Natural Pet Health

There are many different diseases and conditions that can cause canine diarrhea.� It isn’t a disease unto itself, but simply a symptom of an underlying problem.� If left untreated, diarrhea can lead to dehydration and eventually death.� Let’s take a look at some of the things that can cause it.

Food

Food is one of the main ways that your dog can develop diarrhea.� It can occur because of a sudden change in diet or just eating too much table food.� The good news is that diarrhea caused by food can usually be resolved within a day.� You simply have to allow your dog’s digestive system to settle down for a day by withholding food but giving plenty of water.

Worms

Over the years, the parvo virus has mutated into at least two different strains. Every case of canine parvo virus, or CPV, comes from these two strains.

Every different species has its own parvo virus and it cannot be spread outside of the species, so there is a human parvo virus, a canine parvo virus, a feline parvo virus, and so on. However, it can be spread by contact. For instance, if your cat would wander through your neighbor’s yard and would pick up the virus on her feet, she can track it inside of your house and infect your dog.

Pathophysiology

The canine parvovirus is a DNA virus that is single stranded and very contagious, found in canines. The first time that this virus appeared was in 1978, but it can be found in every country in the world right now. Canine parvovirus will come in two variants, intestinal and cardiac. In the form that is cardiac, the parvovirus will infect the puppies either after they’re born or while they’re still in the uterus. Very fast, the virus will attack the muscle of the heart, causing heart failure soon after that.

Most dog owners are familiar with diarrhea in their pets; the condition is a very common one. But only a handful of owners really know anything about diarrheas varieties and causes.

Perhaps the greatest single cause of diarrhea is a change of diet. Thus, a dog that has been used to eating a commercial brand dog food and is suddenly given table scrapes is very likely to suffer diarrhea. A change in drinking water, especially when traveling, can also cause temporary diarrhea.

Report: Dog Bloat A Disease That Kills

Shortly before 3 o’clock on the morning of August 5, 2007, Donna Hedl was jolted awake by shouts of her niece and nephew, who were visiting Donna and her husband Joe in their Roselle, Illinois, home.

Something was wrong with Congo, the family’s six-year-old German Shepherd!

He was retching, but to no avail, Mrs. Hedl recounted later. There was a slight foam around his mouth and he was constantly swallowing.

As she watched, Congo’s behavior became more peculiar. The dog would sit glassy-eyed and hang his head, or crawl behind a chair and stoop as if to defecate… but, again, to no avail.

Then Mrs. Hedl noticed a slight swelling in Congo’s abdomen.

About Parvovirus

Parvo is a viral disease that affects dogs. This illness can cause severe digestive symptoms, as well as fever and shock and may even prove fatal. Parvovirus attacks rapidly dividing cells like those in the lining of the gastrointestinal tract as well as developing white blood cells.

In this way parvovirus leads to symptoms like bloody diarrhea, vomiting and loss of proper immune system functioning. Puppies are more commonly and more severely affected than adult dogs due to their still-developing immune system. Puppies can easily succumb to this disease, especially when the virus infects the muscle of the heart.

How do you feel when you have an upset stomach? Isn’t it that you find it hard to move around and you become uneasy? You make several trips to the bathroom because you feel the need to release it. Indeed, a diarrhea can truly become very uncomfortable on your part. Now you could just imagine how your pet dog feels if he always gets consumed by diarrhea. You should understand why it often poops instead of be mad and punish him. You should know better, so to speak. Again, this forms a part of an emergency situation which every first aid training course covers. After all, first aid is not solely administered on human beings but on animals too!

Why should you express concern over your dog’s diarrhea?

Coccidiosis is caused by a one-celled organism called coccidia. Coccidia can often be confused with “worms” because it lives in the small intestines of pets. However, it is classifed as a protozoan, not a worm. In fact, it is one of the most commonly diagnosed protozoan diseases in puppies and kittens and is rarely a problem in adult pets.

Many pets that are infected with coccidia will not have any clinical signs. However, the most common clinical sign of infection is diarrhea. Coccidia infestation is the most common cause of diarrhea in kittens.

When coccidia eggs (oocysts) are found in the stool of adult pets without diarrhea, they are generally considered to be an insignificant finding. In the majority of cases no treatment is necessary. However, in young and debilitated animals, they may cause severe diarrhea, dehydration, abdominal distress, and vomiting. In severe cases, death can occur.

Humans are not the only ones that get abdominal cramping. Pets often fall victim to it, as well. Your pet can get abdominal pain from the same things we do.

Things that cause abdominal pain in pets are: gas accumulation, eating the wrong foods (ie. human food that contains sugar), ulcers, liver failure, eating garbage or roadkill and infections (bacterial, parasitic or viral).

Your dog or cat can experience abdominal pain regardless of their age or breed.

If you notice that your pet is tucking their feet in and arching their back they might be dealing with abdominal pain. A loss of appetite, swelling in the abdomen, weakness or thrashing on the floor can be an indicator to a major problem.

A recent outbreak of canine Parvovirus (CPV) — a highly contagious, potentially deadly, and the most common infectious disorder in dogs in the United States — caused a great upset with the Pennsylvania SPCA.

The PSPCA handled 25 cases in one week alone, breaking an unfortunate record of the most cases they have encountered in such a short time span. There is still much to be learned about the disease itself as well as the best ways to control it, but prevention is possible.