Dog with abdominal pain, blood in stool, and possible spinal/neurological issue — could these be related?
Our dog is 2.5 years old, a Bichon, generally healthy, fit, at a normal weight (5.5 kg), and active.
One day, he suddenly became sad, withdrawn, and hid in his usual hiding spot. He was not in the mood and did not respond when we called him. I gave him two treats to see if he would come to me, but he didn’t. He only ate them when I brought them to him.
Earlier that day, during a walk, another dog jumped at him and scared him. It all happened within a second, so we are not sure whether the other dog may have caught him with its teeth or not. When I examined him to check, I noticed that his butt looked as if he had pooped himself. When I tried to clean him, it seemed to me that it was actually blood. The first veterinarian we took him to later confirmed that there had in fact been quite a lot of blood.
Since our primary veterinarian was not working that day because it was the weekend, we took him to another veterinarian. He examined his abdomen and said that it was very painful. He also expressed his anal glands and said that the contents were too thick and should be much more liquid. He said it was possible that the dog had eaten something that was causing the abdominal pain.
First, he gave him a medication for his stomach. After that, he told us to give him paraffin oil, 3 ml every half hour for the next approximately seven hours, or 15 times in total. We started doing this. He also told us not to give him any food for 24 hours.
After the medication, he felt somewhat better, so we took him for a walk. He urinated but did not poop.
The next morning, he finally pooped. His stool was very hard, perhaps even harder than it should have been, or harder than usual for him. I also noticed small traces of blood.
After that, we took him to his regular veterinarian. He first determined that the dog was dehydrated. He gave him some water with a syringe to see if he would drink, and he did. He then received an IV infusion and some pain medication, although I don’t know exactly what else he was given.
At that point, the veterinarian also told us to give him a little psyllium and to feed him small amounts of food at a time.
As soon as we got home from the vet, he immediately went to drink water and asked for food. Before that, while we were not giving him food, he hadn’t even been asking for it. Now he was asking for food, drinking water, and was much more cheerful. He was not exactly 100% himself, but he was obviously much better. He was playing a bit, barking, running, jumping..
The veterinarian told us to bring him back for a check-up the following day and then again the day after that, essentially every day.
We gave him psyllium and fed him small amounts at a time, and he was eating and persistently asking for more food.
That afternoon, he had another firm stool. In the evening, during one bowel movement, he first passed a firm stool and then a very soft stool, almost like diarrhea. We were told that this kind of change in his stool was expected after everything that had happened and with the change in his diet.
At the second check-up, an X-ray was performed. It showed some kind of growth or abnormality on one of his vertebrae. I will add the x-ray in the comments if possible. They mentioned something like spondylitis or sciatica and said that it was possible that this was the source of the problem and that it was causing him pain. However, the veterinarian immediately clarified that he is not a neurologist and that he was not sure this was actually the cause, so we are waiting for a neurologist who will be coming in a few days.
After that, at some point he stopped eating again. He did not eat dinner that evening, and he did not eat breakfast the following morning either. Because of this, we took him back to the veterinarian for another check-up, which was the third check-up.
At that visit, they continued giving him the stomach medication and also started giving him, or prescribed, an antibiotic. They are also continuing to give him pain medication. They also took a blood sample at this visit, and we are currently waiting for the results.
After that, he started eating again and became much more cheerful. He started playing, barking when someone comes to the door, and generally behaving much more like his usual self. However, it is still noticeable that he is not quite 100% himself.
Basically, neither the veterinarians nor we are currently sure what exactly is going on with him. They suspect some kind of neurological problem because of the abnormality they saw on his vertebra, but that does not completely make sense to me because the first symptom was blood. He had blood around his anus, and then we definitely saw traces of blood in his very hard stool. That is why I am not sure whether everything is actually connected, and I wanted to hear what other veterinarians think.
We will definitely seek a second opinion, and we are waiting for the neurologist. We will see what the further examinations and blood test results show.