Bloody Stool Problems and Food Sensitivity...Anyone Else Experienced This?
Ein's a 22 month old male corgi who seems to be having some food sensitivity issues and I was wondering if anyone else has had this same problem. Basically he's had bouts of soft stool with a little bit of bloody mucus in it off and on over the last year. He started out with serious skin issues as a puppy, including horrible rashes and hot spots, and although the vet suggested it could be environmental, I suspected food allergies and went through about 4 brands before we found something our dogs would actually eat and cleared up Ein's skin, which was Purina Dog Chow (surprised me!). Trial and error has taught us what treats not to give, including rawhide as he swallows it whole just about and that has caused runny and sometimes bloody stools in the past which have always cleared up after a day or two of no treats.
The problem is, lately the bloody stool has gotten worse and doesn't seem to be going away. At the onset of the most recent bout about 3 weeks ago, the vet did a fecal which came up negative, took xrays which showed nothing, and finally did blood work which resulted in a diagnosis of HGE. Ein's symptoms were occasional gelatinous stool with fresh blood in it, or soft formed stool with ribbons of mucus and blood, or just dark gooey stool, lethargy and lack of appetite (no vomiting). We put him on fluids and antibiotics for 48 hours with no food or water during that time, then were instructed to slowly reintroduce the Dog Chow and keep an eye on him. He did fine for about 3 days after treatment, then started having the same symptoms. So we were instructed to switch him to a beef kibble (in case he was allergic to chicken protein). I got Evo's Red Meat Small Bites and he loved it and did great for about a week, then started having the same symptoms again. It's not continuous, but about every 2 or 3 days he seems to lose his appetite and starts having bloody stool again. He's been on the Evo for 2 weeks and I think I need to find something milder and I suspect this red meat diet is just too rich for his system....I'm considering Blue Buffalo Fish and Sweet Potato dry kibble but I'm not sure now as I've read mixed reviews on it.
Any suggestions? I need a food that's readily available here and not too expensive. Ideally, I'd like to put both our dogs on it so I don't have to worry if Ein sneaks over and grabs a bite of Kiba's food. Besides, although our other dog is very healthy and not had any stool problems, he's not exactly enthused about eating Dog Chow...actually he seems to view it as a last resort.
The problem is, lately the bloody stool has gotten worse and doesn't seem to be going away. At the onset of the most recent bout about 3 weeks ago, the vet did a fecal which came up negative, took xrays which showed nothing, and finally did blood work which resulted in a diagnosis of HGE. Ein's symptoms were occasional gelatinous stool with fresh blood in it, or soft formed stool with ribbons of mucus and blood, or just dark gooey stool, lethargy and lack of appetite (no vomiting). We put him on fluids and antibiotics for 48 hours with no food or water during that time, then were instructed to slowly reintroduce the Dog Chow and keep an eye on him. He did fine for about 3 days after treatment, then started having the same symptoms. So we were instructed to switch him to a beef kibble (in case he was allergic to chicken protein). I got Evo's Red Meat Small Bites and he loved it and did great for about a week, then started having the same symptoms again. It's not continuous, but about every 2 or 3 days he seems to lose his appetite and starts having bloody stool again. He's been on the Evo for 2 weeks and I think I need to find something milder and I suspect this red meat diet is just too rich for his system....I'm considering Blue Buffalo Fish and Sweet Potato dry kibble but I'm not sure now as I've read mixed reviews on it.
Any suggestions? I need a food that's readily available here and not too expensive. Ideally, I'd like to put both our dogs on it so I don't have to worry if Ein sneaks over and grabs a bite of Kiba's food. Besides, although our other dog is very healthy and not had any stool problems, he's not exactly enthused about eating Dog Chow...actually he seems to view it as a last resort.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Cindi on
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Silly question...have you fed him regular food? And since we can't have chicken, have you tried getting ground chuck and adding brown rice and feeding that? It may help if the pup has problems with chicken protein. Obviously, since the vet didn't find anything, your pups have intestinal irritation of some kind. Maybe add some canned pumpkin (not pie filling) to help with fiber in the stool.
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Permalink Reply by Alysen Stokes on
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By regular food do you mean your suggestion of meat and rice? I haven't tried that exclusively yet, but I'm still wondering whether beef is the right protein for him since he's still having a reaction to it. And it's not to say that he is definitely allergic to chicken. We're still going through the trials. Unfortunately, Dog Chow, which he was doing so well on the last 8 months, has both chicken and beef in it, and corn and all that other stuff that can cause problems, too. That's why I was looking at a fish based food to really introduce a novel protein for him.
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Permalink Reply by David on
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Yoda had the same problem, we put him on a diet of white rice and baby food (Gerber). The vet did a stool exam and found there is an excess quantity of certain bacteria. Antibiotics were used to kill all of the bacteria in his stomach and then probiotics were used to build up the good bacteria in his stomach. It took a month for the whole process and he was on that diet. He never had the problem again. So, get your dog to the vet for a stool exam.
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The fecal was the fist thing we did, because I suspected whip worms. It didn't come up with any problems, and the treatment we did involved 3 shots of antibiotics because the vet thought there might be an intestinal infection based on his white blood cell count, or something like that. Probiotics might be a good idea though. Do they make something just for dogs? Maybe I'm just not giving him enough time to recuperate and react to his new food, but it's been 3 weeks... I forgot to mention his new habit of stretching with his front end down and back end in the air. I think he's still having tummy cramps or discomfort.
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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I believe that the front end out and back end up is that he is "bowing"...I have several that do this!
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Permalink Reply by Manda and Chloe on
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http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/dog_wellness_grain_index.html
check out this site. welless offers a wide variety of options. they might have something he can eat and you can find it at petco or pet supplies plus, they have a list of retailers on the site as well.
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Permalink Reply by Jim & Debbie Gallomore on
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Our Corgi Andy had this same type of problem. It was treated with Flagyl (sp) which helped for quite some time aprox. 6 months. However as it turns out some Corgis have a problem digesting protein, which was Andys trouble all along. Get your vet to check this out ASAP. Sometimes the lining of the small intestine becomes thick & causes difficulties with absorbing nutrients. It can stem from a lymphatic trigger. Please get this checked by a vet, spare yourselves the anguish we went through. Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Jude, Lily and Louise on
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Jim can you give more details. My corg/jack russell mix is 6 months old and has been on flagyl twice already. Just had a bout yesterday, but today is fine.
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At 6mos everything to them is food, Andy was the same way & yet still managed 10.5 yrs. Flagyl slows down the transmission rate of the food to allow better absorbsion & it also sooths the tummy.
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Permalink Reply by Rachael & Waffle on
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There's like a 90% chance he's having a reaction to some common ingredient in all of the foods that his tummy can't handle. It's probably building up in his system... At this stage, I would switch to a raw diet... my breeder (and several other corgi owners on this site) swear by it--a raw diet was the only thing that cleared up my breeder's corgi's intestinal issues. I can't offer any other sort of advice. Best of luck to you and Ein!
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Just an update, we've had Ein on Wellness Fish and Sweet Potato for almost 2 weeks now, and he seems to be mostly all better. In fact, the change was practically overnight. In stressful situations he still seems to have a little bout, but (and I don't know how to put this delicately) his poop is about as perfect as dog poop can be. Yeah! I'm going to give it a few more weeks and then try some of the other formulas like duck, just for variety and see how he does!
Just as a side note, I got him the Wellness sweet potato treats and he absolutely loves them, but our other dog just doesn't care for them much at all. Go figure. Guess they all have their own "taste!"
Thanks to everyone for your advice in this matter!
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