One of the more common problems that present at the animal hospital is a bloody stool. Don’t take this lightly. Anytime you see blood in your pets stool, it’s time to take him to the vet right away for an evaluation. Bloody stools can range from a serious illness to gastrointestinal parasites,colonic irritation, irritable bowel syndrome to cancer. An important thing to remember is you must determine if your pet is passing digested blood or frank blood. Digested blood occurs in the upper gastrointestinal tract and it is a black tar color when it’s passed. This is called Melena. Frank blood is a bright red and indicates bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract. In general melena is more serious than frank blood. In either situation a veterinarian must evaluate the seriousness of the situation.

A frequent condition often seen in smaller dogs is hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, or HGE. This is when dogs a voluminous amounts of bloody stools usually along with vomiting. This stool is characterized as frank blood. HGE can be life threatening and often requires the pet to be admitted to the hospital.

Any blood seen in your pets stool must be analyzed by your vet.

Remember, pets are family!

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