Question:
Brighton has had runny cow pie stools for the past day. The vet and I chatted on saturday morning about her recovery from her spay (she had done on monday) and I had only noticed two of these abnormal BMs.

I have not changes anything in her diet, she hasn't had any treats that she isn't used to, she hasn't had an excessive amount of treats, she has plenty of fresh clean water, he activity level is close to normal. By close to normal I mean she is not currently running around like a happy puppy outside due to the sutures in her abdomen, the vet put her on inside rest for 7-10 days post-operativly. My vet told me to cook some rice and ad it to her food and cut back some of her kibble during the next feeding. And to call back and bring her in if the stools continue to be liquidy over the next couple days.

How long after adding rice should I expect the stool to return to normal? And, to me that just seemed to be curing a symptom rather that addressing the cause. I am tempted to bring both Brighton and her next stool up to the vet when she goes if it is still runny. Whats the best way to collect/bring it to them? I am just used to the picky lab people at the human hospital not wanting any other contaminents in the stool. I can generally get people to go into a sterile bowl or something, but puppies don't do this so well.

My vet has a 24hr phone line, and there are people in the actual building caring for animals all night... just in case.

Answer:
The Vet can give you a special container if that's easier (it has a teeny-tiny spoon in it. Or you could use a sterile jar and a plastic spoon, or a ziploc bag. They only need a very small bit to run tests.

If the rice doesn't firm up her stools by Tuesday morning it might be worthwhile to take her and a poop sample to the Vet. We've also used canned pure pumpkin (not the pie-filling type) and psyllium (i.e Metamucil) with success.

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Honestly, because it was just one day, I probably would have just skipped one meal and given her probiotics for the next and if that didn't work, then I would have gone back to the vet...

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I think the source of worry is that she was spayed less than a week ago ~ so the less straining/pushing and rushing to get outside the better.

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Yeah, very true.

Answer:
Originally Posted by mummummum
I think the source of worry is that she was spayed less than a week ago ~ so the less straining/pushing and rushing to get outside the better.

Yeah, I was just concerned that it may be a symptom of something more serious, such as infection after the operation. But the incision looks really good and healing well. She seems to be getting back to normal now. She has gone on some short walks. And her stools are firming up. Prin, is there another post somewhere about probiotics? Where to get them? How much to give etc.

Answer:
You can get them in the fridge of some pharmacies (drug stores) or health food stores. How much you give depends on the population.... The ones I give are Udo's choice Super8, which are for humans... They're anti yeast, along with all the usual digestive flora. Mine have 30 billion per capsule and I sprinkle 1/2 a capsule on both my doggies' food twice a day.

This is what I get:
http://www.florahealth.com//flora/ho...s/TG8.asp#1958

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