WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR DOG IS CONSTIPATED
How to deal with your dog constipation issues
Constipation is a decrease in the frequency of bowel movement or difficulty in passing stool. Dog Constipation causes can range from less liquid intake, poor diet, obstruction in the intestine among others.
Symptoms of constipation
Symptoms of constipation mostly are infrequent bowel movement, abdominal pain and hard or small stool.
A constipated dog may exhibit a range of symptoms depending on the bowel habits, diet and age. The tell signs that can alarm you is when your dog has:
- Difficulty in starting or ending its bowel movement.
- Infrequent and difficulty in passing faeces.
- Pain as passing hard stool showing prolong straining.
- Bloating and loss of appetite.
- Straining to have a bowel movement may cause swelling in the areas in and around your dog anus causing pain.
- Lack of bowel movement daily may cause your dog to have large or hard faeces which can cause tiny tears in the anus.
- Straining to force the faeces out may cause your dog rectum to stretch and protrude from the anus.
Solutions on how to cub constipation
The following can help your dog to avoid or prevent constipation. Use of natural and home remedies to relieve constipation can be used as follows:
#1. High fibre diet.
Include plenty of high fibre food in their diet including pumpkin which has a lot of water content.
#2. Plenty of fluids.
It should drink plenty of fluids to facilitate quick digestion. Blockage of intestines can be undone by an increase in water intake.
#3. Gentle and enough exercise
Stay as active as possible, ensure your dog gets regular exercise as it increases the circulation of blood and aids in motility of food and removal of waste products.
#4. Potty training.
Train your dog to pass stool frequently especially after a meal. This is explained clearly on how to potty train your puppy.
If the constipation is severe you can visit your vet and get medication that can get rid of constipation including,
- Stool softener.
- Pro fibre supplement.
- Good wet food.
Constipation can interfere with your dog’s ability to go about their daily task due to pain. Prevention is better and for the love, we have for our furry friend a dog owner cannot wait for their dog to hurt. You can cleanse their intestinal tract to restore and maintain optimal pet health. With dog constipation, higher doses of medicine recommended by your vet may be required to break down the cement-like faecal matter adhering to their intestinal walls. During this clearing/cleansing process. Your pet may experience several episodes of diarrhoea and vomiting during the cleansing process. - Pro-Fibre supplement
With constipation, the remedy can be simple, change food or use natural, time-tested supplements recommended by your vet. Digestive disturbances can make your dog feel very uncomfortable and the consequences can be unpleasant and upsetting for you. Pro-Fibre works effectively to help form stools with a more normal consistency. The addition of fibre to the diet is also useful for the management of dogs prone to anal gland issues. Pro-fibre has high levels of both soluble and insoluble fibre with new fibre sources including psyllium and sugar beet pulp. Pro-Fibre now has higher levels of dietary fibre (45%) to help bulk the stools out and keep your dog happy. This supplement has beneficial bacteria for gastrointestinal health and helps to enhance the multiplication of good bacteria in your dog’s stomach.
Why Give Your Dog Pro-Fibre Supplements?
- Protexin Pro-Fibre is a tasty palatable pellet making it yummy for your dog.
- Multi-source fibre softens the food in your dog’s stomach.
- Has a prebiotic, consisting of fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) and acacia (Gum arabic), to feed and stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria.
- Used to improve palatability and compliance.
- Given daily Pro-Fibre can help to promote efficient digestion and avoid the problems associated with insufficient dietary fibre.
Summary
Poor diet and lack of physical activity are the most common causes of constipation, make a few changes to your dog diet. We can recommend the pumpkin food, rich with high fibre and see positive bowel changes. Pumpkin contains high water content and fibre. Avoid processed sugar food in their diet as pumpkin taste is nice to dogs.
Perhaps you have made changes to your dog’s diet and activities and still aren’t getting any positive bowel changes. At this point it may be a good idea to visit a vet to see if your dog bowel symptoms are a result of a health problem going on in their body.
Constipation needs to be cubed as soon as you detect it. Talk to your vet for supplement advice, food and proper medication, be keen on your dog potty going and frequency as you do not want to see your dog suffering from pain.
