We all know about this disease. But most of us mistakenly believe that it occurs mainly in dogs. This is false as it can occur in any warm blooded animal: raccoons, bats, foxes, humans, anyone. The disease is contracted when the saliva of a rabid dog diffuses into the bloodstream of its victims.

Quick Look at Rabies

Using the bloodstream as the medium the virus then attacks the brain and through the neural pathways reaches the salivary glands where they begin to multiply. A long distance between the location of the wound or bite and the brain can delay the arrival of the symptoms.

Causes: encephalitis, or the inflammation of brain.

Symptoms: shift in behavioral patterns. For ex- a shy dog can become unnaturally aggressive. The dog may also start vomiting and have diarrhea with a slight fever. In the advanced stages almost all dogs become very furious. They tend to bite anything that comes in the path.

This violent strain is what is called the mad dog behavior. This is followed by sporadic convulsions and setting in of paralysis. As the head muscles paralyses the jaw drops open and the tongue hangs out. The dog is extremely thirsty and has difficulty swallowing. Resultantly, the dog drools. In the final stages paralysis takes over the whole body and the dog slowly dies.

Constipation and Flatulence

As your dog ages his muscles also slowly stiffen up. Resultantly it may not be able for it to function as smoothly as it used to. It may loose its flexibility and elasticity. So it is with the muscles lining the rectum and the colon. With the loss of tractability it may not be able to propel the feces out as smoothly as it could.

Resultantly what happens is that it has difficulty defecating. Another cause of constipation can be that the stomach and intestinal juices are drying up thereby forming a very stiff mass of stool that requires a lot of strain on the dog’s part to expel out of the system. Another reason for constipation can surely be the relative abundance of dry food in the diet of the dog or reduce water intake.

Another very significant cause for constipation can be the enlargement of the prostrate gland that presses against the rectum. You must also ask the vet to check for any kinds of tumors that may be obstructing the path of the feces. If constipation continues then it will stretch the rectal muscles thus aggravating the problem further.

If the condition of your dog advances to this stage then there won’t be many options, but that of enemas and fecal softeners that would lubricate the rectal pathway and facilitate the movement of the feces. The longer the stool remains inside the colon the worse for the dog. The bacterium in the stool starts working and results in putrefaction that generates a lot of gas and causes the dog all the more anguish.