What causes stress colitis in dogs

Although you or someone you know may suffer from colitis, humans aren’t the only species that can experience this painful and unpleasant condition.

It occurs in several animal species as well, including dogs. Colitis is a condition in which the colon becomes inflamed, which can cause several problems including diarrhea, pain and discomfort and difficulty defecating.

Causes of Colitis

Colitis in dogs can be caused by several factors, just like with humans. One of the most common causes of colitis in dogs is stress. Although stress is not a direct cause of colitis, stress can put added pressure on a dog’s immune system, which can make your dog more susceptible to a colitis flare-up.

Other causes of colitis in dogs include:

• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Intestinal worms or parasites
• Food allergies
• Algae or fungal infections
• Gastro-intestinal infections
• Injury or damage to the colon
• Eating things that are not intended for dogs or poor eating habits

How to Prevent Colitis

Although you can’t guarantee that your dog will never get colitis, there are several measures you can take to help prevent it. 

• Have your veterinarian check for worms and parasites annually. Although stress is unavoidable, do your best to minimize the stress in your dog’s life.
• Make sure your dog eats a well-balanced diet and don’t feed your pooch unhealthy food and treats.
• Train Fido to “leave” anything he is tempted to eat off the ground when you take him for a walk.
• Consistently feed your dog the same well-balanced diet and avoid sudden changes.

Colitis Symptoms in Dogs

Colitis symptoms in dogs can vary, but these are the typical signs:

• Soft, runny feces or feces with bright flecks of blood
• Pain while defecating
• Irregular eating habits
• Weight loss
• Increased defecating or flatulence
• Inflammation or pain in the lower regions

Diagnosing Colitis in Dogs

To diagnose colitis, your veterinarian will need to perform an examination. Bring with you your dog’s most recent stool sample to be checked for worms and parasites. Your veterinarian may take an X-ray or order a biopsy of your dog’s colon, if needed.

Treating Colitis

If your veterinarian determines that your dog has colitis, there are several treatment options. In most cases, your veterinarian will recommend that your dog not eat anything at all for about two days to “rest” his intestinal tract. After this period of fasting, you will begin to re-introduce high fiber foods.

Antibiotics may also be needed to help fight any infection that may be causing your dog’s colitis.

Your Veterinarian Can Help

In most cases, your veterinarian will suggest your dog be treated at home under your watchful care. But if your dog is very ill, he or she may need to be admitted to the hospital and treated through an IV.

The good news is that colitis is generally treatable in dogs, although it can reoccur after the initial bout of illness. However, if you take extra care to watch what your dog eats and make sure he or she has routine checkups with the veterinarian, you will be helping to prevent future flare-ups.

Dealing with doggie diarrhea? This common health condition may be the culprit.

If your dog is having diarrhea, it might be a case of colitis. This common condition occurs in humans, dogs, cats, and other animals and usually causes diarrhea, gas, and discomfort. While colitis can have many causes, stress is the biggest culprit. The good news is that colitis is easily detected and can often be managed through diet and medication.

What Causes Colitis in Dogs?

The term colitis simply means inflammation of the colon, also known as the large bowel. Since colitis typically causes diarrhea, it is sometimes referred to as large bowel diarrhea.

Any dog can develop colitis regardless of age, breed, or sex. This condition can happen suddenly (acute colitis) or it may be a chronic condition. Chronic colitis often occurs as a result of another medical condition.

Stress colitis is the most common type of acute colitis in dogs. This happens when stress and anxiety interfere with immune function, leading to inflammation of the large bowel. It's not unusual for dogs to develop acute colitis after a stressful event like boarding, moving, or loud noises like thunderstorms or fireworks.

Other causes of colitis include:

RELATED: Why Your Puppy Has Diarrhea & What To Do About It

Symptoms of Colitis in Dogs

In general, diarrhea may be related to the large intestines or the small intestines and will present in different ways. Dogs with small bowel diarrhea are more likely to experience vomiting, weight loss, and lethargy. If blood is present in small bowel diarrhea, then it will appear dark like coffee grounds or tar (not fresh red blood as with large bowel diarrhea).

Of course, diarrhea may be related to both the large and small intestines, but in cases of colitis, it is primarily the large bowel that is affected. Signs of colitis in dogs include:

• Soft or runny stool (often contains mucus or red blood)
• Increased frequency of bowel movements
• Straining to defecate (may look like constipation)
• Discomfort during bowel movements
• Changes in appetite
• Increased flatulence
• Discomfort in the lower abdomen (usually caused by large bowel cramping or gas)

Contact your veterinarian if your dog is exhibiting any of these signs. They can advise you on next steps to get your pup feeling better.

How to Treat Colitis in Dogs

The first step to treating dog colitis is to determine what caused it. Your veterinarian will discuss your dog's health history with you and then perform a physical examination. Next, the vet will run fecal tests to check for parasites and infections in the stool. Abdominal X-rays may be needed to look for GI foreign bodies and tumors. Blood testing may also be recommended to assess electrolyte balance, blood cell counts, and organ function.

If the colitis was brought on by stress, then it's important to do what you can to reduce your dog's stress and anxiety at home. This won't necessarily stop the diarrhea, but it can prevent it from getting worse or recurring. Of course, a trip to the vet might temporarily increase your dog's stress level, but it's usually necessary to begin treatment.

Dewormers are used to treat parasitic infections causing colitis in dogs. The exact type of dewormer will depend on the type of parasite.

Metronidazole is a medication used to treat many cases of large bowel diarrhea. This antibiotic can treat bacterial infections, but it also has anti-inflammatory properties that can ease the diarrhea itself. Metronidazole may also be used along with dewormers to treat parasites like Giardia.

Many cases of colitis can be managed with diet changes alongside medication. Vets typically recommend a  period of fasting for one to two days in order to rest the GI tract. After that, a special diet may be warranted. Your vet will help you find the right diet for your dog.

Many dog parents may try feeding their dog pumpkin to help ease their diarrhea caused by colitis, however, this home remedy doesn't always help in all cases. In general, natural supplements or home remedies can be helpful, but these can also make diarrhea worse. Be sure to talk to your vet before starting any kind of supplement, herb, or other natural remedies for colitis.

RELATED: Vet-Recommended Home Remedies for Common Dog Ailments

Dogs with severe colitis often need to be hospitalized for supportive care. These pups may need intravenous fluids to rehydrate and balance electrolytes. During hospitalization, dogs are sometimes treated with anti-diarrhea drugs to provide relief.

What's the Outlook? Future Care for Dogs with Colitis

Most cases of acute colitis clear up quickly with basic treatment. However, dogs with chronic colitis—especially those with inflammatory bowel disease—may experience flare-ups throughout their lives. These dogs may need to remain on a special vet-recommended diet at all times. Medications are often used to help with flare-ups. Dogs with chronic conditions like this may need to see the vet for frequent check-ups.

When diet and medications are not helping, it may be time for advanced diagnostic testing. Your vet may recommend a colonoscopy and/or MRI to check for more serious issues. This may include a referral to a veterinary internal medicine specialist.

There are many reasons for your dog to experience diarrhea. A reaction to anxiety and stressors in his life is one of them … and these situations can lead to stress colitis. 

A stressful situation like moving or boarding or a new family member can create inflammation in your dog’s intestinal tract. This is usually just a short-term condition so it’s known as acute colitis. You should be able to regulate it in a few days by being in tune with your dog’s emotions and his diet. 

So here’s what you can do to address stress colitis … and try to prevent it in the future. 

6 Steps To Manage Stress Colitis In Dogs

Stress colitis happens when food isn’t being processed and digested properly. What you need to do is slow down your dog’s digestion so there is less water in the stool. Here are 6 ways to help your dog.

1. Fast Your Dog

Start with a 24-hour fast to rest your dog’s intestinal tract. If diarrhea continues, you may need to extend it to 48 hours. This is an important step, and often dogs will fast themselves … and can go for several days as long as he’s getting water or liquids. 

Caution: don’t fast young puppies … you should see your vet when a puppy develops diarrhea.

When diarrhea stops or slows, offer small sips of water. If there are signs of improvement after 6 hours of water only, try giving your dog some broth. 

2. Slowly Add Food

When diarrhea has resolved, you can feed a bland diet and slowly add food to prevent further tummy upset. Soup or broth is a gentler way than chicken and rice to transition your dog back to regular food. Plus, you don’t want to add starch that can create its own problems with your dog’s health. It’s easy to make bone broth yourself. If you buy it, make sure it’s low in sodium and doesn’t include onion.  

3. Add High Fiber Foods

High fiber foods help improve colon health and stool quality.  

Fiber will slow muscular contractions that push food through the intestines, which causes liquid to be absorbed … rather than quickly flowing through to create loose stools and diarrhea. Fiber will also bind with toxins and bacteria and dispose of it with the stool. Use moderation and start slowly because too much can create diarrhea, gas and bloating.

Here are some fiber-rich foods to add:

• Broccoli 
• Microgreens
• Berries like blackberries, raspberries and blueberries
• Shiitake mushrooms
• Leafy greens like kale, spinach and swiss chard
• Apples
• Carrots
• Green beans
• Pumpkin (don’t use canned pie filling that has spices and sugar)

4. Consider A Low Residue Diet

For those dogs who don’t do well with a high fiber diet, a low residue diet might help in the short term. Foods in this diet are higher in protein and low in fiber. They are easily digested so nutrients can be absorbed better. That reduces the amount of waste that needs to be passed as stool so the bowels will move easier.  

Examples of foods that are low in residue include: 

• Chicken 
• Fish 
• Eggs
• Squash 
• Lightly steamed green beans and carrots
• Bananas and melons

Your dog’s system still needs help as it heals so you can support his digestive process by finely chopping these foods. You can also lightly cook the meats and lightly steam the veggies. Use moderation when including fruit due to the sugar content. 

When you notice improvement in your dog’s stool, you can slowly return to your dog’s regular diet. A whole-food, raw meat diet will include proper amounts of protein, fats and fiber to maintain your dog’s health. 

5. Add Probiotics

When your dog has stress colitis, his intestines are inflamed. Food and nutrients … and beneficial bacteria … are being quickly pushed through his system and eliminated as diarrhea. You need to replenish the beneficial bacteria with probiotics. As you work on his diet, be sure to include prebiotics and probiotics to rebuild his microbiome. The fiber-rich foods already listed earlier do double duty as prebiotics for your dog. 

Saccharomyces boulardii

Saccharomyces boulardii (S. boulardii) is a yeast that is a probiotic. It’s known for its ability to manage gastrointestinal (GI) issues and diarrhea … and mild cases of colitis. 

Note: If your dog was given antibiotics, S. boulardii can stop antibiotic-related diarrhea. 

6. Include Supplements

You’ll want to support your dog’s immune system to aid healing. 

If your dog’s stress has allowed pathogenic bacteria to create infection, there are natural antibiotics that can help. These include:

• Oil of Oregano (1, 2)
• Garlic (as a supplement or in your dog’s food) (3)
• Olive Leaf (4)
• Goldenseal (5)
• Turmeric (6)

Here are some herbs that’ll lower inflammation in your dog as he heals. 

• Slippery elm
• Marshmallow root (7)
• Licorice Root (8)
• Chamomile
• Ginger root (9)
• Quercetin (10)
• Turmeric

Now let’s take a closer look at stress colitis.

What is Stress Colitis?

Colitis is inflammation of your dog’s large intestine (his colon) (11). This is where his body absorbs  water and stores waste until it passes from your dog’s body as stool. During periods of stress, the colon can become inflamed. This prevents the colon from absorbing water, leading to loose stools and diarrhea. It can usually be resolved within 72 hours. 

Stress colitis is short-term, acute colitis when sudden symptoms arise. It happens to dogs that become anxious or distressed in certain situations. Some dogs are easily stressed by a change in routine. When your dog experiences stress often, his immune system is also stressed. That creates an opportunity for harmful bacteria to cause infection. And that leads to stress colitis.

A more serious type of colitis is chronic colitis((12). It lasts a longer period of time, especially when it isn’t addressed.  It can be caused by:

• Poor or new diet
• Pancreatic issues
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Internal parasites
• Bacterial infections
• Food sensitivities
• Cancers

If you think your dog has stress colitis, consider whether he’s experienced any of these situations recently. 

Causes of Stress Colitis In Dogs

Stress can be physical or emotional. Here are some situations that can lead to stress colitis:

• Boarding or daycare
• Fireworks or thunderstorms
• Travel
• Being left alone
• Distress from surgery
• Moving to a new home
• Adding another child or pet to the family

And here are some symptoms you will see.

Signs Of Stress Colitis In Dogs

Here are symptoms of colitis …

• Diarrhea happens suddenly and intensely
• Loose, mucousy stool  
• Stools that start normal and end loose
• Sense of urgency to have a bowel movement
• Frequent, low volume bowel movements
• Straining to have a bowel movement with a sense of pain
• Blood in stool from straining and irritation of the intestine
• A change in the amount of gas your dog releases

To confirm whether your dog has a more serious case of chronic colitis, you’ll need to have your vet do some tests. 

Diagnosis Of Stress Colitis

There are no specific tests for stress colitis. If you’re following the earlier suggestions and are seeing positive results, then further diagnostics shouldn’t be necessary.

But if you’ve eliminated stress colitis as the problem and you suspect another type of colitis, your vet can do diagnostic tests including blood tests. You’ll also need to give your vet a stool sample so your vet can do a fecal culture to check for parasites. She might also suggest an x-ray or ultrasound to check your dog’s digestive tract for obstructions or foreign bodies. There are other tests that can rule out conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, polyps or tumors.

Usually, a diagnosis comes with prescription medication … but it’s best if you try to avoid them. Pharmaceuticals can manage the symptoms but don’t get to the cause of the problem.  

Ways To Reduce Stress Colitis 

If you know your dog tends to be anxious, here are things you can do to avoid a bout of stress colitis. 

 1. Provide Plenty of Exercise

This can relieve and release stress and anxiety. And you should participate too so it becomes a bonding exercise for both of you.

2. Practice Crate Training 

When your dog has a safe place with familiar toys and blankets, he can take comfort during times of stress.

3. Play Music Or Natural Sounds 

Or keep the radio on. This will eliminate the silence when your dog is alone. Or it can be a distraction when there are fireworks or a thunderstorm.

4. Use CBD Oil 

CBD oil can calm your dog during times of stress or anxiety. You can use it before a car trip or when you’ll be leaving your dog alone for a few hours … or during fireworks or storms.

Practice being in tune with your dog’s emotions and treat him as part of the family. It’s key to noticing and managing his stress … so you can avoid messy bouts of diarrhea from stress colitis.

References

1. Feng J, et al. Selective Essential Oils from Spice or Culinary Herbs Have High Activity against Stationary Phase and Biofilm Borrelia burgdorferi. Front Med (Lausanne). 2017 Oct 11;4:169. 

2. Memar, MY, et al. Carvacrol and thymol: strong antimicrobial agents against resistant isolates. Reviews in Medical Microbiology. 2017. Vol. 28, Issue 2. P 63-68.

3. Petrovska BB, Cekovska S. Extracts from the history and medical properties of garlic. Pharmacogn Rev. 2010 Jan;4(7):106-10. 

Lee KW, et al. Hematologic changes associated with the appearance of eccentrocytes after intragastric administration of garlic extract to dogs. Am J Vet Res. 2000 Nov;61(11):1446-50.  

4. Omar SH. Oleuropein in olive and its pharmacological effects. Sci Pharm. 2010 Apr-Jun;78(2):133-54. 

5. The Functional Medicine Approach to COVID-19: Additional Research on Nutraceuticals and Botanicals. Institute for Functional Med. 2021.

6. Tyagi P, et al. Bactericidal activity of curcumin I is associated with damaging of bacterial membrane. PLoS One. 2015 Mar 26;10(3):e0121313.  

7. Mahmoud Bahmani et al. Identification of medicinal plants of Urmia for treatment of gastrointestinal disorders. Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia. Volume 24, Issue 4, 2014.

8. Wang L, et al. The antiviral and antimicrobial activities of licorice, a widely-used Chinese herb. Acta Pharm Sin B. 2015 Jul;5(4):310-5. 

9. Liu H, Zhu Y. Effect of alcohol extract of Zingben officinale rose on immunologic function of mice with tumor. Wei Sheng Yan Jiu. 2002 Jun;31(3):208-9.  

10. Li Y, et al. Quercetin, Inflammation and Immunity. Nutrients. 2016; 8(3):167.

11. Simpson, James W. Diet and Large Intestinal Disease in Dogs and Cats. The Journal of Nutrition. Volume 128, Issue 12, December 1998, Pages 2717S–2722S.

12. Merck Veterinary Manual. Colitis in Small Animals. June 2020.