Any vets/techs: Question about dog poo.

[3CsMommy]

Cleo (3 year old spayed female Italian Greyhound mix) sometimes can't wait until one of us gets home and has to poo in the house. We know her spot, we keep a pad there, and usually everything's fine. (It's our fault for not getting that walk in when she needs it, but anyway...) While cleaning up tonight's surprise, I noticed what looked and acted (yes, I poked it through the plastic bag) like mucus in her droppings. The poo itself was very loose and very dark, though not bloody. It reminded me of what you hear about in humans with colitis or Crone's disease, so I'm a little concerned, especially since this isn't the first time she's had digestive problems in the last year.

From out of nowhere in September or so, she started vomiting on a Thursday and by Sunday night had blood in her stool. A trip to the E-vet for blood tests and x-rays showed... nothing physically wrong, but at the vet's suggestion, we used raw ground beef and brown rice to transition her back to her usual kibble and canned food mix (Prairie kibble and Merrick canned meat varieties). Now... mucusy poo.

Is this within the range of 'normal', or are we looking at another trip down gastritis lane? I have to call our vet for her Heartguard in the next week anyway, but I don't want to bother him with a full appointment if this is something somewhat common that I've just never experienced before. So, I turn to those hopefully more knowledgeable than I am, before continuing my Google searching. Any experience or input welcome.

Thanks ahead of time.

Pics of the Patient:

 

[ChilliBean]

I am not a vet or anything, but have had more than my share of weird dog poos. I do know that blood does not always mean something is wrong. It can be that their intestines are irritated or sometimes when grass is eaten and passed it will cut the intestines. It is sometimes a way for the digestive tract to get rid of 'junk.'
My dogs (2 out of 3 mostly) have sensitive digestive tracts. They have passed the mucousy poo more than once. So for me, I normally wait to see what the next couple of stools look like. If it continued 24-48 hours or turned to diarrhea that lasted more than 1 day, I would definitely be off to the vet with a stool sample.
At the sight of the initial yucky poo, I always give yogurt with their meals for the good bacteria.

 

[HedgeMom]

Sounds like a food intolerance. I had an Akita who had the exact same symtoms if he ate anything with beef in it.

Try a fish and potato dog kibble. It's one of the more digestible diets.

 

[JennyBug]

My parents have a golden with that issue, only more extreme. Turns out she is allergic to EVERYTHING (peanut butter, milkbones, normal dog food, you get the idea). Her vet actually put her on something similar to what HedgeMom said: a kibble made out of venison and potato. The only treats she can have (and this is on a vet's advice, not my parents' personal choice) are mini marshmallows (a couple in the morning and a couple in the evening, both with her medicine), plain rice cakes, and Greenie dental chews.

Have you changed anything with her diet? More treats than usual? She might just have developed an intolerance to something.

 

[iayla]

Flint River Ranch makes a trout & potato kibble, our dogs love it. But for the mucousy poo, if it keeps up I would call the vet & ask if you can bring in a sample. They can run it for tests without the full visit. If anything looks "off" they can schedule an appointment & go from there.

Good luck - my dog gets poo issues all the time, but thats because the neighbor's cats like to use our garden as a litter box, and Quinn thinks they left her yummy presents (gag)
~Barb~

 

[3CsMommy]

She's on a lamb and rice formula kibble, though as part of a rotation diet. Her current wet stuff is beef and sweet potato, and she's not as fond of it as she is of some of the other varieties. She did fine on beef kibble the last time we fed it to her, but was on venison when she had the first instance of bloody stools. Today, everything's been fine according to my Taller Half, who did the cleaning up. He's not the type to poke dog doo through a bag, though, so I'm planning to keep an eye on it for a couple more days. In the mean time, though, we'll stop feeding the beef/potato wet food and see what happens.

Thanks for the input everybody. I'll keep you posted if something more goes haywire.

 

[Jenn]

I have a purebred Doberman who can't seem to tolerate any dog food of any brand. We've tried him on the most expensive brands and he comes down with terrible gas and diahrea. I have to make his own food: burger, steamed veggies, including sweet potato, and brown rice and plain yogurt. I mix in a little nutra dog food with the majority being the homemade food and he does just fine. Poos look great. But if I accidently put in a little too much dry dog food with his homemade, he'll get the runs and gas again. I add a little of the regular dog food just to make sure he's getting all the nutrients he needs. His coat looks beautiful. I had never had a dog this sensitive to food before, but try her on the bland homemade diet for a few days and see if that helps before you try adding regular dog food again.

 

[3CsMommy]

She's doing all her normal things in all the normal ways. We'll see how she handles our weekend away tomorrow, though it'll be harder to watch her poos with 4 dogs running around.

Thanks everybody.