Since seven o’clock Friday morning Murph’s had diarrhea. (Or what I like to call “ookie belly.”) Thankfully he’s extremely awesome about telling us he needs to go out and he needs to go out now.
Yesterday morning it was every hour or two he’d need to make an emergency visit to the backyard. (Thankfully he’s also very good about going back there and coming right back in since we don’t have a fence.)
Murph’s a muncher and every so often finds who knows what on our walks when either Wayne or I isn’t paying attention. He has a little diarrhea and it goes away. Or I give him a small dose of Pepto-Bismol (which is not endorsed by its maker I might add) and he hardens right up.
By afternoon, unable to tolerate his constant flatulence (and this time everyone knew he was to blame), I gave him some Pepto. He was still tooting up a storm, but the urgent need to poop was quelled for several hours. Until he ate dinner.
For the rest of the night, from about seven onwards, the longest he went before demanding outside time was two hours. And that was after another squirt of Pepto. Very unusual for him not to respond to it.
Needless to say, it was a very long night. Made worse because all the in and out kept his Grandma Dorothy up. Three times when he was finally resting and I had started dozing back off, here she came wandering in our room looking for different things. Which is par for the course since the stroke. But last night was especially active for her and Murph both, leaving me sleep deprived today.
Anyway, promptly at eight, with Murph still having diarrhea, I called the vet. Who got us right in.
They took a stool sample but did not find evidence of any parasites.
“Just like us, dogs have levels of good bacteria and bad bacteria in their systems,” the vet said. “Stress, eating too much grass, eating more than he should have or something that didn’t agree with him could all contribute to an upset belly and diarrhea.”
He gave me some pills to help with the diarrhea and said to come back if it didn’t clear up in a few days or got worse.
Poor Murph. Judging from how much he’s scooting, his pooper shooter’s got to be hurting right about now. So far the diarrhea and stink bombs continue, but I’m hoping the medicine will kick in come nighttime and I might actually get some sleep tonight.
Related Articles
When Is Vomiting an Emergency?