Diet plays a vital role in our lives, and a healthy diet is the insurance of a healthy life. But if our diet is lacking any essential minerals of vitamins, it can cause us some serious health issues.
The same case is with our pets, like dogs, cats and others. Diet plays an important role in their lives too. And as a pet owner is our responsibility to look after their diet, otherwise it can cause them some hazardous disease.
One of as disease is ‘’irritable bowel syndrome” which is quite common in dogs. And here you will find all related information regarding this disease.
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Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Dogs
Irritable bowel syndrome in dogs (IBS) is a disease that occurs when there is an inflammation in the lining of the large intestine. In result, your dog can face an upset digestive system and intestine, this disease is chronic in nature, and the common symptoms you can observe is, diarrhea, nausea, or an unhealthy digestive tract.
The major sign you will observe in your dog is inflammation of the colon, and you will see your dog passing stool and mucus after a very short period. The other thing you can notice is stress on your dog’s face and change in behavior in most of the cases.
Although the basic reason of this disease is still unknown, some veterinarians believe that the wrong things in the diet of overeating can be a major factor in causing irritable bowel syndrome. But before the assessment of any veterinarian, you can’t trace the exact cause.
There are some people and even veterinarians, who got confused in between, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) whereas IBD is a physical disease where the lining of the stomach gets infiltrated by inflammatory cells. And in the result of this, the lining of the intestine gets thick and affect the digestion of nutrients. The digestive infiltration can only be observed by microscope and only after that your pet’s veterinarian will suggest a proper treatment.
Whereas irritable bowel syndrome is a psychosomatic disease. Whose major reason in an upset mind that creates all these problems. And because of brain stress, you will observe a disturbed and unhealthy intestine. There is no connection between IBS and IBD.
Symptoms of Irritable bowel syndrome in dogs.
- The first symptom you will observe in your dog is lower abdominal pain and frequent diarrhea. And with diarrhea, there will be mucus mix in that feces. If you observe any such condition, then your dog is surely suffering from irritable bowel syndrome.
- The next symptom that you can see is vomiting and nausea, and this condition occurs because of disturbance in the digestive tract.
- If you observe any behavioral change in your dog, or he looks depressed, or lethargy, then your dog is suffering from pain. And in such condition, he might not be able to sit on his abdomen.
- You can easily see that your dog is losing weight and not eating properly. This is the best symptom that you can observe. And one of the biggest reason behind this is irritable bowel syndrome.
- Another commonly observed symptom is constipation and boating. But out of all these symptoms, none of them is reliable. Your dog can be suffering from any one of them. The best way of finding out is to take your dog to the veterinarian.
Causes of irritable bowel syndrome in dogs.
There can be so many causes of this disease, and here we will discuss some of them
- If we talk about the primary reason, it can be your dog’s diet. If your dog is not taking enough amount of fiber in your diet. Your dog will undoubtedly be affected by this disease. Fibers are meant to regulate the digestive system properly, and lack of fibers in diet can become a big issue.
- On the contemporary the other cause can be overeating, yes, overeating can cause some severe health issue, and irritable bowel syndrome is one of them.
- Next, if we try to find the cause in a psychological way, there is a possibility that your dog might be suffering from anxiety and depression. Indeed, these things can affect dogs, too, but not in all cases.
- There can be a bacterial attack on your dog that can cause irritable bowel syndrome. Or he might have eaten any rough or poisonous food that can become a cause of such diseases.
- In the worst case possible, your dog might be suffering from any tumor. But only reports can prove it.
- There might be a colonic myoelectric activity and motility.
How to diagnose irritable bowel syndrome in dogs.
The treatment of irritable bowel syndrome can be quite tricky, because, as mention earlier, the causes of this disease are so many, and your dog can be suffering from any one or two of them.
In the first, you should be fully aware of the medical history of your dog. Whether your dog previously suffered from any disease or anything else, because sometimes diseases can be interrelated.
Next, take your dog to any veterinarian; he will examine your dog in all possible ways. And will perform some tests on your dog, and try to find the exact cause of this disease.
Medical history of your dog plays an important role in such cases. Because if your dog had previously suffered from any anxiety or trauma, this might become the cause of this disease.
Often, what happens that symptoms of such disease are itself a disease. For example; if your dog is suffering from diarrhea, or vomiting or constipation. The veterinarian will first diagnose these diseases.
Likewise, if your dog is having an anxiety attack or any such condition, the veterinarian will treat such things first.
IBS affected dogs usually have an unhealthy digestive system, and the cause of this thing can be lack of fibers in the diet if this is the case then only through proper fiber diet you can treat your dog. Fiber supplements and drugs are available in the market, and by using them, your dog can fulfill the need for fibers.
Whatever the case, medication is the fundamental solution of this disease, but in the case of IBS, veterinarians have to find interrelated disease and treat them first.
A number of medications are available in the market of IBS. But without the recommendation of a veterinarian, it’s not safe to use them on your dog.
Safety measures.
The life of your dog is in your, and as a pet owner, it’s your responsibility to make your that your dog is not suffering from any such disease. And in such cases, you must be aware of your dog’s medical history.
And if your dog had ever gone through any disease, you must be aware of that, and make sure it won’t happen again. A proper diet can resolve many issues, so only by giving your dog a healthy diet, you can protect him from such problems.
Next thing that you must do is to visit any veterinarian and let him check your dog on a regular basis, because there are so many bacterial viral and environmental diseases coming out of nowhere and you will not want your dog to suffer any one of them.
