A case of bloody diahorea of a much loved Silkie Terrier
Channel: Dr David Sing
Date: 11/04/2014

The Silkie Terrier had several episodes of diarrhoea on April 8, 2014. The stools became bloody. An emergency vet treated him with atropine 0.6 ml, metronidazole and Vit C injections. But the dog continued to have diarrhoea from 11 pm to 4 am. Vomiting occurred.

I treated the dog the next day. IV drip, antibiotic and anti-spasmodic IV. The dog had drunk water and vomited in the surgery. 

As at April 13, 2014, the dog is back to normal as "no news from the owner is good news". The emergency vet had good intentions to lower medical costs for the owner by giving injections and medication to be taken at home. However, in cases where the dog had many times of diarrhoea, my preferred approach is to hospitalise the dog and give the IV drip with antibiotics and anti-spasmodic injections with no food and water for the first 24 hours. If the owner does not give consent to my approach but wants an injection and medication, then it is the owner's perogative. This advice should be written in the medical records in case other family members get very angry with me for failure to treat the dog successfully since the dog had more bouts of diarrhoea after the injection, as in this case. Most Singapore owners do not want their dogs hospitalised and so it is not unusual for vets to give injections and oral medication as the first treatment. 

But once a history of several bouts of diarrhoea is given, I strongly advise the IV drip approach as that is the better method.   

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