Loose Stool
For the past 3 weeks to a month Finn has had diarrhea and we're having trouble pin pointing the cause. We started switching his food by slowly mixing in the new kind and he was fine, then after getting neutered the vet put him on antibiotics as well as glucosamine supplements for his hips and next thing we know he has diarrhea. We finished the food switch so he is now eating only the new food, then we stopped the antibiotics and I even cut back on the supplements giving him half a tablet instead of a whole one and he still has loose stool. I've now stopped the supplements for the time being and tried adding yogurt to his meals and nothing helps. He had one or two semi normal stools over the past week but the rest are not so good. I don't know if his system has still not recovered from the antibiotics, if the supplements were to blame or if it's his new food even though it didn't bother him until about the same time he started taking the antibiotics. Any suggestions?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanton on
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I would try to grab a sample (if you can) that's from only an hour or two before your visit. If they don't want it, no harm done -- but if they want it to check for critters, you're ready! They may be able to do an internal exam and get a sample of his diarrhea that way, but better to be prepared (my brother was a boy scout, and I was their mascot a loooooong time ago!). Pepto is ok for dogs, also immodium, just adjust the dosage down.
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Permalink Reply by Alice on
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Ha ha, I'm sure you were a great mascot! :)
A normal dose for a person is 2 tablets so I gave him 1. I'll see how he is when I get home from work in a couple hours.
I'll let you know what the vet says.
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Permalink Reply by Sam on
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I would certainly take a stool sample to your vet. If that appears to be clear it may be that the antibiotics has really altered the good bacteria in his tummy. While yogurt is a wonderful source it probably does not contain enough probiotics to be helpful nor is it good to give when he has diarrhea. Canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) is sometimes helpful and most dogs love it. Most important is to rule out any other cause to the diarrhea. You can get probiotics in powder form from most good pet shops. You may also find that the food you are offering is far too rich for his system. Good luck!
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Finn saw the vet on Friday and he thinks the antibiotics started the problem and he just hasn't recovered from it. He wants us to mix in a powdered supplement (FortiFlora) which contains probiotics with his food and keep an eye on him. He definitely thinks is a dietary problem so he wasn't pushing to do testing but said he would if we wanted him to. I don't want to pay for things that are unnecessary so we will hold off on that if the vet doesn't think there is another cause. We started him on the supplements lat night and today he's had diarrhea with a significant amount of blood in it so we called the vet and he gave us a prescription for Metronidazole. This is supposed to rid him of the bad bacteria so the probiotics have a chance to replenish. I hope this fixes it. I'll keep you all posted.
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Ah! The drug he gave you is a very good anti-parasite (it's what they give you for giardia!) and is also for infections caused by anearobic bacteria (whose overgrowth can cause tummy problems) (Also, for humans, it is used both for tummy parasites like giardia -- its common name is Flagyl -- AND it's used as an antialcohol drug for those trying to kick addition -- then it's call Ant-Abuse. So Finn should NOT drink any aperitifs while taking it.) It's definitely a good drug of choice, as it would help if the Vet is right that "bad" bacteria are preventing the "good" stuff from coming back - and it will help if indeed there's something else living in there! Hope it solves the problems for him once and for all, poor little guy.
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Thanks for the info. I had some idea of what the drup was for and I know it is given to treat Giardia but you obviously have better knowledge of the drug than I do. :) I hope you're right and this fixes his tummy issues. We'll see!
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Honestly, only because the 2 pups and I had a bad series of GI complaints for a couple of years there. Experience may be a good teacher, but it wasn't fun! The final isssue (knock wood) was kind of funny -- one night after dinner, Bertie's tummy suddenly looked huge and round, like a basketball, and he was very restless. I put his leash on him and walked him around, and he literally dragged me to the car and hopped in his seat, as if to say, "Take me to the ER and make me all better." I was afraid it might be bloat, so I called my Vet who has 24-hour coverage (it was about 7 in the evening). The covering vet lived right around the corner, so he actually did a house call (nice guy!). He said it wasn't bloat -- and as he was explaining, it was either a GI virus or possible very bad gas, Bertie let out the loudest, smelliest fart every in the history of dogdom. And his face looked positively blissful! So it was gas -- and after a night of smelly farts, he was fine. But I almost had to make him sleep in another room, it was so bad. Since then, we've all been healthy, knock on wood.....
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Finn finished his meds about three days ago and while he was on it there was some improvement. His stools were still soft but not runny but now he is back to diarrhea. He's still getting the probiotic powder but I would have thought by the times the Flagyl was used up he'd be ok. Now I don't know what the problem is. Looks like we'll have to call the vet and see what the next step would be. I was so hoping the meds would fix the problem. :(
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We dropped off a stool sample at the vets today. We should have the results tomorrow. I let you know what they say. They wanted us to try this prescription dog food they sell there but I'm not convinced that his food is the problem so we're not going that route until we've ruled out the more serious causes.
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Sorry this is still ongoing. Hope you can get to the bottom of it, so frustrating for you both! Sometimes critters need more than one does to clear (because the med only kills them at one point in the life cycle), or maybe he really is allergic to something. Poor little pup. Let us know what the vet says -- such a mystery.
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I wondered if it could be that he wasn't on the meds long enough as you mentioned (he was on them a week) because they did help some. His still was still very soft but at least it had some shape to it while he was taking the drug. As soon as he finished the pills he went back to diarrhea. I guess we'll see what the tests say.
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Permalink Reply by Gary Tallon on
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Make him food for a week or two. Brown Rice and ground turkey.
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