Urgent Need advice! Very bloody diarhhea!

[ohdonna5]

I hope someone out there has experienced this (with a positive outcome of course). Of course it has to happen when I am home alone, and my husband is away on business.
My 11 year old female (at 11:45pm) just had diahhrea which would normally not alarm me, but it was extremely bloody, bright red. As a matter of fact she squatted 3 times and the last time it seemed like almost all blood. The odd thing is, this is the first time I have seen blood in her feces, let alone this much. Other than that she is fine....alert, eating, drinking, chewing on a rawhide and stealing them from my puppy. She does not seemed distressed at all...I think I am more distressed about the whole thing.
I tried paging my vet but he did not respond. It is very difficult for me to get her into my Jeep since she is older and athritic and I cannot lift her. I am just panicking and don't know if it can wait until first thing in the morning or do I go to the emergency Vet if possible! Is anyone still awake and reading the posts, that can give me a little advice????? HELP!

[moondog]

I wouldn't hesitate to get her to an emergency vet. Do you have any neighbors that can help you get her in the car? If not, put her front feet in and then give her a boost by lifting her rear end. She may seem in good spirits, but she won't be by tomorrow if the bleeding isn't stopped.

[Miabella]

I would go to the emergency vet immediately. I have had this situation with my Beagle, I got him there within an hour after it started and he still needed to be hospitalized with IV fluids and antibiotics. No joke, this cannot wait. GO now.

[BostonRott]

Were you not just in the chat room 10 minutes ago and did we not ALL tell you to get yourself IMMEDIATELY to the vet???

GO TO THE EMERGENCY VET NOW.

Bright red blood is either a lower GI bleed or an arterial one. If it's arterial, she could bleed out and die. Hopefully she doesn't have parvo.

GO TO THE VET.

[flyballmom]

I'm awake. It's only 9PM on the West coast. Take a deep breath....Then...has she had anything different to eat...mostly I'm thinking anything really greasy? Has she been having non-bloody diarrhea previously to this? And...being arthritic, is she on any meds, especially NSAIDS like aspirin, Rimadyl, Deramaxx, etc. The fact that she is eating and everything else is normal is GOOD. But...if it were me I'd find a way to lift her into my car and get her to the emergency vet. Bloody diarrhea is NOT normal, does have some fairly benign causes that COULD wait til morning, but also some very emergent causes that shouldn't. Do you have a friend/neighbor that could come help you get her in the car? Once at the clinic, staff there should help you get her out. Please keep us posted.

[Anne]

Yes, the emergency vet definitely.
One of my dogs weighs more than I do but I am able to get her into the car using the method moondog described.

You are still online!!!!. Take this sick dog to the vet or you may well lose her.

[moondog]

Hopefully she just left her computer on, and is on her way to the vet.

[BostonRott]

Hopefully. She was in chat 10 minutes before making this post. 3 very experienced members told her to get to the vet ASAP. I guess we didn't know what we were talking about....

[flyballmom]

Originally Posted by BostonRott

Hopefully. She was in chat 10 minutes before making this post. 3 very experienced members told her to get to the vet ASAP. I guess we didn't know what we were talking about....

SHEESH. While I HAVE had a couple experiences where bloody diarrhea did not end in an ER visit...a whipworm infestation and acute diarrhea brought on by disagreeable food...obviously this person was concerned enough to ask in chat, then post here. If I was that worried I'd be there like yesterday. Hope everything turns out alright.

[ohdonna5]

Okay everyone....first of all thanks for all the concern...and the comments and criticism. I apologize for the fact that I panicked, I have never been home completely alone, with what I was not certain was a medical emergency or not. My husband is away and could not be reached and I had a lapse in judgement because I got scared. I paged my regular Vet, who after all these years and $$$$ you would think the first time I beeped him he would answer...but he did not.
I do want to assure everyone that I am a resposible owner, having had Rotties for 20 years. I have never skimped with my dogs medical requirements and never will (we just paid $10,000.00 for spinal neurosurgery for my Cody), but I reached out to my fellow Rottie owners for some advice (I posted first, while hoping my vet would call, then...not even close to 10 minutes later...I realized there was a chat room and figured that would be quicker).
I want to say that I did what you all advised, as quickly as I saw your responses in chat, and took her to the emergency vet. And yes I did forget to log out.
But thank you all.....Cheyenne is okay.....doc gave me Flagyl and checked her blood to make sure she is not dehydrated, put her on a bland diet of rice and chicken and told me to follow up with the vet if she continues to have diahhrea. And for some reason the vet was not too concerned about the blood in her stool, although I thoroughly intend to follow up with my lousy vet tomorrow morning first thing. Thanks everyone, have a good night, at least now Cheyenne and I can sleep well tonight.

[llwaxan]

So glad you went to the ER.
Watch her tonight and like you said, follow up in the morning with your regular vet.
I know that this must have been very scary. I have had more than my share of late night ER trips for a suddenly sick dog.
Let us know what the morning brings...

[BostonRott]

I would definitely follow up with your vet, be sure to bring in a fecal sample and have them check not only a regular stool check but also coccidia.

[Dugganmom]

Maybe it is the rawhides? I know those are not good for dogs...keep us posted on everything and good luck with your pup...

[GypsysMom]

Originally Posted by Dugganmom

Maybe it is the rawhides? I know those are not good for dogs...keep us posted on everything and good luck with your pup...

Chopper cant have the Real thin Rawhides(cheap ones) They have to be real big and meaty if not it gives him real bad diarhhea. He did get real bad bloody diarhhea at Thanksgiving I thought it was due to having Turkey(to much) but it was because his dog food (Diamond brand) had a recall several dogs died from it they say the products that made dogs sick didnt come to Michigan but he had all the same symptoms, as soon I changed his food he was better in 2 days

[rusty'smom]

Im glad she is ok...I just put my baby down yesterday because he was poisoned...found him and my shephard in piles of vomit and drooling...because10 month old Rusty had Addison's disease, he was not able to combat the toxin, as well as my shephard, who is 2, and is doing better, thank god!..I understand your alarm...they can't talk to us and tell us what's happening or what hurts!..It's up to us to think and act for them, to save and help them...