Blood in your dog's feces: what it shows and why?

Blood in the dog's feces

Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and all accompanying clinical symptoms are, apart from skin diseases, the everyday life of every veterinary office, which results from their prevalence in animals.

Probably there is no dog or cat that at some stage of its life has not struggled with diarrhea, vomiting, lack of appetite or parasites living in the intestines and excreted outside to the dismay of its owner.

These types of diseases are the bread and butter of every veterinarian dealing with the treatment of small companion animals and are very often the reason for consultation.

In many cases, they may resolve spontaneously, heal themselves by limiting the animal's food consumption, which thus instinctively takes action to bring it relief.

In many of them, however, they require our help and treatment because they do not pass themselves, and on the contrary, if they last longer, they lead to a number of systemic disorders related to, for example, dehydration and disturbances in the water and electrolyte balance.

A symptom that in most cases becomes a reason for a quick visit to a veterinary office is for sure the presence of blood in the stool.

Dog handlers subconsciously assume that blood is a body fluid that should not end up in faeces, and that any condition associated with it is a serious threat to life.

So let us consider cases of presence blood in the stool, the causes, diagnosis of such cases and effective treatment that can be introduced by a veterinarian.

• A bit of theory about the gastrointestinal tract
  • Bloody stools in a dog
  • Tarry stools in a dog
• Why is there blood in the faeces?
  • Digestive tract diseases
  • Tumors
  • Other causes of bleeding in the digestive tract
  • Bleeding caused by certain medications
  • Poisoning with anticoagulant rodenticides
  • Blood coagulation disorders
  • Internal parasites
• Recognition of the presence of blood in the faeces
• Treatment of patients with blood in the stool

A bit of theory about the gastrointestinal tract

The digestive system of companion animals, like all mammals, is an extremely complex and complicated system specialized in taking up food and water, digesting the nutrients contained in them, assimilating and then excreting unused, unnecessary residues in the form of feces.

It consists of the digestive tract (mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach, and small and large intestines) and glands, organs involved in the digestive process, including the liver, pancreas and salivary glands.

All these components that function efficiently lead to the supply of the body with all the nutrients necessary to perform all functions and metabolic processes that condition the maintenance of healthy, i.e. the state of homeostasis.

Blood, as we remember well, is one of the tissues of the body, a body fluid with a transport and information function that guarantees communication between cells and tissues.

It circulates in the blood vessels and, as everyone knows, it should not be found in metabolic products, including the animal feces of interest to us.

Faeces, also known as faeces or stools, are waste products of digestion not needed by the body, and are excreted outside by defecating.

It contains food debris, bacteria, water, exfoliated epithelium, mucus and is removed from the body through the anus.

It is obvious that the faeces are properly formed and the frequency of its removal and the amount of.

A healthy, normal dog defecates on average twice a day (of course, these are statistical data) with formed, compact, shiny feces, in the amount largely dependent on the dog's diet.

The reason for our concern should be both the excessive amount of feces and the incorrect frequency of bowel movements or the presence of additional ingredients, with the blood mentioned in the title at the forefront.

In healthy faeces of dogs with the correct consistency, we should not observe the presence of blood that is visible to the naked eye.

Small amounts, macroscopically invisible to us, do not necessarily mean a serious disease and can happen even in a healthy dog, provided that they are not constantly present and do not lead to anemia.

Bloody stools called melena they are usually black, tarry in appearance and are associated with the presence of blood in the digestive tract.

Usually, in most cases, the blood in a dog's faeces comes from the digestive tract itself, but sometimes this should be taken into account when the source of the bleeding is in the respiratory tract.

Black stools therefore usually begin in upper digestive tract and their appearance and consistency is simply due to the digestion of blood in the gut as it passes through.

The presence of fresh blood in the stool is determined expertly hematochezia and it results from bleeding in large intestine or by itself anus that is, from the end sections of the digestive tract.

It may be the result of:

• colitis,
• proctitis,
• neoplastic process,
• foreign body irritating the mucosa.

Abnormal clotting processes can also produce such a symptom.

Importantly, from the guardian's point of view, such a symptom does not have to give symptoms of pain or difficulty in defecation, hence it can simply be ignored by the guardian of the dog.

Blood in the dog's stool, although in the first place, it is associated with diseases of the digestive tract, it does not have to have a direct cause in the digestive system, but it must be a symptom of a wider, systemic disease related to another system or organ, which will be discussed later.

So let's move on to the diseases that could give rise to such a disturbing symptom.

Bloody stools in a dog

Patients with bloody stools, i.e. those with fresh blood in the dog's stools, are often tested in a similar way to those with diarrhea in the colon.

Remember that one of the causes of the sudden appearance of blood in the stools of dogs may be recent mechanical trauma to the back of the digestive tract.

Rather, blood on the surface of a dog's normal stool indicates a pathology in the terminal section of the rectum and colon. If we see blood mixed with faeces, it may indicate a disease process in the front of the colon.

A thorough examination of the patient requires rectal examination. The rectal examination is performed under anesthesia, because the examination is unpleasant and sometimes even painful.

Symptoms of bloody stools occur with:

• parasitic diseases (whipworm, hookworms),
• food intolerance or allergies,
• Colitis due to Clostridium spp.
• tumors (e.g. rectal adenocarcinoma, polyps, leiomyoma),
• ilio-colonic or blindly colonic intussusception,
• haemorrhagic gastroenteritis,
• coagulopathies,
• inflammation of the anal sinuses,
• colon injuries, foreign bodies, car accidents,
• inflammatory bowel disease,
• canine parvovirosis,
• histoplasmosis.

Tarry stools in a dog

Tarry stools in a dog are a symptom of the presence of tar black faeces. They are not a characteristic symptom and may not always be present, even in the event of gastrointestinal haemorrhage.

However, if present, they indicate bleeding in the frontal tract or ingestion of blood swallowed from the upper and lower respiratory tract.

The main causes of tarry stools include:

• hookworms,
• stomach ulcers and erosions of the stomach and duodenum,
• tumors of the stomach and small intestine,
• lymphoma, adenocarcinoma,
• ingested blood by the animal (bleeding lesions in the mouth, lungs, nose and throat),
• diet,
• coagulopathies.

Why is there blood in the faeces?

Blood in the dog's feces causes

Digestive tract diseases

The blood in the dog's stool is first and foremost associated with diseases within the digestive system and indicates the existence of the most general pathology causing damage to blood vessels, hence any proliferative processes may come to the fore.

Tumors

Neoplastic processes affecting the gastrointestinal tract can often cause bleeding into the lumen of this system, especially since in many cases they are unfortunately malignant. By growing within this system, they damage the mucosa and the vessels present there, which causes bleeding.

Fortunately, esophageal tumors are not common in animals.

These are for example:

• squamous cell carcinoma,
• myeloma,
• osteosarcoma,
• leiomyoma,
• adenocarcinoma.

They can also infiltrate the esophagus through continuity and come from other organs adjacent to it, such as, for example, the thyroid gland or stomach.

They won't always cause bloody stools, but more often they will:

• bloody vomiting,
• anemia,
• diarrhea.

Gastric tumors are rarely found in dogs, and when they do occur, they appear in older animals over 10 years.

They are more often found in:

• chow chow,
• Scottish Sheepdogs,
• staffordshire terriers,
• belgian shepherd dogs.

Unfortunately, the bad news is that most stomach tumors are malignant and often metastasize.

These are crampons, sarcomas, adenocarcinomas if lymphomas.

They infiltrate the gastric mucosa, causing a defect in its wall. Damaged mucosa is a common cause of bleeding ulcers.

Therefore, no one should be surprised by the clinical symptoms, i.e. bloody vomiting, blood in the stools of dogs or symptoms of anemia.

The disease is diagnosed by exercising gastric endoscopy and taking a tissue section for histopathological examination.

Dogs with gastric tumors do not have good prognosis and the survival time from diagnosis to death is usually very short.

Tumors of the small intestines are also not common diseases in these animals.

Most often they are crampons, sarcomas, fibrosarcoma, mast cell tumors, carcinoid tumors.

Tumors developing in the intestines cause severe systemic disturbances with a malabsorption of nutrients, leading to emaciation and cachexia.

There are also bleeding into the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract, which will appear as bloody stools and tarry faeces. Symptoms of peritonitis and death occur when the tumor is obstructed or ruptured and the lumen is damaged.

Colorectal neoplasms are much more frequent than those mentioned above.

They mainly concern middle and old age dogs, so such over 8-10 years.

These are the most common:

• adenomas,
• crampons,
• fibroids,
• sarcomas,
• histiocytic tumors,
• mast cell tumors,
• plasmacytoma.

Most often, purebred dogs suffer from them, including:

• German Shepherds,
• Scottish Coke Sheepdogs,
• west highland white terriers.

Symptoms that come to the fore when this part of the digestive tract is cancerous are:

• blood in the stool of the dog,
• painful bowel movements,
• bleeding associated with the act of defecation,
• urge to defecate.

There may also be paraneoplastic syndromes with hypoglycemia at the forefront manifested by convulsions and ataxia, which are typical symptoms associated with brain hypoglycaemia.

Diagnosis is made with colonoscopy, prostoscopy or sometimes ordinary rectal examination.

The assessment of the neoplastic tissues collected for histopathological examination is a certain diagnosis.

The treatment of choice is surgery, which can greatly extend your dog's life.

To sum up, gastrointestinal cancers often show symptoms of gastrointestinal bleeding, the symptom of which will be tarry, dark stools.

Of course, what the animal's feces will look like depends on the location of the neoplastic process.

Blood in the stools of dogs it is only one of many systemic symptoms accompanying this group of diseases.

Unfortunately, they are largely malignant, which significantly limits our therapeutic possibilities and shortens the patient's survival time.

Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract that may give symptoms of bleeding are of course not only a neoplastic process. All other disorders concerning this system are at the fore here.

Other causes of bleeding in the digestive tract

The causes of bleeding in the digestive tract

And so generally speaking blood in the dog's stool it can accompany all running states with diarrhea especially the one in the small intestine.

Bloody stool can occur when the disease affects the small intestine and fresh blood in the dog's stool often occurs in the case of disorders in the large intestine.

The exception to this rule is acute hemorrhagic diarrhea concerning the small intestines. During acute hemorrhagic diarrhea, we observe fresh blood in the dog's stool.

We know very well how often dog diarrhea occurs.

The blood in the dog's stool is then a consequence of acute inflammation of the intestinal mucosa, hemorrhagic enteritis and expansion of the capillaries in this section of the digestive tract.

Different types of gastritis caused by a variety of causes, e.g. improper food intake, ingestion of foreign bodies, bones, use of certain medications (glucocorticosteroids or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), poisoning, viral infections (parvovirus, distemper) or parasitic infections may cause symptoms of edema, and gastric erosions, superficial bleeding into the gastrointestinal tract.

The consequence will be tarry-colored, dark feces.

Ulceration is the condition inherent in damage to the gastric mucosa.

The damaged mucosa leads to the exposure of the rest of the organ wall and its exposure to acidic food from pepsin and hydrochloric acid at the forefront.

Stomach ulcers they often arise when certain drugs are administered, especially from the group of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or glucocorticosteroids, which are prescribed as analgesics, especially in older animals with degenerative changes.

They usually cause bloody vomit, but can also be symptoms of tarry stools and pale mucous membranes.

Bleeding in gastric ulcers is chronic and leads to anemia in the long term.

Bloody diarrhea in a dog is one of the hallmark accompanying symptoms parvovirosis.

Due to the fairly common vaccinations nowadays, this disease is not common and most often affects young, unvaccinated or improperly immunized puppies.

The virus destroys the intestinal crypts in which it multiplies, causing the dog to develop a foul, bloody diarrhea symptom.

Such animals usually also suffer from anemia caused by significant worming and it is not always possible to save them, despite the implementation of intensive symptomatic treatment.

Haemorrhagic enteritis and gastritis is an acute disease of unknown cause.

Hemorrhagic gastritis is manifested by:

• bloody feces or bloody diarrhea in a dog,
• significant concentration of blood, which is demonstrated in the laboratory by hematocrit reaching 70-80%.

The animals are in a very bad clinical condition, showing signs of dehydration, sepsis, and blood coagulation disorders.

In each case, they also require very intensive symptomatic treatment and adequate hydration.

Foreign bodies in the gastrointestinal tract that irritate the mucous membrane with their presence, cause obstruction or perforation, may also cause gastrointestinal bleeding.

The presence of a foreign body requires proper diagnosis, and in many cases surgery is necessary.

Colitis will be symptomatic of bloody mucus in the dog's stool that is excreted.

Acute colitis most often occurs as a result of:

• eating mistakes,
• food intolerance,
• toxins,
• Salmonella or Campylobacter infections,
• foreign bodies,
• the effects of certain medications.

It can also be idiopathic and parasitic.

Chronic colitis most often it is associated with inflammatory bowel disease or enterotoxicosis against the background of Clostridium perfringens.

Enterotoxicosis caused by this bacterium causes hemorrhagic diarrhea syndrome in dogs.

Blood in the dog's poop is not accompanied by this irritable bowel syndrome.

Diarrhea in a dog from the large intestine, often idiopathic, may also be manifested by the presence of blood in the dog's poop.

It responds nicely to an enrichment in dog food food fiber, hence its second name Fiber-responsive diarrhea of ​​the large intestine.

Blood in the stool of dogs can occur in virtually any disease condition associated with diarrhea in a dog.

We must remember that many diseases of the digestive system including inflammatory bowel diseases may produce this symptom.

Let him serve us as an example lymphocytic - plasmocytic enteritis if eosinophilic enteritis.

Changes in these diseases usually affect several sections of the gastrointestinal tract, including the stomach, small and large intestines.

The bleeding is caused by erosions in the mucosa.

In my practice, I had many patients who had a traffic accident, and although the examinations did not indicate a serious injury to the posterior gastrointestinal tract, they showed bleeding in the stool.

The forces acting on the abdominal cavity during an impact release large amounts of kinetic energy, which also leads to damage to the intestines or stomach and, consequently, to bleeding.

If they are insignificant, the body comes out unscathed, but damage to large veins or arteries can lead to serious systemic disorders, including hypovolemic shock and death.

The reason for the presence of blood in the stool may also be food allergies and food intolerance referred to as a common term an adverse reaction to food.

The reason in this case lies in the composition of the food, which is what we feed the animal.

Both conditions can be caused by the same nutrients.

Symptoms in both cases may be very similar, although at the level of pathophysiology, elements of the immune system participate in allergy (intolerance to food allergens and local immunological reaction with IgE). Food intolerance is characterized by the fact that we do not have the participation of antibodies and a simple reaction to a food component that the body does not tolerate.

At last diseases of the anal glands that is, even creations grouped in the so-called. sinuses around the anal sphincter.

It is their secretion in the sinuses that can cause the formation fistulas (perianal fistulas), abscesses (abscess of the anal sinuses) and thus manifest itself with bleeding when defecating.

In such cases, the animal is often accompanied by pain or frequent licking of the diseased area, significant anus swelling or just excretion of faeces with fresh blood from the site of infection and damage.

Bleeding in the case perianal sinus diseases it concerns advanced cases with fistula or abscess formation and is an expression of negligence on the part of the caregiver.

In a nutshell, I tried to trace the most popular and most common gastrointestinal diseases that may show symptoms of blood in the stool or its tarry color.

Remember that these are the most common reasons for this disturbing disease symptom, and not as many pet keepers think of the disease.

The blood in the dog's faeces is not a pathognomonic or characteristic symptom and may indicate many different diseases.

Some common causes of gastrointestinal bleeding.

As I mentioned before, bleeding, although it has its source in the gastrointestinal tract, may be due to many other causes.

Bleeding caused by certain medications

Steroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are widely used in the treatment of small animals and are, unfortunately, often abused.

I have also encountered a situation many times when both were administered simultaneously, which increases the risk of side effects from the gastrointestinal tract.

Their basic mechanism of action is based on inhibiting the enzyme cyclooxygenase involved in the synthesis of inflammatory factors, i.e. prostaglandins, leukotrienes what they can do with inflammation and its general symptoms.

Unfortunately, by blocking the enzyme, they do not act selectively and they also inhibit its "needed, good version", which is necessary for the synthesis of factors protecting the gastric and intestinal mucosa.

The consequence will be ulceration of the mucosa exposed to digestive juices and bleeding.

Orally administered drugs and their injectable versions work in a similar way, and the duration of use is of great importance (the longer, the greater the risk).

Therefore, when administering drugs from these groups in the long term, it is worth considering pharmacological protection of the gastrointestinal mucosa with appropriate drugs.

Occasionally certain components of the dog's diet may produce dark faeces, suggesting gastrointestinal bleeding.

These are, for example, the liver of other animals rich in iron and blood, or green spinach.

Also some orally administered preparations, e.g.metronidazole, iron sulphate may make the stools darker.

The best diagnosis in this case is a thorough interview with the guardian, who should carefully inform us about the medicines administered to the animal or about the way of feeding.

Poisoning with anticoagulant rodenticides

All types of poisoning caused by the entry of toxic substances into the gastrointestinal tract may cause gastrointestinal bleeding.

Of course, I mean the occurrence of acute diarrhea, which may be associated with such a symptom.

In the case of very toxic compounds, the animal will often die earlier and gastrointestinal symptoms (bleeding) will not develop in time.

Often, however, poisoning caused by the ingestion of anticoagulant rodenticides by dogs, which are a component of commonly available products for the control of rodents, rats and mice.

Although often bitter flavors are added to the poison, it is difficult to accidentally eat it, but poisoning often occurs anyway.

Anticoagulants inhibit the enzyme that converts the inactive form of vitamin K into its active form in the liver.

Factors VII, IX, X prothrombin decreases and hepatic prothrombin synthesis decreases.

The clinical symptoms of poisoning appear with a delay of several days (1-3 days) and are manifested mainly by bleeding:

• from nose,
• from the gums,
• from wounds,
• into the abdominal cavity.

It also occurs:

• abdominal soreness,
• hematuria,
• bloody vomiting,
• tarry stools indicating gastrointestinal bleeding.

The gastrointestinal tract is one of the many systems where vitamin K deficiencies and the resulting coagulation disorders will appear. Treatment consists of injecting vitamin K as soon as possible.

Blood coagulation disorders

Although a common cause of bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract is eating rodent poison based on anticoagulants, we must not forget that other blood clotting disorders can also give symptoms of tarry stools.

Of course, bleeding disorders can be congenital or acquired.

They may arise from:

• clotting factor deficiencies,
• reduced number of platelets,
• blood vessel defects leading to endothelial damage,
• various systemic disorders, e.g. disseminated intravascular coagulation.

They are manifested by bleeding in the aged places of the body, punctured ecchymoses on the skin and mucous membranes or by bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract of interest. We then observe the appearance of blood in the stools of the dogs.

Diagnosing them is largely based on laboratory tests.

Internal parasites

A common cause of blood in animals' stools is the presence of internal parasites in their gastrointestinal tract.

Parasites are common unwanted guests in the intestines of dogs and lead a lifestyle that is always harmful to their host.

Using a large simplification, they overeat their host and poison him with their metabolic products.

No dog wants to be a "place to live" for these uninvited guests.

Parasites, feeding on blood in the lumen of the intestine, cut its mucosa, which causes blood loss and the occurrence of anemia.

Of course, the more severe the symptoms are the more individuals of the parasite live in the intestines.

We should remember that the number of parasites, even with a moderate infestation, is significant and they do not always have to be present in the stool that we see.

They give the symptoms of bloody faeces, which can be especially noticeable in young, intensively infested puppies.

Canine roundworms, i.e. Toxocara canis, most often cause vomiting, but diarrhea in a dog with an admixture of blood is also a common disease symptom of an invasion.

Hookworms Ancylostoma caninum and Uncinaria stenocephala live in the small intestines and destroy the intestinal mucosa, sometimes causing anemia and anemia.

These parasites are adapted to collecting blood by having a special mouthpiece equipped with teeth.

They are small nematodes (9-15 mm long), hematophages specialized in collecting the host's blood.

Whipworm, or Trichuris vulpis, is a parasite of the large intestine that often causes acute or chronic bloody diarrhea, which is manifested by blood in the stool.

Blood loss due to infestation leads to general weakness due to anemia.

The nematode with the front part of the body penetrates the mucosa and the rear, thicker part protrudes into the lumen of the colon.

Due to heavy infestation, the dog develops bloody diarrhea and feces with mucus.

Remember that one individual will not do a lot of damage, but they can do hundreds of things, they can cause general symptoms, significantly lower the animal's immunity or lead to anemia that is sometimes significant.

Recognition of the presence of blood in the faeces

Stool examination

In many situations, it is very easy to identify the presence of blood in the dog's stools and the animal's keeper can notice it by collecting excrements during a walk.

In other cases, he may be concerned about other gastrointestinal symptoms and a change in the color of his faeces.

Sometimes you simply cannot see anything with the naked eye, and the presence of blood in the dog's stools is detected by laboratory tests.

Blood is excreted in the dog's faeces causes anemia, as we already know, hence one of the basic tests is blood count.

It allows to determine the degree of disturbances in the homeostasis of the circulatory system.

Basic blood tests will determine what anemia you are dealing with (e.g. from iron deficiency - microcytosis, hypochromasia and thrombocythemia).

In the case of suspicion of the presence of parasites, a simple test that confirms their presence is the fecal flotation or sedimentation method.

Let us not be fooled by the fact that the animal was dewormed in the past and surely there are no parasites in your dog's faeces.

They are not always seen in the dog's feces, and we rarely look closely at this excretion.

The parasites we are interested in are also difficult to kill, hence a one-time prophylactic deworming will certainly not eliminate them.

One of the basic diagnostic tests is rectal examination under pharmacological anesthesia.

A veterinarian can use it to capture many pathologies in the rectum and in the anus.

Sometimes, to determine the cause of the presence of blood in the dog's faeces, we have to resort to more complex diagnostic methods, such as endoscopy.

It allows you to see the digestive tract from the inside under general anesthesia, shows inflammatory and neoplastic changes, polyps, ulcers or the presence of a foreign body.

We can also use the endoscopic method for further diagnostics, e.g. histopathological excision of changed tissues or mucosa.

The latter can sometimes be found by taking an X-ray image with contrast administered orally.

Ultrasound is also a very helpful imaging test.

The last resort may be to perform a diagnostic laparotomy, i.e. opening the abdominal cavity and looking for possible lesions, but we always leave it for the end.

Let's not forget about the whole range of laboratory tests, including those that detect the presence of blood in the stool of dogs when it is invisible to the naked eye.

Treatment of patients with blood in the stool

The therapeutic management will always depend on the immediate cause of the gastrointestinal bleeding.

In each case, it is based on a previously established clinical diagnosis, without which effective therapy is impossible.

In many cases, after eliminating the causative factors, it is possible to completely eliminate the symptom and cure the patient permanently.

If infestation is found, the basis is to administer one of the antiparasitic drugs according to the schedule proposed by the manufacturer.

Of course, we repeat the deworming and, if possible, eliminate contamination of the environment with parasites.

In the case of food allergy, the basis of treatment is to change the diet and introduce a dog's hypoallergenic diet and exclude substances that cause allergies from your dog's diet.

We should do the same in the case of food intolerance, the treatment of which consists in identifying and avoiding harmful food.

Treatment of poisoning with anticoagulants consists in administering vitamin K as soon as possible, which allows us to eliminate the symptoms of deficiency. The length of time that this vitamin is given depends on the type of anticoagulant ingested by the animal. Shortly after swallowing the poison, we can also induce vomiting, which will remove the poison from the dog's digestive tract before it can even be absorbed.

We have to evacuate foreign bodies from the gastrointestinal tract endoscopically or by traditional surgery.

We can also try to remove them naturally during the normal act of defecation by administering lubricants (e.g. paraffin orally).

With inflammatory bowel diseases, longer treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics is necessary.

We treat ulcers of the mucosa by administering drugs that block the secretion of gastric juices (e.g. ranitidine, omeprazole) and to protect already existing damage (eg. sucralfate).

Sometimes a veterinarian has to reduce the dose of drugs that damage the mucosa, e.g. steroids or do not administer them in conjunction with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

In cases with significant anemia, we use symptomatic treatment in the form of administration of hematopoietic preparations or, in extreme situations, blood transfusions.

We eliminate unfavorable and harmful bacteria that have multiplied in the gastrointestinal tract by administering oral antibiotics (e.g. amoxicillin or tylosin).

We treat neoplastic changes through radical surgery, removing them, if possible, of course.

This, in a nutshell, is how the treatment of particular diseases with gastrointestinal bleeding looks like.

It must always be aimed at the immediate cause of the bleeding and, if necessary, also include symptomatic treatment to alleviate the nuisance for the animal.

In many cases, effective prophylaxis is possible to prevent the occurrence of blood in the stools of dogs. I mean, for example, deworming dogs, controlling the content of anal glands, or introducing an appropriate dog diet.

Summary

In the article, I tried to explain in a simple way the issues related to the presence of blood in the dog's feces and present the most common reasons why blood may appear in the dog's poop.

Blood in the dog's poop is an important symptom informing the pet handler of the ongoing pathology not always directly in the digestive tract. Sometimes the cause of bleeding may be other problems that originate elsewhere. Hence the need for diagnostics that a veterinarian should take care of and determine the cause of bleeding, without which effective help is impossible.

In many cases, we have a really simple treatment procedure leading to a complete recovery and solution to the problem. It is not always because the blood in the pooch's stool must indicate a serious disease for which there is no rescue. So let's not give up on the diagnostic tools available in the veterinary office, the more so because we can really help a suffering animal, which will certainly be eternally grateful to us.

What are the causes of tarry stools in a dog?

The main causes of tarry stools are: hookworms, stomach ulcers and erosions of the stomach and duodenum, tumors of the stomach and small intestine, lymphoma, adenocarcinoma, blood ingested by the animal (bleeding lesions in the mouth, lungs, nose and throat), diet, coagulopathies.

Which breeds are most likely to have stomach tumors??

Stomach tumors are more common in: Chow Chow, Scottish Sheepdogs, Staffordshire Terriers, Belgian Shepherds.

What are the symptoms of hemorrhagic enteritis and gastritis in a dog?

The characteristic symptoms of haemorrhagic enteritis and gastritis are bloody feces or bloody diarrhea in a dog and the accompanying significant concentration of blood, which is demonstrated in the laboratory by hematocrit reaching 70-80%.

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