So my father fed the dog cabbage rolls...

[jeninejessica]

Was visiting the other day and came around the corner to find my 8lb papillon absolutely inhaling a plate of cabbage rolls (with onion) that had been placed on the floor for him. My father feels bad, but obviously there's nothing that can be done about that now.

This was Wednesday night, and since then he's been having a ton of diarrhea. He goes through spurts of being fine, but then conversely he'll go 2 hours of wanting me to take him out to potty every 5-10 minutes. During these potties, he's really only excreting the tiniest amount of diarrhea. I noticed after his last one that he has a tiny bit of blood on his fur when I went to help him wipe off.

I've called the vet, and they said to feed him a bland diet of rice and boiled ground beef from now until monday and that if it doesn't get better by then (or gets worse) to bring him in. Other than that... they said just wait it out.

I was feeling ok until the blood, but obviously now I'm more worried. Does the vet's advice make sense? He's currently on orijen food, switched about three weeks ago, but hadn't had any trouble on it before this human food incident.

One of my big concerns is that it's so cold here that he can only stay out for maximum 2 minutes at a time and then his paws start freezing. So he comes in, and then immediately has to go back out once he's warmed up. In desperation I tried putting down paper right by the back door and telling him to potty there, but he won't. I know it's confusing for him, but I also don't want him to freeze while he fights off this sick.

*sigh* Im' a worried mama and i guess i'm just looking for ideas of guidance.

[Ola_]

If it's a small amount of blood, it's probably just from the irritation in his digestive tract, it should be fine. A larger amount would be cause for alarm though.

The fastest way I've found to remedy an upset belly is to do a 24 hour fast. It seems as though things can heal quicker if they are not trying to process anything (so no bland diet, or cookies, or anything). The only thing is that your pup is small so you couldn't fast if he has blood sugar issues (perhaps ask your vet about this?). Frankly I'm surprised that your vet didn't recommend bringing him in as there are things they could give him to help him feel better faster.

Fasting will also prevent some of those outings as there won't be much that needs to come out. It's very important that he continue drinking enough water though as diarrhea can be very dehydrating. Sending lots of vibes to your pupper - one of mine is currently going through something similar as DH fed him some blue cheese as a treat and it's not going over well. Sigh... I'm doing the fast though and hoping he will feel better by this evening (issues started yesterday afternoon). I've found this method to work quite well for both of my dogs.

[jeninejessica]

Thanks! Fasting (or at least a partial) seems like a better idea to me... especially since it was ground beef and rice WITH the cabbage roll, I don't know if I want to give him more of the same, KWIM? He seems a little less interested in his food anyways, probably because he knows it's what's making him sick.

Poor guy was so grossed up yesterday I had to to an impromptu clipper act on him. He was not happy, but I came home from work, and he'd messed in his crate and was covered in it. I probably would have had to do two or three baths to get it out.

He's cuddling on my lap right now looking pitiful. Maybe he won't eat strange food so quick next time...

[Ola_]

Oh sure he will. He's a dog! The crate mess sounds very yucky, I've come home to that a couple of times in the past and it was not fun to clean up the dog OR the crate.

[SoulCakes]

Poor thing! (And cabbage rolls?!? Seriously.)

I second the 24-hour fast. My pup had a tummy bug over the weekend and he self-imposed a fast for about a day and a half. I cooked up some chicken and rice and have been feeding him that for the last couple of days, slowly mixing more and more kibble in. It helps his stomach re-transition to the dog food.

I wouldn't worry about the blood, either, unless there's a lot. Little steaks of it are fine, and occur even in healthy, non-diarrhetic dogs.

One of the good things about your situation is that you know the cause. It'll be out of her system in a few days and things should be back to normal if you let her stomach take it easy now. If it goes on for longer than 3-4 days, or if she stops drinking for longer than one day, I'd take her to the vet.

[lonegirl]

THe vet's advice is good advice The trick is to give a very bland diet to calm the intestines down. What we often do is no food for 12-24h then introduce only tiny amounts throughout the 2nd day. OIh just remember he is a small dog and can become dehydrated quickly. so definetly keep a close eye on him

[SophieAnn]

Poor thing (and yeah - cabbage rolls? seriously?)

Good advice so far. Watch his water intake very carefully. With diarrhea they can become dehydrated very easily... which can be quite dangerous.

A good check for dehydration - look at the gums. Are they pink (good) or pale? If you press a finger on the gums they temporarily turn white from the pressure, but colour should return quickly. If the gums are pale or if they are very slow to have colour return, then he is dehydrated.

Our vet also does a check with the skin where they lift a fold of skin on the shoulder and watch how long it takes to fall back down - but I'm not sure how to do that test.

Hope he's feeling better soon. Another option in-between fasting and a bland diet is to cook a small amount of rice in a lot of water for a long time - basically, making rice water - cool to room temp and give as a bowl of "water" in addition to plain water.

Edited to add: I'm speaking from experience here as our dog was hospitalized and on IV fluids for 6 days of unresolved & unexplained diarrhea. I took him in to the vet after 24 hours of diarrhea and (I thought) not enough water intake. Turns out yes, he had gotten quite dehydrated in 24 hours and was put on IV fluids right away (he was a 70 lb. dog, for comparison).