Can you help please dog with diarrhoea

[pigsDOfly]

Can anyone advise me please. My dog has had diarrhoea this evening - been twice so far. We were out this afternoon and she seemed fine then but now she's very restless and her tail is down, she's obviously feeling rough. As far as I'm aware she didn't eat anything in the park when we were out and I'm wondering if she's picked up some sort of tummy bug. Is this normal?

She had a small amount of food about and hour/hour and half ago - Naturediet - after which she had the 2nd loose motion.

I've never had to deal with this before. How long do I let it continue before I go to the vet? And do I give her her normal food tomorrow - she's fed once a day in the evening - if it doesn't get any worse or is chicken and rice better for her; although having said that she can't take too much chicken as it tends to make her loose so possibly not the best thing for her.

I know I'm probably sounding a bit panicky, but I had to have my cat pts a week ago and I'm feeling a bit emotional at the moment so apologise if I'm over reacting.

I feed twice a day so I would usually skip a feed, then feed something easy to digest, chicken or white fish with rice or scrambled eggs.

I'd only go to the vets if it didn't stop after about 48 hours or if anything worrying happened, blood, hard to wake or were in way more discomfort than you'd expect from stomach ache.

when my greyhound had an upset stomach,i stopped food completely to give her stomach a rest.
After 24 hours there was no improvement so off to the vets she went.She was given morphine for the pain and Kaolin paste which was mixed in with rice and boiled fish for two days.
In future i think i would just go straight to the vet if possible the pain relief did her the world of good and stopped us worrying so much.

Thank you both for your replies.

She seems okay now, thank goodness, if a bit sleepy. Been holding off our walks as the weather's vile, might take her round the block a bit later, but she hasn't even been into the garden so definitely think it was nothing too awful. I've got some chicken and rice for her meal this evening so hopefully her tummy won't be too sore.

Your poor hound sounds as if she had something pretty nasty pollyglen, it's horrible to see them unwell isn't it and as I said in my OP I think I'm probably a bit over sensitive at the moment because of my lovely old moggie.

our vet has advised not going out for walks when we have had squirty puppies.....I think the reason being that often the bowels are ready to go while they are out, and so staying at home keeps things quiet.

generally I'd miss a meal for them, and then half measures ( and make that half/half chicken and rice or usual food and rice) for the next if no deterioration. Really chop the chicken small too, so they cant pick out the chunks and leave the rice, which also means they tend to eat it a bit more slowly.

keep an eye on the water bowl too....keep a little in there, but not to let them drink gallons at a time.

and vet next if no improvement in 24/48 hours depending on any other symptoms.

Make sure the dog is hydrated and not showing any other symptoms. I would starve for 12 hours but make sure water is available and then give fairly sloppy chicken or fish with rice but check for bones, scrambled eggs are good too. If no improvement and it persists go to the vets who will probably sell you Hills tinned food i/d for gastroenteritis and prokolin in a tube as well as medication. Both are cheaper online and surprisingly ordinary tinned Chappie is good too. I keep these in for emergencies. Good luck.

I'm having the same problem with my puppy at the moment but it's been on/off for over a week now as it was Boxing Day he started to get loose but not really runny and on/off for a few days now. did a day chicken and rice yesterday with a bit of beef/veg and had a solid but very odd colour poo first thing this morning. I then gave him his normal bakers food this morning and almost straight away he was squirty again. I've wormed him this morning and this afternoon while I was out he puked in his bed. vet thinks it may be worms so he's back to chicken and rice now until solid poops return. He's not slowed down though, mad as a hatter and full of life and drinking/weeing plenty. I'm not sure whether to take him to the vets or not, I've spoken to them but to be honest they've been a bit crap so I'm going to ring another place tomorrow.

Raspberrysnowcone, how old is he? May be worth doing a little investigating re Bakers dog food - it's pretty much the canine equivalent of McDonalds and may just be that your puppy is reacting to that?

Noodles I wondered about the bakers after reading a few things on here, especially given the variety of colours that his poos come out like. Once he's finished the current bag I'm going to move him onto something else, I'm not sure what yet though. He is 19 weeks on Sunday. He did a teeny tiny solid poop this morning after his breakfast but I haven't walked him today out of choice because he keeps picking things up and drinking puddle water, I don't want him having anything else that aggravates his tummy so I think he may be holding off pooping until he goes for a walk. I might take him at 3.00 pm so it's still light.

This might be helpful?
www.petforums.co.uk/dog-health-nutrition/255727-updated-dry-dog-food-index.html
Personally I swapped to feeding raw after doing a fair bit of research when my old boy was diagnosed with cancer, not saying his food was entirely responsible but could have been a factor and just wanted to give new pup as good diet as possible, although he's currently on nature diet/wainwrights wet trays as he's on steroids and I just thought would be softer on his tummy with the steroids! He will be back on raw once he's off the steroids though.
But the link above might give you some ideas on the best dry foods around :)

They all look pretty grim, a list of ingredients in most of them that I haven't a clue what it is ??

That should have been a face

Raspberry, think about getting the new food now, before you run out of bakers (and maybe even be prepared to buy a bit more bakers). You need to wean your dog slowly onto a new food, so start by 90% bakers 10% new, then 80% bakers 20% new, etc etc.

If you do a straight swap, it can give them an upset tummy, delicate little things that they are! That said, I do know of dogs that can happily swap frm one to anther without any stomach problems, but probably not best to risk it if yours already is having stomach issues!