My dog whines when pooping. Is he constipated? Should I change food?

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Lily. There are two common causes for a dog struggling to defecate. The first is constipation which I suspect you are hoping to remedy by adding the pumpkin to her diet. This can be helpful, but she needs to eat it. With constipation, the dog can become so uncomfortable that she will refuse to eat. The second common is scenario is actually diarrhea. The dog can strain to pass very small amounts of liquid stool. It is easy to miss and most people will assume they are not defecating at all. The treatment options are different for the two causes. Since she is refusing food, she is not feeling well. She will need to see her veterinarian. In the meantime, continue to give her water so that she does not become dehydrated. I hope this information helps!

I would definitely not add salt as this can cause him to have salt poisoning and subsequent neurological problems. I would suggest adding 1-2 tsp of canned pumpkin (not the pie filling) to his food daily which will add fiber and hopefully allow him to go #2 a bit easier. If he is still having issues then I would have his prostate examined to check if it is enlarged and possible the underlying problem as to why he can't go easily. An enlarged prostate will push up on the colon, making the hole narrower so that poop can't easily pass through. The cure for this is to have him on a laxative through your vet and ultimately getting him neutered can resolve this issue for good. I hope everything works out for your pet Kitty. Take care.

Constipation can be a very serious condition, it can be caused by a physical blockage (foreign body like a bone) or a functional peristalsis deficiency of the intestines. In order to treat simple constipation, you should increase the fibers in the food (e.g. canned pumpkin) and can add a little mineral oil to the diet. I strongly advise taking your dog to the vet in order to check if there is a serious condition causing the constipation first.

Poor pup! If his stool seems too hard, you could try mixing a spoonful of canned pumpkin into his food at every meal to see if this helps. Switching from dry to canned food may also be helpful, since canned food has a higher moisture content and usually results in softer stools.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! She may be constipated. You may add a bit of canned pumpkin to her meals to help with that. If no improvement is noted, have her evaluated by a veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. Good luck and have a great day!

Hello. It is very uncommon for puppies to have constipation, so I would be worried that maybe a piece of stick or mulch or bone (most common culprits) may be stuck in the colon or rectum. You can always look and if something is stuck try to gently manoeuvre it out, however be very careful not to cause a cut, as a cut in the bum is hard to heal due to the bacteria in the poop. If you are seeing something stuck it may be best to have it removed by a vet. If it is constipation, I would be switching the food that you are feeding to a better quality food. Canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling, just plain canned pumpkin) is very good as well at increasing the fibre and helping with constipation. Also, if you are feeding any bones then stop this, and it could be that Boo has a colon full of re-formed bone bits and this will require a veterinarian to remove bit by bit, likely under anaesthesia. (yet another reason to never feed bones to dogs). I would overall recommend that Boo be seen by a vet as there could be many different things causing his issues. Good luck with Boo.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! You can add about 1 tablespoon of canned pumpkin to his meals which may help with constipation. If that does not help, I recommend that you have him evaluated by a veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. They can at that point check on that and recommend therapy accordingly. This would be especially important since he is having trouble seating which may be seen with discomfort for example. Best of luck!