Natural Cures for Gastroenteritis in Dogs

One day our Chessie developed some worrying symptoms, a sudden drop in energy level and unwillingness to move her legs. We waited it out for about 4 days to see how she was feeling but I knew if I saw blood in any stool or urine she was going to be rushed to the vet. On Thursday she started vomiting and having diarrhea, salivating and walking as if she were drunk. Upon inspection of her stool there was what they call "frank blood" meaning small flecks of blood surrounded by mucus. We took her to the vet an hour later, the vet diagnosed her with Gastroenteritis and dehydration (that type of blood in the stool is common in dogs with intestinal issues, it means an irritation of the intestine). They gave her a Sub-q injection of 1 liter of water and Cerenia, sent her home with anti biotics and some food for the condition. We gave her the meds and fed her the wet food but a few days ago she stopped taking food. She was drinking better but the wobbly legs game and went in spells. After three days of waiting she still had not produced a bowel movement which made me think perhaps she had an obstruction.

Fast forward to yesterday she was crouching as she walked like she needed to poop but instead she would just lay down.. she refused food, even bacon. After reading everything I could online I decided to try pumpkin (Cant believe I didn't think of it earlier, I had a friend who swore by it). We had to force feed her the lot unfortunately but here was what I used:

2 separate doses of

• 1/3 cup pure pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tsp virgin coconut oil
• 1 tsp corn syrup

mix well and feed

I used coconut oil because I know from experience with other dogs and myself that it can lube up a colon no problem plus it has allot of nutrients to help her energy level. The corn syrup I heard from my father in law to be a laxative as well so I thought I would try it but I later found out it wasn't even corn syrup, just glucose-fructose in a bottle so I really doubt that gave way to any results so check labels carefully! I fed her this mixture twice yesterday at about 1 pm and 6 pm along with her dreaded anti-biotics. I feel torn about them as I dont usually advocate the use of anti-biotics but because I know nothing about dog gastroenteritis I caved.

Last night she was very lethargic and I decided I would call the vet in the am if she did not improve. 8 am and she went out to pee, no problems with wobbly legs, came inside and drank her water. 10 am I dozed off and when I woke up and found a great big stinking pile of poop in my living room! Probably the happiest I've felt finding dog crap in the house lol, anyways I looked through it to make sure there wasn't a blockage and oddly enough there was nothing in there at all. I am baffled but I suppose if it is gastroenteritis there are so many factors to an issue like that, that I will probably never wrap my head around it and if the bacteria that causes it are messing with poor Burly's body then no poop for 4 days could be a side effect?

Any who, here's for pumpkin puree! Thank you everyone for helping my pooch out, I will update in a few days. Burly is still tired and wont eat but hopefully once her GI tract is on track things will be looking up for her.

Oh and I read that pumpkin is high in Vit A and too much can cause toxicity problems in dogs, if that's true it just goes to show you "everything in moderation" are words to live by.

As EC has stated, gastroenteritis is a term used widely in vet care and I'm sure Burly was attacked by more than just stomach inflammation so if your dog does develop these symptoms it is best, in my opinion, to treat the illnesses as a whole. Helping your dog get the vitamins and minerals they need is important for boosting the immune system( we have added some probiotics to the recipe above to giver her gut flora a boost). We as pet owners seem to take the responsibility of curing our animals into our own hands and its easy to forget that these animals may need our help but it is ultimately up to their own immune systems to fight off invading bugs. This is what I found anyways, my worrying and stressing was caused by my need to control the situation even when I had already done everything I could. After everything that can be done has been done it is good to be reminded that our pets are their own animals and sometimes things are just out of our hands! (and vets hands)

How old is Burly? And what did the vet prescribe that you were so hesitant to give?

I had a dog have similar problems and it was giardia and the drug was Flagyl; it took a week to treat. Normally giardia responds very quickly to flagyl so this was very strange, so must have been an individual thing.

I'm sorry to hear that Burly isn't bouncing back :(

The drug prescribed - Apometronidazole/Flagyl - sounds right on; the lack of recovery does not. Flagyl *can* in some cases take a week /10 days to work and for those stubborn cases it means stuffing the pill down a reluctant dog's throat.

An xray or ultrasound might provide some answers and show if an organ is enlarged or if there is an abnormal mass or malignancy. If further vet work is out of the question, you might try giving her Essiac tea [cancer fighting], and liquid or paste nutritional supplements ie 'Nutrical'.

Sending healing prayers for a recovery for Burly!