For all of you wonderful people who sent suggestions and good thoughts for my boy, here is the update. The bleeding from the rectum turned out to be a bad flare-up of a perianal fistula. He had previously had a ruptured anal gland and it flared up as well. He is being treated. The petsitter made sure his meds and treatment were taken care of while I was out of town. He s doing great. All the symptoms are gone and he's back to his frisky self. This is an 8 yr old dog so I panic at everything. I am glad I took him to the vet and that I had an awesome pet sitter. I was so concerned about toxic gut or bloat/torsion. Turns out he will be just fine. Thank you all for your support and thoughts. Laura Thomas www.treasureranchgsds.com ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2006. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - URL temporarily deleted due to AOL issues ============================================================================