Antlers and diarrhea

[Roni & Roxy]

Roxy had a lot of mucus covering her poop three days ago. The next day it was completely normal. But the day after that (yesterday), there was a LOT of mucus with one solid stool followed by a lot of diarrhea. I took her stool to the vet, and ruled out parasites and giardia. Then it dawned on me that the only thing different that she's had is an antler! It was a big one...the kind that's sawn in half to expose the marrow. I thought it would last forever since it was so big (cost $30!!), but it's about a third of the size it was when I got it only two weeks ago! She loves it, but I really do believe now that this is what caused her mucus covered poop and diarrhea. I took it away yesterday when I thought of it. Today's first poop was normal, and she has behaved normally all along. Has anyone else had any issues like this with antlers and antler marrow? Here's a picture of what's left of the antler.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Stool encased in mucus (kind of like sausage casing) can be a symptom of a serious bowel disease, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, so you'll want to keep an eye on that.

JD actually has IBD (not to be confused with IBS), and antlers are just about the only chew he can have. But we use whole antlers, not the split ones. The split antlers are too soft and the dog can ingest too much too fast. With the whole antlers, they mostly gnaw away at them gradually and get very little of the marrow at any one time. 

That said, while anything could disagree with a dog enough to cause diarrhea, it wouldn't typically cause much mucus, and not a mucus casing for sure. IBD is usually idiopathic, and there's often no obvious cause for it; it's immune mediated. 

So if you eliminate the antlers and any other new food or chew, and the mucus covered stools continue, it's possible that something else is going on with Roxy. I hope not. 

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I have found the same results with the split antlers. They are consumed rather quickly and I do have to limit their chewing time or the would eat the whole thing in a few settings. Mine always look sharp on the edges too like yours does, and have caused bleeding gums. Not sure if that is a good thing, like flossing does for us sometimes? or too rough and causing them to swallow splinters.
I get them antlers about once every 2 years now, as they will find them fascinating for the first few weeks and then they just lay around with some occasional chewing. Sometimes they will have mucous stools, but they get that with a lot of things they pick up and eat out of the yard, like grass, small pod dropping from trees, sticks, so it doesn't worry me unless it doesn't resolve easily or they are showing signs of distress. I would think anything new or added to their diet that is more roughage than normal can cause mucous. Not always a bad thing? Mucous helps them pass it easier, I'd think.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

A lot of us limit the amount of time the dog has with a special chew, like an antler.  My heavy chewer can chomp down an antler pretty quickly also, even though I give him whole antlers.