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 Alice on
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We fed him boiled chicken and rice for 3 or 4 days and it didn't seem to help him at all. Maybe we should try it again for longer.
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Permalink Reply by MaryRea, Dougy, and Rudy on
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Our Corgi , Dougy, got Giardia too, and was terribly sick for a few days. If the food changes and everything has not worked I would look into this. Giardia seems to be very common and from what I read the cause of most dogs stomach distress, usually a dose of Flagyl antibiotic will get rid of it for the time being but it can recur through out their lifetime.
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Well I didn't read all the comments before I wrote the first comment , so sounds like you already knew about Giardia. It really sounds like that is what he has. It can be hard to detect in stool samples if not caught at the right lifecycle of the parasite. He may need a stronger dose of the Flagyl. Have you withheld his food for a day or two? Sometimes their tummies need a little rest to get better. I was worried about my Dougy not eating for a few days but they say as long as they keep drinking water dogs can go a few days without food. Its like when you have a stomach virus you just can't eat for a few days. Well I know how frustrating this is and how expensive. We just went through this same issue and over $500 in vet bills. Knock on wood things are going well now. Good Luck!!!
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Hopefully they will figure out what it is from his stool sample. He did take the Flagyl but maybe it wasn't a high enough dose or he needs to take it longer. I don't know how he would have ended up with Giardia but I guess it's possible. We withheld food for a day then fed him cheicken and rice for about 3 days after that. This was all before taking the Flagyl so maybe we need to try it again. He is also still taking the FortiFlora which is a powder with probiotics and other suppliments for digestive health. The vets office said a month of this should regulate his system but first we need to get rid of what's causing the problem I would assume.
I'm glad Dougy is feeling better. Sorry you had to spend so much. I sure hope our bill doesn't get that high. Let's keep our fingers crossed!
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Test results are back and everything was negative. At this point the vet is recommending a change in diet and if that doesn't fix it the next step would be blood tests. He said it could be that his food is too high in fat or protein or he's developed an intolerance to the type of protein (chicken) so he should try something like Duck and potato. He wants us to use the food they sell there but I'd rather not have to go to the vet's office every time we need dog food. There were two that he mentioned, one was Iams Veterinary Low Residue formula and the other my husband said he kept calling VD. I haven't been able to locate a food online called VD but I found veterinary formula by Royal Canin called IVD. I looked at the ingredients of both and they don't impress me but what do I know. They both had corn and one had wheat and chicken by-product meal. Both had chicken as the protein so I'm not sure how that would help him. I think I'd rather check out other store bought foods and see if we can find one that is lower fat, protein and a different type of protein. Does any one else have an opinion on that? anyone used those foods before or have another food they would recommend?
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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There is a Science Diet CD could that be what they suggested? My friend has her dog on a dog food made with Venison because their dog couldn't eat chicken. Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanton on
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That's what I was wondering? I think this is the same -- HIll's Prescription Diet C/D? (I think Hills and Science Diet are related). Bertie ate that after having a pretty severe GI virus. They also have Z/D, which is supposed to be a "low allergen" food -- here's the Science/Hill's food site. Hope it helps! Was so hoping for a clearer diagnosis for you.
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I'm not sure. My husband was on thr phone with the vet when he mentioned it and he swears it was VD but I know most vets sell Hill's food so the ones you mentioned would make sense.
Does Bertie still have to eat prescription food?
We were going to go look at other foods today because I know there are quite a few made with duck, buffalo or venison and maybe one of those would be fine for him.
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No, he only ate the prescription food for a couple of weeks after his terrible virus (two nights in hospital on IVs, poor little guy!). Now he and Ethel eat Wellness SuperMix 5, and are doing well on it. I think, if I remember, the major ingredients in the food he was eating were eggs for protein and rice -- no meat at all. When I go get my latte this morning from the drive in lady (I live in a rural area, these things are important!), I will stop by my vets across the street and see if they have this stuff he was eating, just to be sure I have the name/ingredients right.
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So the vet doesn't carry that any more -- now he's offering a food made by a local company (in NY State): Abady dog food. Well, keep us posted on how the new foods work for you!
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Permalink Reply by Natalie, Lance &Tucker on
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We use Natural Balance Duck and Potatoe and they also sell treats in that formula as well. We can only find it at Petco here and some of the pet boutiques.
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That's the food we just bought yesterday. We have the treats too. Hope this food works for him. He was on Wellness super5mix chicken before and his puppy food was Blue Buffalo chicken so the vet thinks chicken may be something to avoid. Since he suggested Duck, that's how we decided to try Natural Balance plus it's a limited ingredient food which is supposed to help. We'll see. We started transitioning him to the new food last night.
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