# Friends female boxer bleeding from her rectum - Please Help!



## DandD (Jan 4, 2012)

A friend from my breed specific forum posted this last night, I mentioned that I had started at this forum and that I'm planning to make my switch to raw right away, and asked her if it was ok if asked everyone here about her little Lexi and of course she said yes. Lexi has recently been having allergy issues but it's an 8 hour round trip for them to go have her tested so they are attempting elimination first. Here's her post:


She's bleeding from her rectum.. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What a terrifying evening.

Last night we took the dogs out for their evening run. We noticed Lexi pooped right away. Then a few minutes later pooped again. Then again. Then again. It was dark, so I couldn't tell if anything was coming out. I walked over to her while she was trying to go and noticed she was straining really had and nothing was coming out. I turned my phone on and looked at the ground and noticed there were blood droplets - uh oh - so we left for home immediately.

I knew this wasn't normal and planned on calling the Evet as soon as we got home. Well, when we got into the house I noticed that her bum was covered in blood, it was dripping from her rectum - I flipped out. I know I should have stayed calm, but I was bawling my eyes out. I called the Evet, and she said to bring her in immediately. 

*Lexi is acting completely normal - eating normal, urinating, zoomies all over the place, playing like usual. Nothing abnormal, except a bloody rectum. I even gave her a bath earlier in the day and noticed nothing out of the ordinary going on in her back end.*

Our vet (who adores Lexi, and knows her and us very well) did an external and internal exam (Lexi's eye's bugged right out of her head when a digital exam was preformed). GOOD NEWS: She is NOT internally bleeding - phew! It's coming from the outer part of her rectum. BAD NEWS: The vet has NO idea why this is happening. We were there for about an hour. She gave us a cream to put on her rectum to help with the swelling, rawness and inflammation. Told us to call her in the morning for sure, but call anytime throughout the night if we need to, especially if her rectum prolapses (because she is straining so hard).

I slept with her on the couch all night. In the morning I took her out to go to the bathroom, she had a good solid poop, but then tried again right after and it was runny and she was straining again. Put the cream on her and then I called the vet. She wanted us to bring her back in this afternoon so the other vet (who has more experience) can give us a second opinion. Her rectum looked better this morning then last night, but was still inflamed and raw.


We took her to the vet at 2, and things looked better. The older vet looked at her and the first thing he said was 'wow, that's a bad case of hemorrhoids'. He thinks things are irritated because of her allergies. SO, back to the allergy drawing board. He wants us to put her on a vegetarian diet for 6 weeks, then introduce one protein at a time. 

He doesn't seem too worried, but I still am. I do everything as holistic and as 'right' as I possibly can with the resources we have up here, but it's not enough.

She went from:
TOTW - Sierra Mountain, 5 Star dog food. 
to
Orijin - Regional Red, 6/5 Star dog food.
to 
Royal Canin - Vegetarian Formula, 1 star dog food.

I am worried - it's very low in protein and fat. She is already so slim to begin with.

I am just lost. I don't think this diet is forever, we just have to figure out what protein she's allergic to .. if that's even what she's allergic to.

Anyone been through this? Anyone fed their boxers Royal Canin/Medical? Anyone's boxers have hemorrhoids?

Thanks. 
_____________________________________

I'm wondering what you guys think, should she try switching Lexi to raw?

Thanks in advance for your help.


----------



## minnieme (Jul 6, 2011)

Good lord, a vegetarian diet? Wow..just....wow. I know boxers can have sensitive stomachs but I would DEFINITELY not go to a vegetarian diet (especially RC). I'd probably be afraid of transitioning too if she were my dog, but I think it's needed. I have a dog with stomach issues AND one with horrendous skin issues. It's scary to take the plunge, but I think it's for the best. I would fast for a day and then jump into small meals of chicken. I am wondering if the bath is what made her bum raw (didn't cause it but may have exacerbated it) -- did she use any different kinds of soap? Is it particularly dry where she is?


----------



## DandD (Jan 4, 2012)

minnieme said:


> Good lord, a vegetarian diet? Wow..just....wow. I know boxers can have sensitive stomachs but I would DEFINITELY not go to a vegetarian diet (especially RC). I'd probably be afraid of transitioning too if she were my dog, but I think it's needed. I have a dog with stomach issues AND one with horrendous skin issues. It's scary to take the plunge, but I think it's for the best. I would fast for a day and then jump into small meals of chicken. I am wondering if the bath is what made her bum raw (didn't cause it but may have exacerbated it) -- did she use any different kinds of soap? Is it particularly dry where she is?


I'll ask her about the soap but I don't think she's using anything different, just 2 weeks ago Lexi had a red, raw itchy ear and I'm pretty sure that's when the vet had her switch foods the first time. She's up in Northern Ontario, all of Canada is fairly dry in the winter :frown:


----------



## twoisplenty (Nov 12, 2008)

From other threads posted by Lexi's owner this dog is very sensitive to foods. It throws her stomach out of wack and causes liquid poops. When a dog has very loose stools, the intestines become aggitated and inflammed. This can even lead to bloody diarrhea. Most vets would try and calm the intestines with metronidazole for 10 or so days. A vegetarian diet is IMO retarded. I personally would fast the dog for 24hrs and start her on a limited ingredient kibble such as Blue Bufallo LID or Blue Buffalo grain free. I believe I have tried to mention raw before and the owner preferred a kibble based diet.


----------



## DandD (Jan 4, 2012)

I'm trying again, maybe now with this scare her opinion might change. She is in such a remote area, I wonder if that has anything to do with wanting to stick with kibble, or with the fact that the experienced vet seems to be a complete moron. . . oops, that was out loud wasn't it.


----------

