“When encountering cases of gastrointestinal discomfort, the assistant should be able to confidently discuss the case and provide advice to pet owners.”
Veterinary assistants/nurses can play a crucial role in treating patients with diarrhea and educating pet owners on how to sustain care. Although animal prescription drugs are determined by veterinarians, assistants will actively participate in the treatment process.
Therefore, assistants must be able to evaluate and provide care to patients from a broader perspective beyond the field of prescription drugs. This includes assessing hydration status and overall health status.
Choosing a diet for gastrointestinal discomfort is the key to rehabilitation. Many brands offer a diet that can be used to help eliminate normal feces.
In some cases, it may be recommended that animals fast for 24 hours before starting to consume small amounts, but this may cause controversy. Prohibiting eating can put intestinal cells in a state of hunger and reduce the integrity and function of the intestinal mucosa. This in turn will delay the healing of the intestinal mucosa damaged by diarrhea.
To restore gastrointestinal homeostasis, an easily digestible and low-fat diet is required. Small meals should be eaten daily to avoid excessive burden on the intestines. Once the diarrhea subsides, a normal diet can be reintroduced in stages.
For many years, when we have noticed signs of gastrointestinal discomfort in pets, we often advise customers to feed them chicken and rice. Although this approach may be beneficial in the short term, it may be important to reassess it for patients who have been hospitalized for a long time. The intestines require sufficient nutrition to repair and restore vitality, so dietary support for the body is crucial.
When helping patients overcome gastrointestinal discomfort, priority should be given to prescription foods, as they are specially formulated to help animals recover.
Animal welfare
If an animal is hospitalized due to gastrointestinal discomfort, the assistant must remember that animal welfare is of utmost importance for rehabilitation. An unhappy dog cannot want to eat, which in turn can delay recovery.
We can provide support for hospitalized animals in the following different ways.
Regular bowel movements
It is obvious that dogs with diarrhea need more time to defecate than ordinary animals. It is advisable to defecate outdoors as much as possible to avoid dirtying the kennel.
If you experience urinary and fecal incontinence, you can place a layer of urine pad under your body for easy cleaning. A fecal scoring system should be used to monitor the viscosity of feces in order to record their condition.
Wrap the tail
Wrapping the tail is particularly helpful for dog breeds with long tail hair. This helps to avoid dirtying the fur around the tail and anus, as it can sometimes lead to ulcers and stings. Wrap the tail with an elastic bandage to prevent the fur from coming into contact with excrement.
If the tail bandage is used for a long time, there may be a risk of developing pressure ulcers. For patients who use bandages for a long time, adding a soft layer of bandage under the elastic bandage may be better, and the bandage can also be replaced regularly to check the skin.
• A clean environment
The kennel should be kept as clean as possible. This not only helps to contain infectious diseases, but also reduces animal stress and depression. Urinary pads can be used to protect the bed. Appropriate disinfectant should be prepared and used for cleaning.
• Insufficient body fluids
Veterinary assistants should assist with infusion by assessing hydration status. Then you can discuss the results with the veterinarian and re evaluate the infusion volume. It is important to determine the percentage of dehydration with the attending veterinarian. Once confirmed, the liquid shortage can be calculated. The calculation method for insufficient liquid (adapted from Taylor et al., 2011):
Dehydration degree (%) x body weight (kg) x 10+maintenance infusion volume/correction time
Isolation animal care
In some cases of diarrhea, animals may need to be isolated and cared for separately. This helps to reduce the chances of transmission of infectious gastrointestinal diseases such as parvovirus.
Appropriate signage should be placed to remind staff that the animal is under quarantine care. If manpower permits, one to two assistants should be assigned to be responsible for it.
Full personal protective equipment should be worn, including gloves, protective clothing, masks, and shoe covers. When leaving the isolation room, all these items should be thrown into the medical waste bin, and shoes should be soaked and disinfected with disinfectant. Ideally, isolation rooms should use separate shoes that are easy to disinfect.
The isolation ward should be fully equipped and self-contained, and all items necessary for animals should be placed in the ward. This can reduce the frequency of entry and exit. The isolation room should have its own equipment, such as thermometers and infusion pumps, as well as beds, food basins, indwelling needles, syringes, and needles.
Everyone should be aware of the quarantine care procedures. By adhering to strict quarantine regulations, the possibility of infectious disease transmission can be minimized to the greatest extent possible.
• Gentle care for animals
When time permits, ensure that animals receive gentle care, rather than feeding them medicine every time they are checked. This helps establish connections with animals and reduces their stress and anxiety.
If we give animals medicine or injections every time we go to the kennel, they will soon feel scared, fearful, and depressed.
Animals like to have people play, play, or feed them with their own hands. If possible, it is best for the owner to bring some easy to clean toys, which will make the animals feel more relaxed and at home.
Reasonable use of antibiotics
There is significant controversy over how veterinary clinics prescribe antibiotics, especially in cases of vomiting and diarrhea in companion animals.
Antibiotics or antibiotics are essential drugs for treating human and animal diseases. At the same time, the veterinary industry should also ensure the use of existing antibiotics and the development of new antibiotics.
Antibiotics are used to prevent or treat infections and have a direct effect on bacteria in the body. However, it should be noted that not all antibiotics are effective for all bacterial types.
Antibiotics are often used in veterinary diagnosis and treatment to treat diarrhea. If bacterial infection is suspected, the use of antibiotics is reasonable, but in other cases, antibiotics may not be the solution. It is worth worrying that the use of antibiotics can directly affect the healthy gut microbiota, leading to the development of antibiotic resistance in animals.
A study by Pignataro et al. (2021) observed the relationship between antibiotic use and gut microbiota, and the results showed that the gut microbiota of dogs with acute diarrhea was different from that of healthy dogs, which increased attention to the use of probiotics and prebiotics.
Probiotics can be defined as a food supplement that contains microorganisms that have been proven to be beneficial to the gut, while prebiotics are easily digestible mixtures that promote the growth or activity of intrinsic gut microbiota. Probiotics and probiotics can play a beneficial role in rebuilding microbial balance in the digestive system after disruption due to stress, infection, or drug treatment.
It can also be said that acute diarrhea cases can be treated through gastrointestinal diet and a course of probiotics and probiotics. Even hospitalized animals can be treated in a similar way, rather than blindly using antibiotic therapy.
Of course, the job of a veterinary assistant is not to prescribe medication. But assistants should also have confidence in discussing cases with doctors and developing more suitable treatment plans. We can share, discuss, and carefully consider research results to help prescribe antibiotics reasonably.
How assistants provide support for pet owners
When encountering cases of gastrointestinal discomfort, the assistant should have confidence in discussing and providing advice to the host. In many cases, assistants can conduct triage by phone before making an appointment with a veterinarian.
In cases of acute diarrhea, if there are no other clinical symptoms, probiotics or probiotic products can be considered in the gastrointestinal diet. Usually fed in powder or paste form. In many cases, symptoms usually improve within two to three days.
It is important for the veterinary assistant to inform the pet owner that if any other symptoms occur or the animal feels unwell, they should promptly contact the veterinarian.
When hospitalized animals with gastrointestinal discomfort are discharged from the hospital, a care plan should be provided to the owner so that they can continue to provide similar standards of care at home. It is necessary to clearly inform the owner of the frequency of outdoor bowel movements, so that the owner can understand – especially in cases where diarrhea symptoms have not yet subsided.
The most important thing is that assistants should recognize their unique position and be able to provide continuous advice to the owners of diarrhea cases. Veterinary assistants are usually able to provide advice to clients in a simple and understandable manner, without being blinded by professional terminology.
summary
Gastrointestinal problems in young dogs are common problems encountered in veterinary diagnosis and treatment. Veterinary assistants play an important role in assisting with treatment and providing ongoing care and advice.
There are various factors that can cause gastrointestinal discomfort, including idiopathic causes and more severe cases, such as parvovirus. Assistants should work with doctors to develop treatment plans that not only meet their medical needs, but also animal welfare and individual needs.
Whether antibiotics need to be used should be reviewed based on specific circumstances, but the rational use of antibiotics is always crucial.
Assistants should have confidence and strength in the rational use of antibiotics, and feel relaxed and at ease when sharing research and opinions on the use of antibiotics with doctors and team members.
