Just like us humans, dogs also need a nutritious diet and a balanced diet. It is helpful for dogs to live long and healthily. Here it is important to note that your digestive system can easily look after itself, as long as it is getting the right nutrition and right food.
Dogs love both the nutritious food and occasional treats that you give from time to time. If you give them a food that is a source of excitement for them, you don’t need to keep an eye on to look after their digestive health.
Making slight changes in the dog’s meal may lead to some serious digestive problems. This post talks about some common digestive problems seen in dogs.
Non-infectious Disease
The digestive tract is vulnerable to get different non-infectious diseases. Stones in kidney, ulcers, and enzyme deficiencies are very common seen in most of the dogs. This happens with increasing age.
It is important to identify the problems and treat them case by case. This also happens because of medications, abrupt change in the diet, in discretionary eating, etc. Take your dog to a reliable veterinarian and get the problems solved.
Infection in the Digestive System
Intake of contaminated food, feces in some cases and water mainly let dogs get infection in their digestive tract. Some of the potential culprits for this are:
Viral infections
This happens when your dogs get into contact of another dog with viral infections that are non-curable even with antibiotics.
Bacterial Infections
In case your dog intake bacteria, it sticks to the digestive tract and irritate a lot. If the bacteria remain in the stomach for long, it will certainly cause vomiting. And in course of time, the dog will suffer with diarrhoea. You can install invisible dog fence in your home in order to restrict the dog within the boundary and he will not intake any foreign or unwanted objects that can cause problem.
Parasites
Parasites are usually found in the gut of an animal. They produce eggs or larvae that pass through the digestive tract and then end in the feces of the animal. If you witness white spots on the feces of dogs, consider it as a sign of parasites.
Bloating and Overeating
Dieting is something that never comes into the lexicon of a dog. Rather, keeping three bowls of dinner will never surprise a dog at all. The eating will continue till the point of rupture. To know whether the dog has overtaken, check for the hardened or inflated stomach. Do not leave the situation casually because doing so will lead to bloating that can turn out to be life threatening for the dog.
Bloating mainly happens because of the formation of gas in the stomach that happens because of eating too much. Rather than releasing from the stomach slowly, it gets trapped in the stomach and will slowly twist the stomach into a knot.
You can avoid bloating by giving food in pet-safe container and by giving them small meals throughout the day. This will help to deal with overeating
Nutrient Deficiencies
It is true and unfortunate at the same time that not all pet food are created equal. Some brands claim to offer complete and balanced diet but they never consider the pathways, dogs need to absorb all essential nutrients.
Like us humans also, dogs need healthy and balanced percentage of proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins and other crucial nutrients in order to ensure long term health. In case a dog lacks any of these nutrients, it will certainly cause issues in the stomach and in the intestinal tract.
Swollen Foreign Objects
Dogs or our furry friends are very curious by nature with only one primary thought running in their mind – whether to eat it or not. But consumption of foreign objects can cause some serious problems in the overall health of the dog. The lists of things that dog eat are extensive like
- Stockings
- Corn cobs
- Fishing hooks
- Toys
- Balls
- Bones
The smaller objects while passing through the digestive tract won’t cause much problems, larger objects can create blockages in the small intestine or in the stomach. The situation can turn out to be fatal if the problem is not identified in initial stages. In case you notice your dog behaving strange or doing vomiting, or might be heaving profusely, it is important to take the dog to a vet in no time.
Photo by Artem Sapegin on Unsplash.