"Stress Colitis"? Blood in stool during boarding We dropped Miles off at boarding on Wednesday and picked him up today (Saturday). He's always pretty nervous, but he's never had any issues when he's been boarded. The place we took him is the same place we've used for him the past 4 years. Never any previous issues.
I picked him up today. They brought him out and handed him to me, and he had dried diarrhea all over him (smelled AWFUL!). Furthermore, the diarrhea had blood in it...lots of it. I immediately asked what happened (since they didn't feel the need to explain to me why I was getting my dog back covered in $%^&). The girl, probably 16 years old, just looks at me and says, "oh, he's had bloody diarrhea for the past two days, but it's completely normal." I proceeded to explain to her that this is not "normal" for Miles, this has NEVER happened to him before, and I do not think two days of bloody diarrhea should ever be considered "normal". When asked why I was not called about this, the response was still, "well, because this is normal. It's just stress colitis." Seriously? And you went to veterinary school when?
I am completely baffled. For the sake of my poor little guy, I hope it is "just stress colitis". But why, why, WHY would you not at least inform an owner if their dog was having symptoms like this? And WHY would you not clean the dog up? It was all over his belly, butt, feet, and sides...clearly, he had been walking and laying in it. Perhaps for two days. This is a "boutique" style boarding facility that prides itself in personalizing the pet's stays, does silly things like hanging mini chandeliers in their "rooms", etc, and is not exactly cheap. And my dog ends up covered in it's own bloody diarrhea?
Sorry, long rant. I'm still in a bit of shock here. I guess my question is this: could this really be "stress colitis"? And if so, how much blood usually accompanies this? Since he has been home, Miles passed one semi-solid stool, and when I picked it up with a paper towel, there was a good amount of fresh blood on the outside.
Thanks for your help. |