My dog has blood around his anus, but no cuts. What's happening?

It sounds like your dog has a severe case of colitis, or an inflammation of the colon. Colitis can be caused by many different things. Some of the more common causes include intestinal parasites, dietary indiscretion, food intolerance, irritable bowel disease and viruses. Since King is defecating blood at this point I would recommend taking him in to the vet to be examined. He may need fluids to correct any dehydration, a fecal examination performed and antibiotics and/or probiotics to help the diarrhea clear up.

Blood coming from the anus is a serious symptom, usually it is caused by a gastrointestinal infection but it could also be due to worms, a foreign body or an intestinal disease such as IBD. You must take Marcus to see a vet ASAP in order to get it checked and treated.

Hello. Dark blood like this at the anus may indicate a polyp or tumor in the rectum or anal area. It can sometimes be difficult to feel this with a finger during a recital exam. but if it is close enough to the anal opening, it might be accessible. Aside from a bleeding mass, other causes can be chronic colitis or anal sacs infections. Your vet may need to sedate him to do a more thorough rectal digital exam, or consider using a scope to look up in there to see if there is anything. Best of luck. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

She may have an infected anal sac or the mucous membrane of the rectum may be injured or she may have a rectal tumor. If the bleeding does not stop you will need to take her to a veterinarian or pet ER for an exam.

Based on the location, I am concerned that the left anal sac may be the cause for the bleeding. Dogs can develop anal sac abscesses, which is an infection of the anal sac (there are two located at the margin of the anus) that can rupture to the outside. These can be painful and will often require antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication to manage pain and allow healing. The other potential is an anal sac mass. Due to Ben's age I would be very concerned for this. Unfortunately there is not much that can be done from home for either of these conditions. It would be recommended to try to find the closest veterinarian to you and have Ben seen. If it is an anal sac mass, these often require surgery and have the potential to be malignant cancers.

Your dog may have an injury in his anus or rectum, or a polyp or he may have an impacted anal gland. I strongly recommend you take him to your veterinarian as an impacted or infected anal gland is very painful and needs to be evacuated, or lanced and flushed. Please take Loki to a veterinarian ASAP.

It is possible, however other issues such as blocked/infected anal glands, parasites, GI irritation, or underlying illness may also cause bloody stool. If it is to the point where you have to wipe Winston and he has blood present with every defecation, it would be best to bring him and a sample of his stool into your vet for further testing.