but he does seem fine and even tries to be himself and run around, though I can't allow that yet. He eats fine, drinks water but sometimes needs encouraging and is not dehydrated to what I can see. His diet consists of chicken and rice at the moment as we were told that is the best thing to give him after neutering because of it being bland. I have not been able to get a lot of sleep as I've been really worried about what will happen next and dreading what it will be like if he does finally decide to defecate. Can anyone tell me what I should do in this case? I really have no clue what is best in a situation like this. Should I take him to the vet after a certain period or even have taken him again earlier than 3 days? Thanks a lot!
I have also now noticed a slight bit of blood where the incision is located, nothing major looking but should this raise concerns? Sorry I'm just really worried about my little buddy!
I am sorry I can’t offer any advice but I think the best thing is to speak to your vet. Describe what is happening and they should advise what is the best course of action. Let us know how you get on.
Hi and welcome to the forum. What a worry for you. It sounds like there was some damage done during the neutering. I would be back at the vets asap if you are not happy. Good luck, I hope he is ok.
What you were originally describing sounds like HGE - hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. Poo looks like raspberry jam. My boy had that. Treatment was antibiotics, probiotics, and a medicine he took orally that lined the gut so that it could heal, along with soft, bland food until it was completely healed. Took a couple of months to get back to normal, ie healed after a few days, then a week later back to blood, and so on. The constipation now might be because your boy is not drinking enough water - offer him water flavored with chicken stock or fish to encourage him. Whether the infection was introduced during neutering surgery, well, you’ll need to chat to your vet. Regardless, you should at least call your vet and voice your concerns and explain what’s going on. If you’re unhappy with their care, seek another vet opinion. Blood in poo is bad. And three days of constipation following bloody diarrhea would concern me. But really, best to speak to your vet - a phone first at least. Blood at the site of neuter- again, phone your vet if you’re concerned.
Thanks a lot for your replies, I have called the vet and will be taking him in tomorrow to get it sorted. I'll post an update here on how he gets on within the next few days. Again, thank you all for your advice!
UPDATE: Ok so I've give it a while so not to speak to soon and he has made a full recovery by the looks of it. I think it was a case of HGE as MF said but fortunately he is better and he is eating, drinking and even defecating as usual! Im so glad he is better and things are back to normal and I will be taking him to the park as usual when the time is right Thanks again for all the replies and advice, its nice to have such a place to speak to other doggy people
Yay! What a relief. I share your worry, not sleeping, worrying for the worst when our dogs are sick. My vet called our boy’s HGE “Garbage Bin Disease” for obvious reasons - scavenger of note!
Ah well we did think of the bin since he recently found a new habit of emptying the bin in the night so we had to move it to another room before bed. I think he started doing this becuase of his change in diet and we noticed he was really hungry. We have changed his diet back though now and he is no longer begging for food (well not as much, he is a labrador). I'm seriously not going to risk it and make sure the bin is out of the room every night because I'm now thinking this was the culprit. Thanks for your reply and everyone elses!
Ours was a little bit worse than our home garbage bin... he was eating human poo (from homeless people) he found on the mountain. Vet reckoned a lot of E. coli. And of course eating any scrap of discarded food and bones on the pavements. So he was on leash for quite some time till the HGE cleared up completely. We also saw a difference when we added kefir to his diet - recommended by the vet. About 1/2-1 cup every night before bed (I have some myself, too!). I make it myself, very easy - with fullcream milk. I don’t know if there’s less human poo out there, or whether the kefir took away the desire, but since feeding kefir he’s only scavenged human poo about three times in the last 9 months. Before that he was out “hunting” for poo on our mountain walks. Could be coincidence...
Oh god I bet that was a hard job stopping him from doing that. Dogs do some repulsive things sometimes and mine is the same only he eats other dogs poop and then you have to pay the price also (literally). I think owning a dog can be a big worry a lot of the time but hey you gotta love them! Also nice to hear that yours has stopped that bad habit, I hope mine doesnt get into it...
What is kefir, @MF, is it a type of yoghurt? At first I thought you were talking about keffir lime leaves, then you said "full cream milk" and realised it must be something else.
Erm, bad habit hasn’t stopped altogether unfortunately. But yes, a relief he is not constantly looking for poo. Today he headed up the mountain to a spot he’s been before for a “snack”. I sternly said No and he stopped and looked at me, and then I walked on and cheerfully called him and did my call whistle (I use my lips but do the toot toot as if with a whistle) and he actually came with me!!!! Got lots of praise. But yes, big worry - I spend a lot of time worrying about him. Useless use of energy, but I’m a worrier by nature.
Yes, like yoghurt - it’s fermented milk. It uses kefir grains, hence called kefir. I love Thai food, so if it were flavored with Thai lime leaves and chilli, all the better - and Snowie would approve, he also loves any kind of curry!
Kefir grains? Ok, never heard of them, I'll see if I can track them down. I'm intrigued and would like to try it!
Look it up on Wikipedia - they have photos. Grains is a misnomer in my opinion - they’re blobs of bacteria (I think!) - looks like cauliflower florets.
