Hello again!
We all had a terrible night in this house: nobody was able to rest since my poor basenji became so sick last night. A nauseating smell woke us up,it came from Nilo's crate and it was indeed! At least the good guy was able to target outside his crate, but everything was a mess of stools in diarrhea and vomit (sorry!).
So I have taken the food away and I am giving him only liquids introducing water with Pedialyte by syringe in his mouth every two hours since he does not want to actually drink, he looks so sad and downhearted!
My concern is about finding out what might the cause, since he has this diarrhea on and off, I would say twice a month, loose stools with mucus/fat (or something like that), loose stools that last a day or two tops, although he has never threw up nor showed any mood changes or any weight/hair loss before.
I am feeding him with "The Taste of the Wild", a Grain-free formula with 32% crude protein, I do not know if any of you are using it, this last time I bought the Roasted Bison and Roasted Venison choice. Could anyone tell me if using it, any feedback of this type of food?
Could all this be the consequence of Nilo's parvo-bordetella-coronavirus vaccination this past Wednesday, that this might affected him so badly?
What are the first symptoms of IPSID or Malabsorption Syndrome in basenjis?
Thank you in advance
You'll find some information on IPSID at www.basenjiclubvic.org/ipsid.html
It can be exacerbated by stress.
Was Nilo perfectly well when he had his vaccination? When you said this past WEdnesday did you mean the Wednesday this week?
Is there a reason that your Vet gives Corona? It is not recommended much any longer…
That said, sounds like this has been going on for a while, but just got a lot worse last night. Have you talked to your Vet about his problem with loose stools with mucus? To me sounds like something is for sure going on.... Have they done a stool sample? Blood workup?
You'll find some information on IPSID at www.basenjiclubvic.org/ipsid.html
It can be exacerbated by stress.Was Nilo perfectly well when he had his vaccination? When you said this past WEdnesday did you mean the Wednesday this week?
Thank you for the link, I do not know if there is a particular age when basenjis start showing IPSID symptoms, all that I know so far is I can not relate his diarrhea episodes to any stressful situation. Besides he has not shown any hair loss or lack of apetite. This is the first time that I see him lacking of apetite. His coat is shiny, not dry at all, either.
The vaccines were administered this Wednesday, two days ago. On Wednesday morning he was fine, his stools were completely normal, but towards the afternoon, before taking him to the vet, I observed that they had turned soft, but the worst was last night, when he started vomiting. That had never happened before! Right now he is sleeping, he has not vomited again and he is not in a rush to go to the bathroom anymore.
Is there a reason that your Vet gives Corona? It is not recommended much any longer…
That said, sounds like this has been going on for a while, but just got a lot worse last night. Have you talked to your Vet about his problem with loose stools with mucus? To me sounds like something is for sure going on.... Have they done a stool sample? Blood workup?
I do not know the reason, he just sent me the reminder that Nilo was needing his shots for bordetella, parvo and corona, so I took him.
Yes, I asked him about this on-off diarrhea and I asked if it would be necessary a fecal test, but told me that as long as Nilo was not vomiting while having diarrhea that there as not reason to panic, that I should keep an eye on him (he had not vomiting at that time).
Both things together just happened last night.
I would ask (insist) on further testing…... and I would not do shots with Corona .... as it is very rarely necessary..
We feed taste of the wild fowl version and have not had any problems. My whippets had explosive diahreah after some of their shots and when I was feeding evo, one girl had diahreah. I keep a stock of excel anti diahreah med, sold at petsmart and also some prescription pills from my vet. We have been lucky that none have had problems since puppyhood. Teething can also cause diahreah.
Update: It is night time and Nilo is feeling better 
his mood has changed into the one he usually shows, playful and curious. However I will keep on giving him electrolytes until tomorrow morning when I am going to start with the bland diet. I hope he has a good night rest and I am going to request the vet further testing. I should request blood and fecal, right?
We feed taste of the wild fowl version and have not had any problems.
I am glad to hear that, at least it is a little relief to know that the food is not causing, at least in your case, food allergies or anything like that.
how old? i would request a parvo test as well.
Update: It is night time and Nilo is feeling better
Yes, blood and fecal test…..
What about EPI-Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficency? I would have a complete blood test and stool test done first to rule out other things since he has had this problem off and on. There is a test for EPI.
On the BCOA website, it talks about IPSID and EPI. EPI gets confused with IPSID.
Jennifer
how old? i would request a parvo test as well.
Nilo is 10 months old. Is EPI test done by regular vets or do I have to send a sample to a special lab?
The internist collected the blood but sent it out but I do not recall to which lab. I believe it is called a TLI test and I think the dog needs to be fasting. I would rule out other things like Parasites, Coccidia, Giardia, Clostridium, etc. for the loose stools first. If nothing shows up on the fecal test, you may want to give your dog 5 days of Panacur anyway which would treat Giardia and many Parasites. Giardia does not always show up on the test. I usually Panacur my dogs twice a year but that is because I bring rescues into the house and take my dogs to places where there are other dogs.
Jennifer
The internist collected the blood but sent it out but I do not recall to which lab. I believe it is called a TLI test and I think the dog needs to be fasting. I would rule out other things like Parasites, Coccidia, Giardia, Clostridium, etc. for the loose stools first. If nothing shows up on the fecal test, you may want to give your dog 5 days of Panacur anyway which would treat Giardia and many Parasites. Giardia does not always show up on the test. I usually Panacur my dogs twice a year but that is because I bring rescues into the house and take my dogs to places where there are other dogs.
Jennifer
And many times Giardia will not always show in the stool sample and can go on for months and months, even years. My OJ was an example of that… until an aggressive course of meds were we able to finally move past it...
Yes, I have been reading about Giardia and it seems it does not show up easily, thank you for the suggestions. Nilo is back to normality, his good appetite came back on Sunday, and his stools look normal as well as his mood. As I posted in another recent thread, since I should proceed with these tests I was wondering if they would be covered by any health insurance or this condition would be considered as pre-existing and therefore, not covered. I want to have these checks done, I am concerned about Nilo's apparent disorder and I want to go ahead before it is too late, but we know how expensive all these tests can be…:(
(Next Episode of Nilo's Fatty Diarrhea story)
Well, as of today Saturday, Nilo is officially well again, we've just come back from the vet and here is the summary:
Seeing that his stools were still showing mucus/fat I decided to take him to the vet so we went on Thursday, I explained the symptoms as I did at the beginning of this post and requested stools and blood test. He told me that there were a lot of dogs here in South FL showing the same symptoms this time of the year, due to the frecuent rain and subsequently, ponds and stagnant waters all over the place infected with bacteria. Well, he started then with fecal test first and leave blood work for second in case he would find anything suspicious. He took stomach and intestines X-rays as well, and told me what he was seeing there was colitis, so he gave Nilo antibiotics (Amoxiciline and Metronidazole or something spelled like that) and bland diet, and told us to come back for a second sample of X-Rays to compare in 48 hrs, so we did and today we went back and the X-Rays showed that the intestines and colon were in much better shape.
I do not like much the fact of giving antibiotics since they sweep the beneficial bacteria away from the lining of the intestines, but what I am thinking it might be good is to protect Nilo's intestines with Probiotics and non lactose good bacteria to thwart the impact of the antibiotics.
So this is the end of the story, I just hope this is the real end of these fatty stools and not a complicated disease!
Greetings
It's good to hear that Nilo is now officially 'cured'. I agree with you about antibiotics but sometimes they are the only way to hit a disease..
It's good to hear that Nilo is now officially 'cured'. I agree with you about antibiotics but sometimes they are the only way to hit a disease..
Thank you Patty, it was a relief!
