My dog's poop is a weird color. Should I be worried about blood?

Hello, thank you for you question about Lou. Since Lou is otherwise acting normal and his stool is fairly normal in consistency I would not be extremely worried about a small amount of blood. There are small blood vessels in the colon wall that can rupture and lead to blood in the feces. If a pet strains a large amount to defecate or they are experiencing inflammation in their colon wall this can lead to exposure/rupture of these blood vessels. If Lou is on any medications post-operatively or is working harder to defecate due to his recovery process that could be the reason for the blood. If the amount of blood progresses, he develops diarrhea, or becomes lethargic/inappetant I would recommend having him evaluated by your veterinarian. Hope this helps, good luck!

Hello, thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I don't think I would be extremely concerned about one drop of blood that has happened once. As long as she is otherwise acting normally I would just monitor her for now. If the problem persists or she starts to act ill then she will need to see a vet. In the meantime I suggest you start her on a probiotic. It won't hurt anything and may help. Any probiotic made for dogs is fine. I would use it for a minimum of two weeks. This will regulate the normal bacteria in her GI tract. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

It's not normal to have blood in the stool, and if Lola didn't go at all yesterday and her stool is currently hard, it could be that she has constipation. Constipation can be caused by anal sac impaction, intestinal parasites, a foreign body, too little fiber in the diet, lack of exercise, or even tumors in the GI tract. I recommend giving her a tablespoon of canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) mixed in with her food to see if that helps. If she is still constipated in 24-48 hours, she will need to see a vet as she will likely need a laxative or an enema. Your vet can diagnose the cause of the constipation as well.

No, this isn't normal, and it sounds like Carmel may have some blood in her feces. It could be caused by intestinal worms, eating something rotten, trauma to her GI tract, or a foreign body among other causes. As long as Carmel is eating and drinking normally, and is behaving normally, you can wait to take her into the vet in the morning. If she's vomiting, having diarrhea, lethargic, and doesn't want to eat or drink, I would have her seen by a vet immediately. The vet can diagnose what is causing the blood in her feces, and can treat her for it.

Could be either of those, although blood in the feces is relatively common in dogs (although it's not normal). Keep an eye on the feces in the next few days, if you see it again, take her to the vet to get treated, blood in the feces is usually a sign of gastrointestinal infection.

The drops of blood may be due to a little stress or inflammation in the colon. You can try a bland diet for 3-5 days to see if it helps. If not, have her seen by your vet. You should also submit a stool sample to your veterinarian to rule out intestinal parasites (worms).

Small amounts of red to brown blood in the stool is not necessarily something to be extremely concerned about. Some simple irritating somewhere in the gastrointestinal tract could easily be the cause for such a finding. If you had said that the feces was tarry or black in color, I would be more concerned about something like a gastric ulcer, which could be caused by the Novox. As long as the bleeding isn't something that you would characterize as excessive, I would just continue to monitor for increases and perhaps bring a fecal sample into your vet for parasitic analysis. Hope this makes sense.