Digestive health for dogs

This is the most common culprit of your dog’s tummy troubles. It’s easy to spot (the good news), because it makes itself known with sudden vomiting or diarrhea (the bad news). It’s caused by lots of things, like parasites, viruses or when dogs eat something they shouldn’t.

Unlike the sudden onset upset we just mentioned, chronic enteropathies are slower to appear and tend to last a long time. Diarrhea and weight loss are common signs. Again, it can be caused by many different things such as adverse food reactions and genetics.

The colon is part of the large bowel and when this gets inflamed it’s called colitis. It’s usually very characteristic and most dogs show the same signs - looking like they urgently need to have a poop, they might strain to have a poop but not much comes out, and one of the classic signs of colitis is fresh blood and/or slimy mucus in the stools.

This is a serious condition in dogs and can be life-threatening. Common signs of pancreatitis are sudden onset vomiting, depression and lack of appetite. It’s also a very painful condition so your dog may be restless and adopt the ‘play bow’ position to try to ease the pain. If you have any concerns that your dog might have pancreatitis get them to the vet as soon as you can.

This complicated-sounding name describes a condition where dogs are lacking certain enzymes needed for digestion. The pancreas produces some of these and when they are lacking the food passes straight through without the dog being able to get at the nutrients. Dogs with EPI tend to be ravenously hungry but still lose weight and look in poor condition. Because they don’t digest fat well, their stools may be pale or clay colored. Some breeds such as German shepherds are more prone to it than others. Usually supplementing the diet with the missing enzymes gives a good result.

Dogs can react badly to certain foods for a number of reasons and together we call these adverse food reactions. True food allergies are rarer than people think and they tend to be caused by proteins in foods such as beef and chicken. Food allergies can cause vomiting and diarrhea and also skin issues like itchiness.

The same as in humans, when dogs are constipated, they find pooping difficult and they might go to the toilet much less frequently. Constipation can be caused by lots of things. Eating bones can make the stools hard and difficult to pass, dehydration or a sluggish bowel will also mean that the stools are dry and difficult to shift.