Everybody poops! So let’s we talk about diarrhea 🤭

When I’m on call the most common reason fosters call me is because the animal in their care is having diarrhea.

When it comes to puppies and kittens having diarrhea, it can be much more serious and cause dehydration much faster than an adult animal.

There are a lot of things that can cause diarrhea like stress, viruses, worms, toxin, under developed immune systems, or just poor food selection. Because puppies and kittens have very small bodies, it is important to stop the diarrhea and replenish their fluids as quickly as possible.

If your pet is still eating, drinking and maintains a normal amount of energy, then it’s likely that only probiotics and deworming are needed to fix the problem. I recommend ForiFlora or Proviable that can be bought over the counter, and maintaining a scheduled deworming as recommended by your vet. In older pets it’s also recommended to switch to a bland diet. You can also add things like pumpkin and psyllium to give them a boost of fiber.

If your pet is young, unvaccinated, has diarrhea, and is not eating or has other symptoms like vomiting, it is important that you notify your vet right away as these could be signs of potentially fatal conditions like Parvo or feline distemper (also called panleukopenia). In adult pets, diarrhea and vomiting could mean something like pancreatitis, toxin ingestion, or foreign body ingestion; which again should indicate a call to your vet.

So here are my takeaways if your pet has diarrhea:

• Make sure they are eating and drinking.
• Keep them up-to-date on vaccines and dewormers
• Do not expose puppies or kittens to unvaccinated animals.
• Do not walk puppies in public areas that are exposed to other unknown animals until 2 weeks after their last distemper vaccine.
• Food selection matters and does affect their overall health.

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