Diarrhea is a common canine affliction and it varies in frequency, duration, and intensity from dog to dog.
Let’s understand diarrhea
Diarrhea is defined as the frequent passing of loose, watery, and unformed faeces. The normal texture of faeces is brownish with a firm consistency, and any deviation from the standard form with a recurrent tendency can be termed as diarrhea. Dog Diarrhea in itself is not a disease but is simply an indicator for some ongoing disease process. It is manifested in the form of loose, unformed, malodorous, watery faeces having abnormal colour. However, there are a few of the reasons behind diarrhea:
· Stress & Strain: Some pets, when under excessive stress, may end up falling sick. The exact reason behind this is yet to be discovered; however, it can be attributed to the fact that stress rapidly causes the decline of immunity. Whenever immunity is low or below a certain threshold level, there is a good enough opportunity for secondary bacterial invaders or pathogens to invade and start colonizing thereby, causing diarrhea.
· Food Allergies & Intolerance: Food allergies are rather common in dogs and cats. Most of our pets are lactose intolerant. It is a condition where they cannot effectively digest lactose sugar, which is present in the milk. As a result, there is diarrhea, which is usually limited to post-intake of suspected intolerant food and usually ceases after withdrawal from milk. Similarly, some pets’ may have food intolerance and allergies to various kinds of foodstuffs. Some pets are intolerant towards certain types of packaged food, which triggers diarrhea that ceases post-withdrawal of the offending food.
· Emotional Causes: Emotion triggers such as nervous excitement, anxiety, separation anxiety, fear of an unaccustomed environment, agony, or unwanted stress and strain may trigger diarrheal episodes.
· Neoplasm-induced enteritis: Some diarrheal episodes may be triggered due to neoplasia or the cancer process in the intestines. This may be confused with inflammatory bowel disease however; the difference is that the former is related to cancerous processes. Lymphosarcoma is the top contender for commonly encountered neoplasm associated with diarrhea. Other neoplasms such as leiomyomas and leiomyo-sarcoma may also trigger diarrhea.
· Auto-Immune Reasons: Auto-immunity is a phenomenon where the immune system of the body attacks its cells/tissues due to some cellular/systemic disturbances. Lymphocytic-Plasmacytic enteritis may be evident in such cases of autoimmunity, which is usually characterized by hypo-globulinemia and diarrhea.
· Intestinal Motility: Diarrhea may occur due to rapid movement of the intestine or hyper-peristalsis. There is a fixed pattern in which the intestines contract which helps carry the food items ahead in the alimentary tract. This fixed pattern or rhythmic contractions is termed peristalsis or peristaltic movements. Excessive movement is termed as hyper-peristalsis which causes Diarrhea or semi-solid/Liquid faeces. On the other hand, constipation is attributed to hypo-peristalsis or slower movements of the intestines. There must be fine balance or homeostasis of the system to ensure there are no diarrhea or constipation episodes.
· Infection: Diarrhea is manifested when some infectious agents attack the digestive system. The gut or intestines are filled with good bacteria which help our body digest better via a process of symbiosis and help in immunity building as well. However, infections arise whenever there is a decline in the number of good bacterial colonies or there is a rise in pathogenic bacteria. These pathogenic bacteria make their way into the system mostly via the feco-oral route. In case, your pet eats or drinks contaminated food or water, they always can have a diarrheal episode following entry of a foreign pathogen. These pathogens, or bad bacteria, are responsible for colonizing the intestinal cells, sloughing of the intestinal membrane wall, etc.
· Specific causes: Parvovirus infection in puppies is known to cause hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, which is characterized by diarrhea that has a peculiar smell and has a red-brown tinge. Viral enteritis is very commonly observed in all species. Always ensure, your pets do not get access to dumpsters, waste products, stale food, etc. which may have the potential to cause infection.
· Parasites: Parasites are small creatures who feed off their host as they derive nutrition and protection from their particular hosts. Parasitism is a condition wherein there is an excessive parasite load in the body, which can be potentially life-threatening. In cases of young puppies and kittens, parasitism such as tapeworm infection is very common.
Indigestion is something, which may look not so scary but is equally intimidating for any pet parent as it is unusual for us to see our pets’ not- at-their-best.
Diagnosing Diarrhea: What Are the Various Reasons behind Diarrheal Episodes?
Diarrhea is a symptom, which could be due to something as simple as indigestion to something as complicated as inflammatory bowel disease. To conclude the causative factor, your Vet may suggest a few tests such as-
1. ROUTINE BLOOD TEST: It helps to rule out many different kinds of disease processes. Basic Blood picture, i.e. complete blood count along with Liver Function Tests and Kidney Function Tests helps to pinpoint whether or not the disease entity lies in the blood (such as haemo-protozoan diseases) Liver or Kidneys (inflammation or toxicity conditions)
2. USG: An important tool, which helps in the imaging of intestines and better imaging of internal organs. It helps to locate any ulcers, any changes in texture, shape, contour, an outline of organs. Through USG, internal organs such as kidneys, intestines, etc can be effectively checked for any lesions.
3. RADIOGRAPHY: In cases of ingestion of a foreign body, to check or to locate it, radiography can be an effective tool. Mostly, there is vomiting in case of foreign body obstruction.
4. BIOPSY: For any unknown lesions, intestinal biopsy, becomes an important tool to diagnose the particular condition. For Lympho-sarcoma, surgery (if it is an option) along with chemotherapy (+/-) becomes an effective tool to control the disease progression.
5. FAECAL SAMPLE: Faecal Sample testing is a standard routing protocol for figuring out the cause of the diarrheal episode. Faecal samples are tested for the presence of blood, epithelial cells, protozoan cells, eggs of parasites, proglottids of tapeworms, etc.
Management & Therapeutics: Way Forward.
Dog diarrhea should always be approached as a symptom rather than an entity of the disease itself. There is ‘N’ number of triggers that may eventually spiral down to diarrhea. The treatment protocol should be holistic and must cater to individual needs. Diarrhea due to infections and inflammatory processes is rather difficult to handle and may require some other form of treatment therapy along with supportive care and management.
Homeopathic remedies work on the principle of “similia similibus curanter” which means “like cures like” DIAFINE DROPS for pets is the homeopathic remedy for diarrhea and is a unique Homeopathic Veterinary Medicine, proved to be effective in treating different types of diarrhea in dogs & cats. Diarrhea due to any underlying cause such as bacteria, virus, or verminous can be treated by DIAFINE DROPS. Haemorrhagic diarrhea in cases of parvovirus can be holistically approached by using diafine along with allopathic drugs
DIAFINE DROPS FOR PETS is a combination of different homeopathic medicines, which has proven effective in different types of diarrhea in animals as humans. The best you can give to your four-leg kid is diafine by The Goel Vet Pharma.
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