Need some advice on my Beagle

[SammyL]

I have a two-year-old spayed female Beagle, all around healthy but has some sensitivity diarrhea if her diet is changed too rapidly. Last time it happened was several months ago when my father accidentally changed her food during a weekend when I wasn't home.

Since last Sunday night, Annie has woken up in the wee hours of the morning with LOUD gut noises. She appears uncomfortable, and she paces the whole house. She is anxious and whines and is just unable to get comfortable.

During these episodes her mucous membranes are a healthy pink, her CRT is less than two seconds, her abdomen is not tight or descended. Her temperature is normal as well.

The first night, she defecated and it was formed but soft.

Tuesday evening she defecated and it was very dark...looked like digested blood. Which indicates blood in the small intestine, but the symptoms just don't add up. And I have not seen her defecate since Tuesday night. But then again, I got lucky that time... she hates going in front of an audience!

I have been doing my darnest to catch her pooping so I can see what it looks like again.

I put her on a bland diet Sunday night, to see if that helped. Around 2 AM she woke me up painful again.

Monday she got the bland diet again. Same thing.

So Tuesday I fasted her for one day, thinking maybe that would help. Around 4 AM she was awake and uncomfortable.

Each time she goes through this, I stay up with her and massage her abdomen until she is able to get comfortable to at least lay down and go back to sleep. Once she is back to sleep, her gut continues to make the loud noises.

Then we wake up at 6 AM to start our day, and she is FINE EVERY TIME. No loud gut noises, happy, hungry Beagle. She will play and do her normal dog things until the wee hours arrive, then we are back to being up and painful.

Through all this, she continues to eat and drink and all her vitals remain normal.

I am a veterinary technician in training... and I feel horrible that I don't know how to help her, even after searching every textbook and all notes I have. We are taking her in to the vet Friday. With my grandparents moving into an assisted living facility this week, things have been beyond hectic.

I am really stumped. Any ideas? Sorry it is so long!

 

[Miniv]

Two things that come to mind......

Worms? And the other is what time of day does she get fed?

We adopted an old coonhound spade female last year who had been making mistakes during the night. She went through two owners who didn't want to deal with it.

We do not keep kibble down 24/7 like some households. And when we adopted "Lucy", we changed our household animal meal time to the morning instead of at night. It's made all the difference.

 

[SammyL]

She is on a Heartworm preventative that also deals with Hookworms, Roundworms and Whipworms, maybe some others too?

She was de-wormed last month. If I can get a fresh enough fecal sample, I am going to take it to school and do a fecal float on it to see if I find anything.

But if she had worms, wouldn't the symptoms be there during the day as well as night? That is the part I don't understand.

She is fed twice a day, once at 6 AM and again at 7 PM. Should she ever not finish a meal after twenty minutes I remove it. (She is a beagle, she always finishes

)

 

[drivin*me*buggy]

MAybe see if your vet will give you some Tylan powder. It is an intestinal antibiotic. Running a fecal is a good idea too....perhaps she is allergic to something in her dog food. My lab doesn't do well on chicken.

Hope your pup is feeling better soon.

Angie

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

Run a fecal and if negative run another one a day later. Do a direct as well as a float each time.

If negative twice then do what Vet says. Many way to deal with these.

Dr Taylor

 

[Ashley]

Maybe she would do better on a free choice diet. what kind of dog food is she on? I have 3 dogs on free choice they are bostons (18 and 20) pounds and a boxer who is 62 pounds. If the boxer does not get free choice food she will get a upset belly.

 

[Ann knight]

Could it be a reaction to the heartworm medication ? I have a client whose golden had vommitting , loose stools , lost pigment from all dark areas after it was given ...just a htought ......Ann

 

[gimp]

Maybe she would do better on a free choice diet. what kind of dog food is she on? I have 3 dogs on free choice they are bostons (18 and 20) pounds and a boxer who is 62 pounds. If the boxer does not get free choice food she will get a upset belly.

Beagles, like corgis, tend to have an inflated idea of how much they need to eat.

After all the lab work is done and cleared it might be good to try feeding the evening meal earlier so that it is "farther along" when he goes to bed. My guys are pretty sensitive to dietary changes as well and one spends a day or two on Immodium and /or Pepto after a day of chowing on a femur. It is always a very fine balance with him. It seems that some are just a little tougher keepers.

 

[Sterling]

If it were me I would have a CBP done on her. Have your vet check for other conditions. It may be as simple as dietary or it may be a little more than that. I have my girls on a Pro biotic which helps with their gut flora.

 

[Katiean]

I was feeding my Yorkies Eukanuba. I had one puppy that I had started on the puppy formula get bad diarrhea and boy did it stink. I thought she had parvo it smelled so bad. The vet tested her and all he could come up with was she was allergic to the food. I put her on another puppy food and she cleared up.

I have my last yorkie and she is 13 1/2 years old. She started waking up at night and wanted off the bed. I would put her down n the floor and she would go get a drink. Just a few minutes later she would want back on the bed. She had massive gut sounds and about 20 minutes later she wanted off the bed again. Needless to say I got very little sleep. I started her on Omeperzol(sp?). She has done very well since. Her tummy hurt as evident by the constant drinks of water. She id dosed once a day at night. There is no more getting up every 20 minutes. Maybe you should talk to your vet about possible ulcers.

 

[Ashley]

Beagles, like corgis, tend to have an inflated idea of how much they need to eat.

After all the lab work is done and cleared it might be good to try feeding the evening meal earlier so that it is "farther along" when he goes to bed. My guys are pretty sensitive to dietary changes as well and one spends a day or two on Immodium and /or Pepto after a day of chowing on a femur. It is always a very fine balance with him. It seems that some are just a little tougher keepers.

Every dog when going from set meals to free choice will do that. They however eventually do calm down on what they eat. I used to have a litter of pups that were beagle crosses, and even kept one to adulthood. They never had a problem with free choice food.

 

[gimp]

Every dog when going from set meals to free choice will do that. They however eventually do calm down on what they eat. I used to have a litter of pups that were beagle crosses, and even kept one to adulthood. They never had a problem with free choice food.

Sorry, but I must disagree here. I fed free choice until I had the first corgi, and have had dogs my entire life. Yes, some will do fine, but those are in the minority. Mine are in the majority with the first eating until he was sick, then eating it and going back for more. Even as an only dog he ate like there was a herd staring him down. When weight gain became an issue I cut him down and fed green beans until he was where he needed to be. I have seen a heck of a lot of fat corgis and beagles. Perhaps I did make an unfair assumption on the beagles due to the neighbors' food issues with their Beagle. I'm sorry if that is true. However, "Every dog" will not eventually calm down and stay at a decent weight when fed free choice.

 

[SammyL]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

The last time she woke me was Wednesday night/early morning. Since then, everything is back to complete normal. No gut noises, no pain, nothing. It's like it never happened.

I ran her fecal, and it was negative.

As far as feeding free choice... I know my girl, and she will eat herself to death if I do that!

I thank you for your opinion though!

Right now she is the perfect weight of 20-21 pounds, and I plan to keep her that way. I see too many overweight Beagles at work and school.

Thanks everyone for the ideas... I am more attached to this dog than I have ever been to another dog... and I tend to get worried when she doesn't feel good!

 

[gimp]

Wonderful news! It sounds like the pup took care of it.

 

[MindyLee]

What kind of dog food is she on?

Believe it or not, a lot of well known named brands are not remotely healthy at all for your pets and have fauls pics on the front to trick you into believing your feeding your dog something healthy. Believe me you would be surprised to hear what's in Science Diet and Beneful...

I went to a pet food trainning corse for work as I work in a feed store and I was shocked to hear what a lot of foods are really made of!

OH PS Im a HUGE beagle fan!

 

[SammyL]

MindyLee - She is on Diamond brand small dog formula.

And I know about all the weird stuff that they put in dog food. It is quite amazing. Supposedly Diamond is supposed to be pretty good... both my dogs are on that brand.

 

[anoki]

If you are interested in seeing how 'good' Diamond dog food is check out how it rates amongst the thousands of other brands

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com

~kathryn

 

[SammyL]

Kathryn,

That is interesting info! I was thinking of switching brands of dog food soon anyway, and now it looks like that might be a good idea!

 

[anoki]

I love that site because it has no hidden food company behind it.

Just be careful when you switch.

I've had dogs with upset tummies since you posted it too, but I am 100% sure they were getting into too much of a good thing, and they are no longer allowed to get into the old-empty pig barn!!!

~kathryn