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?
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?
Yes, I'd keep using the yams or pumpkin for the fiber. I put prebiotics in Buddy's food everyday.
The first thing that always comes to my mind when I hear "on again off again diarrhea" is giardia. Do you know if she was tested for that. But then again, my vet told me the tough thing with giardia is that it doesn't always show up in the fecal sample. Has the vet given her any meds at all and if so, what?
Which prebiotics do you use?
Yes, on using sweet potatoes amd probiotics. Does the food seem digeste or does she have undigested in her poop? Digestive enzymzes might be good as well.
Since she is intact, and also grumpy towards you male, is she in heat?
Could that have anything to do with it?
I know how stressful it is with sick puppies. We just went through a bout of severe diarrhea, and many meds later, bland foods, like rice, boiled eggs and cottage cheese, he is finally better..skinny, but all good in the stomach department.
I use Fortiflora probiotics..
Last three days out a week of feeding her dry evo with a tea spoon of organic squash we have seen improvement.
First day her poop was kind of firm, then really firm for two days, hard as a rock. Then we stopped the squash, and her poop started getting runny again, not completely runny. Today it was solid at first poop session, right after following by runny poop.
The food seems to be digested.
Vanessa just called the vet and they did do a giardia test, which came back negative.
Which prebiotics do you use?
I use Gentle Digest. 1 cap a day.
Last three days out a week of feeding her dry evo with a tea spoon of organic squash we have seen improvement.
First day her poop was kind of firm, then really firm for two days, hard as a rock. Then we stopped the squash, and her poop started getting runny again, not completely runny. Today it was solid at first poop session, right after following by runny poop.
The food seems to be digested.
Vanessa just called the vet and they did do a giardia test, which came back negative.
Is the dry food bad? I had a bag of dry dog get moldy once many years ago.
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.
Even though Otis bad diarrhea episodes came back negative on the giardia snap test, our vet gave him Flagyl 250mg and Panacur granules as well as Fortiflora, he was better the next day. This last time, when he had bloody diarrhea, he didn't get the panacur (I think that is for giardia?, even though he tested negative, the vet had a hunch and said for us to give it a try).
Could it be that the food has changed ingredients?
I would just keep adding the yam or pumpkin. That's what I do as Buddy's is a little loose to.
Giardia is often not found in the stool even though the dog has it. Usually on and off diarreah points to giardia. Most vets like to treat with Flagyl but IME it usually just recurs in a month after Flagyl. I have had the best results with Panacur. Nicky had these symptoms as a youngster until I found out about Panacur and now I rarely have an issue and when treated with Panacur it clears right up.
Evo was just too rich for my guys, they had very loose poop till I added back some regular Innova kibble. Even though she has been on EVO for so long, she may need something else now. Just a thought. Glad the added fiber has helped, maybe combine the EVO (low fiber) with a higher fiber kibble?
Just the fact that the fiber has firmed up her stool says to me that the EVO is a bit too rich for her… just because she has eaten it all her life doesn't mean that there are not changes to their systems as they age.... Years and years ago, Kristii ate EUK... it was not till she was 3yr old that the corn allergy that she had her whole life blew up to be a horrible problem.... once of the EUK, never another problem with food allergies.
I also would not rule out Giardia...
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
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
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.
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 giardia
Alex, 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
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...
