By Alice Moore

Having worked quite a lot over the Christmas period I can inform you, with some confidence, that the medical condition of the season has been vomiting and diarrhoea.

While most people were sitting on the sofa digesting turkey and fighting their family for the TV remote I was treating a series of dogs either being sick, having diarrhoea or both.

Speaking to other colleagues in the area I was not the only one.

We do not quite know what has caused all these stomach upsets to happen at once; it could be coincidence, a winter bug that is spreading dog to dog or maybe dogs drinking from dirty water puddles.

Whatever the cause the vast majority of these stomach upsets will be self-limiting.

If your dog has been sick then you are best holding off food at first and then slowly introducing bland food such as chicken and rice.

If they have diarrhoea and are not vomiting then you can feed small bland meals, also you can pick up an over-the-counter oral paste to treat diarrhoea at your vets.

If you are concerned you can always phone your vets for advice – they will probably ask to see your dog if the vomiting or diarrhoea has gone on for some time, if they are becoming weakened or are off their food and miserable.

When we see these patients we will treat them with medicines to settle their stomachs and sometimes, in the more severe cases, they may need intravenous fluids.

While your dog is getting through a stomach upset they really need minimal exercise, it will take a few days for them to fully recover and rebuild their strength.

- Alice Moore is a vet at The Southfield Veterinary Centre, South Walks, Dorchester. tel: 01305 262913.

The surgery is open for consultations between 8am and 6.30pm.

Please contact the surgery if you have any questions about this week’s article or any other veterinary matters.