Struggling to fix a poopy issue
Hello! Long post warning!
I wanted to ask the advice of the forum, I've been back and forth with the vet on this issue and just wanted to get some other opinions. I'm not seeking professional advice or trying to go against the will of my Vet, just wanted to inquire before we take the next steps for treating our Shiba.
Obi is almost 10 months old, when we got him at 4.5 months we had him on wellness kibble and moved him to a raw diet on primal brand food then to a /prey model diet around 6 to 7 months.
We noticed diarrhea maybe a month after we got him so he was on kibble at first. Tried some chicken and rice to help clear it up, consistency of poops would vary. He had some mega squirts that didn't seem to clear up, so we took him to the vet.
1) First round of medication was Penicillin/PenVK 250mg
Seemed to clear him up, thought all was well. Loose stools & squirts returned, return trip to vet.
2) Second round of medication was Flagyl/ Metronidazole
Seemed to clear him up, thought all was well. Same story with a more disgusting poop story, repeat visit to the vet. Paid to have a fecal sample sent to a lab for analysis. Results came back a little confusing, but the Vet thought Obi was dealing with Cryptosporidium. Said he had never seen a dog with this, however it's common in livestock such as pigs and chickens. Thinks he may have gotten it from some stale water on a hiking trail.
Here is an image of the report from the lab
3) Third round of medication was Tylan/Tylosin. We had to go to the feed store and have pills compounded with his recommended dosage since the vet didn't carry this antibiotic. We were instructed to give this to Obi twice daily for 30 days.
We're almost finished with the Tylan and his poops have not been ideal, he has not had a case of the wicked squirts, however he still has inconsistent stools, sometimes soft, sometimes shapeless and mucousy and sometimes they seem perfectly normal and firm.
Called the vet one more time to let him know what was happening. This time he suggested we put Obi on a low fat prescription kibble. I'll honestly admit, I don't like the idea of taking him off raw food and onto some royal canin whose first five ingredients are "Rice, chicken meal, wheat, barley." I don't know if Obi has any allergies to food, we have not fully looked into that yet.
I have not yet picked up the Rx low fat dog food, and wanted to see if anyone had any advice or suggestions. Again, I'm not trying to go against my Vet, I just don't have much confidence in switching his foods and I'm getting tired of the back and forth nature of this issue.
Any and all suggestions, ideas and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
I wanted to ask the advice of the forum, I've been back and forth with the vet on this issue and just wanted to get some other opinions. I'm not seeking professional advice or trying to go against the will of my Vet, just wanted to inquire before we take the next steps for treating our Shiba.
Obi is almost 10 months old, when we got him at 4.5 months we had him on wellness kibble and moved him to a raw diet on primal brand food then to a /prey model diet around 6 to 7 months.
We noticed diarrhea maybe a month after we got him so he was on kibble at first. Tried some chicken and rice to help clear it up, consistency of poops would vary. He had some mega squirts that didn't seem to clear up, so we took him to the vet.
1) First round of medication was Penicillin/PenVK 250mg
Seemed to clear him up, thought all was well. Loose stools & squirts returned, return trip to vet.
2) Second round of medication was Flagyl/ Metronidazole
Seemed to clear him up, thought all was well. Same story with a more disgusting poop story, repeat visit to the vet. Paid to have a fecal sample sent to a lab for analysis. Results came back a little confusing, but the Vet thought Obi was dealing with Cryptosporidium. Said he had never seen a dog with this, however it's common in livestock such as pigs and chickens. Thinks he may have gotten it from some stale water on a hiking trail.
Here is an image of the report from the lab
3) Third round of medication was Tylan/Tylosin. We had to go to the feed store and have pills compounded with his recommended dosage since the vet didn't carry this antibiotic. We were instructed to give this to Obi twice daily for 30 days.
We're almost finished with the Tylan and his poops have not been ideal, he has not had a case of the wicked squirts, however he still has inconsistent stools, sometimes soft, sometimes shapeless and mucousy and sometimes they seem perfectly normal and firm.
Called the vet one more time to let him know what was happening. This time he suggested we put Obi on a low fat prescription kibble. I'll honestly admit, I don't like the idea of taking him off raw food and onto some royal canin whose first five ingredients are "Rice, chicken meal, wheat, barley." I don't know if Obi has any allergies to food, we have not fully looked into that yet.
I have not yet picked up the Rx low fat dog food, and wanted to see if anyone had any advice or suggestions. Again, I'm not trying to go against my Vet, I just don't have much confidence in switching his foods and I'm getting tired of the back and forth nature of this issue.
Any and all suggestions, ideas and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
Comments
Not sure how married you are to your vet but maybe its time for a second opinion.
Also forgot to mention we did a month of fortiflora with the 2nd round of medication. I've gotten some suggestions from my local raw food co-op to try a simple diet, some pumpkin and some more probiotics.
Also, how does you dogs bloodwork look? Normal?
Have your vet check for bowel obstructions...
I will give you the situation with what happened with Bella a few years ago...
I went on vacation in August and was not able to take Bella with me. I left her with my mum and was gone for a week. Before I had left, I had noticed that her stools were not as firm as they were previously, but I had no idea that it could be anything at all. Well, when I came home, she told me that Bella had gotten a hold of a chicken bone at the park and she could not get it away from her and that she had been having some pretty runny stools.
My first thought was that the chicken bone had disagreed with her, so I took her home, gave her some rice and let her rest up. She went back and forth between solid and runny stools for a few days. Then one day she got sick... Vomited a crazy amount of dark brown liquidy stuff... It was so not fun to clean up after her. So I took her to the vet...
They originally diagnosed her with a stomach bug and gave her antibiotics, anti nausea medicine, and anti diarrhea medicine. Well, her vomiting stopped, but the loose stools got worse. I took her back. They did a fecal to check for parasites, found none, but gave her a de-wormer anyway. After that, still no better. The next time I took her back, they did x-rays to check for obstructions, negative. They did blood tests to check for other diseases, including Addisons. They gave her the Hills ZD food. STILL no better.
But that time, it was December, so 4 months after the symptoms started. She had lost a ton of weight, her fur was not healthy, and she just seemed so miserable. Not to mention the sleep that I had lost because of worry and because of getting up every 4 hours to let her out. After another month, the vet did another x-ray, another round of blood tests, and did another round of de-wormer. Still nothing and no better.
After much deliberation, the vet and I decided to send her to a vet school for an intestinal biopsy. So, my mum and I drove the 3 hours to the vet school in February with her to drop her off. We met the staff, the vet student, and the vet. They were all incredibly awesome and were very interested in making sure that Bella was comfortable. We were there for about 4 hours before we left her. She was going to get fluids and get prepped for her surgery that night and surgery for the biopsy in the morning.
The next morning, the vet at the vet school called. They were not going to do surgery. They found the problem. I was elated... until I heard what it was. WORMS. WTF? No way, she had had several fecals and several doses of de-wormer. No way. So I called my vet, and while she was very relieved that Bella was okay, she was floored that it was worms.
This is what happened: During the prep for the surgery, they gave her an enema. Directly after that, she passed some round white worm-like objects.
About an hour later, the vet school called again. Not worms. Whatever it is, it is a foreign object that is rubbery. (That was the diagnosis from the lab)
Conclusion... Before I left for vacation in August, she had somehow gotten a hold of the neighbors tennis ball (A REAL tennis ball), torn the outside covering off, and ate the inside core, which got tangled in her intestines. This conclusion came after several hours of investigation and crawling around in the back yard.
She also had a grain allergy, of which I did not realize until after the obstruction was cleared. So both coupled together was a nightmare for poor Bella.
May not be Obi's issue, but it is worth looking into. If my vet's office had done a CT scan or MRI, the obstruction would have shown up, but on an x-ray it did not.
Hope this has been helpful.
It sounds to me like the vet you've been seeing is stumped. The "let's try this drug and see what happens" approach is a tell-tale sign. It's up to you if you want to see another general vet or a board certified internist. I found a really great regular vet who made the initial diagnosis on Lucy, but it wasn't until she referred me to the internal medicine specialist that Lucy's treatment really got going on the right track.
Also, I'll confirm that a prescription diet is probably not the solution for you. It may very well be that diet is contributing to Obi's problems, but the severity of his issues seem to point toward something medical that is only exacerbated by diet. If you get the right diagnosis and treatment plan, odds are the diet won't make a difference. That's the theory anyway, but Lucy seems to have missed the memo.
I work for a big natural grocery story so I'll pick up some human grade probiotics rather than going with the powdered ones for pets.
Sunyata, that's a scary story. I'm going to see how his first week on a simple diet pans out, then investigate into possible blockage issues. So far since I wrote the post, young Obi has been doing much better. I guess he knew I was talking about him. We'll see how things go.
Also, thank you for the suggestions to seek another vet or a specialist. There is a big dog community in Austin and lots of Vets to choose from, I'm going be looking around for a 2nd opinion.
Making sure Obi is healthy and happy is my number 1 priority. I'll post some updates once we finish our simple diet.