I have an 11 month old labrador bitch who has started having problems with going to the toilet since Sunday. She is pooing sometimes every 10 minutes!!
On saturday night, my sister gave her a spoonful of cream (she gave in to the puppy dog eyes when I wasn't looking!!) which she obviously loved and seemed fine afterwards. Then we took her to the beach on Sunday and she pooed twice in about half an hour so I thought it was either the cream or because all of the rushing around and swimming had helped things along. Then she found an old dead crab and was playing with it, before realising that if she crushed it she could lick out the insides (all while I was trying to get it off her). In all, she must have only had a few bits of it, and seemed fine. We were at the beach for only 2 and a half hours and in total she went to the toilet 4 times (normally, she'll go 2 or 3 times a day!!). All of it seemed fine (not runny or anything in it) but got smaller the more times she went.

Then when we got home, she went another 4 times in the garden over an hour or so, sometimes only 5 or 10 minutes after the last time. She has been eating normally (apart from the cream and crab which isn't her normal diet!!) and seems fine in herself. The first toilet of the day or afternoon is fine, but after she's been a few times in an hour or so, they are starting to get smaller and runnier, and it's sometimes taking her a bit longer than normal to pass anything. Once or twice, nothing has come out but what seems like a squirt of water.

I'm sorry this has turned into an essay- I wanted to give you all the background before I asked advice. I was going to take her to the vets tonight or tomorrow if she hasn't improved, but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions that I could try first.

I also wanted to say what a god-send this site has been. As a first time dog owner, I'm unfortunately not in much of a position to offer advice to any of the questions that come up, but have read the posts with interest over the last few months, many of which have helped. Thanks

Hiya guest.
It sounds like it's just been something she's eaten. Probably the crab if it's been there a while.
What i normally do when one of mine has the runs, is starve for a day, and if that doesn't work normally a trip to the vets is needed.
Hope she's ok soon.

she could also have swallowed salt water, which can cause diarrhoea. I agree with the other reply, if it hasnt settled in 24 hours, a trip to the vet is called for...the crab could have been harbouring bacteria.
Cathy

Sea water can give them really bad stomachs, especially if they have been retrieving in the water, the mouth is open and they tend to swallow the water.

Reminds me of a camping holiday by the sea once which I would rather forget ;)
Sandra

I agree with everything the others have said but will add one point.

Make sure that when she asks to go out that she actualy does do something, that she is not straining with nothing to show for it. As long as she is passing movements then you can be reasonably sure that she has no internal blockage.

Best wishes, John

LOL Sandra same here Kira had the same problem , having great fun running in and out of the water retrieveing then low and behold she too the most awful case of the runs too and boy did we have to run back and forward to top up her water, we did phone the vet also but he said if she hadnt settled by the next day to take her in luckily she did and was fine after but it is a possibilty to look into with her what with being at the beach, good luck hope all is ok with her :-).

Michelle

Thanks to everyone who replied to my query- I have finally got round to registering, so I can update everyone.

Soon after I posted by query my partner rang to say that Amber had been sick and not managed to keep any of her breakfast down, so I left work and took her to the vets straight away. He also thinks it might be the crab and advised starving her for 24 hours (you should all become vets!!) which ended this morning as she hadn't kept any breakfast down yesterday.

She's now on small amounts of chicken and rice every few hours for a few days before gradually introducing her normal food again. The vet's also given her anti-inflammatory antibiotics and medicine as when he examined her, he felt that her colon / intestines were quite swollen and lumpy.

However, despite being starved, she was still straining to go to the toilet last night and this morning, sometimes with nothing coming out. I'm hoping that this might just be because she's a bit lumpy up there and she feels like there's something there that she needs to push out- hopefully this will stop when the anti-inflammatories take effect.

She seems like normal in herself and is still chasing the ball, rolling on her back and looking at us until we all get on the floor to give her a belly-rub  :-)

Thanks again to everyone who gave advice.