Got Diarrhea? Determining the Cause of Diarrhea in Dogs and Cats

Diarrhea is common in our small animal pets and can be caused by a variety of conditions. Many of these are infectious so it is important to determine the cause and risk to other pets and humans. For this mini-vet school lesson, you will learn how vets determine the cause of diarrhea in your dog or cat and you will also explore why it happens.

After this lesson, you should be able to:

• explain what diarrhea is and how it occurs.
• determine poop scores based on the fecal stool chart.
• list the main causes of diarrhea in both dogs and cats.
• trace the decision tree for the possible cause of diarrhea.
• discuss some possible treatments that can be given to help resolve diarrhea or treat symptoms.

Lesson

To learn about the dog and cat gastrointestinal system view the video.

Note that the digestive process for both dogs and cats are the same but they do have differences in the anatomy of the system.

• Dogs have more teeth than cats
  • 42 in dogs and 30 in cats
• The digestive systems are different lengths
  • The dogs digestive tract is 2.3 times longer than the cats
• Cats have a smaller stomach than dogs
• Cats are self grooming which causes them to form hairballs. Hairballs block the flow of digestion until they are removed from the system. They are most commonly removed by the cat vomiting but can cause serious blockages and will then need to be removed surgically.

Diarrhea occurs when the digestive system is unable to properly absorb water from food which results in loose, watery stools, and is often caused by outside sources like diet changes or parasites but can also be caused by internal sources like bacterial infections. On the handout provided for fecal scoring note that diarrhea is a score 7.

To learn about diarrhea and what effects diarrhea view the video.

Using the diarrhea decision tree can help you understand the cause of diarrhea. In the veterinary medical field even simple cases of diarrhea can become very complex and the point of the decision tree is to show a simplified piece of what goes on during the diagnostic process of veterinarians. The first part of the process is collecting information from the owner by asking complex questions about the symptoms their pet has. Based on that we move into the first branch of the decision tree.

• Branch 1: What type of diarrhea?
  • Mild Diarrhea: short term episode with a few loose stools
  • Severe Diarrhea: frequent, watery stools, often accompanied with other symptoms
  • Chronic Diarrhea: prolonged loose stools lasting for weeks or longer

After choosing the type of diarrhea the next step is deciding what type of testing is next. If the diarrhea is mild to severe it is best to start ruling out simple things like parasites of a change in diet but other tests may be needed if the diarrhea is chronic.

• Branches 2+: What tests should be done? Treatments?
  • Fecal: tests for parasites and bacteria colonies
    • Positive result = parasites or too much bacteria
      • Treatment = deworming and/or antibiotics
    • Negative result = no parasites and a normal amount of bacteria
  • Blood Tests: check for organ function
  • Urine Tests: check for bacteria and kidney function
  • X-Rays: check for many different possibilities including obstruction in the abdomen or tumors
    • Obstruction = typically leads to surgery to remove the blockage
  • Pancreas Test: check that the pancreas is function properly
  • Folate Test: check that absorption of small intestine in happening correctly
  • Vitamin Test: check that the body is receiving all its needed nutrients
  • Intestinal Biopsy: check that current status of the small intestine and make sure it is healthy

Treatment for diarrhea can be as simple or complex as the cause. Mild diarrhea and even severe diarrhea with no parasitic cause is often treated with bland diet and extra fluids unless there is an obstruction on the x-rays that requires surgical intervention. Chronic diarrhea is much harder to treat and often requires specific treatments that correspond to the location in the GI tract that isn’t functioning properly.

Using you diarrhea decision tree work through the following sample problems (please ask your teacher for help if you get stuck):

1. A 4 year old male Dalmatian has has diarrhea twice today. What test would we run?
2. A 14 year old female Maine Coon cat has been having diarrhea episodes for 3 months and has lost a lot of weight and seems dehydrated. What path of the tree would we follow?
3. A 1 year old female Labrador Retriever puppy comes in for recent diarrhea that has not been resolving. The puppy has a history of eating socks. What would our concerns here be?

REMINDER: Please use the diarrhea decision tree to help you work through the above problems.

Diarrhea Decision Tree

Activities

Matching activity:

• Test your knowledge as to whether you can differentiate between things that could and could not cause diarrhea in cats and dogs!

Slime Activity!!

• Please refer to your instructor for instructions and supplies to complete this activity.
• Some helpful reminders during this activity is that the slime is representing your fecal material and we will be doing specific additives to show what can happen to the feces in different cases of diarrhea.
  • Hopefully by the end you can let us know what your pet’s fecal problem is based on the end state of your slime!
  • Please review this video on how to make slime if you are unsure how:
    • Making Butter Slime for Beginners

Assessment

Further exploration

To play around with the anatomy of the gastrointestinal tract and to learn more use the link below. The linked website will allow you to explore the canine and feline GI tract in more detail.

https://myfamilyvet.com/client-resources/interactive-animal/species/canine/system/digestive/