Advice on constipated dog pls

Laafet

Laafet

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adventuresinblackandwhite.co.uk
Hey, not been about much but Toby my rescue minature poodle is doing really well. I just have a little problem, he struggled to do his morning 'poo' and gave up on his first walk at 6am this morning, I went to work and left him in his crate, came back around 8am, gave him a small wet feed and took him for a run to help it all get moving then left him in his stable - which he usually goes in if I'm pottering about with work horses and don't want to lock him in the flat. He usually has a 'poo' in there and I gave him 20 minutes or so on his own to concentrate but still no poo. He even tried to strain in the house which he has not done since I first got him.
He's not eaten anything dodgy and my only thought is that he might have got a bit dehydrated yesterday as it was very hot and he was out in it loads. I was toying with clipping him out full but didn't after reading comments about it on here, however when I put my fingers under his coat yesterday he was really hot so am thinking about just doing it anyway.
Please any advice on what I can do to help him, of course if he is in pain (which he is not at the moment) I will have to take him to the vet and being an animal, they just love doing vet runs on a bank holiday! But that's animals for you.
 
If he is actually straining then I would get him checked out (this morning shouldn't be bank holiday rates). Without being too graphic, if there is some hard poo stuck the longer it is there the more difficult it will be for him to pass, so you don't want to leave it too long. The vet will probably just give you some Lactulose for him, but will also check there isn't something causing a blockage. Hope he is soon back to normal.
 
MM's made a good point about the possibility of a blockage. Is his tummy tender when you feel it? Could you phone your vet for advise? My vets always have a triage type system for emergency appointments.

With constipated horses ( ;) ) I know the advise is gentle exercise. Keep them moving. What did he do on his walk this morning? I would try and take him for a slow on the lead walk for a while and see if the movement helps things.
 
A goodly dose..like two dessertspoonsful...every four hours of liquid parafin will sort this out. A cause of constipation in males is an enlarged prostate,unless he`s neutered of course!
 
Thanks everyone for your kind replies, I phoned the vets after the first reply as
I was going past on my way to the yard so could pop in if necessary. The nurse said to give him 3 ml of liquid paraffin three times with a small feed to get him going and if no poo appears to call the vet later on. As I live on a stud we have plenty of the stuff. So took him off to the yard with me. I stopped at the petrol station for some stuff on the way and was greeted on my return to car by the most enormous pile of sick (I had not given him any paraffin yet), it looked like last nights dinner plus his Kong stuff from this morning. Nice, but he did have the decency to do it on the rubber mat in the floor weel (on my side!) so I just lifted it out and flopped the contents in the bin!
Anyway gave him a small feed with paraffin on it which he tucked into, so left him in my cool stable with some water while I went off to poo pick, came back and no poo, still lots of straining plus on mega lethargic dog. As it was too hot to ride popped round the yard managers house, who was a vet nurse in the past and sat outside with him in the shade most of the day. He passed a small amount of water poo which stuck to his coat (the joys) and perked up loads to the point that he then went and attacked her chicken (another issue to be dealt with). Anyway chicken was unharmed, Toby suitably reprimanded. The paraffin seems to be working, she also suggested a small amount of foal enema if it was not working well but this was not necessary, well not yet.
He is still a bit lethargic but have just given him another dose of paraffin so will have to take him out soon for a poo I hope. We suspect the cause was his eating of dead rabbits a few nights before, he is a bugger for it so I will have to stamp that out.
 
May I say,NEVER,NEVER give parafin to an "inside"dog,the results are explosive,Catlax is the way to go or if it's chronic a prune does the trick.
 
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