First Aid:
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Gastroenteritis
Joanne Bibby – Fursafe®
CAUSES OF GASTROENTERITIS
When I was a child and my friends said they were off school because of ‘Gastro’ I thought, with a bit of a giggle, that they ‘just’ spent the night in the ‘you know what’ (the W.C., the powder room, the loo), but that was only because I didn’t know any better.
The following may inflame your dog’s gastrointestinal tract:
‘Gastro’, otherwise known as Gastroenteritis is, in reality, a condition where the lining of the stomach and/or intestines becomes inflamed and what comes with it is some pretty nasty symptoms.
• A reaction to ingesting new, spoiled foods or dead wildlife.
Turns out, Gastroenteritis is a common and infectious condition, especially when I was a kid back in the 60’s and 70’s. This was maybe due to reduced awareness and health and safety practices back then – a condition no one really dared discuss given the loo business! Unless you had experienced Gastro you couldn’t possibly know how painful it could potentially be!
• Intestinal Parasites. • Food sensitivities and/or allergies.
• Obstruction within the intestines. •
And then there are other medical conditions such as Cancer, genetic diseases or having a predisposition based on the breed, ulcers and viruses e.g. Parvovirus, Distemper.
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS To reduce, limit or halt the risk of your dog becoming sick, consider the following:
So, if Gastroenteritis could cause you to feel seriously unwell, what would it be like for your dog!!
• Speak to your Vet about the best preventive intestinal parasitic medications for your dog.
The best way to stop Gastroenteritis in its tracks is to prevent it. To do this we need to know what causes it and then reduce or limit that cause from the daily lives of our dogs.
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DOG WORLD May 2021
If you want to change your dog’s food, incorporate a small amount within your current food/previous food for 5-7 days to give your dog a chance to get used to it.
