I recently received a comment from a writer asking if this was a cat column. Not necessarily, but there have been a lot of cat questions. The next column will address some dog questions, and this one is actually about both cats and dogs. Lets talk diarrhea. This is as close as this column gets to talking dirty.
Diarrhea is a common problem in both cats and dogs.
It is the result of either the excessive secretion of water and electrolytes into the intestine, or the insufficient reabsorption of same, or both. In general, when too much water is being secreted, it happens in the small intestine. Diarrhea from insufficient water reabsorption results from a problem in the large intestine. Small intestinal diarrheas can be acutely life threatening, as in the case of parvo in dogs. Large intestinal diarrheas tend to be more chronic - slower to get going and slower to go away.