Murphy has had an upset tummy on off now for a good couple of weeks, just a minute ago though he has had really bad diarreoh with blood in it. I have some canacur so I'm going to give him that and chicken and rice for a few days but I can't work out what it is that is causing it!! He's been having cocktail sausages a lot for training, could it be that?
Re: Colitis Lottie seems to have a very sensitive stomach and has had several episodes of runny poo/diarrhoea/blood in poo. The last time she had blood in poo, I starved her for (almost) 24 hours (v difficult as she was still hungry), then gave her small meals of scrambled egg and cooked chicken for a couple of days. I use a probiotic and I've heard that Slippery Elm is good though I haven't tried it (yet). I don't know whether cocktail sausages would cause it but might be worth trying something else once the problem's sorted. Hope things improve quickly – it's horrible seeing blood in their poo.
Re: Colitis My old lab had bouts of colitis his whole life. They were triggered by either something he ate, stress or the usual bugs. He was called murphy as well. Cocktail sausages could be the cause if they are greasy/fatty. Has the upset tummies coincided with you starting to use cocktail sausages ? If it goes on for a few days it could be he needs some antibiotics and possibly anti inflammatory. Colitis is irritation of the large intestine and some times it needs help to settle. The other possibility if it's been going on intermittently for a few weeks is campylobacter. Scott and Scout had this. They would have diarrhoea once or twice then be ok for a week then diarrhoea again. If I remember correctly the bout of diarrhoea gets rid of some of the campylobacter but not all of it. It then multiplies again until a few days later diarrhoea again. :-\ Hope you manage to sort it and his tummy settles soon.
Re: Colitis Frankie, could it be the Skinners I know you switched Murphy's kibble a few weeks ago? Poor boy xx
Re: Colitis Thanks Allie and Jen. No his upset tum didnt start around the time he starting having the sausages, so i guess its not likely to be that, but i might stop using them anyway just incase. Hes just had a small meal of chicken and rice, i couldnt bring myself to starve him the way he was following me around after i had fed maisie and harry, he was like youve forgotten me! He has had more blood tinged diarreoh this morn. He has never had any tests done on his poo, and am wondering whether i might insist at the fets, because it is an ongoing thing. When i first changed him Onto skinners he had the best poo hed had in ages, so i dont know. I am going to cut out everything and introduce things one at a time to see if i can work out what it is. What training treats do people use for dogs with sensitive tums?
Re: Colitis If it was me the next time he has particularly bad diarrhoea I'd take a sample to the vets. I'd also be inclined to take murphy to the vet if the blood continues. There's definitely something irritating his bowel if there's blood and he's more likely to need antibiotics if there's blood. If the intestine is bleeding there's a chance of infection due to the nature of the area involved. :-\
Re: Colitis I agree with Jen - sample of the poo to the vets and insist on a test. Hope you find out what's causing it, poor chap.
Re: Colitis Just spoke to them and they need a 3 day sample, so they said today, sat and sun and then drop it in monday. But i still have a bag of his diorreah from last night that i havent put inthe bin yet, so shall i give them that, then todays and tomorrows and take it in tomorrow?
Re: Colitis My vet tells me to put the poo directly into a sample tube (which I pick up from the vet's reception) and store them, labelled with the date, in the fridge until I take them in. Obviously, inside the fridge in a triple bagged tuperware container!!!!!
Re: Colitis Hes just ha another load of diarreoh which was mainly blood i rang the vets and they said carry on with what im doing. I was just wondering whether I should rest him today as hes obviously feeling under the weather?
Re: Colitis poor Murphy.... My Bella has a bit of a sensitive tummy...I've actually put her on an every day pre and pro biotic supplement that has slippery elm in it as well as other goodies. It's called Gastriplex - and I get it from Amazon like most other things. She's pretty stable now - but we had a 2 week bout of soft poos with her not too long ago. We did poached chicken, a bit of pumpkin, and oatmeal. The rice just goes straight through her without much impact - but the oatmeal is much better. We fix it all VERY wet and sloppy, and keep her portions small. After she firmed up, we very VERY very slowly added back in her normal food...it took us nearly 10 days to get her back to kibble and canned - fixed very wet and sloppy. For training treats I use poached chicken, baked potato cubes, cubes of hot dogs, cubes of cheddar cheese, dried cranberries, kibble, and some al natural mini training soft bites made by Zukes - I usually take a small snack size zipper bag and put a little of each of these things into the bag, shake it up, and then the baggie goes in my pocket when we get started. Generally I cook up a small chicken breast, a large baked potato to still firm and not entirely cooked so it holds its shape, and let them both cool. I start cubing up the cheese - a couple ounces at most, one or two hotdogs, and put it all into a bowl. A handful of dried cranberries, a handful of kibbles, a handful of Zukes, and by then the chicken and potato have cooled enough to cut them up too....I put it all into a bowl and mix it up (with Bella bouncing and barking at my side : ), and then distribute it among several zipper bags... Usually a couple go in the freezer, and a couple in the fridge, one it my pocket, and out the door we go. this will generally last me a week, depending on what kind of training we do during the week. This also gives me extra goodies to stuff in her kong if I need to quickly stuff one to distract her. Hope Murphy feels better soon....
Re: Colitis Thanks sunsetpines that's interesting. Iv done a little training with him today and he seems ok, but he's not actually been to the loo today apart from one wee. Do we think no poo is better than runny poo?
