Diarrhea - tried everything
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Hold your horses folks.
Diarrhea is the bodies way of getting rid of offending bacterium, or is a sign of parsites, etc. - the last thing you want to do is stop the process by using Immodium. That would be like putting a plug in a festering abscess.
My suggestions are:
-fast for 12-24 hours to give the gut time to rest - that means NO food, water only
-slowly introduce small amounts of bland diet throughout the day. Boiled ground meats and rice (do not boil the rice in the meat juice which is where all the fat goes), cottage cheese, scrambled egg (no butter, cheese or milk added to it), or commerical diets such as Hills I/D
-continue bland diet for 2-3 days. Then slowly reintroduce normal diet. 75% bland to 25% regular for the 1st day, then 50/50 then 25/75 then back to normal
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if no improvement I would suggest treating for parasites even if negative fecal. Metronidazole and/or Panacur should be sufficient -you can even do this now, imperically, if you do not want to wait and see any longer
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if no improvement on meds and diet change - you need to test for further diagnostics (EPI, PLI issues, etc.)
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Tiva, thanks for the recommendation of the Hill's Prescription i/d. I got a few cans, started Ziggy on it yesterday, and his stools were normal immediately. Would you suggest keeping him on the Hill's for a few more days, then gradually introducing the regular food?
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Hi, ours had that problem, again vet checks no problems, so we changed to Call of the Wild dog food, bison & venison, get it at TSC. Our dogs stools firmed up, and they all lost weigth which was a plus. Not sure if it will help you, but if nothing else has worked, can't hurt to try.
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Giardia is a parasite picked up, ususally in water or from the damp ground and the dog licking it up or their feet. The reason the vets don't usually find it is because they are only observed when they are shedding and that doesn't happen all the time. So your diarrhea can be off and on depending on when they are active. I would also request the meds and try them regardless of what the vet states. Most vets know this as well.
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I would second Sinbaji.. and add get a good probiotic like Fastrack and keep your dog on it. As for the rest, your dog can develop allergies even at his age. If the Hills works, keep on it several weeks, with the probiotic, until his gut really has time to heal and stabilize. SLOWLY add about 1/4 of regular food… wait 3 to 4 days, add 1/3. If any loose stool returns, consider switching protein source. I really recommend fish/potato such as pinnacle or wellness.
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Mine had similar problems and I had great luck switching to Taste of the Wild dog food and adding a probiotic a few times a week. I also avoid treats that have chicken, corn, soy, and wheat. He's had not one single bout of diarrhea in almost 2 years, which is amazing for a dog that I had to put on a ground beef and rice diet several times a year due to diarrhea. Good luck! I know how frustrating this is!
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Over a month before reading your post, Mandi2doors, I had switched Zig to Taste of the Wild, and he's doing great. No more diarrhea! Yay! The only time that he had loose stools was when we had a radical change in the weather (it dropped to 18 degrees). I've heard other B owners say that severe weather changes can cause digestion problems for their dogs.
Anyway, Ziggy is FINALLY back on track. :-)<happy dance=""></happy>
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We have had 2 Bs with Giardia. Our first we had no idea what was going on, took her to vet and he diagnoised it. With Kell coming from the same area as Sidhe, when I saw just a small smidgen of blood on his rear, we hightailed it to the vet, yep, Giardia again, meds cleared it right up. That blood to me is a tell tell sign.
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Giardia is a parasite picked up, ususally in water or from the damp ground and the dog licking it up or their feet. The reason the vets don't usually find it is because they are only observed when they are shedding and that doesn't happen all the time. So your diarrhea can be off and on depending on when they are active. I would also request the meds and try them regardless of what the vet states. Most vets know this as well.
Regarding giardia, advice please. If it can be picked up kind of easily (dog licking their feet), would it be a good idea to treat for it, say yearly? Does it show up easily on testing?
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Heres some info from the Merck Vet Manual about Giardia.
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/21300.I think that yearly checks for giardia is a little much. Like the manual says we usually look for giardia when a young dog comes in with diarrhea. We collect a stool sample (for Giardia a fresh sample is preferred) set up a float and also a direct. I actually just looked at a giardia sample taken from a puppy and Doctor Mark said its also hard to find the protozoa because after exposed to light for an amount of time the giardia loose its mobility and is hard to tell the difference from regular cells in the stool.
The manual says that treatment with fenbendazole (panacur) is used this also deworms for a number of different zoonotic parasites. Which you should discuss with your vet when doing boosters and every couple of week check ups. According to the CAPC your vet should "Conduct fecal examinations two or four times during the first year of life and one to two times per year in adults, depending on patient health and lifestyle factors." http://www.capcvet.org/recommendations/guidelines.html
