Severe constipation

My wife and i woke this morning and didn't hear Brutus. She went down stairs and he could hardly move. he raised his eyes and little wag of his tail, that was it. anyhow, i came down, same thing. i tried to pick him up and get him to follow but he had absolutely no ability to do so and couldn't even stand. He was convulsing and at one stage, i thought he had hip displaysia as he couldnt move his hind legs. After what can only be described as a heart racing 20 min drive to the vets at warp speed, he was given a full check over and kept in for examination, x-rays and blood work. Whilst there he went to the toilet and his pee was a yellow/orange colour and his poop was quite solid.

The vet just called and told me that they had to give him very strong medication to relieve constipation. His stomach was in effect rock solid and he was in so much pain he couldn't do anything. He has since emptied his bowls three times and is back to his usual running about silly self. So, how did this happen? I told the vet he is on a raw diet and that I monitor very carefully what he is given, to the point where i even weigh his food each day to make sure its not too mich (im new to raw). He doesn't get too much bone, only chicken wings and the occasional goat/lamb leg hoof with meat on. He has recently been eating heart, beef mince and mutton meat but his main diet is chicken breast or quail with a can of sardines twice a week. He also gets kidney and liver and there is plenty of fresh water available for him. The vet pointed out that he thinks the chicken wings should be off he menu to start with as he just doesn't trust them. He had some bad experience with raw wings and he worries about it.

Am I missing something with the diet that he is on? Am I giving to much bone, or did I give him too much red meat to quick and he just locked up? Any advice appreciated as I'm slightly nervous with him going back on it tonight.

Thanks

i wouldnt know about raw feeding we feed ours on kibble fish and veg and never had any problems. Someone who feeds raw will advise

Ohh poor boy Glad he is on the mend now

I know that dogs fed on raw are more prone to constipation.. To me what you are feeding him seems great and not too much bone at all.. But I guess dogs, as us humans, are all different and have different dietary needs.. I'm sorry but hopefully Ella or Caryl will be on soon and be able to advise you

Solly has a varied diet of raw and some days cooked. Are you giving him any raw vegetables in his diet? Solly loves the big stalks of broccolli and cauliflower, and raw carrots too.

Nope, no veg. I do give him the odd bit of carrot or broccoli when we are cooking dinner. BUt i think 99% of it ends up on the kitchen floor.

I can pick him up in an hour, so will be interested to see how much he actually passed. Will also have a chat with the vets and see what he says.

I may just put him back on to nothing but chicken meat for a few days and let him settle down and try again.

I'm sorry I cannot answer your question but feel that either Caryll or Ella may be able to as they both feed raw too. If you dont get much more response here try asking the question again and mark it FAO Caryll and Ella, they are our raw experts.

How much offal are you giving him?

Poor Brutus , pleased he is on the mend but sorry I cant offer any advice

I based his daily meal on an adult weight of 18kgs (his dads weight) so each meal being about 500grams. I then worked to the 80/10/10 ratio. So he gets about 50 grams of offal a day. For the bone component he gets either quail, chicken wing or thigh, or a lamb leg with hoof. The remainder of his meal is meats such as pigs ear or hoof, chicken, lamb or beef mince.

I'd cut out the pigs ears/hooves for a while, and maybe increase the offal slightly.

Do you add any oils to his diet?

Ok.

He gets omega 3 oil from a pump pack. We used to put olive oil on his kibble to help digestion. Should we include that again? He gets sardines in olive oil twice a week with one of his meals. I was also going to start giving him acv on his food too.

poor brutus glad the vet helped!

im sorry i can not advice but ella and caryll are the best people to speak to

hope you get this sorted

I'd add some natural probiotic yogurt to his diet, just a spoonful a day - thus helps support the good bacteria in the gut to aid digestion. Works a treat with my 2 who are raw fed.

Yoghurt, does that have a similar effect as milk? Does it not cause the runs?

brutusindubai wrote:Yoghurt, does that have a similar effect as milk? Does it not cause the runs?

No usually, but if you're concerned you can usually get goat's milk yoghurt which has less Lactose in it.

At the moment I'm willing to try anything to get him back to normal. He did go to the toilet this evening so we gave him paraffin oil to hopefully clear the rest out. Will see how he is tomorrow and then look at the yoghurt option.