Doo Doo Voodoo!
In honor of Halloween, when we celebrate the ghoulish, the gross and the gory. What better time to address the issue of bloody stool. . . . lurid, disturbing and spooky, eew!!!!
We, here at Hero's Pets, realize that sometimes it's our job to talk about things that NOBODY wants to talk about. Being your pet's hero doesn't always entail passing out treats and leaping over tall buildings. More often it involves doing unpleasant everyday care taking activities, like looking at poop!
Let's start with the variety of bloody stool that isn't anything you need to worry about. A small amount of brightly colored blood on the outside or end can be caused by straining at the end of a bowel movement. This is often just an irritation from hard stool or diarrhea. Elemental Provisions The Regulator, Adored Beast products, Solutions liquids and Carna4 Sprouted Seeds are all good treatments to regulate texture and firmness, thus soothing the anal lining. (Good to know after a Saturday afternoon cheese sampling bender at Whole Foods, right?) Homeopathics can also be helpful in regulating the problem or symptoms. Aloe 6c is excellent for swollen anal glands. However, homeopathics are very specific and you should consult with us to know which of the 15+ remedies would be best for your pets specific condition. Actually, any time you are looking at a wall of hundreds of confusing little Homeopathic vials, please feel free to bring any questions to us.
Those creepy pathogens and parasites populating your most horrible Halloween nightmares may be the culprits when there are more than a few drops of blood in the stool. Giardia, salmonella, e.coli, worms, toxoplasmosis, (Lions, tigers and bears, oh my) etc. can all be treated naturally in most cases, using potent herbal blends, coconut oil and/or diatomaceous earth. Usually these villainous microbes are accompanied by diarrhea, mucous in the stool and fever. In rare and extreme cases, where the above mentioned treatments don't work, these should be treated with antibiotics and chemical dewormers. Consult with us to know the best course of action for your pet.
Another stealthy perpetrator of blood in stool issues may be recent treatment with medications or vaccinations. Sometimes the toxic load and heavy metals overload your pet's system causing temporary digestive disturbance as the body attempts to purge the toxins to regain balance. These disturbances can be mild to severe. In these cases its best to leave the body to its own devises, if possible (if your pet isn't severe enough to dehydrate) and not suppress the natural cleanse. The body is trying to heal itself and to give any medication, often including herbs, prevents this.
If the body can't purge, the symptoms of the remaining toxic fatigue will manifest elsewhere later in life as something different, like cancer, kidney stones, anemia, skin eruptions, etc as the body attempts to find another avenue of detox. (At least you won’t need to shop for a Halloween costume to really give your Trick or Treators the heebie-jeebies, right?) If it’s absolutely necessary to treat this kind of detox we recommend only using homeopathic or the most mild herbs possible and for as short of a duration as possible. See our upcoming article about "healing crisis."
Diet change, of course, can cause short term digestive irritation. This can happen as your pet's system acclimates to a new diet OR as their body purges toxins from their previous diet. Honest Kitchen Perfect Form can assist in an easy transition to a new food. If your pet is detoxing from a previous diet, though, it is healthy to allow their body as much if an opportunity as possible to complete that process. You can also expect to see skin eruptions and nasal discharge (see our upcoming document about "healing crisis"). Supporting the cleanse with herbs and homeopathics is better than suppressing it which, again, can lead to manifestation of disease in other ways in the future.
Last but not least, (the haunted tour is almost over, no more chainsaw wielding werewolves jumping out at you past this paragraph) if the blood is dark colored and/or mixed in to the stool, its important to consider deep internal bleeding. This could be caused by upper G.I. perforation, cancer, and anemia (anemia is also often caused by cancer). Dark red blood should always be checked by a vet to determine treatment. Vets have the best diagnostic tools available, and in severe cases the disease treatment is usually more time sensitive.
Simple loose stool is not life threatening, so you have time to treat holistically, and if you pick the wrong treatment and have to try a different one it's okay because the symptom is a nuisance but not lethal. In the case of anemia or cancer, though, it can be life threatening. There are just as many holistic treatments available for severe diseases as there are for any other symptom but veterinary diagnostics are a necessity to determine which holistic (or conventional, if you choose) treatment will be most effective and usher the most immediate results... whether that treatment is with herbs, homeopathics, pharmaceuticals, acupuncture, etc.
Here at Hero's pets we want to help you brew up a bubbling cauldron of healthy natural remedies for anything that ails your furry loved ones this holiday season. Please come in and visit us with even the most gruesome and spooky haunted pet poop problem. We can help exorcise those microbial vermin.