My Great Dane has runny poop and blood

by Erika
(Yucaipa Ca USA)

My Great Dane is 11 months old. He has had runny poop for the last 3 days and I saw very little blood with it yesterday.

He has pooped in the house 3 times and he usually tells me when he needs to go out. He even went once in the kennel but managed to get it right out side the kennel, smart dog! He has only pooped twice today and he didn't touch his food this morning and he ate it around 7pm; Right before he ate though he went out side and started vomiting (only bile) came up.

One other little info my husband left the night he started all of this and came back today. Does that have anything to do with it? What do you think and what should I do, I feel so bad for my baby.





Hi Erika
I know how worrying it is when your 'baby' is sick, and it definitely sound as though something has caused your pup to have an upset tummy. The difficulty lies in figuring out what it is.

As he's almost a year old I'm assuming he's been fully vaccinated, which will rule out most of the major, contagious illnesses.

It's always possible that he ate something he shouldn't have, pups are notorious for this, and a dog the size of a Great Dane could ingest pretty much anything that caught his eye :o)

Diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy, loss of appetite and so on, are all signs that he's not feeling well, but this shouldn't generally last more than 24 - 48 hours if it's been caused by eating something odd, but not toxic. The blood in the diarrhea indicates there is irritation in his intestines/colon, which can be caused by illness, change in diet, eating the inedible/toxic, or just from repeated diarrhea itself.

As he's been suffering from diarrhea for 3 days now, and is still not eating and is vomiting, I would strongly recommend that you take him to the vet for a check up. Dogs can get dehydrated if they don't keep water down. It's always best to be safe, rather than sorry, and if your pup needs veterinary treatment it's better to find out now.

I really doubt that your husband being away is related. If your pup is very closely bonded with him, then he may have felt stressed/sad, but it's unlikely to cause physical illness such as diarrhea or vomiting.

Have your vet check him out. Best of luck, hope he's doing better soon.