# Need some reassurance......



## Kbug (Oct 23, 2011)

I was poop watching today and saw something I'm concerned about. Aerith had a small, firm poo that was very dark, tarry looking, and had some mucus on it. Some of that mucus was red in color and bloody looking. Honestly, it looks a lot like the stool a person with a GI bleed has. The poo looked a lot like the poo Fayt started having a week before she got sick and had to be put down. Fayt had stools like that for almost an entire week before she started showing obvious symptoms and refusing food. I'll be keeping an eye on her, but I'm a bit worried.

Kbug


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

symptoms of what?

how old is aerith?

what has she eaten in the last few days?

fayt had diabetes, right? does aerith?


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Of course I can't say it's nothing bad, but my dogs have had that mucus ball stuff in their poo before. It's a sign of something - a little irritation in the bowels, i think. 

There's a thread around here called "Is this normal?" I'll see if I can locate it.


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## Kbug (Oct 23, 2011)

Fayt was septic, had colitis, pancreatitis, her gut was twisting up from inflammation and massive blood loss from bloody diarrhea and vomiting. She did have diabetes, which I think caused the severity of the problems....but any GI bleeding can be serious. What is concerning to me is that nothing has changed. Nothing has been added to her diet in several weeks. Aerith is 2 and she was 30 lbs overweight and has heartworms. She has dropped some of the weight very quickly over the last few months. You can now feel her last rib. She was fasted yesterday and only had her meal about 20 minutes before the poo.

I'm just a little worried because there hasn't been anything new. Fayt's poos happened the day after her first turkey neck. 

Kbug


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

If you are really concerned, perhaps you should call the vet?

I found the thread but the stuff about mucus in the poo wasn't in there. the other threads on mucus poo say it's normal but don't mention blood.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

Kbug said:


> Fayt was septic, had colitis, pancreatitis, her gut was twisting up from inflammation and massive blood loss from bloody diarrhea and vomiting. She did have diabetes, which I think caused the severity of the problems....but any GI bleeding can be serious. What is concerning to me is that nothing has changed. Nothing has been added to her diet in several weeks. Aerith is 2 and she was 30 lbs overweight and has heartworms. She has dropped some of the weight very quickly over the last few months. You can now feel her last rib. She was fasted yesterday and only had her meal about 20 minutes before the poo.
> 
> I'm just a little worried because there hasn't been anything new. Fayt's poos happened the day after her first turkey neck.
> 
> Kbug


i think breathing would be in order as a first response...i know it hasn't been long enough since fayt died....it was very sad.....

how old is aerith?

i know when i feed eggs or a rich rich meat like heart.....my dogs sometimes have mucous, which i think is normal...it's just the shedding of the intestinal lining...humans do it too....and i've seen tarry stools or what looks like tarry stools because the protein is so rich.....

also, when dogs eat bones, there is always the chance one of the bones can cause a litle scrape toward the end of the colon, and there will be a little blood. or the dog strained....also normal.....

is the blood bright red? or dark and rusty? what is the odour?

because a GI bleed with black tarry stools will have an odour unlike any other...


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## Kbug (Oct 23, 2011)

magicre said:


> i think breathing would be in order as a first response...i know it hasn't been long enough since fayt died....it was very sad.....
> 
> how old is aerith?


 She is 2, almost 3.



> i know when i feed eggs or a rich rich meat like heart.....my dogs sometimes have mucous, which i think is normal...it's just the shedding of the intestinal lining...humans do it too....and i've seen tarry stools or what looks like tarry stools because the protein is so rich.....


 No red meat/heart/organs in the last 2 days and she's never had an egg. She had turkey and chicken leg quarter on Monday, fasted Tuesday, and just had a chicken back and liver 20 minutes before the poo.



> is the blood bright red? or dark and rusty? what is the odour?
> 
> because a GI bleed with black tarry stools will have an odour unlike any other...


Bright red and I didn't notice an odor, but I didn't with Fayt either. I'm just going to sit tight, time will give me a better idea if I should panic more or not.....if it has not turned white by tomorrow I'll consider going to the vet. So, I'm just going to look at it again tomorrow. The poo that signaled Fayt's problems just got darker and harder instead of turning that nice white color. A month later it was still dark and hard.

Kbug


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

You fasted her so her stomach was empty? No...You did give liver and my guess is that is what you saw in the poo...I think your good and things will be fine, re is right, breathing is good but I do understand your concern with losing Fayt.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

Kbug said:


> She is 2, almost 3.
> 
> No red meat/heart/organs in the last 2 days and she's never had an egg. She had turkey and chicken leg quarter on Monday, fasted Tuesday, and just had a chicken back and liver 20 minutes before the poo.
> 
> ...


i know it's hard, but comparing anything about fayt with aerith is something that's going to send you into a spiral..

it is not uncommon when feeding organs to see that kind of a stool....i swear....

bright red blood means it's either coming from the anus or the end of the colon.....which means, she could have had a tiny little irritation, which humans get.....or a little scrape as she passed the chicken back....

i remember eating a long rib and i could feel the sliver go all the way through my intestines that i accidentally swallowed. the difference is this. aerith is a dog and a tiny shard only means a little passing of blood....

if she only passed blood whilst pooping....and is not actively dripping blood from her rear, certainly it bears watching....

does she have any health problems currently?


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

xellil said:


> If you are really concerned, perhaps you should call the vet?
> 
> I found the thread but the stuff about mucus in the poo wasn't in there. the other threads on mucus poo say it's normal but don't mention blood.


mucous is normal. even humans pass blood...we just don't dissect our poo the way we do with our dogs


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## Kbug (Oct 23, 2011)

whiteleo said:


> You fasted her so her stomach was empty? No...You did give liver and my guess is that is what you saw in the poo...I think your good and things will be fine, re is right, breathing is good but I do understand your concern with losing Fayt.


You think the liver and a chicken back went in and out in only 20 minutes?? I hope that is just it?

Kbug


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

what did she eat yesterday and the day before?


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## Kbug (Oct 23, 2011)

magicre said:


> what did she eat yesterday and the day before?


Yesterday = fasting
day before = turkey neck and boneless chicken

Kbug


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## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

When I feed Ruby liver her poops turn a reddish brown in colour and get more squishy. She gets mucousy poops on occasion too. After freaking out over it, it always resolved itself within a week. I used to freak out at the slightest difference in her poop, Im finally calmin down about it. If you are concerned about the mucous you could always give some slippery elm to rebalance the intestines. I have never used it before, but I think you can only use it for a few days otherwise it starts to build up too much in the intestines and nutrients cant be properly absorbed. 

She's going through a squishy poo phase right now, but I just started introing liver not that long ago so Im just going to wait for it to pass.

I know the first time Ruby ate turkey neck, she did get mucousy poop with a bit of blood in it, and she even threw up some bone with a droplet of blood in the vomit, this was back in september and she was fine after that. Turkey bones are stronger and denser than chicken bones, its slightly harder to digest. After a few times, your dogs body should be ok with digesting turkey bones.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

considering what happened with fayt.....i think it can't hurt to call the vet either now or in the morning....

why get so stressed when you can alleviate it...i wouldn't want you to take my advice...because i'm not there....

and just because i think it's normal...doesn't make it so.


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## Kbug (Oct 23, 2011)

magicre said:


> and just because i think it's normal...doesn't make it so.


And that's why I'm a bit worried over it. I saw Fayt's stools change overnight with the turkey neck....thought, "oh, it's normal" and left for Thanksgiving. Then I came home and had to put her down. I'll look at the stool tomorrow. It looks almost exactly the same as Fayt's. If the stool hasn't turned white by morning I'll pen Aerith separately so that I can monitor the stools better. If they don't look like they are closer to normal by Friday I'll see about taking her in then. Its always possible she ate a stick or something too....she's not the brightest Lab on the block I'm sorry to say.

Kbug 



Kbug


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## chewice (Jan 1, 2012)

Dont worry Kbug... im in the same spot as you. We dont feed raw...but for the past week hes had horrible stools. An hour ago he took a black soft poo with mucous and Im a little freaked as well. Waiting to see what the morning brings... we can hug each other


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

Kbug said:


> And that's why I'm a bit worried over it. I saw Fayt's stools change overnight with the turkey neck....thought, "oh, it's normal" and left for Thanksgiving. Then I came home and had to put her down. I'll look at the stool tomorrow. It looks almost exactly the same as Fayt's. If the stool hasn't turned white by morning I'll pen Aerith separately so that I can monitor the stools better. If they don't look like they are closer to normal by Friday I'll see about taking her in then. Its always possible she ate a stick or something too....she's not the brightest Lab on the block I'm sorry to say.
> 
> Kbug
> 
> ...


if the stool doesn't turn white, that would not be the standard by which i'd judge anything.....i would more be looking at the next stool....


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## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

I agree with magicre, sometimes one poo can be "bad" and their next poo is totally fine.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

First off, don't panic. It wont help anything...I know its hard not to when its our babies. So far reading this thread I see no reason for concern. 

Mucous is normal as its a healthy excretion from the intestinal lining. It just means there might be some minor irritation or something the intestines are not used to. The dark stool can be normal as it can be a sign that the intestinal tract is changing the way and the amount things are being digested. Since she was fed chicken and turkey on Monday and fasted Tuesday, the small dark poo was probably just the remnants of what was left from that Monday meal. There's no physical way for something to be eaten and digested in 20 minutes. 

She's still extremely new to raw feeding. Things are going to change quite a bit still over the next few months. But like Re said...just because it CAN be normal doesn't mean there isn't something wrong. I would look at her overall condition. Is she acting normal? Painful? Lethargic? Eating and drinking ok? Any vomiting or diarrhea? If there are no other red flags OTHER than the darker stool with mucous tinged with blood then I'd say there's not too much to worry about. ABSOLUTELY keep a very close eye on her and if anything does change...it may be time to take action. 



Kbug said:


> And that's why I'm a bit worried over it. I saw Fayt's stools change overnight with the turkey neck....thought, "oh, it's normal" and left for Thanksgiving. Then I came home and had to put her down. I'll look at the stool tomorrow. It looks almost exactly the same as Fayt's. If the stool hasn't turned white by morning I'll pen Aerith separately so that I can monitor the stools better. If they don't look like they are closer to normal by Friday I'll see about taking her in then. Its always possible she ate a stick or something too....she's not the brightest Lab on the block I'm sorry to say.
> 
> Kbug


I think that Fayt went downhill because she was boarded. Not because of the abrupt change in that one bowel movement. Boarding is highly stressful on dogs and especially on sick ones. I've seen many, many dogs go downhill quickly when boarded and healthy as well as when they're sick...its sort of a common occurrence unfortunately!


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## Kbug (Oct 23, 2011)

DaneMama said:


> I think that Fayt went downhill because she was boarded. Not because of the abrupt change in that one bowel movement. Boarding is highly stressful on dogs and especially on sick ones. I've seen many, many dogs go downhill quickly when boarded and healthy as well as when they're sick...its sort of a common occurrence unfortunately!


Oh, I agree, I think it was just one big melting pot where everything built on each other. She didn't have a healthy immune system and was still really weak from the diabetes. She obviously had something going on in her digestive tract from the new protein, and stress from being boarded probably was overkill. However, I should have listened to my gut and put my foot down on just boarding her the two days but I let my husband talk me into making it 5. That's what I still feel the worst on, I knew she didn't need to be boarded that long so soon and with her recent blindness.

Aerith was acting just fine....running around and even swimming....however, Fayt didn't get so bad in just one day and the vet tech said she was acting "normal" until that last day. 


Kbug


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