1300 489 873In the final instalment from leading Vet Dr Graham Swinney, the canine health expert explores what may be causing your dog to be feeling very unwell.
Diarrhoea can be one of those things that is rather concerning to you as a pet owner. There is the worry that it may mean that your pet is unwell, but there is also the ‘cleaning up’ aspect that can be a challenge, especially if your pet spends some time inside the house. If you have a long haired cat or dog then there may be the need for bathing as well
Diarrhoea is a consequence of disease in the gastrointestinal tract, and there are a number of possible causes. Many involve disease of the gut itself, but in some cases diseases outside of the gut can affect it. Diseases in the gut can be as simple as having eaten something they shouldn’t, but could also be the result of infections (parasitic and viral infections are more common in puppies, and bacterial, parasitic and protozoal in older dogs), inflammatory bowel disease, foreign bodies, or in some cases even a neoplasm (cancer). Things outside the gut that can result in diarrhea could be things like liver or pancreatic disease.
If the diarrhea is severe or persistent, or your pet seems unwell, they need to be seen by your Vet. There are a number of questions your Vet may ask you, that may include
- How long has the diarrhea been occurring?
- How often is your pet passing faeces compared to normal?
- What does the diarrhea look like?
- Have you seen any blood or mucous with the faeces?
- Has there been straining or pain associated with passing the faeces?
- What is the normal diet and have there been any recent changes?
- How is your pet’s appetite and has there been any vomiting?
- When was the last deworming and vaccination?
- Has your pet lost weight? This can also be checked at your Vet with recording of body weight at each clinic visit.
Your Vet will want to undertake a complete physical examination of your dog, including a careful examination of the abdomen, and perhaps even a rectal examination. The history and physical examination may provide a likely answer as to why your pet has diarrhea – for example recent ingestion of spoiled food. In a number of cases however further testing will be done to look for a more specific cause of the signs. Such testing may include
- Faecal testing – At the simplest level to check for parasites that may cause diarrhea.
- Blood tests
- A Complete Blood Count looks at the cells in the blood and may give signs of anaemia or inflammation suggesting underlying disease
- A Blood Chemistry Profile that will look for potential underlying causes of the diarrhoea, and will assess kidney and liver health, the pancreas, blood glucose, blood electrolytes and protein levels and more.
- A urine sample. Evaluation of the urine may give clues to kidney health, diabetes, liver health.
The results obtained on these tests may provide an answer as to the cause of the diarrhoea. If not, there may be some extra tests your Vet will suggest, or extra tests to give more precise information obtained on the more routine tests. These could include
- A more precise test for pancreatitis called a SNAP or Spec cPL.
- Fecal testing that can provide more information about the possibility of an infection – either a PCR test or a fecal culture
- Imaging studies such as radiographs (x-rays) of the chest and abdomen, or an ultrasound of the abdomen.
- Ultimately in some cases intestinal biopsies may be required that can be collected using an endoscope or at surgery
