Blood in stool -- any idea of what vet will do? (lab, poop) - Dogs - - City-Data Forum

DawnMTL · 08-05-2009, 08:45 AM

Hi everyone.

Yup, it's always about Artie's poop. Always...

Back history
Artie is grain intolerant and eats Wellness Core and Taste of the Wild (venison/bison)

He has had a history of soft poops. Much less so on the grain-free food, but sometimes he still has them.

The only way that I can pretty much guarantee a hard poop is to give him some cheese. Maybe it's the calcium, I'm not sure, but cheese = firm poop.

For treats, he gets chicken jerky strips, liver snacks, baby carrots and green beans. He also eats pig's ears, but I haven't given him one in the past week because I thought that might have been the cause of the problem.

What problem? you ask. This one...

Problem
Over the past number of weeks, Artie has sporadically had BLOOD in his poop. The first time I saw it, I thought "Sure, he and his Lab puppy friends were eating from that raspberry bush and now I have proof!" I didn't think any more of it figuring it would take a few poops to get it out of his system.

But the raspberry feast was a number of weeks ago and he has sporadically had "red stuff" (which I'm now I'm assuming is blood!) at the end of his poop. It's always at the end, just a few little gobs of it, but it's NOT every poop.

Every time he's had 2 or 3 bloodless poops in a row, I thought, "Great. It's done and gone." And then, GRRRR, he'll have another with blood.

I brought a poop sample into the vet and they tested it. Nothing. Negative. He's fine (for whatever they tested for).

And then, just now, he had another poop... with 2 little globs of blood at the end of it.

I just changed his annual vet visit from August 29 to THIS Saturday.

He's acting his "normal" self. He's eating fine. Everything is normal (or as normal as Artie CAN be!) except for this bloody poop.

Questions
Since his poop sample tested fine, do you have any idea what the vet will do when we go in on Saturday?

More importantly, does anyone have any idea of what the heck is going on? I'll be speaking to my vet, obviously, on Saturday but I'm curious to know if any of you have experienced this before with your dog.

Thanks,
Dawn

jimboburnsy · 08-05-2009, 08:58 AM

The vet will relieve you of some money, most likely.

DawnMTL · 08-05-2009, 09:03 AM

Jimbo -- the stool test was negative but, your money guess, I'm positive about!

SouthernBelleInUtah · 08-05-2009, 09:08 AM

DId the sample you brought in have the red stuff on it? If not, they may have missed the blood if he only does it sometimes. I have a dog who has bouts of hemorrhagic diarrhea (smells worse than anything I've ever smelled, incl dead animals). He gets an antibiotic when it happens and for about 8 months, he got one pill daily. It's since cleared up but can be very difficult to erradicate. Hope that is NOT what Artie has. Good luck!

DawnMTL · 08-05-2009, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SouthernBelleInUtah

DId the sample you brought in have the red stuff on it? If not, they may have missed the blood if he only does it sometimes. I have a dog who has bouts of hemorrhagic diarrhea (smells worse than anything I've ever smelled, incl dead animals). He gets an antibiotic when it happens and for about 8 months, he got one pill daily. It's since cleared up but can be very difficult to erradicate. Hope that is NOT what Artie has. Good luck!

I did bring one with blood in it. It was more than 24 hours old (from Sunday morning; brought it in on Monday morning) but they said that they were able to test it.

Actually, I DO hope that he has what your dog had because all that's going through my mind is SURGERY! SURGERY! SURGERY! CANCER! CANCER! SURGERY!

If it's "just" a matter of giving him an antibiotic, I'll be VERY relieved.

ShelbyGirl1 · 08-05-2009, 09:32 AM

Does he have any other symptoms? It could be hookworms, or something like Coccidiosis, which is pretty common. Or has he gotten into something, ie, eaten something that could have been toxic?

jimboburnsy · 08-05-2009, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShelbyGirl1

Does he have any other symptoms? It could be hookworms, or something like Coccidiosis, which is pretty common. Or has he gotten into something, ie, eaten something that could have been toxic?

That's a good point. Is coccidiosis the bug they can pick up from mouthing/chewing/eating dead birds?

DawnMTL · 08-05-2009, 09:37 AM

Shelbygirl1 -- That's what's so weird and why I'm not in full-out panic mode (although my husband would dispute that) -- he has NO other symptoms. Everything is fine. If I didn't pay so close attention to his poop, and didn't notice the blood, I'd have no idea that anything was wrong.

There's nothing else odd in his stool (like worms).

I can't imagine that he ate anything toxic, either. He does spend time out in the backyard and I can't watch every single thing he gets into, but I can't imagine anything in the yard that wasn't there last month or last year.

UGH!

DawnMTL · 08-05-2009, 09:38 AM

Oh, and wouldn't they have determined worms or Coccidiosis from testing his stool sample? That came back as negative.

latetotheparty · 08-05-2009, 09:45 AM

is there a canine version of irritable bowel syndrome (ibs)? i know that humans with ibs are most often lactose intolerant as well ..... could parallel with artie's being grain intolerant ..... or i might just be reaching......