Chronic “on and off” Diarrhea in Small Doggos
For some small breeds like Yorkies, Morkies, Maltese, Shorkies, etc there’s a recurring cycle of:
Diarrhea to Colitis to HGE (Hemorrhagic GastroEnteritis)
Maybe you have a little dog that gets diarrhea, on-and-off a lot. And whenever they go on medicines and special food they do okay. Then they go back on regular food, and a week (or a month) later they’re “back at it” with the diarrhea.
Add this: When they have diarrhea for a day or two without medicine – it gets worse and turns bloody.
They may “strain to poop” like, squatting without producing a movement.
Is HGE serious?
Damn straight. They can die. The poop looks like strawberry jam and then it’s lights out 24 hours later without fluids and aggressive medications. The goal is to PREVENT this cycle from happening over and over. These chronic “on and off” diarrheas do well with:
Metronidazole, Endosorb or Sucralfate, and Loperamide as a “2-3 days cycle” when the poops are getting out of control. It functions as your “Diarrhea Emergency Kit” on hand all the time.
Special foods which are LOW FAT and HIGH soluble fiber. And that AIN’T ROUGHAGE. They don’t need ‘roughage’ as much as soluble fiber. An example of this food is Hill’s i/D *dry* LOW FAT.
Can I avoid that diet?
Yeppers. You can cook a diet of boiled egg, and low carb vegetables and a pinch of rice, and tint it orange with Libby’s 100% pumpkin, canned.
Just feed NO MORE THAN 1/4c per ten pounds twice a day. Nothing on it to “get them to eat”.
Colitis dogs will go light on ‘colitis-days’ SO LET THEM FAST. Those skip-meal days and “only-ate-light” days are NOT the time to coaxe a colitis-dog
How do you know whether to use Sucralfate or Endosorb?
If the poops are bloody, it’s Sucralfate. If they’re not, then Endosorb/Propectalin are better.
- Bloody = Sucralfate
- Not Bloody = Endosorb
When you see diarrhea (Or right now)
- Suspend food for 24 hours
- Tomorrow feed Low fat i/D
- Continue on Low Fat i/D –or-
- Cook and add a Pumpkin tint to each meal.
- Use Metronidazole, Endosorb, and Loperamide
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