How to Treat Dog diarrhea

Diarrhea, while unpleasant, is actually quite common in dogs. It is just a dog's body's natural way of ridding itself of all sorts of the garbage (sometimes quite literally) that dogs are capable of gobbling up. If your dog appears to be otherwise normal and healthy, apart from the unpleasantness at the back end, you can easily treat this condition at home.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A mop and a bucket for cleanups
• Rice
• Ground beef or turkey
• Plain nonfat yogurt
• Boiled sweet potato
• Probiotics
• Gastriplex

1. Reduce your dog's food intake. The less food to digest, the less trouble in digesting it.

2. Feed your dog a bland diet. The best (and cheapest) way to do this is to make it yourself. You can mix 2 parts rice to one part cooked lean ground meat, either beef or turkey. The best way to cook the meat is to boil it; this is sure to remove most of the fat.

3. Add a couple of tummy soothers to your dog's food, such as plain nonfat yogurt and boiled sweet potato. A few spoonfuls of either, or both are recommended. The best thing you can add, however, is a probiotic like Lactobacillus Sporogenes, a beneficial bacterium known to help maintain or restore intestinal health.

4. Dose your dog with Gastriplex. This remedy contains glutamine, an essential amino acid that supports and heals the entire gastrointestinal system, including small intestines, colon and stomach.

5. Take your dog to the vet if the condition persists for over two weeks. Other signs your dog may need to see a vet are bloating, abdominal pain, fever, lethargy, loss of appetite, dehydration and vomiting. While either vomiting or diarrhea on its own is a common occurrence with dogs, when they occur together they can lead to serious dehydration and may also indicate that your dog is suffering from complications.

Tips & Warnings

• If your dog has recurring bouts of diarrhea, he needs to be checked out thoroughly by the vet in order to determine the underlying cause as in some cases this is symptomatic of certain potentially serious diseases

[emmabushyo]

on 5/23/2008 thanks for the suggestions!