Blood in poo

[Theresahairbrushinthefridge]

Our 5 month old lab puppy. Super bouncy glossy coat and bright eyed has started having blood and mucous in her poo. On and off for about 3 weeks. I have been poorly and not on poo picking duty so only just realised the extent of it.

No change in diet. On burns chicken and rice puppy food. Has been since weaning.

Got wormer from the vet today.

Any ideas? Could colitis come on like that?

I know there's lots of debate on dog food. We have always fed Burns. Our other dog did well on it. My parents feed it too. So easy when we stay with each other.

Normally I would feed plain chicken and rice as a starting point to let things settle. But it would seem that the problem could be chicken?

Obviously will take her to the vet. But any thoughts?

[hermionegranger]

Hi OP, we had lots of issues with our dog like this and it took us ages to weed out the problems.
Mucus is a sign of irritation within the intestine - so definitely could be a sign of a food intolerance. Blood in stool could signify that the irritation is quite severe/indicate gastroenteritis.
Our dog had this problem consistently, although it would ebb and flow in severity. It would even happen suddenly when she had been eating the same (high quality) food for months. I was in a state of utter despair!

On veterinary advice we removed all cereals, chicken, beef and processed treats from her diet. This has really helped and her stools are now healthy and her gut is controlled and settled. We now feed her duck and lamb (and a small amount of a prescribed hypoallergenic dried food for training treats) which are much easier for dogs to digest. All of this came from months of research and a lot of (thorough and expensive) veterinary intervention.

I would take your pup to the vet to make sure that their blood count is okay, as losing any amount of boood is worrying. Discuss your options for a hypoallergenic diet with them and maybe have some tests done for any specific food intolerances.

Good luck and cuddles for your pup!

[Theresahairbrushinthefridge]

That's really helpful thanks. I'll take her to the vet on Monday with a sample 🤢 and photos 🤮

[Historydweeb]

My retriever had this for months, we spent so so much on different tests, the poor little bear was like it for 11 months. Tests showed repeated instances of salmonella and campylorbactor ( both picked up at the breeders, so before we even had him) which are so cruel as they take a long time to clear from the digestive system. He also had an allergy to rice which didn't become apparent at first. I used wainwright's grain free food with turkey and sweet potato. It remains the best/gentlest puppy food I found and once you've had a stool sample tested at the vets to check for nasties then I strongly recommend getting him on it.
A lot of hypo allergenic foods still contain rice which was making him worse.
Also, make sure he's drinking plenty of fresh water, put a bit of ice in it to make it interesting ( and a towel handy to wipe the icy mess up after him 😂 )
Hope he gets better soon, nothing more worrying than a poorly child

[BiteyShark]

Those symptoms could be caused by a variety of things. Definitely go to the vets especially as it's been on and off for such a long time and your puppy is still very young.

[boilingstormyseas]

We used Burns for years and years but then our terrier went off it a while ago and I think I heard they've changed their recipe/how it's produced (can't confirm). We moved him to an own brand sold at our local independent pet store which is grain free, etc and it's gone down well.

[Theresahairbrushinthefridge]

That's interesting. Ours have always been on it because at the time it was the best easily available food and recommended by the vet.

I am taking her in later.

[LizzieBennettDarcy]

Mine has had colitis since being a puppy, and oddly enough is having a flare up at the moment. It's the first one in well over a year though. We've got ours on Millie's Wolfheart and he has half a sachet of Country Hunter on top by Natures Menu. Mine didn't get on with Burns at all, or Arden Grange and Barking Heads.

We go onto boiled rice and chicken for 4/5 days with ProKolin paste then half normal food, half rice/chicken and gradually go onto normal food again over about 10 days. Never be tempted to miss a few steps as you have to start over again.

I can never give mine treats or any food other than his regular, he's got an incredibly sensitive tummy. Hope yours is better soon.

[Theresahairbrushinthefridge]

Vet didn't have an appointment on Saturday so on advice we gave her prokolin and ID recovery diet. She's completely fine within 12 hours. Proper appointment on Monday to discuss options

Thanks for all your advice.

[LizzieBennettDarcy]

Prokolin is magic stuff. You can buy on Amazon or vet sites and it's an awful lot cheaper. I pay £15 normally but had run out and had to get it from the vet who charged £32................. glad your dog is better.