Colitis in Dogs: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment

Is your dog suffering from chronic, painful diarrhea with seemingly no explanation? It’s possible that your dog has colitis.

Colitis is a gastrointestinal disease that causes inflammation of the colon, resulting in severe gastrointestinal distress. Dogs with colitis can experience an urgent and uncontrollable need to go to the bathroom, resulting in accidents among even the most well-trained dogs. The disease is painful for them and may be a stressor for you, too.

The good news: colitis is an extremely treatable condition. With the right care, colitis can be resolved rather quickly and your dog can be running, playing, and passing solid bowel movements in no time.

• What is Colitis?
• Symptoms of Colitis
• What Causes Colitis?
• Diagnosing Colitis
• Colitis Treatment & Prevention
• FAQs
• Final Notes

What is Colitis?

Colitis in dogs is a gastrointestinal disease characterized by inflammation of the colon. Dogs with colitis suffer greatly from chronic diarrhea with seemingly no origin or explanation. In fact, one of the most common ways to diagnose colitis is by ruling out all other common sources of gastrointestinal distress. More on that later.

To understand colitis disease in dogs, it’s helpful to first understand how the colon functions. The colon is the largest part of the digestive tract. Just like in humans, a dog’s colon has two primary purposes: extracting fluid and nutrients from fecal matter and storing that fecal matter until a bowel movement is made.¹ In a healthy colon, these two functions work in harmony to lower the water content of feces, allowing for a solid bowel movement that passes at a somewhat regular frequency.

In a dog with colitis, this isn’t the case. Colitis begins with an inflamed colon. Once inflamed, the colon is unable to absorb as much water from the dog’s fecal matter, causing loose stool. Additionally, dogs with inflammation of the colon experience long and powerful colon contractions that cannot be controlled.² The result is chronic painful diarrhea.

Colitis in dogs falls into four different categories, each categorized by the most prevalent type of cell in the intestinal lining. The four types of colitis, listed from most common to least, are:²

• Lymphocytic-plasmacytic
• Eosinophilic
• Neutrophilic
• Granulomatous

While most types of colitis can affect any dog, colitis disease in dogs is most commonly found in middle-aged dogs.

The least common type of colitis, Granulomatous colitis, is a rare disease that specifically affects young Boxer and French Bulldogs. This inflammatory bowel disease is caused by E. coli and is similar to Crohn’s disease in humans.³

Symptoms of Colitis

The most common symptoms of colitis in dogs include:

• Chronic diarrhea
• Bloody stool or mucus in stool
• Increased frequency and urgency of bowel movements
• Pain or wincing during bowel movements
• Constipation
• Dehydration
• Lethargy
• Weight loss
• Change in eating habits

The frequency of colitis symptoms is not always consistent. Colitis may be:

• Chronic: Constant symptoms lasting several weeks
• Acute: Symptoms that come on suddenly and intensely and then disappear
• Chronically episodic: Symptoms come and go with no clear pattern

What Causes Colitis?

Depending on the type of colitis, the condition may come from different sources.

Acute Colitis

Acute colitis is a fairly common and temporary condition with a myriad of potential causes:

• Changes in diet: A common trigger of acute colitis. A new type of food, treat, human food, or even spoiled food can cause temporary inflammation of the bowel.
• Illness: Acute colitis may also be a secondary symptom of another illness. In these cases, the colitis should go away as the illness is treated.
• Stress: Ever been so stressed your stomach got upset? That can happen to dogs, too. Changes in routine, a stressful car ride, or even a visit to the vet can cause temporary colitis brought on by stress. This condition is known as stress colitis in dogs.

Chronic Colitis

If colitis symptoms last for two weeks or more, whether symptoms remain consistent or come and go, your dog may be suffering from chronic colitis. Chronic colitis comes from more serious conditions like:

• Parasites: Parasites and worms like giardia, whipworms, hookworms, and tapeworms may cause colitis.
• Infections: Bacteria like campylobacter, clostridium, and salmonella, as well as fungal infections, can cause inflammation that results in colitis.
• Inflammatory bowel disease: Just like humans, dogs can suffer from inflammatory bowel disease that results in different types of colitis.

In some cases, the causes of chronic colitis can be extremely hard to identify. For instance, lymphocytic-plasmatic colitis is caused by an immune response that researchers don’t quite understand. In dogs with this condition, an increase in inflammatory immune cells causes inflammation in the colon, resulting in colitis.³

Diagnosing Colitis

Diagnosing chronic colitis in dogs can be a challenge because of the sheer number of conditions that can cause chronic diarrhea. Because of this, a significant task in diagnosing colitis disease in dogs is to rule out other potential causes of gastrointestinal distress.

If you think your dog may be suffering from colitis, you may expect the veterinarian to perform some of the following tests and exams:

• Complete health history: A thorough understanding of your dog’s past health conditions can help a vet understand if any of those are playing a role in their current health.
• Physical examination: A vet will then perform a physical examination with particular attention to the gastrointestinal and rectal tract.
• Fecal smear: By examining your dog’s stool, a vet can better understand whether certain parasites like Giardia, different fungal infections like Histoplasma capsulatum, or bacteria like campylobacter are present. If so, these may be a source of colitis.
• Anal Pap test: This tests different cells present in your dog's anal canal.
• Colonoscopy: In some cases, a vet may need to inspect your dog’s colon for lesions and other conditions.

Colitis Treatment & Prevention

If it is determined that your dog is suffering from colitis, there’s no cause to worry. In most cases, colitis is an extremely treatable condition.

The first step in treating colitis involves addressing any infectious diseases. If it’s been determined that your dog is suffering from colitis due to a bacterial infection, colitis should go away once that condition is treated. If worms or parasites are causing colitis in dogs, treatment involves deworming. In some cases, veterinarians will prescribe deworming medications even if they haven’t identified signs of worms in your dog’s stool. Not all parasite eggs are easy to spot in stool samples and deworming medications are extremely safe, so they’re often prescribed as a “just in case” measure.³

If deworming doesn’t solve colitis symptoms, the next step in treatment is a change in diet. Your veterinarian may suggest adding fibers like psyllium husk or bran to your dog’s diet. These can help absorb excess water in the colon and slow down your dog’s digestion so they have the opportunity to absorb more nutrients. This can be a slow process, taking more than a month to show effects. Over time, your dog can be slowly weaned off fibers and should maintain a well-functioning colon.²

In some cases, your vet may recommend a new food altogether. Novel protein diets provide your dog with food from a protein that’s entirely new and therefore has less likelihood of causing a reaction. This may include meats like kangaroo, venison, and rabbit.

Hydrolyzed protein diets, on the other hand, include protein that has been broken down into such small pieces that they no longer contain allergens and therefore will cause an allergic reaction. Finally, a vet may prescribe a low-residue diet. These are extremely digestible foods that are low in fiber and lessen the need for digestion in the colon.²

If neither deworming nor dietary changes help with colitis in dogs, treatment may involve antibiotics or anti-inflammatory medications. These may include antispasmodic medications to minimize colon spasms, prednisone or other anti-inflammatories to calm inflammation, and other medications.³

FAQs

What foods trigger colitis in dogs?

Colitis in dogs can be triggered or worsened by a range of foods, including:

• High-fat foods: High-fat proteins, dairy, and other high-fat foods are challenging for dogs to digest.
• High-fiber foods: The higher your dog’s food is in fiber, the more it relies on the colon to digest, which can be hard on an already inflamed colon.
• Human food: Introducing a foreign food can cause acute colitis and may worsen the symptoms of chronic colitis. It’s best to feed your dog foods designed specifically for their needs.

What does colitis stool look like in dogs?

Colitis stool is runny and may contain fresh, red blood, or even mucus. If you find that your dog has “slimy” looking stool, they may be suffering from colitis.

What breeds are prone to colitis?

Any dog breed can suffer from colitis, though Granulomatous colitis is a rare disease that specifically affects Boxers and French bulldogs.

Final Notes

Worried your dog may be suffering from colitis? While it can be concerning, rest assured that colitis is a treatable condition in most cases. The first line of defense is to contact a vet.

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