Worried about pets with diarrhea

8 years ago

We have 3 dogs and Tuesday and Wednesday they all had diarrhea. Now our largest dog Sheba usually has diarrhea because mom feeds them table scraps. Out smallest dog Peanut will pee and infrequently poop in the house (she's part Chihuahua) so that isn't unusual but our Shipoo Punkin NEVER poops in the house. But for the last 3 days he's been having diarrhea inside. One time he came right up to me at the desk and turned around and pooped right there! We decided they need to stop eating table scraps (we have this revelation every few months) so yesterday they had absolutely nothing except their regular dry and wet food. We cut down a lot the day before because we thought his tummy was upset so it hasn't been long but today he had a big accident in my room again.

I'm going to pick up a can of Pumpkin puree form the pet store but mom's starting to worry about him getting dehydrated. He doesn't seem dehydrated and we see him drinking water. It doesn't seem like his bowels are just spilling everywhere, it just seems like he has an urge that hits him so fast he doesn't have time to ask to go out. Last night he had time to jump off the bed and have it on the floor but poor mom had to get up in the middle of the night to clean up!

Strange thing is that my one cat has also had diarrhea the last few days (actually started a day or two earlier than the dogs). I feed her moist food and she's fine, its just that when she goes to the litterbox once or twice a day to do her business I hear it's diarrhea which she usually doesn't get. Could it be a bug like a cold affecting our animals? My other cat doesn't seem to have it. Its not our water because we give them water from our cooler not the tap.

We live on a fixed income so we don't want to go to the vet unless we are sure there is a need but if he needs it we will absolutely go! Other than diarrhea he doesn't seem to be showing any other symptoms. He has an appetite, is drinking water, behaving normal so we are hoping the Pumpkin puree will help.

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated!!

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lindavarga20
Original Author

8 years ago

Not sure but everyone is better now. No diarrhea and Punkin is eating vigorously. He threw up on Saturday and we were going to take him to our vet who is open Sundays but he got better. Thanks for all the replies!!

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Comments (8)

mamapinky0
8 years ago
There is a **need** 4 pets with diarrhea for several days. They need a vet today.
pricklypearcactus
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I would be extremely concerned that the pets could have ingested something harmful. While some dogs do get diarrhea from time to time, having all of the pets in the house have the condition at the same time (when they typically do not) is worrisome.

Please note that sometimes pets will seem fine right up until they are really really not fine with diarrhea. This happened with a dog of mine who had a sensitive stomach (and frequent diarrhea) and seemed fine until suddenly she refused to eat. I immediately took her to the vet and despite drinking water and being completely playful and energetic she was dehydrated enough to require subcutaneous fluids. She could have died if we hadn't taken her into the vet.

At the very least, can you call your vet ASAP? Let them know your limited income but that you want to do what is best for your pets. Many vets will work with you to take care of the animals in a cost-sensitive way.
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socks
8 years ago
No more table scraps. Hope the pumpkin helps and you can resolve things for all your pets.
User
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Pumpkin is one possible source of fiber. The one that I have found better is All Bran Cereal... higher in fiber and seemingly more tasty.

As others have pointed out, increasing fiber does absolutely nothing to determine the cause of four pets SIMULTANEOUSLY getting diarrhea.
lindavarga20
Original Author
8 years ago
I'm not sure the cat is related but I changed her food and she hasn't had any diarrhea yesterday or today. Peanut doesn't appear to have any diarrhea and Sheba, well, she often has soft stools. We have been good the last couple of days with no table scraps. My mom eats All Bran so we'll also try that.

If all three were doing it at the same time in the house we'd already been to the vet. Peanut is part Chihuahua which we've heard sometimes are hard to fully house-train. She pees in the house all the time and occasionally she well poop on the bed, gross, but it happening a day before Punkin made me wonder if they were related.

Punkin did have an accident today but its not as watery. We're keeping an eye on them all and only giving them their dog food. Hopefully that and the pumpkin/fiber will clear things up. It was just a shock from Punkin since he doesn't usually have accidents in the house.
arkansas girl
8 years ago
Something worth considering; have you recently opened a new bag of food or a new box/bag of treats? I have bought new food or treats in the past that were my dog's regular food and treats but something was wrong with the package of food/treats and it made her very sick. After I purchased another new bag, the symptoms went away. It happens...sometimes food or treats can have something bad in them, a bacteria I suppose.
User
8 years ago
Good idea on possibly rancid food. In this case, the cat also has diarrhea so not as likely a possibility.