Gastrointestinal diseases are simply the diseases that affect the stomach and intestines areas. This disease can affect some animals, such as dogs, cats, cattle, sheep and goat.
Animal owners should get familiar with the following gastrointestinal diseases so that you could either prevent them or have an idea on how to treat them.
So, let’s
see these 5 common gastrointestinal diseases that animals may get!
Constipation refers to a condition where the animal faces difficult or infrequent elimination of stool, which is commonly dry and hard. This disease is commonly experienced by dogs and cats.
In most of the cases, this disease can be cured easily, however, in some sicker animals, the condition can be very severe. The longer feces remain in the colon, then the harder, the drier and the more difficult for them to pass. Obstipation is a constipation that cannot be treated, in which the animal is unable to successfully defecate.
If it happens that your puppies experience constipation, try to follow these natural treatments for puppies constipation. They are natural so they are supposed to be safe.
When the affected animal experiences constipation, it should be given a lot of water. Mild constipation still often be treated by switching to a high-fiber diet or using appropriate laxatives for a short period only.
To prevent this condition, it is important for the animal owners to always providing high-fiber diet, easy access to water and frequent chances to defecate. Vegetables are full of fibers, check what vegetables your pet can eat.
The second common gastro intestinal disease in animals, specifically cats and dogs, is bloat. Bloat is also called gastric dilation or volvulus. This condition is considered as a life-threatening emergency due to the twisting of the stomach along its axis and the accumulation of gas or without fluid in the stomach.
Spend time reading about causes bloating in dogs and try to prevent the things triggering it.
For instance, dogs with bloat commonly have eaten a large meal followed by exercise. There are some signs which may follow bloating in animals, such as restlessness, apparent discomfort, rapid breathing, abdominal pain and swelling and other signs of shock.
To handle bloating, you should contact your vet immediately. Your vet may conduct some tests, such as x-rays to diagnose stomach reaction. Then, the vet will perform some treatment that aims to remove the excess gas and fluids inside the intestine or stomach. Surgery may also be performed to remove any dead tissue and reposition the stomach to the normal condition.
Moving on from dogs and cats, now we have come to rumen acidosis. This disease commonly attacks sheep and goats. Rumen acidosis is caused mainly by the rapid fermentation of highly digestible carbohydrates.
This problem mainly occurs with finely ground grains as the bacteria can more rapidly ferment the carbohydrates. As the carbohydrates are digested, the pH declines and make all the normal residents micro fauna and flora of the rumen die. Water is drawn into the rumen and dehydration attacks. The animal may die.
The clinical signs of this disease includes shock, anorexia, weakness, diarrhea and depression. The signs may vary depending on the amount and type of feed.
To treat this disease, there are some ways can be done, such as transfaunation of the rumen microflora and intravenous (IV) fluids containing sodium bicarbonate.
If you plan to raise some farm animals, then make sure you read the other common diseases in goats and important things you should know before farming sheep.
Gastritis is simply defined as the sudden or long term vomiting due to inflammation of the stomach. The main cause of this disease is eating something that irritates or injures the stomach lining, infections, parasites, body-wide illness or poisons.
In the acute gastritis cases, the vomiting is sudden and the material vomited may contain the evidence such as grass. There may also be bile or fresh blood or digested blood looks like coffee grounds along with the vomit.
The treatment of this disease is similar as for vomiting. Short-term gastritis often is treated well with fasting and avoiding further consumption that will trigger the condition.
Meanwhile, for the long term gastritis, the outlook is variable. Some research are still being conducted and trials of various diets and medications may be available in the upcoming years.
Colon or the large intestine helps to maintain fluid and electrolyte or salt balance and absorb nutrients. It is also in charge of storing feces and provides good environment for normal intestinal bacteria.
When the colon is inflamed or damaged by parasites, then diarrhea often becomes the result. Inflammation of the large intestine can be a long or short term. In most cases, the causes of this disease can be bacterial, parasitic, traumatic or allergic.
Animals with inflammation in the large intestine may strain to defecate and may even pass mucus-laden or blood containing feces.
To treat this disease, the first thing to do is identifying the cause. The causes should be eliminated as well. Your vet will conduct physical examination by doing some tests, such as blood and urine tests or even taking fecal samples and abdominal x-rays.
The treatment of this disease may also include supplementing high-fiber diet to improve diarrhea. Along with it, there may be some anti-inflammatory medication added to the treatment.