the causes of Acute Diarrhea And Chronic Diarrhea in Dogs(3)

When should you take your dog to the veterinarian? If your dog seems to:

Act very sick
Be lethargic
Show bloating or abdominal pain
Be feverish (Rectal temperatures above 103.5 degrees F)
Be dehydrated (one way to try to decide if a dog is dehydrated is to feel his or her gums... if they feel dry or tacky, there may be dehydration present)
Have persistent vomiting
Be passing large amounts of blood in the stool
Chronic Diarrhea

Chronic diarrhea means:

Diarrhea, with one or more of these symptoms:
Watery stools
Soft-Formed Stools
Mucus coated stools
Blood coated stools
A normal stool followed by a soft stool
The diarrhea could be continual
The diarrhea can also be off and on, with some good days followed by some bad days
Your dog might act sick during the worst bouts of diarrhea, while other dogs might act normal the whole time
As the problem continues, dogs can loose weight, develop a rough coat, become lethargic, or lack the zest for life they used to have
Long-standing diarrhea can become a severely debilitating disorder. Over time, the body loses valuable nutrients (maldigestion), becomes depleted of immune system functions, and becomes toxic (25% of the body\'s detoxification mechanism resides in the intestinal lining). This cycle of events damages the body\'s ability to repair itself. Secondary disorders often develop which worsen the prognosis. Because of the chronic damage to the rest of the body, there are not enough immune function and metabolic products to heal the intestines. Thus we have a cycle of deterioration that can be very hard to reverse.

Conventional medicine often fails to heal chronic diarrhea. Its approach tends to follow along a couple lines. First, the dog is fed foods that are extremely bland and easy to digest, often called "hypoallergenic diets".

Dogs with healthy digestive systems should be able to eat a large variety of foods, including raw foods, without developing diarrhea. Dogs that need to eat special foods to keep from having diarrhea are not healthy. Don\'t ignore the symptoms by feeding hypoallergenic or bland diets. Find out what the problem is and fix it. Our Phone Consult service can help.
This may help for a short time, but the body needs complex nutrients for optimal health - nutrients that are destroyed by the extreme processing employed in making commercial diets.

Secondly, conventional veterinary medicine relies on multiple courses of antibiotics, often combined with immune suppressive drugs (corticosteroids, for example). Unfortunately, many cases are only palliated, not cured, and over time the dog will worsen. This is an excellent example where holistic therapies can help cure your dog.

The causes of chronic diarrhea include:

Leaky Gut Syndrome
Intestinal parasites, especially whipworms (tapeworms are usually harmless) and more rarely roundworms and coccidia.
Giardia, Clostridium, bacteria (these are usually secondary infections, see also Paraguard for treatment of Giardia)
Food Allergies (this is usually secondary to the Leaky Gut Syndrome)
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Chronic digestion of foods and indigestible objects such as rocks and sticks
Organic diseases such as liver disease, thyroid disease and kidney disease
Dysbiosis (a relatively permanent alteration from a normal intestinal microbial flora to an abnormal bacterial, fungal or protozoal population)
As you can see, there are many problems that need to be addressed to heal these patients. Our guidelines can help many patients, but severe cases need a knowledgeable holistic doctor. For phone consults, click here

Products To Aid In Healing Dogs With Chronic Diarrhea

Gastriplex - intestinal healing formula
Healthy Flora- beneficial bacteria
Ultraclear Sustain - complex nutraceutical formula to heal the gut
MediBulk - beneficial fiber that also absorbs toxins
Similase - digestive enzyme support
Paraguard - antimicrobial products that may help with Giardia, bacteria and protozoans
Dipan 9 - Pancreatic digestive enzyme