Is your Pet Experiencing Diarrhea?

Symptom Definition

Diarrhea is defined as a sudden increase in the number and looseness of stools. Typically this is true if there are more than two episodes, as 1-2 loose stools can be normal with changes in diet or treats. Diarrhea can vary significantly in consistency and contents. Oftentimes dogs will develop a frank red blood in their diarrhea due to inflammation in the colon.

Causes of Diarrhea in Pets May Include:

Infections
Changes in diet
Ingestion of abnormal items (such as grass, dirt, gravel or animal feces)
Antibiotic usage
Stress.

When to Act

The most significant consequence of diarrhea is dehydration. This happens when the body is losing too much fluid. It happens with vomiting and diarrhea, as well as some other less common causes. Most of the time if your pet is eating and drinking, they can keep up on the fluid loss from mild diarrhea. Evidence of dehydration can look like decreased urine production or extremely concentrated and yellow urine. They may also develop dry gums or a dry tongue.

Contact Emergency Care if:

Your pet is not moving or too weak to stand
Your pet continues to have diarrhea and has not eaten in over 24 hours
You feel like your pet has a life threatening emergency
Fever >103 (rectal temperatures are most accurate if possible)
Your pet has a weak immune system (examples include pets less than 1 year old, your pet has a chronic disease, your pet has cancer, your pet is being treated with chemotherapies or immunosuppressive medications)
Your pet is not vaccinated by a veterinarian

What to Do

Call your family veterinarian or Urgent Care within 24 hours if:

Your pet continues to have diarrhea but is eating and energy levels are normal
You pet is eating but less than normal or is pickier about what they eat
Multiple pets of the same species are having diarrhea

Most diarrhea in dogs is caused by stress or something they ingested that causes mild inflammation within their digestive system. Diarrhea is the body’s way of passing these things quickly to remove the irritant.

Home Care & Advice

The biggest risk of diarrhea is from dehydration, so care is focused on maintaining their hydration. You can achieve this in animals that are still eating and drinking. Provide frequent, fresh options for liquids including water and low sodium broths to encourage drinking. You can also mix water into their food and offer canned food options. Changing the diet to a bland, cooked food for a few days can also help decrease inflammation to the bowel. There are also prescription bland diets that your family veterinarian may be able to provide you for the short term.

Diarrhea typically takes 3-5 days to resolve, sometimes longer.

As long as your pet is eating the bland food, urinating normally, and has normal energy, it should resolve on its own. Once the stool starts to normalize you can slowly transition back to your pet’s normal diet and activity levels.