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Old May 18th, 2012, 10:04 PM
NesTea NesTea is offline
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Dog help

Hi,

My 9 year old golden retriever hasn't been himself today. When I woke up this morning, I found 2 round, hard, black balls by where he was sleeping. I assume it was feces, although it was odd since his never looks like that, he hasn't had an accident in years, and it was essentially scentless. Since then, he has been very lethargic all day, not interested in walks, hasn't eaten any of his food (he did eat a very small amount of mine), and gets up/walks around very gingerly. He has been drinking a good amount of water though, maybe a normal amount, maybe slightly more. He seemed perfectly fine until this morning. Any ideas what could be wrong?

Edit: I should also mention that he had a vet check-up about a week ago including a blood test, and they said everything looked normal.
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Old May 19th, 2012, 11:02 AM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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Is it possible those round black objects were things he'd ingested and thrown up? Dogs can be very stoic about pain, not showing many indications till it gets pretty bad. Your golden is showing signs of pain: not interested in food or walks and walking around gingerly are danger signals that something serious is going on. It could be something like an intestinal blockage or something irritating his stomach.

If it were me, NesTea, I'd be bringing my dog in to the vet today.

I hope he's okay!
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Old May 20th, 2012, 07:10 AM
Longblades Longblades is offline
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Blood in stool can make it look black. Though drying out can make them look black too. If you are sure they are stool and not balls, as asked above (perfectly round? You might be throwing us off with this statement) and coupled with unusual lethargy I'd Vet.
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Old August 30th, 2013, 08:53 AM
kerrsy kerrsy is offline
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Our dog seems to have this same thing happening. Did you find out what it was?
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Old September 10th, 2013, 01:50 PM
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Dr Lee Dr Lee is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Longblades View Post
Blood in stool can make it look black. Though drying out can make them look black too. If you are sure they are stool and not balls, as asked above (perfectly round? You might be throwing us off with this statement) and coupled with unusual lethargy I'd Vet.
I agree with this. Black stools always makes me concerned about blood in the stool but depending upon the drying, sometimes this can be misleading.

Additionally, very hard stools, makes me want to evaluate the pet for hydration as well. If an animal has some level of dehydration present, the colon will work to remove maximum amounts of water and the result will be smaller, hard stool. With the fact that water consumption is increased, there are many conditions which will have the concurrence of dehydration as well as increased water consumption. Of course, drying and diet can make the stools hard as well.

Bottom line, I agree with a vet visit if the signs do not resolve. I hope this helps.
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