What Are The Causes Of Diarrhea In Dogs

Guest Post!

Just like humans, dogs can get diarrhea too and if this happens to your canine, it is vital to get to the root of the problem. There are causes of diarrhea in dogs that you might not have expected and it is essential to look into these things to avoid the same problems in the future.

Diarrhea often happens when you suddenly shift the amount of food that you feed your dogs, when you switch from one brand of dog food to another, or when your dog consumes stale food. This is also a common symptom of having parasites. However, there are other causes that pet owners may not be too familiar with.

Common causes of diarrhea

1. Bones

Perhaps owing to the belief that canines love chewing bones, many people think that it is perfectly safe for their dogs to feast on bones. Well, the bad news is, it is not.

If you have fallen prey to shopkeepers who make you believe that dogs in the wild eat bones, then you should read on. Bones can be detrimental to your dog’s health and it happens to be one of the causes of diarrhea that some pet owners don’t know about. In fact, most think that they are doing what’s best for their dog based on recommendations from people who don’t really know much about raising healthy canines.

Dogs cannot digest bones and if you allow them to eat it as the main part of their diet, it could also be detrimental to their health. Diarrhea is due to your dog’s inability to digest bones may or may not have blood.

2. Table Scraps

 When you are eating and your dog is there beside the table looking at you longingly, you may be inclined to give him or her some table scraps. Well, you shouldn’t give in no matter how cute those puppy eyes are! Instead, direct your dog back to its automatic pet feeder because human food is not necessarily good for your dog’s health.

While it is not a good practice to let your dog eat anything you do, table scraps can harm your dog because their digestive system is not wired to work the way ours do.  Most of the foods we eat are fatty and oily.

While there are some people who follow a healthier lifestyle, the quickest meals to prepare are often processed food which dogs cannot digest well, hence, leading to problems such as diarrhea.

Aside from that, you should never feed your dog with anything containing onion. Snacking on your food can also prevent your dog from eating its own meals and this is bad for your pet’s health.

3. Stress

Dogs are much like humans in the sense that they can have various reactions to stress and this includes suffering from diarrhea. Most dog owners would think that their cat water fountain or the automatic pet feeder is to blame when their dog suffers from a bout of diarrhea but this may not be the case. When your dogs are anxious, they can suffer from diarrhea or constipation.

It is important to pay attention to your dog’s condition especially if it has lasted for over 24 hours. If there is blood in your dog’s stool, it often indicates that the cause is not stress but the food that your canine consumed.

4. Birthing complications

Assuming that your dog just gave birth, diarrhea is a common indication that something is wrong. This is one of the symptoms of metritis which is a condition where there is an infection in the uterus which could either be due to a retained fetus or placenta or other complications from giving birth to puppies.

This happens during the first week after giving birth and it is accompanied by fever and loss of appetite, fetid vaginal discharge, and dehydration.  In this case, it is vital to pay your vet a visit the soonest possible moment to make sure that there won’t be lasting damage to your dog. Meanwhile, the pups could be hand-fed at the moment as their mother is sick.

5. Milk

This is not that surprising but some pet owners are still unaware that there are dogs that cannot tolerate milk in their diet. Milk and other dairy products are known to cause diarrhea in dogs with lactose intolerance since their digestive system cannot break down the protein in milk.

However, milk is not necessarily toxic for your canines. And, there are some dairy products that don’t contain too much lactose so your dog could eat them without suffering from repercussions such as diarrhea.

There are many other reasons that might be causing diarrhea in your dog. These are just some of them. Did you ever have to nurse a dog that had diarrhea? Why did it happen?

Regale us with more stories about dogs and why they might suffer from diarrhea in the comments below!

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