There are two sides of the coin here. While we may trust that the vet has the knowledge, we also know our dogs. It is ultimately up to the owner to decide the right course of action. Not everyone gets it right the first time either. Neither the vet nor the owner. I have had a vew encounters with vets who think they know my dog better than me-even with test results staring them in the face. On more that a couple of occassions, I have had to step in and say, "No, this is the route I want to take." But with that decision comes education as well. I think that the consumer, as they grow with knowledge, becomes more adept at reading things on their own and the vets should start to listen and have more open minds to the owner. Just MO. Glad to see, though, that things are on the move for your baby!
Kiya has constant diarrhea
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Our tri intact girl who is 1.5 years old has been having stomach issues for the last 2 month on and off. Mostly liquid light brown diarrhea without any blood (sorry for being too graphic).
She is very active and does not exhibit any odd behavior, maybe just a bit too aggressive with our male. Eats twice a day half a cup of dry evo dog food, which we have been feeding her since the time we got her. Drinks water normally after going running and long walks.
We have taken her to the vet and her poop sample came back negative for any parasites etc..
Tried giving her cottage cheese, yogurt etc..without any success. The only thing that kind of made a bit firmer just in the last week or so is organic squash mixed in with her dry food. She has been off the squash for 2 days and the diarrhea is starting to come back. Today she pooped solid first followed by liquid.
We are thinking to try rice and chicken diet for a week or so and see if it makes any difference before going back to the vet. Should we continue squash as well?
Any ideas?
If you are having a loose stool issue our experience our Vet will told us to take all food and water away for 24hr or 1 day. This means all food and water. No treats, nothing.
After that you can start feeding some boiled chicken and rice. Miranda boils the chicken and then will add it into the rice as it cooks so the flavor can saturate the rice. Its important not to give them too much at one time so start with a small portion. Gradually increase the size of the portion if the are tolerating it over the next day or two. Once you start seeing a solid stool or two then you can start feeding back with small portions of dog food mixed in with the Chicken and rice, and in a day or so you can eventually get back to all dog food.
Evo is what we feed our dogs and is exceptionally high in protein. So we mix another grain free dog food that is slightly lower in protein to lower the over all level of what is being fed.
Before you do anything, I strongly suggest you run it by your Vet. Its better to keep your Vet in the loop.
Jason
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Thanks, I don't think the food is bad, I just got another bag from the store, plus Chance eats the same food and he is fine.
Alex are you feeding her the Chicken Based or Red Meat. In addition to what I already posted we started with the Chicken Based and when we had lose stools and terrible odor with that we moved to the Red Meat which really seemed to help the issue. As our Basenji has aged he is now able to tolerate the Chicken Based Evo without issue.
Jason
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A half a cup of Evo twice daily for my guys would equate to cow patty like stools b/c that is a lot of food for their size. You could decrease the amt. you feed. I would continue with squash or pumpkin - on going. These are great fillers, low in fat/calories, high in fiber.
I would check to see if the vet ran an ELISA test for giardia. This tests for proteins of giardia and can show if the dog is or has ever been afected. If not you can spend your money to find out OR I would personally just treat empiraclly regardless of results. Panacur is the wormer of choice; three consecutive days and voil?!
If after Panacur the diarrhea should continue. You will need to look at food allergies and/or GI issues more indepth.
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We are feeding Chicken Based Evo small bites. She seems to be doing better now, we shall see how it goes.
http://www.evopet.com/products/default.asp?id=1488
A couple of points I took away from this thread:
1. Decrease the food amount
2. Mix evo with high fiber foods (either another dog food or pumpkin/squash)
3. Use panacur if loose stool persists
4. Keep the dog of food/water for 24hrs then continue with small portions of brown rice/ground chicken (white/red meat) mixed with dog food
5. Try evo red meat kibble
6. Check for giardia
7. Gentle digest 1 cap a day -
We are feeding Chicken Based Evo small bites. She seems to be doing better now, we shall see how it goes.
http://www.evopet.com/products/default.asp?id=1488
A couple of points I took away from this thread:
1. Decrease the food amount
2. Mix evo with high fiber foods (either another dog food or pumpkin/squash)
3. Use panacur if loose stool persists
4. Keep the dog of food/water for 24hrs then continue with small portions of brown rice/ground chicken (white/red meat) mixed with dog food
5. Try evo red meat kibble
6. Check for giardiaAlex, we used white rice and regular boiled chicken. It does not need to be ground. We used boneless skinless breasts because that is what we had. Evo themselves say that the biggest problem they have is that owners usually are feeding their dog too much and that causes the diarrhea. I do not know if I buy into that or not. I know personally I would keep the diet simple until the problem could be identified.
We were able to get samples of the red meat evo from the place where we get our food. The guy that runs that shop has a Master's Degree from the University of IL in Animal Nutrition and is pretty good. Cutting the Evo and mixing in some lower protein like taste of the wild salmon might be something that works for you in the end. Again I think its important to keep your Vet in the loop and keep the additives or variables in the diet to a minimum.
One last note, I do notice that when my dog is very active and gets a lot of exercise esp in warm weather, I do get some soft stools but they are still formed so I do not work much with that.
Jason
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Watch decreasing the food…. she gets too thin.... and I would not wait to see if the problem continues... before getting the Pancur/checking for Giardia...
And I usually always use ground chicken or turkey... boiled to remove the fat... but then again... she (at least the last time I saw her) could use a bit more fat/bulk on her bones... so it is a fine line...
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[QUOTE/] A couple of points I took away from this thread:
1. Decrease the food amount
2. Mix evo with high fiber foods (either another dog food or pumpkin/squash)
3. Use panacur if loose stool persists
4. Keep the dog of food/water for 24hrs then continue with small portions of brown rice/ground chicken (white/red meat) mixed with dog food
5. Try evo red meat kibble
6. Check for giardia
7. Gentle digest 1 cap a day****If she does not have urgency to go and can wait for normal times to defecate she is in no need of a 24 hour fast, IMO, as a Cert. Vet Tech.
If she eats as much as she does and is unable to maintain a normal weight as implied by Pat and we have truly ruled out and/or treated empiraclly for parasites and she continues w/ loose stools you will need to look into her ability to digest and utilize nutrients. Look into EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficieny) - there are blood tests for this.
I would not feed a dog unused to fat boiled fat from meats. You can cause pancreatitis. I assume Evo is being fed due to quality. You will not find many high quality kibble on the market . Best to stick with high fiber veggies. Canned pumpkin (even fresh if you have access) is cheap - just transfer to another container after opening.
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Linda,
Don't know if your post was referring to mine about boiling the ground meat, but I was not saying boil it to "get the fat to feed", but to boil it in water and then drain off the fat from the meat. -
Ziggy has had recurring diarrhea problems, and I've tried all the at-home cures: pumpkin, yogurt, rice, etc. (He has been checked for giardia and got a clean bill of health.) What now works consistently is a raw food diet. When I feed him only the raw food (he gets Steve's Real Food, the frozen chunks) and nothing else, not even a healthy brand kibble, he has NO loose stool problems.
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Kiya seems to be doing better with evo mixed with organic pumpkin so far. She also went into heat a couple of days ago, maybe the loose stools were a precursor to that.
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LOL!!!!!!!! Vanessa… what did I tell you on Friday!!!!!! I just knew she was coming in season.... "Kobey" told me!!!!! He took one look at her and you just knew, "he" knew!!!
By the way, Kiya was in perfect weight at the shows this weekend and looked terrific...
But I would keep with the mixing of the food if she were mine
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You mean keep mixing pumpkin into the food or give her different food?
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I am glad she is doing better. I would keep up with what youa re doing too, because it does seem to work..
Could the females have diarrhea before coming into heat, I mean is that one of the signs? -
Wow. I guess AJ has a cast-iron stomach. He only gets loose when he gets ahold of something off the ground. Or if I mistakenly feed him pork. He eats Pinnacle with a little gravy or occasionally a raw egg.
Hope your girl feels better soon.
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You mean keep mixing pumpkin into the food or give her different food?
Mixing the EVO with the pumpkin
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@AJs:
Wow. I guess AJ has a cast-iron stomach. He only gets loose when he gets ahold of something off the ground. Or if I mistakenly feed him pork. He eats Pinnacle with a little gravy or occasionally a raw egg.
Hope your girl feels better soon.
Not unusual for the girls to go off a bit when they are coming in season… least not in my experience
But to answer Petra's question, I have not seen that it would really be an indication
