I have a ten year old labrador and he has suffered from gastroenteritis a couple of times this year. It starts with slimmy pooh, then he develops diarreah, as soon as this stopps the sickness starts. This is very upsetting to see as he is retching every five minutes or so and blood starts to come up (his vomit is usually just fluid) This time blood would squirt out of his back passage when he croutched to pooh. I phoned the vet and they gave him three injections, some cimetidine tablets, synulox tablets and some powders to desolve in water (he never touched this) I was told to put him straight onto a bland diet, he wouldn't eat till later that night and by next day he was nearly back to his usual old self.

I took him to the vets today and they told me to continue giving the tablets and gave me some more (the bill was a bit scary at £99.70) he was to continue on these tablets, then when he had finished them = i was to give him live yoghurt and in a weeks time put him back on to his usual food. He has never been good a stomaching dog food, for the last 6 or 7 years I found a cheap dog food called webox suited him best, but now I think he needs a more specialised food for old dogs with dicky stomachs! Would any of you recommend anything or would I be best to just keep cooking him home cooked meals of chicken, etc (he's boring of cottage cheese) pasta, potatoes, fish and rice.

The vet decided as he had recovered so well and quickly that he did not need any further investigations at this time.

Thanks Jane

Stick with giving him the live yoghurt it is so good for him. You could try a diet for the "Older Dog". A lot of brands make special ones just for the oldies which are supposed to easier for them to digest. Has he just been unlucky and picked up a couple of bugs over the year asnd I also think the bill of £99.70 was rather steep.

Margaret

Welcome to the forum Jane. This may sound a strange question but are you walking him in an area frequented by many dogs? I ask because the gastroenteritis (parvo) is a very contagious bug. Older dogs are especially susceptible to catching it. It only takes them to get a minute amount on their feet, which they later wash and ingest and off the cycle goes again. We had this problem with our elderly dog and the only way we could keep it under control was to stop walking him in the local park. His diet suited him and we never changed it unless he had a bout of sickness. We then fed chicken,brown rice,coley or Chappie! We did find that bio yogurt had the opposite affect and upset his tummy. Good luck with your dogs.

Hi
Thanks for the welcome and the replies. Yes we do walk him in an area frequented by dogs - so I might find somewhere less popular, though it is difficult when you live on a large council estate that most households have two or more dogs and most probably not vacinated! He is also a paw licker and occasionally makes himself very sore. I have a feeling it is the dog food that he cannot digest as on occasions when I have noticed his slimy pooh, I have taken him off his usual food and put him on the 'bland diet' and if I catch it fast enough he recovers. It is very worrying as each time he picks up gastroenteritis it seems to make him worse. What is gastroenteritis, is it a bug or a bodys reaction to, too richer food? as we are only really guessing that this is what he is suffering from.
Thanks Jane

It is a virus: CANINE INFECTIOUS GASTROENTERITIS

Hi
Thanks for the link - although a lot of it went over my head, its a bit technical for me. Do you think if I disinfected his feet after going on a walk it would perhaps prevent or help to prevent future episodes, also I am going to walk him in a less popular areas in future.
Jane

Dizzy had this when we had her from the rescue centre, she was in the vets for a week on a drip. Also Cas has had it and has had blood in her poo too. As soon as we notice the slightest bit of diarreha we starve them for 24 hours then feed them rice for a couple of days. It usually does the trick, Cas is allergic to artificial additives, anything that's not all natural gives her the runs so she's on a n all natural dried food.

Could you let me know what sort of food is it without the additives etc? as I think my pup may be oversensitive to additives & am trying to find out the best food to put him on

Hiya
There are quite a few out there nowadays, you've got the expensive stuff like James Wellbeloved which is free from artificial flavourings etc., then there are lots of types which are around £10 for a 15kg bag which are also free from additives, flavourings etc. We started off on Wagg but it tended to go straight through mine so we swapped to Friskies Brutus and they are 100% on that and Dizzy always gets complimented on how healthy her coat looks. My two have really sensitive stomachs and have been very il in the past with Gastro and giving them anything rich and full of additives just gives them the runs.
Gina

Thank you Gina, I am going to try the JWB as this comes in turkey variety, and the vet thinks my pup may also be sensitive to chicken.

there is also a bacterial gastroentritis.......its not uncommon for dogs to eat things ..its generally treted with amoxi or flagyl or both,.....sometimes also with reglan or centrine to control the vomiting