Yorkie pooping blood

Question
Hi Ashley, I have a 4 1/2 yr old, 5lb yorkie. About 6months ago, she had a very small amount of blood in her poop, and the vet said that it was collitis. She hasn't had any problem since then, until today.. All day, she has just been a little less responsive, where usually she comes on the first time, she now came on the 3rd or 4th, but I didn't pay it any mind as she occassionally does that. Anyways, at about 7pm I took her for a walk and I noticed after she went potty, there was blood(no poop) all down her leg(coming from just her anus). I carried her back home to wash her off and look closer at her, and I saw that there were chunks of blood down her leg, but still with no poop and coming just from her anus. She is typically healthy, up to date on all of her shots, well taken care of inside dog, and I feed her a high quality dog food. I am taking her to the vet in the morning, but was curious to see if you could point me in the direction of what it could be. Thanks in advance.

Answer
Angela,

I am glad you to hear you are taking her to the veterinarian in the morning. She definately needs to be seen as soon as possible, and I wish she could been seen as an emergency tonight. Keep a close eye on her. So many times I get questions like this, with no indication of an immediate visit to the veterinarian, and it scares me to death!

Colitis is an inflammation of the colon, causing large intestinal diarrhea - which may result in blood or mucus in the feces. The purpose of the colon is to absorb water and store feces until the dog defecates, so a damaged or irritated colon has an impaired ability to store feces. This can cause excessive amounts of blood and mucus to be passed. The most common causes of Colitis are diet, parasites (I'm sure your vet checked for them), bacterial infections, and stress. As for diet - you want to be sure you really are feeding a high quality food. Some of the commercial foods that bill themselves as high quality - Science Diet, Iams, etc. - are actually poor quality and have been shown to cause many problems. The BEST diet for a dog is a carefully planned raw diet, like the Biologically Appropriate Raw Foods diet (www.barfworld.com). This is hard to do - its time consuming and requires a lot of self-educating, so the next best thing is a dry dog food that mimics the nutrition of a natural, raw food diet, like Innova Evo (find the Natura products website for more info on Innova, Evo, and California Natural foods.) If the budget is tight, the most affordable, high quality, natural food is Diamond Natural, which is available for about $20 for 40 lbs. You can locate a dealer at www.diamondpet.com. Natural diets like these are ideal for EVERY pet, but are especially appropriate for dogs with sensitive systems like yours.

It's hard to say what is causing the rectal bleeding now because there are so many possible causes. My biggest concern in your dog's case would be a flare up of the Colitis and a severely irritated, or possibly ruptured colon, or some other tear somewhere in the digestive track. It does need to be treated as an emergency though, especially given the very small size of your dog. If you are still seeing any new blood, I would advise taking her to an emergency clinic if you have one, or paying the fee for your vet to see her after hours.

Best wishes,

Ashley