Gastroenteritis In Dogs

- [voiceover] salmonellapoisoning is caused by a bacteria known as salmonella enterica. it's usually contracted when people just eat plain old bad food. so i don't mean food thatdoesn't taste very good.

Gastroenteritis In Dogs, i mean food that hasn'tbeen cooked properly or hasn't been stored properly or has been contaminated with something containing the bacteria itself.

now, when you eat this kind of food, the bacteria will enter your stomach. remember that the stomach hasa very acidic environment. as a result, most of thebacteria will die off. however, some may end up surviving and make their way intothe small intestine. so why don't we look alittle bit more closely at the small intestine itself. once again, there aremany different layers

of the wall of the small intestine. and we'll be focusing on this green layer known as the epithelium. the epithelium contains all of these cells that will be doing thedigesting and absorbing. and it's these cells thatthe bacteria will invade. so we can actually zoom in onone of the cells over here. once again, this is our epithelial cell. and we have the bacteria over here.

now, this bacteria is pretty interesting because it actually has a whole bunch of different structuresthat look like tails. these tails are known as flagella. flagella is really justplural for flagellum. these bacteria will use this flagella to move it near the epithelial cell. at this point it then physically attaches to the epithelial cell

and then injects a whole bunchof compounds into that cell. those compounds will ultimately allow for the internalization of that bacteria. so in other words, thatbacteria will then be able to make this epithelial cell its new home. now, remember that a lot of bacteria have this structure aroundthem called the cell wall. and associated with thatcell wall in this case is a chemical called an endotoxin.

that endotoxin will trigger the release of chemicals called cytokines. and these cytokines will ultimately lead to a process known as apoptosis, which just basically means cell death. so eventually thisepithelial cell will die off. and now you have all of these cells in the epithelium just dying. and remember that thesecells are responsible

for digesting and absorbing food. so now you can't do that anymore. as a result, you may experiencea lot of different symptoms. now, a like all of theforms of gastroenteritis or food poisoning, peoplewill experience some diarrhea. and given that this isa bacterial infection, people will experience bloody diarrhea. vomiting and nausea is also common. and because you're constantly

expelling the contents in your system, this can lead to dehydration. and finally, because you can'treally absorb water as well, people may experience cramps. now, these are symptoms that you may see if the bacteria stays in the gut. you may actually see some other symptoms if the bacteria managesto enter the bloodstream. so for example, you may have a fever.

this is typically uncommon, but it's possible for it to happen. and if the person has a condition known as sickle cell anemia, then there's a goodchance that the bacteria could cause a conditionknown as ostemyelitis. and this is really justinfection of your bones. now, typically, the symptoms start about one to three days after exposure.

and they'll usuallylast for about one week. now, if you want to be safe,you can go to the doctor to get a real diagnosis. and like always, what they'll do is they'll take a stool sample. they'll then evaluate thecontents of the stool sample and they'll see if ithas the bacteria in it. if it does, then you havesalmonella poisoning. if they decide that youhave salmonella poisoning,

the doctor will most likely advise you to drink a lot of fluids. and in some cases they mayeven give you some antibiotics. usually antibiotics willbe given if the situation

is pretty extreme or severe. and as always, the best way to prevent getting salmonella poisoning is by eating clean foodand drinking clean water.