# blood in poop, bright red streak on the "sausage link"



## NRB (Sep 19, 2009)

Anyone else dealt with this before? What was the cause?

I saw a streak of blood on the outside of the dog poop as the dog was defecating yesterday am. (exactly 2 hrs before I had to leave town with the dog) I took that sample straight to the vets. Vet was with another patient at the time. So my conversation was with the vet tech who relayed questions and answers to the vet. Red blood indicated bleeding in the colon. They sent the sample out for more intensive testing. They sent me on my way with an antibiotic and IAMS dog food for upset intestines. Told to give the antibiotic 2x a day for 7 days. And to abruptly switch the dog from her normal food (INNOVA's Adult Kibble) to the IAMS food. 

I have given the pills on schedule but I am reluctant to switch dog food that fast. I have done 2/3 innova to 1/3 Iams and will switch over faster than I normally would but not "cold turkey" like the vet suggested.... Saw blood on outside of the poop yesterday eve, but not this am....

I am out of town and waiting to hear the lab results. If need be I can take my dog to a vet in this town, or go to an emergi vet....

Dog is happy, eating. drinking, playing like normal. Stools are normal shape and consistancy. No dirreaha. 

I told my brother and he said his dog did that from time to time and he never took him to the vet or worried about it.

Could my dog have eaten a stick that poked the walls of the intestine? Wonder if I should bring the dog to a vet adn request x-rays. I palpate the dogs tummy and she arches her back up a little.....I wonder if that's a normal reaction of a pain response. She doesn't protest when I do this, so it's not a strong pain response..

Waiting for the vet to call with the lab results and stewing.....


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

I base a lot of what I react to by the way the dogs behaves and the dog's temperature. You dog is acting well and that is the most important thing to go by. 

It could be a lot of things. I had this once when my dog splintered up a chew hoof. She was fine.


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## NRB (Sep 19, 2009)

Elana55 said:


> I base a lot of what I react to by the way the dogs behaves and the dog's temperature. You dog is acting well and that is the most important thing to go by.
> 
> It could be a lot of things. I had this once when my dog splintered up a chew hoof. She was fine.


that's a great piece of advice. The dog appears normal and happy. I may have jumped the gun on this one. She does have a history of having Coccidia (this Nov). And Giardia (this Dec). So that was what was on my mind when I saw the blood.


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## RBark (Sep 10, 2007)

NRB said:


> that's a great piece of advice. The dog appears normal and happy. I may have jumped the gun on this one. She does have a history of having Coccidia (this Nov). And Giardia (this Dec). So that was what was on my mind when I saw the blood.


If she has a history of these, I would take a sample in just to be safe. I think Elana's advice was based on a healthy dog without a recent history of sickness.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't read the whole post. I see you're waiting for the lab results. Personally I would not change my dog's diet. That's just asking for trouble, most Vets know nothing about dog diets. 

But use your own judgment.


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## NRB (Sep 19, 2009)

RBark said:


> If she has a history of these, I would take a sample in just to be safe. I think Elana's advice was based on a healthy dog without a recent history of sickness.
> 
> EDIT: Sorry, didn't read the whole post. I see you're waiting for the lab results. Personally I would not change my dog's diet. That's just asking for trouble, most Vets know nothing about dog diets.
> 
> But use your own judgment.


my dog has a history of testing positive for Coccidia and Giardia but has never ever been symptomatic. In other words she has never been sick, has never had diarreah, has never had any symptoms other than some stinky dog farts. The vet tested initally bc I complained of the strong Oder from the farts. 

Stinky farts did go away after treating for C and G AND adding probiotics AND changing the food from innova puppy to innova adult. So there is no definate evidence as to What specificly caused the strong oder farts to go away

probablly tmi. But I wanted to point out that the dog has not been sick from the presence of either the C or the G.


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

RBark is correct. 

When changing anything NEVER change things all at once. Change ONE thing and then wait a week and see if there is a difference. If there is none, you change the NEXT thing and wait and see if there is a difference etc.

Changing everything at the same time can cause serious issues and make things worse out of stress from the changes, or can "fix" the problem.. but you do not know exactly what you did to get the results. 

Some animals can harbor protozoan cultures in seeming symbiosis with no outward signs. Coccidia tests can be negative and then positive depending on the shedding of Oocytes. Usually if a vet suspects Coccidia in the presence of a negative stool sample (but with outher symptoms, such a blood in the stool) he will prescribe a course of treatment knowing the dog is just in between Oocytes shedding cycles.


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## NRB (Sep 19, 2009)

Elana55 said:


> RBark is correct.
> 
> When changing anything NEVER change things all at once. Change ONE thing and then wait a week and see if there is a difference. If there is none, you change the NEXT thing and wait and see if there is a difference .


I'm typing my responses on an iPhone. So I'm filling in all the details as we go. I do agree in taking time to change food ( I change food gradually over a 2 week period). FIRST I added a probiotic. Kept her on the puppy food for couple weeks. Then gradually changed to the adult. Keeping her on the probiotic. But at this same time I got the positive on the Giardia. So I changed the food at the same time I treated for giardia. I didn't plan it that way. But that's life sometimes. 

Still have not heard from the vet re lab results. Will call today.


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## NRB (Sep 19, 2009)

Meh, called the vet the lab found Nothing in the stool sample. Could be any number of things. Vet says the dog must have a sensitive GI tract and we can keep an eye on her and see how she does. I'm sort of hoping this is a one time thing and we never Need to know what's up if it never happens again. OR if it happens again and never gets worse.... She's still a pup and scarfs down sticks, acorns, moss, dirt, horse manure and what not. Good thing she's an indoor dog and is leashed when outside..


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## Charlene (Sep 12, 2009)

went through this very thing a few months ago with my 3 year old dane girl. took her to the vet and had a complete work-up done to the tune of $400+ and it turned out to be nothing but a case of colitis. i added forti-flora to her meals for 30 days and she hasn't had a episode of bloody poo since.


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## NRB (Sep 19, 2009)

Charlene said:


> went through this very thing a few months ago with my 3 year old dane girl. took her to the vet and had a complete work-up done to the tune of $400+ and it turned out to be nothing but a case of colitis. i added forti-flora to her meals for 30 days and she hasn't had a episode of bloody poo since.


Thanks Charlene, nice to hear a success story, it give me hope. 

I'm guessing that colitis is inflamation of the colon?

And Forti-flora is a probiotic?

Hope this is our issue as well. But I have had the dog on a probiotic for 2 months now. Maybe the forti-flora is a certain brand and is better for GI tracts in dogs? I'll look into it.

Did your vet advise you to change your dog food??

I'm stumped over the dog food issue;

My vet gave me some Iams food "Iams® Veterinary Formulas Intestinal Low-Residue™/Canine Dry Formula" to switch my dog over to. I admit I am a little unsure about doing that. The first 6 ingrediants in Iams are "Corn Grits, Brewer's Rice, Chicken By-Product Meal, Chicken, Fish Meal, Dried Beet Pulp," I normally feed Innova's adult food which is "Turkey, Chicken , Chicken Meal, Barley, Brown Rice, Potatoes " . The vet told me to switch cold turkey to the Iams food but I have not. I started to introduce the Iams on Monday pm and am at 50/50 now. 

But I suppose I could switch, feed the entire (small) bag of Iams to the dog then switch back..... I only feed 1.5 cups a day of the Innova (dog is 32lb Standard schnauzer) it will take me some time to get through the bag....


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