Ruby's Under the Weather - A Couple of Questions

[tanza]

I would not be feeding the pumpkin at this point at all… just the rice and turkey.. and really because it has no fat, you should have very little stool, however that said they will usually be to the soft side... Also I never agreed with feeding once a day, I believe that twice is much better for them.. and small amounts, I do at regular feeding times...

[renaultf1]

@tanza:

I would not be feeding the pumpkin at this point at all… just the rice and turkey.. and really because it has no fat, you should have very little stool, however that said they will usually be to the soft side... Also I never agreed with feeding once a day, I believe that twice is much better for them.. and small amounts, I do at regular feeding times...

Thanks Pat…I was hoping you were online this morning ;).

Yes, there is very little stool, so I'm glad that is normal and that being soft is ok as well. I'll stop the pumpkin. Do you think I should add cottage cheese, or just keep it at the rice/turkey.

And yes, I had planned on switching her to 2x per day feedings but just had not done it. So thanks!

[lvoss]

@renaultf1:

I'm curious how long the soft stool continues once they are on the bland diet (I switched to boiled ground turkey instead of ground beef)…so boiled brown rice & ground turkey and a spoonful of pumpkin. I've been feeding her 3 times a day (1/4 cup amounts). The last 2 nights she woke me up every 3 hours to have me take her out. The stool is very soft & runny, but not water like was the original problem...could the pumpkin keep it runny? The poop is pumpkin coloured. She's still eating fine, taking water, running around and acting normal.

Small, soft stool is not unusual on a bland diet but the waking you up every 3 hours to go out is not usual. It sounds like she picked up a stomach bug.

[renaultf1]

@lvoss:

Small, soft stool is not unusual on a bland diet but the waking you up every 3 hours to go out is not usual. It sounds like she picked up a stomach bug.

Good to know…thanks! Does it seem odd, that she would still have the bug 5 days later? BTW, she has not vomited at all.

[Quercus]

Yeah, I think I would take her to the vet on Monday. That is a lot of days to have loose feces. Especially the kind that requires to be taken out in the middle of the night. She may have a bacterial thing going on in her gut.

[renaultf1]

@Quercus:

Yeah, I think I would take her to the vet on Monday. That is a lot of days to have loose feces. Especially the kind that requires to be taken out in the middle of the night. She may have a bacterial thing going on in her gut.

Thanks Andrea!! I'll definitely take her in on Monday.

[tanza]

@renaultf1:

Good to know…thanks! Does it seem odd, that she would still have the bug 5 days later? BTW, she has not vomited at all.

It is not odd that this still could be going on, especially if she has Giardia which is the most common bug…. medication will put her right pretty quick...

[renaultf1]

@tanza:

It is not odd that this still could be going on, especially if she has Giardia which is the most common bug…. medication will put her right pretty quick...

Thanks again Pat…I'll be taking her to the vet tomorrow.

[tanza]

Let us know how she is doing…. good news is that she is eating and drinking... leads me to think Giardia...

[renaultf1]

In true typical form, almost as soon as posted my last post in this thread, Ruby stopped having diarrhea. :D

She went most of yesterday without needing to go poop and did a small one last night right before bed…still soft. She slept thru the whole night without needing to go out. This morning, she pottied but would not poop. I called the vet in the a.m. and got an appointment for tonight.

My brother stayed home with her all day today and she drank water and pee'd. Tonight when I got home, she pooped, and it was small and well formed...not runny at all and if anything even a little dry. I grabbed it and took it with me to the vet as they wanted a sample.

The vet says they think she has turned the corner. Her temp was good, everything was good, she's not dehydrated at all. They are sending out the fecal sample and should have the results on Wednesday. They aren't ruling out giardia, but indicated that it might not actually show up when the sample is tested. They wanted to hold off giving any meds for now...they think she is on the mend. They said to not be surprised if she misses a day or two of pooping and that if that happens not to worry and don't give her the pumpkin as it may be too much for her (seeing as it may have made things a little worse in her case). They said it was actually pretty infrequent for a dog to get constipated, especially on a good diet (she's on Innova Evo), so I shouldn't worry that it will go in the opposite direction. If all goes well, I'm going to start introducing her regular food back in a little on Wednesday...and we'll see how that goes. If the diarrhea starts up again when I start adding her food back in, then we'll put her on meds.

We still have a few days before the holidays and they told me not to worry that if I needed to come back in they'd get me in.

So, I REALLY, REALLY want to thank you all for all of your advice. I've been seriously stressed and worried. Everything you told me to do they said was perfect and they wouldn't have suggested anything different.

I'm going to call and get the test results on Wednesday and will keep you posted if anything changes.

Thanks again...I could hug you all :D :D :D !!!!!! Kim

[Quercus]

Yay! Glad she has turned the corner!

[tanza]

That is great news.. and yes Giardia is sometimes very hard to detect… if she has another bout within the next two weeks, if it was me, I would insist on meds...