Lola's sick

[Andrew]

So I called Andrew on the way home tonight, and he told me Lola must not be feeling well. He said she had a diarrhea in her crate & after he let her out & took her outside to potty, she still had diarrhea a couple of times inside. I'm expecting to come home & clean up a few little messy piles, no big deal. Wrong.
I walk in the door & the smell is overpowering… the sheet in her crate is soaking wet, with no solids or chunks, a small dark brown puddle outside of the crate, a couple more small brown puddles in other areas of the living room... And then the prize. A two foot by two foot dark brown puddle in the dining area. I wouldn't even call it diarrhea... it looks like butt pee (I know that's gross, but that's the only way I can describe it really). I whipped out the steam cleaner & got it all cleaned up in a few minutes, so it wasn't too big of a deal, but...
I'm heartbroken. She's moping around, not her usual self. She normally wags her tail CONSTANTLY, but she's very sedate. And she LIVES LIVES LIVES for anything edible, but especially loves dinner time, and she whimpered for several minutes when we put Booger in another room to eat his dinner. I hate that she feels so miserable & on top of it all can't eat. It also kills me to find a dog in its crate, sitting in its own filth when I get home. It makes me feel like I'm torturing my dog.
Sorry for the long & gross thread, I just feel awful for her & know everybody on here understands.

[BasenjiByTheBay]

Poor Lola!

We recently went through something similar with Fiji, and I wish I hadn't waited several days to head to the vet. A weeks worth of antibiotic and bland chicken and rice and she was better than ever. She tested negative for giardia (sp?) but my vet suspected she may have had it anyway. We also changed her food, since he said it seemed like an allergic reaction going on too, but I think you're already on a really good food, if I remember correctly.

Get thee to the vet with your sweet girl, I'd say.

[Andrew]

I think it may have been a femur bone she was gnawing on for a while. It doesn't have anything left on it, as they've both been working on it for a couple of weeks now. And neither one of them have managed to chew it up at all, but its the only thing I can think of… She's on Nutro, which I think I could definately get her on something better, but I don't think its too bad. She's never had much of a problem before. Last time she had diarrhea, she was fine in 12 hours. I gave her chicken & rice for dinner that night to be on the safe side. She ate this morning around 10. I'm going to wait until tomorrow afternoon to give her some chicken & rice & then if she's still sick tomorrow night, looks like a trip to the emergency vet when I get home. She's had a couple more accidents since my first post. Is there anything I can do to replace her fluids without making upsetting her tummy even more?

[BasenjiByTheBay]

Sounds like you're on top of it - hugs!

Hoping one of the wise voices on the site can answer about fluids - I think maybe someone has said to give them gatorade. Our vet did a (subcutaneous?) under the skin injection of fluids to rehydrate after our girl had bad diarrhea - gave her a little camel's hump until it soaked in.

[jessi76]

I would not give a dog any sports drinks meant for human consumption. It may aggravate the problem. dogs don't lose electrolytes like people do. Plain cold water is the best thing to offer a dog. I'd check the dog's gums, if pale & tacky, head to the vet.

with my own dog, if an illness has not improved or subsided in 24hrs, I make a vet apt.

[sharronhurlbut]

I put a little low salt chicken bullion in the water to encourage drinking.
Sometimes that helps.

[Ninabeana26]

Mix the water in with whatever food she is consuming. That will give her a bit more fluid while she eats. And yea if it isn't gone by this AM I'd probably take her to the vet as well since it's a long time between Friday night & Monday morning.

[jessi76]

@Andrew:

She's on Nutro, which I think I could definately get her on something better, but I don't think its too bad.

It's probably the bone she ate, however, some news on Nutro…

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/06/pet_food_recalls98.html

Just my own personal experience, I fed my dog Nutro when a pup and he had constant vomiting and diarrhea problems. When I got him off it, his digestive issues disappeared. (note, my experience was 3 yrs ago though)

[Quercus]

It isn't uncommon for dogs to get a little digestive bacterial infection, especially if they eat stuff outside. I usually do some at home work, before I take them into the vet for diarreha…but if you are unsure how serious it is, definitely get her to a vet.

But I usually fast the dog completely for 24 hrs. water only. Then if the diarreha clears itself up in that time I do half ration for the first day, and then work my way up to full ration. If it last more than 48 hours and/or they have other symptoms of being sick (lethargy, fever, etc) off to the vet we go.

The problem with doing a "bland" diet is that it still requires the intestines to work, and exacerbates the problem if they are already irritated from the bug...and even a bland diet is *different from what they are used to...so it can cause additional digestive upset. So fasting just gives the system a rest.

My guess would be that she picked up a bug from the (was it raw?) bone...if it was raw, they should only be left available to the dog for, at most a few hours. Otherwise could be lots of other places...our dogs usually find standing water in the yard, and drink it no matter how old it is GROSS! So that is where they get some bugs.

[Eli_and_Me]

Poor Lola. I hope she feels better soon.

[Robin_n_Jack]

That sounds terrible! My Jack went through something similar two Chistmases ago, I was making Peanut Butter cookies, and he got ahold of the measuring cup that the peanut butter had been in (you know how you can't get all of the peanut butter out, ever) well, Jack licked it clean…..the next morning, poop everywhere! Like you said, like butt pee (eww, gross). I sympathize with the cleaning up of it.

[lvoss]

With that much diarreah and therefore water loss, I usually opt for the vet to see if they need subQ fluids for dehydration. Also, as hard as it is 24 hours of fasting is best before starting a bland diet for a few days to get their digestive tract back on track. Also, for upset tummies my vet gave me veterinary kaopectate which does not contain asprin like the new human formulation.

[tanza]

@jessi76:

I would not give a dog any sports drinks meant for human consumption. It may aggravate the problem. dogs don't lose electrolytes like people do. Plain cold water is the best thing to offer a dog. I'd check the dog's gums, if pale & tacky, head to the vet.

with my own dog, if an illness has not improved or subsided in 24hrs, I make a vet apt.

They do lose electrolytes.. and I have given mine pedialyte (and my Vet agrees/recommends)… I find that they like the ones you can freeze and then they can just lick the frozen pop.

[mauigirl]

Oh no!!! No wonder you weren't taking them to the park this morning! Oh poor Lola girl…. Keep me updated on how she does after the fast. Once you start giving her food again baby food might be a good option because it's so moist.

[renaultf1]

@tanza:

They do lose electrolytes.. and I have given mine pedialyte (and my Vet agrees/recommends)… I find that they like the ones you can freeze and then they can just lick the frozen pop.

My vet said the same thing about them losing electrolytes and giving pedialyte after a bad bout of diarrhea…I asked that question last fall when Ruby was so sick.

[snorky998]

My vet says diluted gatorade is ok but she doesn't like the salt content. She recommended pedialyte added to the water for my dogs.

http://pedialyte.com/

Good luck. I hope Lola feels better soon.

[Andrew]

Thanks for all of the advice & well wishes! We are all better now! I started thinking about Robyn's comment about bad water… and she was licking water from a muddy puddle at the park earlier the day she got sick. So I'm thinking that might have done it. I took the pedialyte suggestion... I got the freezer pops & before they were frozen gave them to her like water in her bowl, and then gave her a frozen one in her crate when I left for work. Fed her chicken & rice for one meal after 24 hours of fasting, and she perked right up. Her stool is still a little bit loose, but I don't think its cause for concern anymore.
Thank you again!!

[mauigirl]

Are you referring to the muddy water in the ditch at Brook Run? Because my two always like to spend their sweet time poking around in there and of course they switch into selective hearing mode..gah! It looks like riley either eats or licks the mud too. What the hell? Hopefully the park organizers take care of that ASAP. I know they're working on it.

[BasenjiByTheBay]

So glad Lola is feeling better. A sick basenji is a sad thing.

[tanza]

Glad to hear too that Lola is better….