[B]Elimination Problem[/B]
 

Last night my 3&1/2 mo. old Yorkie puppie had an issue with her elimination. She kept trying to go and then wiping her butt on the carpet over and over again. Finally I picked her up to check it out and sure enough she had a bowel movement halfway in and halfway out and it seemed to be stuck. This freaked me out as I didn't know what to do. I tried gently pulling on it, ([I][believe me I did not force it at all). It did not seem to want to slip out which further freaked me out. Pookie did not seem to mind much tho. My husband was holding her and reassuring her. But nothing moved. It seemed sort of stuck to her hair too. I was finally able to break off the end that was sticking out, but my husband had mentioned that he thought we had a plastic little cover over the prong of a serving fork we'd used for Christmas dinner that had disappeared, and I was very fearful that she'd maybe found it somewhere and eaten it. By this time my hands were shaking. All I could think about was the plastic cover over the prong that disappeared and how it might be stuck in there.

So I called the emergency vet and they said to bring her in and they would look. We were getting her carrier out and covering the inside pillow with a towel, getting her ready to go when somehow while I wasn't looking, she managed to poo the rest of it out. It was fairly large and hard. We checked it and it was all just poo, no little plastic prong cover, thank G*d. I can't tell you what a horrific feeling that experience was. I was totally panicked and the sense of relief when she finally eliminated it was overwhelming. So we called the vet back and told them all was okay. She was frisky and all playful afterward, and she had been kind of draggy all day prior to this.

Anyway, has anyone else ever had this problem? I'm not totally sure it was her digestion, or if her hair got stuck and she couldn't get it out because of that. Is it okay to try to trim the hair around her little butt with a pair of blunt-ended baby scissors, that is if I can get her to stand still?

She had managed to eat quite a few crunchies behind my husband's back (I work and he's retired) yesterday, and I'm wondering if that made her poo harder. She's not been digesting well ever since she got sick after her second set of shots, so she's been on baby food meats, and we are trying starting today to mix in regular puppy canned food (Innova). I told my husband to watch her and keep her out of the crunchies. He forgot he'd left them on the floor.

Anyway, I just wondered if anyone else had ever experienced this problem. It was pretty traumatic to say the least. And I've been reading the closed thread on breeding. If having puppies is as traumatic as this one experience was, I'm never ever breeding her, period. I never want to go through the fear of having her suffer something awful.

P.S. After everything was out, she still had some poo stuck in her hair back there and I wound up soaking her little behind in some warm water and shampooing it out at 11:00 last night, poor baby. I'm a little sleep deprived today, but such is the life of a puppie mom.

that happens to lexi sometimes, i have to help her get the rest out..
yucky.... just make sure she is clean shaved by the butt area. well i do
anyway.... i make sure that whole area is kinda hairless kind of like an
orangatan ,,, spelled that one wrong........

Its orangutan dear :D

ok i got one letter wrong..... i was very close...how about ape

We have to keep my Monty's bottom shaved also. If we don't he ends up with what we call a "dirty bottom". We haven't seen any signs of constipation, it just sticks to his fur it it gets the least bit long. We have one of those electirc clippers, very quick and efficient.

I asked Dr Jane about this in a previous email to her and she indicated the following "Possible Diet Problems". I'm not saying any of these are related to your specific situation, just passing it along for what it's worth.

* Not enough fiber in diet.
* Poor quality food.
* Avoid bones.
* Incomplete digestion of food.
* If older dog, may need additional nutrients, especially B vitamins.

Best Wishes and Happy New Year!!!

you can put yogurt in the dry food that will help some and if it happens again its stuck to the hair, not constipation, I had to put them under the kitchen sink and wash it out, I know its gross but its easier than trying to pull it out cause you have to usually end up washing them anyway...:)

Thanks for the replies. After puppy was done, I had to wash her bottom off anyway in the bathroom sink and it dissolved very quickly. Hopefully this doesn't happen again, but if it does, I think the warm sitz-bath approach works best. It softens the outside up anyway so that everything dissolves and leaves the way clear for them to finish the job.

You're right CH33, it is really scary at the time. I've never had a dog either and didn't know that matted butt hair could get in the way.