Question About Stool

[allie181]

I have a 10 month old Cavalier.

About 6 weeks ago when I was taking him for a walk and cleaned up after him I noticed some flemmy blood on the outside of his stool. It was the first time I noticed it. I kept an eye on his stool after that but didn't see another problem. I figured he may just have strained too much and hurt himself slightly when 'going' as can happen (it was a firm stool).

About 2 weeks after that he got into the liver treats and ate the whole bag. After that he had bad diarrhea. The vet said it would pass but on night 4 a lot of blood came out of his bum and kept dripping out so I rushed him to the vet. The vet examined him (no x-rays or bloods - she just examined a sample of stool with blood that I brought in and felt around him (he showed no discomfort). She diagnosed him with Colitis and he was put on antibiotics for 7 days. He finished that course.

He stool seems to have become more normal since then however I have still been keeping a close eye on it.

Tonight I inspected some and part of it was dark red. Not obviously blood, rather it looked like the really dark red colour that meat can sometimes have. It wasn't like what I've seen on either of the 2 previous occasions so I may just be worrying about nothing. A week ago I switched him from a mince and veggie diet because he refused to eat the veggies and I didn't think just meat alone was healthy. So now I've got him on nature's gift wet food (he refuses to eat any brand of dry food, and he didn't like the RAW patties). I wonder if that food could be the cause of the slightly reddish colour in his stool?

He is off his food tonight, but he seems to go off food about once or twice a week. He isn't particularly food motivated, so I don't think that is a sign that anything is really wrong, but I suppose I can't be sure. His personality hasn't changed and he is responsive and his energy level seems OK.

Am I just being a worry wart or should I perhaps take him to the vet again and get lots of tests done to rule everything out?

Thanks in advance

[Pretty Miss Emma]

If you feel worried I would never rule out a vet visit. Having a dog that has had many problems in the last few months I can say first hand it is worth the price of a consult for peace of mind!

But it could be the food. My girls get a bit of the same wet food each morning and their poo is a bit reddish. But is also could be old blood from the gut/bowel if he had a problem there that involved bleeding (I would have thought it would be a bit late for that to be coming out, but maybe).

If it were me and I felt worried I'd just head to the vet so I didn't need to worry anymore!