What to do If Your dog or cat has a Diarrhea ?

What to do if Your dog or cat has Diarrhea 

Owners of pets are usually dealing with this condition.there are many reasons why your pet could have this problem. I will give you some tips how to deal with this issue and when you should contact your vet immediately.

Main reason for diarrhea is when your pet ate something wrong,and his stomach goes overdrive to get rid of it. Cats are more selective about their food.Dogs are more “all eating” and occurs more to get diarrhea. If your dog eats stick or chew toy or if your cat eats rubber band that can cause diarrhea 

Suddenly change diet can also cause diarrhea. I always say to my pet owners to stick with dietary variety.

It’s not good to feed your pet with same food for years because, if you ever change it he will get diarrhea for sure.

The stomach is most important for your pet’s immune system .Everything begins in gut.If you feed your pet with different food but you should start slowly,offering small amounts of food that doesn’t upset his stomach.

I recommend mixing 10% new food with 90% old food . Monitor your pet’s poo and you can slowly increase amount to 20% -80% and so on.

Also  you need to control treats. Only one or two per day ,until you see how your pet is going to take it.

More  Serious Reasons  Of your Pet’s Diarrhea 

One of them is Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) 

or simply said food allergies .

Ingredients sensitivity  

Pancreatitis ( inflammation of the pancreas)

Parasites (roundworm,hookworms ,tapeworms,coccidia,”Giardia)

Toxic plants 

Stress

What Can You Do to Deal Diarrhea at Home

Your dog is acting normal but has diarrhea,you should withhold food for 12 hours,put him to rest and give him water as much as he wants.

After 12 hours fasting i advise to give him turkey or other fat free meat ,pumpkin puree,sweet potato or even white potato .

We have recommended before rice and rice water but now the study shows that rice is very starchy and pro inflammatory,and it’s not really good give them that when their stomach is already upset .

Cooked 100%pure pumpkin is better solution.

Having diarrhea they can  lose electrolytes like potassium and dehydrate. Showing signs like cramping, fatigue,weakness and heart rate issues ,everything is connected with hypokalemia(low potassium levels )

What Food and Supplements Can You Give Them 

Mix cooked turkey or chicken and pumpkin 50/50 and give it to your pet.

 The best supplements for this condition are:

-Slippery Elm ( neutral fiber source) Fibers are good to ease episodes of diarrhea. Dose for cats and dogs are half of spoon or 1 capsule on every 4,5 kg ,with every meal

- Coconut charcoal binding watery stool 

-Probiotic 

Also the herbs that I recommend are peppermint,fennel and camomile. If your pat is having cramps ,these plants could calm down their stomach.

If after 72 hours  your pet still has loose stools , diarrhea accompanied  blood or other signs of illness ,recurring diarrhea  ,you better call your veterinarian.

 Written by Imrana Sljivo DVM 🐾

Sources and References 

Chaitman, J. et al. Front. Vet. Sci., 16 April 2020

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• ¹Veterinary Internal Medicine and Allergy Specialists, New York, NY, United States
• ²Clinic of Small Animal Medicine, Centre for Clinical Veterinary Medicine, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany
• ³Gastrointestinal Laboratory, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States

This is Dangerous Pet Feeding

In this article i will tell you about a dangerous practice of feeding your pets mostly cats and dogs with now popular vegetarian or vegan food.

 Many vegans or vegetarians make also their pets vegans or vegetarians even if those poor animals don’t really want that.

They force them to live  “ healty life” thinking that they are helping them to live longer or maybe other reason ,but in reality they can do them a lot of harm.If you feed your pet like this you are crippling their body to heal itself.

Dogs any Cats have Teeth designed to eat meat

Your dog has the teeth specially created for the food they are born to digest.They are made to shear flesh of bones and rip.Their molars are pointed and that’s for a reason . Surely not made for eating plants .

Digestion of a Carnivore 

The carnivore stomach is short and simple and very acidic.It can move food quickly and deal with pathogens from the fresh meat .For example when cat eat mouse or when dog is in the wild and eats whole pray.

For break down fruit and vegetables they need more  time because  their digestive tract is not that complex.They tend to masticate their food many times, even the carnivores don’t engage in chewing at all.They rip their food into peaces and get them into their bellies.

The veggies and plants ,seeds and grains simply travel through your pets stomach because it can’t be break down ,just pass out as waste. Also don’t have enzymes in the saliva to break down of carbs and starches in the diet .Your dog or cat doesn’t produce cellulase to break down fibrous plant cell walls .The pancreas  need to produce enough amylase and work over time,also  produce lipase and proteases to digest fats and proteins.Pets do not produce enough amylase to process the starch. Feeding a 100% plant  can stress the pancreas compromising its ability to function normally. They also don’t produce the strains of gut bacteria necessary to break down cellulose.

It’s true that wild dogs and cats sometimes eats grass, berries and seasonally plants specially if they don’t have anything else to eat  ,they are not so strict carnivores ,but their intake of plant based food is not more  then 20% of diet. Cats are strict carnivores ,they are born predators.

The reasearch show that dog can develop over time ability to digest starch when they are constantly fed with grain based food .They can up regulate amylase production.

But their body's weren’t made to live this way .people sometimes out of too much love make them pets live horrible way all because their private frustrations.One of the things is when they put their pets in small flats ,but that’s another topic.

Writen by Imrana Sljivo DVM 

26.08.2024