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My dog has black tarry stool, jaundice, and won't eat. What's wrong?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Spitz | Female | 1 year and 7 months old

My dog is doing black tarry feces nd is inactive with total loss of apettite. She is having high level of alkaline phosphatese nd low haemoglobin.. she is also having jaundice..she is a 1.7 years old spitz..she is doing dark yellow urine nd is currently on saline..givinh her pan iv nd zofer injections along wid saline..

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Vanessa Yeager DVM MPH

Veterinarian

Published on October 26th, 2017

Hi there and thanks for posting!

Oh dear, this doesn't sound good. If Brownie is having dark or black stools, this can be an indication of an upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Jaundice is caused by liver disease and dark yellow urine signals she may be dehydrated. It sounds like there is a lot going on with Brownie. Portal hypertension (pressure that build up from the veins connecting the liver and gastrointestinal tract) can cause decreased blood flow into the liver (often due to injury or damage to the liver) and blood to back up in veins going to the stomach and the rest of the gastrointestinal tract. This can cause the veins to enlarge and swell and rupture which can cause bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract. It may be Brownie's liver dysfunction is the primary cause of the melena (digested blood in stool making it look black). IV fluids and liver protectants (like SAMe) may help. I would recommend an ultrasound and biopsy of the liver).

I am sorry to hear Brownie is having so many issues. I hope this gets better soon!

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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