Why is my dog straining to poop with loose stool? Is it constipation?

Question

My GSD is groaning while trying to defecate. Any stool that comes out is loose.

Debi Matlack · Accepted Answer

For severe constipation, your pet should be seen by a vet. Loose stool may be the only thing that is capable of getting around the hard stool built up. Hard stool building up in the colon stretches it out of shape, and it also causes stretching of the muscles around the anus, causing perianal hernias that trap the collected feces, effectively making a plug. Your pet may need more than one enema and even manual extraction of the feces in order to relieve this episode. To help avoid this in the future, you can add Miralax to the food. Miralax is a very gentle, easy to give treatment for constipation, available over the counter at any pharmacy. The dose of Miralax is 1 tsp per 50 lbs mixed in with food once a day. You can also add a tablespoon of vegetable or olive oil to his food once daily, or add a couple of teaspoons of canned pumpkin (not pie filling) to his food daily.

Why is my dog straining to poop with loose stool? Is it constipation?

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