Yesterday was weird. Fed my girl Sky (a Boston Terrier). Let her out to poop. She came in acting odd. I put her in my lap and she was shaking. Put her on her favorite pillow and after about 15 minutes she was up pacing around. So back outside she went.
After 3 trips outside. I noticed her popper was sort of puckered and swollen. I noticed a dry chunk stuck between her stubby tail and butt. Got some toilet paper and wiped. I didn’t know else what to do. The idea of playing Indiana Jones and digging for brown treasure didn’t appeal to me. :o Wiping a dogs ass is bad enough.
I put her in her crate and went to bed. Next morning I found a very, very dried out turd on her towel. I guess she finally got it out during the night.
Anyone else run into this problem? What did you do? I’ve noticed Sky has a lot of very dry poops. She strains pretty hard. I’m feeding her Hills Science. I wonder if there are dog treats that might give her some moisture and make pooping easier?
I had a cat almost die from one; had to bring him to the vet for an I.V. and a professional enema.
He had gone three days without being able to poop and even the smallest amount of liquid he would eat, he would immediately throw up because he was so blocked…
How much (water) does she drink? You could try putting her food in water if she has a tendency not to drink too much. You could also mix the kibble with apple sauce.
She probably won’t eat raw pumpkin. My vet told me to use pumpkin filling. In fact, she also told me to always stockpile a few cans of it, because it’s next to impossible to find outside of pumpkin season.
We had something similar with our daughter who was about 6 months old at the time. After lots of screaming and no sleep through the night I changed her nappy and noticed a solid poo poking out of her bottom which was bleeding a bit. We were getting ready to apply lube and massage it out of there when she gave a momentous push and got it out herself. Distressful for everyone involved.
If you can’t find pumpkin, or run out of pumpkin (there’s been a pumpkin shortage) or find pumpkin to be too expensive, then try un-salted green beans.
My dog gets a can of un-salted green beans every night at 8. Mostly as a filler to keep her weight down, but it also seems to keep her regular. She eats nothing but dry food and green beans and she’s as regular as the day is long.
I buy the beans by the case when it goes on sale, which is like every few months.
My girl Bertie (r.i.p.) would occasionally suffer from incomplete defecation. They wouldn’t come out completely, and she’d panic and run around screaming with it sticking out of her anus. I’d just grab a tissue, catch her and pull it out. Was kinda funny at the time.
OP, my WAG is that your Sky isn’t drinking enough water - she sounds like she’s got chronic low-grade dehydration. One suggestion: we put a low birdbath outside that now is ostensibly for the birds but in reality is the kitties’ bird-flavored water dispenser. It seems to interest them much more than indoor water!
I’ve never had that problem, but it reminded of an incident with the late and much lamented Bitz the Wondermutt.
Bitz was a squat and walk pooper. I was out on the back patio one day and she wandered around the corner to take a dump. A minute or so later, she comes back around the corner, still in her squat and walk, with a turdlet apparently floating in the air about 4 inches under her butt.
I ran into the house and got a poop bag, then went back out to see what the hell was going on. Turns out she had eaten one of my now ex-wife’s hairs off the floor and it was hanging out of her butt embedded in the turdlet. It was too thin for her to pass, so I had to pluck it out for her.
I think that was the most grateful I’d ever seen Bitz, and she was always a very appreciative dog to begin with.
The easiest way to increase moisture in a pet’s diet is to incorporate canned food. If you don’t want to feed only canned food, you can just adjust her meals to include both. Take away half of the kibble and replace it with canned. Better yet, after scooping the canned into her bowl, add a tablespoon of water to it and mix well, then either mix the kibble in, or serve it on the side.
Kitties have a bigger problem with moisture than dogs. With 4 cats I don’t take chances, and feed canned with water added first, then go about other things like showering or making dinner. Once the canned is mostly eaten, I drop kibble into the bowls so they can free-feed until next mealtime. If the canned isn’t well-eaten within 30-60 minutes, I skip the kibble until next time.
The canned pumpkin is a good fiber-booster. A Boston probably only needs a couple teaspoons a day. And do make sure it’s plain “canned pumpkin” and not pie filling! But boosting fiber isn’t the only answer - boosting moisture is key.
Dogs can also eat Metamucil. The active ingredient is Psyllium, a bulk-forming laxative, used to treat constipation. Get the plain unflavored stuff and stir some (depends on the weight of the dog, but you don’t need too much) powder into the food (either the canned food recommended above, or plain yogurt which is also good for digestion).
Our doggie dietitian actually included it in the recipe we home-cook for our dogs, so they get it every night, and they do fine.
I can attest to the Metamucil thing. When Bitz was getting over an intestinal infection my vet put her on a scoop for every meal until the stools got normal.
heck with the dogs, it is a great side dish and full of fiber for humans also =)
However, don’t feed applesauce to cats - or at least more than a tablespoon full or so - every time any cat I have had has chowed down on apple sauce they then hurk it back up.
My dog once did the same “come around the corner still in the squat walk” thing. In his case, it wasn’t a poop on a hair, it was a sock coming out of his butt! :eek:
The vet removed the sock and checked the dog out. Dog was fine. Oddest thing was the vet put the sock in a plastic bag to hand back to me! No. I don’t want the poop sock back, thank you.
How a dog eats a sock whole, I’ve not figured out.
many thanks to the Dope!