Diarrhea in border collie

[Tiga's_mom]

Hi I have a 4 month old border collie mix. We're not really sure what he's mixed with as he was abandoned and we adopted him. We think it's Lab, but again, not sure. About 4 days ago he ate a pork chop bone. He was fine for about a day after that, no vomitting or diarrhea. Then the next day he vomitted once and hasn't since. This was the first time he's vomitted since we've had him. He's also had diarrhea since then. Not every time he goes and when he does have it, it starts off as a regular bowel movement and then at then end it turns into diarrhea. Today he didn't have any of that yet, but now he seems to be constipated. He was acting like he had to go but he wouldn't. He's been eating fine, we haven't changed his food or anything. We're also a little bit late with his last set of shots, by about a week or 2, but he'll be getting that this week. He's been getting dewormer every two weeks, he's had 4 of those, but it's been over 2 weeks since he's had that since we haven't been to the vet for his shots so I'm not sure if he still needs that or not. I know it's a lot of info here and I'm sorry about that, but we're new to this and I'm a little concerned. My vet isn't open until Monday. Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[AK dog doc]

***BREARING IN MIND I cannot see your dog and therefore cannot diagnose it over the internet and for a real diagnosis you should see your usual doctor, here's my 2 cents worth...

 

With the combination of diarrhea and straining without producing anything, I'm suspicious of colitis, which is large bowel diarrhea. Symptoms are small volume, frequent, runny to watery stools, frequent attempts to defecate without production, straining, blood or mucus in the stool, poor appetite, and vomiting. They may or may not have all of the symptoms; they can have any combination or only one. I suspect the pork bone to be the initiating factor, but that's just my best guess. Colitis looks more serious than small bowel diarrhea (larger volume with less frequency, rarely blood or mucus or straining) but often it's actually less involved. So, colitis is scarier-looking, but not necessarily more dangerous.

 

For nursing care, you might try adding some Benefiber to the food (a soluble flavorless fiber that can be found in the people laxative aisle in the grocery store.) The purpose of this is to absorb some of the excess water in the stool and give the gut something to hang on to. Very often this is not enough and I have to give antibiotics as well (the two commonest causes in our practice are bacterial overgrowth and Giardia). However, it might provide some relief of symptoms until you can see your vet.

 

Naturally if there are any other symptoms developing or if the current symptoms worsen you NEED to consult someone in your area - on an emergency basis if necessary. And again you MUST bear in mind that I cannot see your dog and this is only my best guess based on the description.

 

Hope that helps.

[Tiga's_mom]

Thank you very much for your opinion and advice. We're keeping a close eye on him and will definitely take to an emergency facility if things change. He seems to be doing a little better now but I'm going to go get some of the benefiber tomorrow until I can see our vet. I do suspect as time passes that it was likely the pork bone, but we're going to take him in to get checked on Monday to be safe. Thanks again.