Dog Diarrhea Treatment Hampton VA

Q. My 45-pound, 8-year-old mixed-breed dog has days when he won’t eat and ignores treats. He has diarrhea when he goes out. During these times he also eats grass. Do these symptoms suggest anything?

A. Your dog’s occasional loss of appetite – combined with diarrhea and grass-eating – suggests a number of possibilities. Something seems to inflaming his stomach and intestines, possibly making him nauseated and causing the diarrhea.
 
Some dogs are very sensitive to certain foods and can develop allergies. Although it is not recommended to make frequent diet changes, you might try changing your dog’s diet to something with a completely different set of ingredients such as lamb and rice.
 
Another basic strategy is to submit a stool sample to your veterinarian for analysis. Your veterinarian will also want to examine your dog. Although parasites are more common in younger dogs, middle-aged and older dogs can acquire infections of micro-organisms such as giardia or clostridium, both of which can cause loss of appetite and diarrhea. Both infections are treatable with appropriate antibiotics.
 
Another possibility is a generalized inflammation of the bowel called inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) which is the equivalent of Crohn’s disease in humans. The immune system tends to attack its own intestinal lining, causing it to thicken and not absorb nutrients correctly. The result is diarrhea and occasionally loss of appetite.

During an endoscopy procedure a scope is placed t...

Author: By Jon Geller, DVM

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