My 13 month old male neutered Shih Tzu is constipated. He does about half the amount of stool he normally has been doing and I have to walk him further every day now to get him to do it. It does not seem to be abnormally hard (stool). He doesn't bounce down the street with his leash in his mouth when we reach our own neighbourhood - just runs along like an older dog. He may have been getting too many treats for good behaviour outside. I saw on this site that Liquid Parafin is OK to use for constipation. Any opinions on this? I have cut out the treats and am just carrying his regular kibble in my pocket.

Liquid parafin is OK but I'm not sure he is constipated. does he strain. Have you changed his food, what sort of titbits do you give. Ja:)kie

HI Jackie: I remembered I have a product called Vitalax in the cabinet that I got for him when he was constipated once before. I have called the vet but he hasn't returned my call yet. I had Spud out for a walk and remembered this stuff that is mostly used to disolve fur balls in a cat. Spud took it before when my daughter was visiting with her cat and we gave it to both the cat and dog. I seem to recall that it helped him then. I asked the vet's secretary about liquid parafin and she made a note of it for the Dr. to refer to when calling me back. No he does not seem to strain a lot when having a bowel movement. He just doesn't do very much or very often. He does about half what he used to do a couple of days ago and well before that. His treats are called 'Health Diet Dog Buiscuits' distributed from Markam Ontario and made in Langhorne PA. He loves these and maybe I have given him too many as rewards when on our walks. There is a lot of good stuff in them and lots of fiber.
I go by the lethargic way he is acting too. Not as much bounce in him. By the way, I live in Ontario Canada. This site may be from the US, I'm not sure so the Vitalax may not be known to you. Marjie

Hi, it's a UK based site, and you are right I don't know of it, If you think your dog is depresed and not well then I think you should contact your vet, he may have eaten a piece of twig or some other piece of something that has irritated his bowel. Jackie