Persistent Diarrhea

yo_eddy

About a week or so ago Yuki developed diarrhea, pretty much water. We took him in to the vet and she put him on Propectalin and Metronidazole. We are also adding a probiotic to his food. I was eventually able to get a stool sample and the fecal results were negative; results for giardia were also negative.

The medication helped at first but the symptoms are back again. He seems fine and active otherwise.

He has been eating Orijen puppy food although for a few days we made him chicken and rice.

I'm going to call the vet again tomorrow and will try to get him in again, but was wondering if anyone had any advice or ideas of possible causes.

Rob

sukiandluna

Have you been feeding him any new food/treats or did he recently get into anything he shouldn't have? Pumpkin and sweet potato can help with diarrhea, as can pepto bismol (depending on what your vet says about mixing that and Yuki's meds). Try running a moderate chicken allergy by your vet, which is in Orijen puppy food as well as the chicken and rice. If you both think that might be a possibility, I'd try doing lamb or some other sort of lean meat.

Calia

Try switching him off of the Orijen, it can be too rich for some dogs causing digestive issues. Acana is also made by the same company as Orijen and some people have found that their dogs handle that brand better.

Kira_Inu

I second trying to switch to Acana - mine eats it and it's a wonderful food, we've never had any issues.

I feed Kira a variety of different flavors but her favorites are Pacifica, Duck & Bartlett Pear, and Grasslands. None of them are chicken based since I am a little cautious of chicken as a protein source.

Kaja

I've heard pumpkin and sweet potato is better for the dog's tract than rice. So try that instead, maybe? And...

Kaja had a bout with diarrhoea too. I think it's because she either stole some of her sister's kibble, reaction to the change in treats, found something in the yard, or was just going through some weird puppy poop thing. So it could be any of those? I know the first thing our minds jump to is PARASITE. MUST HAVE PICKED UP A PARASITE!!!! It's probably more likely he is allergic to chicken, if it's not one of the random reasons above. Like Calia said chicken is a super common culprit. Caused my other dog some issues before, too.

I usually make my dogs fast if they're doing diarrhoea for no real reason. One day of fasting to calm their insides down. Then I slowly start them on food again. It works for me.......... usually. I'd suggest fasting for 24 hours, and then introducing food (either canned pumpkin/sweet potato (NOT the pie stuff) or kibble).

You can give them the water left from boiling rice if you feel bad about just giving them plain old water during a fast, by the way. ;P

Saya

Yeah orijen might be too rich or need a slower introduction to it I only used acana so nor sure much on orijen sorry. acana pacifica went over well with Bella.

Acana might work better for the pup.

I've been using this digestive enzyme for Bella and it seems to help. Bella does well on her food, but some reason gets loose poop whenever we go to the park for change of pace from usual walk. I guess due to the excitement as she loves going to the park. So far it has helped with the loose poop during those times..

I mainly started the enzymes as she somehow got giardia. Yucky dealing with that. it took while for poop to get back to normal.. for while gave her bland diet with enzymes then slowly introduced food back to her.

http://www.chewy.com/dog/animal-essentials-plant-enzymes/dp/49370

yo_eddy

The food could be a possibility, although he had been eating it for a couple months prior to this starting with no issues. I'll talk to the vet about chicken allergy.

He has also been known to suck down a fir cone now and then. I've tried to keep them away from him and clean them all up, but we have a bunch of fir trees so probably best if he grows out of that. His latest trick is to rip up big bunches of lawn and try to eat those. We are shy on grass and heavy on moss in a few places, so could be that I suppose.

thanks for all the suggestions

Saya

OK didn't know if being on orijen was recent thing or what.

I wonder if eating fir cones might be causing upset stomach?

Bella my parent's boxer loved to get into things too.. She outgrew it plus working on leave it helped some.

This link might help with leave it training.
http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/11_8/features/How-To-Teach-A-Dog-To-Listen_16053-1.html

yo_eddy

Looks like it was giardia after all. Second test came back positive. Doesn't seem to be slowing him down at all; hopefully this round of antibiotics does the trick.

And thanks for the "leave it" link. He is not bad now, but we will be working on that

CrimsonO2

I'm relieved to hear that it's giardia (e.g. something manageable and curable). Here's to hoping Yuki recovers quickly!

Jesse

Saya

Yeah Bella had Giardia The meds helped a lot. kept her on bland diet for bit plus enzymes and slowly mixed in her kibble. It took while to get her back to 100%.

Glad you got him checked out.

Kaja

Glad you figured it out! Yeah if it wasn't the food and it went on so long, I'd be super worried! Parasites are evil buggers -- good thing second test shined some light on it!! And like was mentioned above glad it's something treatable, rather than allergies