Is my dog's poop normal after dental surgery and anesthesia?

Poor Blue! The anaesthetic combined with the pain of the teeth clean can really upset their tummies. You could try feeding a diet of plain chicken and rice for a few days, but I'd urge you to give your vet a call. They shluld be able to prescribe you a gastroprotectant liquid that can help settle the tummy. If the diarrohea dies not settle it will need to be treated too.

This is a very unusual case to have ongoing problems after the diarrhea is resolved. Sedation and anesthetic does result in all over body relaxation and chiropractic care and acupuncture can be very helpful in resolving any nerve control issues in such cases. A fiber and probiotic supplement such as fortiflora would also be recommended

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Lucy. Anesthesia will slow down the gastrointestinal tract and make bowel movements less frequent. Plus she was probably not eating well before surgery due to being ill and most patients are fasted for a bit after surgery. This means there is likely less food in her system to come out. Unless she is straining to defecate, it is typically not worrisome that she is not defecating regularly yet. As far as the drinking, she most likely received IV fluids under anesthesia and while hospitalized. This would have provided her with a large amount of fluids. Now eating the canned food, this is supplying her with moisture as well. As long as she is eating and is acting normally, then I suspect her recovery is going well. If you have any concerns though, I would seek emergency care this weekend just to be sure. I hope this information helps!

No worries - it's not a dumb question at all! :) It's very common for canned food to result in softer stool, so this is the most likely cause. Antibiotics such as clindamycin (ClindaCure) can also cause soft stool or even diarrhea in some dogs, so this could be a contributing factor as well. As long as she is happy and acting normal, it shouldn't be any cause for concern.

Older dogs can take longer to completely process the anesthesia medications and return fully to normal. If she's on any pain medications after the cleaning (for example if she had dental extractions), that could also be causing some sedation. If she's eating, drinking, going to the bathroom, and appears comfortable, there's nothing you need to do right now and can give her another day or two to be totally normal. If she's not back to normal tomorrow evening, it might be wise to take her in for an appointment Friday before the weekend to make sure nothing else is going on.

I am sorry to hear about your recent troubles with Nora's health. I have certainly heard of lots of different side effects long term from any sort of anesthetic procedure, the most common actually being changes to behavior. I have definitely also heard of animals that have come blind or deaf from anesthetic (though usually it is temporarily) episodes. While I can not say for sure what has happened in this case, I would definitely want to completely rule out the possibility of a coincidence first since we are dealing with such an elderly patient. I imagine that with an older patient, preoperative blood work was obtained and analyzed prior to placing her under anesthesia. If this was completely normal, I would definitely recommend having some x-rays and ultrasound imagine procured to rule out the presence of any sort of malignant process or signs of organ failure. If you are able to do this with at least a relative amount of certainty, this still doesn't resolve the issue. I would considering adding more fiber to the diet and a probiotic to see if this helps solidify the fecal material while investigating the cause. I don't want to sound grim, but at nearly 16 years of age there are a number of sinister things within the body that could be responsible for Nora's diarrhea unfortunately. The anesthetic event could have certainly compromised the immune system in such a way to make her susceptible to something that may have been lying in wait or brewing slowly. I hope you are able to figure things out soon and get back on track. Best of luck and let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Mieko. Anesthesia will slow digestion down so it is common for a cat not to have a bowel movement for a period of time. Once her appetite is back to normal, she should have a bowel movement within a day or two. Encourage her to drink plenty of water as this will soften the stool. If she is straining in the box to defecate, then she will need to see her veterinarian. Otherwise, she should be back to normal soon. I hope this information helps!