Dog Community

Easy on the stomach?

Posted : 5/20/2011 8:50:37 AM

Background: My very active and healthy 20-pound (probably beagle, jack russel, mutt mix) year-and-a-half old pup, Molly, had a rectal prolapse two Sundays ago. The vet explained to me how rare it is to have one at her age, particularly for how healthy she is, so the ultimate cause is unknown. The emergency vet put in two pursestring sutures, the tighter one was removed by a vet at my vet's office the next morning. She wound up reprolapsing Thursday and having another surgery to put everything back in where it belonged by MY vet (who stayed open an extra hour so she could get her there), who re-did the pursestring suture, which they removed Saturday morning. She stayed there until Sunday evening.

She's spent the entire time on w/d weight loss/digestive health/diabetic by Hill's, which she hated. I don't really want to discuss its merits, it's what she WAS on and she did well on it. I mixed in water, chicken, and Gerber meat baby food (chicken and chicken broth or turkey and turkey broth) to entire her to eat. She's also on Docusate sodium 100mg twice a day, and she has one more dose of antibiotics for tonight. She will NOT eat canned pumpkin (which my vet recommended), so my vet suggested 1/4 tsp of metamucil twice a day, mixed in with wet dog food and a bit of water. Between all the stool softeners, her poops are still a bit firm, but she's not really straining too much, which is what I have to worry about.

The vet said she can return to her normal diet, but I just don't feel quite safe doing that yet. I was wondering about an AFFORDABLE option ya'll could suggest that is slightly high in calories (she lost a pound and a half to two pounds at the vet's) but easy on her stomach and keeping her stools soft, while having plenty of water content. She drinks plenty of water, but I want to stay on the safe side for awhile.

alittleoffkey

Posted : 5/20/2011 9:35:17 AM

Also - pictures!

Conehead sleepin in the truck:

Molly thinks it's too cold for May:

outdoorschik

Posted : 5/20/2011 10:18:14 AM

I highly recommend lactulose, and then you can feed the regular food. It works really well as a softener and works with the regular diet. Ask your vet about it. I have a lab with hip and pelvic issues that needs it about once a year and boy is it effective!

Editted to add: and it's CHEAP!

calliecritturs

Posted : 5/20/2011 6:34:24 PM

ALOK *HEY!!!!!!!! Long time no see!!*

She's right -- lactulose is easy. It's prescription but cheap (and the vet should even be able to call it in to CVS or Walgreens or Costco for you if that's easier)

You can also use:

1. Prunes -- my dogs *love* them. I nibble on one (I like them anyway) and hand it over like it's a treat. Watch it -- one or 2 is likely E-nuff! If they won't take them by hand you could go ahead and "stew" them (tells you how on the package) and then mash that up and stir it into dog food -- they're sweet and very palatable.

2. Slippery elm -- also really easy. You can mix 1 teas. of slippery elm bark (you can get it either in a health store as a 'tea' or you can buy it in bulk at Whole Foods or a bunch of places online) in 1 cup of boiling water. Use a whisk (it will glop/lump if you don't). And then you can add it to whatever you're feeding. It's a wee bit sweet,

The nice part is slippery elm is sorta like "silicon" for the digestive tract. You can use as much as you need -- it's actually quite nutritious (not super high in calorie but it's good stuff).

Those are my two "go to" remedies. Along with the pumpkin. Are you mixing the pumpkin with anything or trying to get her to just take it off a spoon? Typically I just add it to everything else.

Myra

Posted : 5/20/2011 7:19:56 PM

calliecritturs
2. Slippery elm -- also really easy. You can mix 1 teas. of slippery elm bark (you can get it either in a health store as a 'tea' or you can buy it in bulk at Whole Foods or a bunch of places online) in 1 cup of boiling water. Use a whisk (it will glop/lump if you don't). And then you can add it to whatever you're feeding. It's a wee bit sweet,

I make it even easier than that -- Just open a capsule, sprinkle it over food and mix in some warm water. My dogs gobble it up. But I just use it to settle the occasional upset tummy, not regularly to help with poops.

calliecritturs

Posted : 5/20/2011 10:08:25 PM

Myra

I make it even easier than that -- Just open a capsule, sprinkle it over food and mix in some warm water. My dogs gobble it up. But I just use it to settle the occasional upset tummy, not regularly to help with poops.

Definitely Myra -- I'm just too cheap to buy it in capsules to empty them LOL -- but it IS the easiest stuff to give

alittleoffkey

Posted : 5/20/2011 11:32:24 PM

Hey Callie! I keep up with you a bit through aDorkable! :-D

Thanks for the replies ya'll! Tonight Molly is very gassy, which I'm blaming on the Metamucil - but we had zero poops today. :( She's uncomfortable, but not painfully so (but she was still wagging her tail and napped in the truck with part of her rectum hanging out her rear). Her rear end kinda poofs out when she needs to go, and it looks as it normally does... I'm just really nervous since she pooped so many times yesterday and we got nada today and she keeps looking at her rear. If she doesn't go in the morning, my vet's open until 12.

I tried mixing a spoonful of pumpkin with her normal kibble, her new canned food, the canned food the vet gave us, meat-based baby food, tuna, chicken, peanut butter, several combinations of the above, and pretty much anything else I could find in the kitchen that she likes. No matter how small the dose, she turned up her nose like I was actually trying to poison her. I did try to just give her a spoonful of it as a last resort, but she spit it back out really quickly. The other three dogs were pretty enthused with all the experimenting though, they loved the pumpkin.

I'll try the prunes first. She may eat them, and she doesn't like her food to be too soggy. We'll be at my grandmother's tomorrow and she'll be pooping everywhere. Surprise On the positive side - she's getting used to riding in the car, so we're not having nearly as much motion sickness.

calliecritturs

Posted : 5/21/2011 6:37:03 PM

Sometimes there's magic just in having something *else* to try!

Liesje

Posted : 5/26/2011 3:18:02 PM

I am not familiar with this condition, but as far as "easy on the stomach", you could do an elimination diet. These consist of one carb and one protein source. Mine is always overcooked white rice and boiled ground beef. I boil the ground beef to separate all the grease. I basically do equal parts rice to beef and make several pans of doggy casserole. I have German Shepherds which very commonly have all sorts of digestive issues so these elimination diets or "limited ingredient diets" are common. In fact my normal kibble is a limited ingredient diet (just lamb and rice). The fewer ingredients, toppers, and supplements, the "easier on the stomach" the diet.