Chronic Diarrhea...what Could This Be?

[ann21]

Hi everyone,

As mentioned on a previous thread my dog developed diarrhea after his course of antibiotic medication around last weds/thurs. Last Sat I noticed his poo was yellow so I rushed him to the vet. She ruled out an intestinal blockage and parvo and gave me probiotics and a powder to firm his stools up. Sun and mon night he woke me up at 2/3am because he urgently needed to poo. His stools had mucus in it and Monday he vomitted up yellow foam with nothing else in it. Yesterday afternoon I gave him boiled chicken with kibble instead of boiled chicken with rice (thinking maybe grain was contributing??) and he had to go poo three times at 12am, 2am and 5am. His poo again was loose and quite smelly . I was so hoping for him to get better by now. Anyone had a similar situation? Having been woken up the past three nights to bring my dog downstairs (we live in apartment) I feel tired and quite off emotionally . The good thing I suppose is he is eating and drinking per normal, and still active.

Apologies in advance if my post isn't very coherent.

Edited January 16, 2013 by ann21

[trinabean]

It could just be that the boiled chicken with kibble was a bit too rich for his tummy after antibiotics and diarrhea?

I would be inclined to try chicken and rice and slowly introduce the kibble once his gut settles down. I would keep up the probiotics too, they will help re-balance the gut flora. If you were worried about giving rice because it's a grain what about the grain in the kibble? Or is it a grain-free kibble?

Edited January 16, 2013 by trinabean

[Boronia]

You could probably give a charcoal tablet morning and night for a couple of days, charcoal helps absorb toxins in the gut.

[Tara8430]

Ann does he or has he eaten any bird droppings or drink tank water, the reason i ask is it could be giardia. It smells awful,causes yellow runny stools and lots of mucus, it doesnt get any better no matter what you feed and can really irritate the intestinal walls which would account for the mucus. Has your vet done a fecal float? or tested his stools?

Also slippery elm powder has been a great help for my girl when she gets the runs, she didnt need much and it was back to normal.

Edited January 16, 2013 by Tara8430

[ann21]

It could just be that the boiled chicken with kibble was a bit too rich for his tummy after antibiotics and diarrhea?

I would be inclined to try chicken and rice and slowly introduce the kibble once his gut settles down. I would keep up the probiotics too, they will help re-balance the gut flora. If you were worried about giving rice because it's a grain what about the grain in the kibble? Or is it a grain-free kibble?

It's acana lamb and apple (free of high gi grains) which he tolerates well usually so I was hoping it would help. But ya I'm going back to the boiled chicken and rice until his gut gets better. Thanks :)

[ann21]

Ann does he or has he eaten any bird droppings or drink tank water, the reason i ask is it could be giardia. It smells awful,causes yellow runny stools and lots of mucus, it doesnt get any better no matter what you feed and can really irritate the intestinal walls which would account for the mucus. Has your vet done a fecal float? or tested his stools?

Also slippery elm powder has been a great help for my girl when she gets the runs, she didnt need much and it was back to normal.

Hi Tara thanks for your reply. No tank water for sure but I can't be 100 percent sure about the bird droppings. Giardia is at the back of my mind too, will remember to ask the vet who is calling me back later. His poo is no longer yellow though, but other than that the symptoms do sound similar. Another thing is he just came off antibiotics and is wormed once a monthsp with interceptor- would that have killed it by now?

Thanks for the tip on slippery elm. I have been searching high and low in Singapore for it. An alternative I am considering Pet Alive Digestive Support, which lists slippery elm as an ingredient.

Edited January 16, 2013 by ann21

[Tara8430]

Ann does he or has he eaten any bird droppings or drink tank water, the reason i ask is it could be giardia. It smells awful,causes yellow runny stools and lots of mucus, it doesnt get any better no matter what you feed and can really irritate the intestinal walls which would account for the mucus. Has your vet done a fecal float? or tested his stools?

Also slippery elm powder has been a great help for my girl when she gets the runs, she didnt need much and it was back to normal.

Hi Tara thanks for your reply. No tank water for sure but I can't be 100 percent sure about the bird droppings. Giardia is at the back of my mind too, will remember to ask the vet who is calling me back later. His poo is no longer yellow though, but other than that the symptoms do sound similar. Another thing is he just came off antibiotics and is wormed once a monthsp with interceptor- would that have killed it by now?

Thanks for the tip on slippery elm. I have been searching high and low in Singapore for it. An alternative I am considering Pet Alive Digestive Support, which lists slippery elm as an ingredient.

Umm not sure about the interceptor, my girl had panacur i think it was called and peptosyl and something else i cant remember now but it took a while, i dont think normal wormers do anything for giardia. Worth asking your vet.

Hope he feels better soon, i know how miserable it can make them.

[ann21]

Ann does he or has he eaten any bird droppings or drink tank water, the reason i ask is it could be giardia. It smells awful,causes yellow runny stools and lots of mucus, it doesnt get any better no matter what you feed and can really irritate the intestinal walls which would account for the mucus. Has your vet done a fecal float? or tested his stools?

Also slippery elm powder has been a great help for my girl when she gets the runs, she didnt need much and it was back to normal.

Hi Tara thanks for your reply. No tank water for sure but I can't be 100 percent sure about the bird droppings. Giardia is at the back of my mind too, will remember to ask the vet who is calling me back later. His poo is no longer yellow though, but other than that the symptoms do sound similar. Another thing is he just came off antibiotics and is wormed once a monthsp with interceptor- would that have killed it by now?

Thanks for the tip on slippery elm. I have been searching high and low in Singapore for it. An alternative I am considering Pet Alive Digestive Support, which lists slippery elm as an ingredient.

Umm not sure about the interceptor, my girl had panacur i think it was called and peptosyl and something else i cant remember now but it took a while, i dont think normal wormers do anything for giardia. Worth asking your vet.

Hope he feels better soon, i know how miserable it can make them.

Thanks Tara. At this point I think I am more miserable than he is. He just had a good play with a 5 month old toy poodle while his owner is worrying away..

[mita]

My Annie the tibbie suddenly developed a condition just like you've described. The vets tried every test, including scans, to try to find what was wrong. They could not make a diagnosis at all. And the problem kept going on for weeks, into months.

Even tho' it was some time back, I still have all the notes I kept.... including those many nights when there'd be runny poos she couldn't control.

All the commercial kibble the vet tried with her... just made her worse. Eventually we came down to the simplest of diet. Lean chicken breast very lightly cooked, cubed sweet potato cooked in the microwave, a little rice (not much), and a good brand plain yoghurt.

Absolutely no processed food at all. To provide some control for the diarrhea, the vet prescribed Metragyl.

This regime made a big difference.

Then I asked the vet to also check her anal glands.... & to their amazement... she proved to also have a badly infected anal gland which had to be treated by antibiotics being injected into the actual gland. Vet said, by tummy wouldn't make a difference. Her gland was also packed with an antibiotic paste.

This may or may not have been connected with the long weeks of diarrhea. But, with that plain diet, Metragyl when necessary & treatment of the badly infected anal gland.... Annie got better & never had the problem again. These days I ask the vet to check her anal glands every time we're at the vets. Just in case that had been the root cause. But I'll never know

Edited January 16, 2013 by mita

[ann21]

My Annie the tibbie suddenly developed a condition just like you've described. The vets tried every test, including scans, to try to find what was wrong. They could not make a diagnosis at all. And the problem kept going on.

Even tho' it was some time back, I still have all the notes I kept.... including those many nights when there'd be runny poos she couldn't control.

All the commercial kibble the vet tried with her... just made her worse. Eventually we came down to the simplest of diet. Lean chicken breast very lightly cooked, cubed sweet potato cooked in the microwave, a little rice (not much), and a good brand plain yoghurt.

Absolutely no processed food at all. To provide some control for the diarrhea, the vet prescribed Metragyl.

This regime made a big difference.

Then I asked the vet to also check her anal glands.... & to their amazement... she proved to also have a badly infected anal gland which had to be treated by antibiotics being injected into the actual gland. Vet said, by tummy wouldn't make a difference. Her gland was also packed with an antibiotic paste.

This may or may not have been connected with the long weeks of diarrhea. But, with that plain diet, Metragyl when necessary & treatment of the badly infected anal gland.... Annie got better & never had the problem again. These days I ask the vet to check her anal glands every time we're at the vets. Just in case, that had been the root cause. But I'll never know

Thanks so much for sharing your experience mita. Interesting about the anal glands...my dogs' are expressed pretty regularly because they don't seem to empty that well by themselves..will keep this in mind if I see the vet again.

[mita]

Ann, the puzzle is that we still don't know if the anal gland was a separate issue or connected.

But there was definite improvement before we found that.... from the plain diet I described & Metragyl tablets prescribed by the vet.

I remember it was such a harrowing time.... especially the nights! So i've got heaps of empathy.

[ann21]

Ann, the puzzle is that we still don't know if the anal gland was a separate issue or connected.

But there was definite improvement before we found that.... from the plain diet I described & Metragyl tablets prescribed by the vet.

I remember it was such a harrowing time.... especially the nights! So i've got heaps of empathy.

Just checked my vet prescirbed smecta not Metragyl . Was feeding boiled chicken and rice except for yesterday. I will get some sweet potatoes today and give it a go, hopefully it's a better staple than rice :). I am abit weary bout giving plain yogurt because I suspect it might have irritated his gut. Will try the sweet potato and monitor from there

[minimax]

Is he often fed chicken? Maybe his tummy isn't liking the chicken?

[ann21]

Is he often fed chicken? Maybe his tummy isn't liking the chicken?

He is. I transitioned to half raw about 4 months ago and raw chicken is his staple (along with liver, brewers yeast, kelp, olive oil). Sometimes he gets lamb or beef but most of the time its chicken. If he was allergic would it take this long to show up? Before that he was on advance puppy rehydratable (also chicken based I believe).

[minimax]

Is he often fed chicken? Maybe his tummy isn't liking the chicken?

He is. I transitioned to half raw about 4 months ago and raw chicken is his staple (along with liver, brewers yeast, kelp, olive oil). Sometimes he gets lamb or beef but most of the time its chicken. If he was allergic would it take this long to show up? Before that he was on advance puppy rehydratable (also chicken based I believe).

Probably not the chicken then!

[CavsRcute]

I have a Cavalier who had been fed chicken for a number of months.

She then developed yellow foamy poos. She was fed about 6pm and she would want to go out about 2am and maybe a couple of times after that.

I took her off all dry(which was chicken based) and the fresh chicken, gave her Protexin, and cooked white fish and potato.

I did this for a week and everything was ok. Somebody foolishly gave her some chicken and it started all over again

Back to the same diet and all was good. Then slowly changed her over to beef and lamb BARF patties and a lamb based dry food.

This was about 9 years ago and she has been fine ever since.

Good luck. It can be frustrating

[Steve]

Id speak to the vet via phone and ask if its possible it could be giardia and interceptor wont fix that .

When ever you have a dog with runny smelly poos you need to stop and ask what would you do if this were you or a child - no food and fluids only for 24 hours maybe some yakkault or probiotics. You dont want to give stuff that binds them up because this keeps the bugs in and allows them to incubate more until you are sure about what it is thats causing it .If the fluid day appears to have done the trick go slow with introducing solid food for the first few days. Boiled chicken and apple juice is good for the first feed. If it doesn't stop in that 24 hours or it starts again you need a vet and always watch for dehydration especially in this filthy summer weather.

Or if it were my dog Id feed it a box of frozen raspberries. My link

[ann21]

Id speak to the vet via phone and ask if its possible it could be giardia and interceptor wont fix that .

When ever you have a dog with runny smelly poos you need to stop and ask what would you do if this were you or a child - no food and fluids only for 24 hours maybe some yakkault or probiotics. You dont want to give stuff that binds them up because this keeps the bugs in and allows them to incubate more until you are sure about what it is thats causing it .If the fluid day appears to have done the trick go slow with introducing solid food for the first few days. Boiled chicken and apple juice is good for the first feed. If it doesn't stop in that 24 hours or it starts again you need a vet and always watch for dehydration especially in this filthy summer weather.

Or if it were my dog Id feed it a box of frozen raspberries. My link

Thanks Steve. I called the vets office this morning and am waiting for the vet to get back to me. I have been watching his water intake carefully in case of dehydration (I should say I also have been giving him cooled "porridge" so there is more water content). Hes been drinking enough so far. I agree bout the medicine for binding. His stool is still as sloppy and the medicine only seems to delay his diarrhea. I will skip it tonight (already gave half a dose this afternoon unfortunately) and see how he goes.

[ann21]

I just heard back from the vets she said the only thing she can offer me is more antibiotics . I asked her about Giardia and she said they dont do tests for it but the antibiotics should help. Also told me to stop feeding raw although she doesnt think its an ecoli/samenolla infection. Sigh...I am quite reluctant to do another round of antibiotics especially since I thought it was what triggered his diarrhea in the first place?/

[persephone]

Leave him without any food for a full 24 hrs ...plenty of plain water though.

then, try him on plain cooked chicken ..nothing else . just a little , a few times a day .

See how he goes ..then try adding a bit of sweet potato ...

take it slow ..and if he loses a bit of weight , but has no diarrhoea... then it's worth it :)