Bloody Stool
 

Hello everyone.
We are having a medical issue with our ~7 year old GSD Fahn and I was wondering if you could give us any advice.

He has had bloody stool off and on for about 6 months now. It stared out solid with just a little bit of blood streaked through it back in the states and the vet gave us metronidazole and it went away. Two months ago my job took us to South Korea and about one month ago it came back. We took him to an american vet here and they tried the same thing as the vet in the states but it just got worse. With each bowel movement his stool started out solid and became watery and very red and bloody by the end of the movement. Eventually it turned straight liquid and bloody. The American vet tested him for bacteria and found a lot in him and suggested that we get him some Forta Flora but before we got it in the mail we decided to take him to a Korean animal hospital because he stopped eating and drinking. The American vet recommended this place because she did not have the higher end capabilities that the hospital does. He stayed at the hospital for 5 days while he got tests, x-rays, IV fluid and an endoscopy. They found and removed two small pieces of some substance they could not identify in his large intestine and they sent him home with us.

His stool was blood free for a few days but was discolored and soft due to the medicines and liquid nutrients he had been receiving. His diet consisted of soft foods such as broth and rice to build his system back up and keep him from getting sick. We gradually introduced his regular food back into his diet and the blood came back once his stool started to harden again about a week after returning from the vet. We stopped giving him his dog food and switched brands and started cooking rice and chicken for him about a week ago. We decided to give it a few days to let the old food completely leave his system but it never cleared up and just got worse today. It is still just a little bit of blood but tonight the last little squirt of stool was watery and red tinted again.

We were giving him Blue Buffalo before this all started and we are now giving him a mix of Nutro Natural Choice and cooked rice, eggs and boiled chicken.

Has anyone seen anything like this before or heard of any issues with either dog food? We wanted to see if there is anything else we should do before we put him through 5 more days of no eating and drinking in the hospital. We are so worried about him and no one here seems to know what to do.

P.S. He has not been vomiting or showing any other signs besides when we took him to the vet because he stopped eating and drinking.

Thats a weird one - is it possible to do a colonoscopy on a dog??
If they checked the font end it may be worthwhile checking the back end as well?

When they did the endoscopy they checked his stomach and his large intestine. They could not view the small intestine via endoscopy, but did not think it was a small intestine problem as the blood is red. Checking the small intestine requires some other method.

We are heading to the vet tomorrow as Fahn's Bowl Movement (BM) is getting more bloody with each BM, solid at the beginning, with liquid blood at the end. I'm going to ask the vet to test for PARVO, Hematochezia, Pancreatitis, Inflammatory Bowl Disease, Coilitis and Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis. Is there any other disease we should test for? They may have already ruled out these disease with all of our previous blood work, X-rays, Ultra sounds and endoscopy of stomach and large intestine, but I want to ask just in-case they didn't look for something at that time. Thank you for any advice you can offer we are very worried about our guy.

I would put him on Eukanuba Low Residue for now, I have always had good results with it. Veterinarian-Prescribed Dog Foods - Whole Dog Journal Article

The food you are using could be the issue: 173 Complaints and Reviews about Blue Buffalo Pet Foods

Here is a test you might want to ask for (Diarrhea RealPCR™ Panel): http://www.idexx.com/view/xhtml/en_u...jsf?SSOTOKEN=0

I hope you find out what his making him sick and that he gets better soon!

Michaela

Michaela,
I don't think they can do that test in South Korea, I will ask, thanks for the suggestion. We already stopped feeding him blue buffalo a week ago. I will have to see if I can get that brand of dog food you recommended, here. Right now he is on nutro natural choice simple formula for sensitive stomachs and I'm mixing it with eggs, rice, and chicken.

I think the vet needs to revisit what you said here..."They found and removed two small pieces of some substance they could not identify in his large intestine and they sent him home with us."

As for testing for all the noted diseases...some are a blanket term...IBD falls under Hematochezia, Colitis falls under IBD...Parvo mainly a concern in puppies, as for pancreatitis, if it is leeching enzymes destroying surrounding tissue, I would think you would see pain in the dog, arching of the back - like a spasm - HGE, I believe has vomiting, is an acute condition, not a chronic 6 month issue.

Here is a link that explains in humans - not a "medical" link, but explains the above as well as other possibilities in laymans terms...But I think there was something missed, still lodged in the intestine and it is aggrevating things causing inflammation.

I noticed you asked on another thread (it was 3yrs old btw:p) natural diet is RAW and/or homemade - much like you are doing temp diet of rice and chicken...which, I cannot understand why people question the benefits of real food, when they see success and then try to integrate back onto kibble and see symtoms return...anyhow...natural means RAW, grain free, hopefully carb free...Two links for you, one about IBD and one about kibble, the toxins and how denaturing the food affects the body.

Bright Red Blood in Bowel Movement

Cooked Vs. Raw Food

Good luck at the vet...not sure if this is relative to the large intestine, but I know many have success with Tylan, at least I know they do in SIBO...

Tomorrw I will send you some suppl. suggestions, but right as of know I would get some pure canned pumpkin and throw a couple heaping tbsps. in the mix...and Nutro, had very bad reviews for yrs. - bloody diarrhea:eek:

As well as slippery elm (capsules or tea)
Aloe vera juice (pure - organic), antibacterial and healing

I am interested to hear what the vet had to say today? Frank red blood means bleeding in the LARGE intestine, as it is the last loop of intestine before defecation. Black tarry blood would be small intestine or stomach, as it is digested.

What did they remove from his colon? Was it a mass? Or a foreign body? Either way, I would look at that for answers. Ultrasound to check his abdomen. Radiographs if they have not already been done could be helpful as well.

Whole Dog Journal isn't prescribing Eukanuba in that article.

Did you read it? Scroll down to "Diarrhea or Constipation" & "Colitis" and start from there.