As a new foster parent when I had a foster dog with loose stool I would always panic and assume a trip to the vet was immediately in order. Over time though I learned to calm down about this and started to see there were so many reasons that a foster dog would have smoothie poo that honestly, it's a miracle they ever arrive with poop of a normal consistency.
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| Pictured is Morrison, a foster Rat Terrier with New Rattitude Rescue and king of the contortionist style of pooping! |
In hopes of calming the fears of new foster parents out there or foster parents who still quake at the site of a drippy-butted dog, I'm going to lay out some of those reasons now. First though, let's start with signs that you should call a vet.
If your dog seems lethargic or their overall demeanor has changed, if they have a fever or if they are dehydrated you need to call your vet. To check for dehydration lift their lip and check their gums and under the lip. They should be a healthy pink color. If they are pale or nearly white, time to call the vet. To learn more about when to call the vet or about pet diarrhea in general (fascinating, I know) check out Dr. Becker's article in Mercola Healthy Pets.
Okay. Now onto all the reasons that a new foster dog is likely going to have soft poo.
1. Stress - I want you to put yourself in your dog's place for a moment. Imagine you've lost the home you've known most if not all of your life. You've lost every person that you ever knew and who you depended on for food and shelter. On top of that you ended up in a loud and stressful shelter. Then you possibly were taken to the shelter vet for shots and possibly surgery and didn't know why they were doing this to you. Next you possibly are on a transport to get to your foster home. With every leg of that car trip you are held and grabbed at by new humans that you don't know and who you are trying your best to be calm and polite. Finally you end up in a house that you don't know with people you haven't known long enough to fully trust and then to make things really bad they shove you in a bathtub and pour a bunch of water on you. HORRIBLE! I mean, if you or I as humans lost our home and everyone we knew I'm guessing that the level of stress might give us a bad case of drippy butt too! Why do we expect our foster dogs to rebound from that so quickly and act like a happy-go-lucky dog?
2. Malnutrion - If a dog has been on the streets, they've likely had to scavenge for food and were not getting a balanced diet. Or they could have been eating a crappy food like Beneful or Ol' Roy and their body is going to take some time to adjust and be able to reboot to breaking down food that is nutrient rich.
3. Food Changes - If a dog has been on one type of food their entire life then changing up foods is going to send their intestines into protest mode as the body adjusts to be able to digest a different type of protein and/or carbs. Contrary to what most people believe, it is important to vary a dogs diet so they don't have to deal with indigestion every time something different passes their lips. My dogs who eat kibble have a different formula almost every bag.
4. Parasites - I'm sorry to say it but parasites are just something you need to get used to when you foster. There are proper ways to deal with them and control them so they don't spread to other pets while you help your foster dog get rid of them but that is a topic for another post. What I'm saying though are things like hookworm, roundworm, tapeworms, giardia, coccidia and countless other microbes or tiny beasties that a dog can pick up are going to irritate the heck out of their gut and you can count on this causing a change in their stool.
5. Dewormers, flea treatment, and vaccinations - And here's the flip side to the parasites. The things we use to get rid of parasites or keep them away also often cause loose stool.
6. Supplements - Supplements are great. My personal dogs and foster dogs all take their own personal mix of supplements. Just realize that more is not better and also that some supplements will cause a dog's poop to loosen up for a bit as their bodies adjust. Salmon oil, coconut oil and good quality, high potency probiotics are all supplements that can initially cause this problem.
So now that I've listed more ways than you really want to know about how your dogs poop can go runny, stay tuned for the next post where I have a few tips on how to firm that poop back up.
Great blog!!
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