Hi,can anyone tell me what the symptoms of colitis are? My 18 week old lab puppy has had diarrhoea off and on since I got her at 7 weeks.She has had 2 lots of synulux from the vet,have tried tree barks powder,nature diet,butchers tripe(not all at the same time) and the diarrhoea keeps coming back for no apparant reason.Just as I think I have it sussed,smaller portions etc,back it comes.Last night her poo was brown and well formed,this morning she had done 2 during the night,and ate them,and there was a "cow pat" on the floor. After I gave her her breakfast,she did another loose,pale one,and brought up all her food. I am going to see the vet tonight,butI am at my wits end with her. Even when they were a bit more solid,there was mucus in them.I have had to keep putting her back on boiled rice etc.nearly every week,and am worried that as a growing puppy,she is not getting the proteins etc that she needs.If it is colitis,I can deal with that,and give her a diet that is suitable. She also seems to get diarrhoea the day after she has gone in the car,to puppy classes etc,or when I visit my son and his 2 gsds,as she gets very excited . She is normally quite well behaved and is coming along well with her training,but the diarrhoea is driving me round the bend.

Have you had a faecal test for Giardia, etc? Without this the dog is being treated for symptoms not the cause; whilst the vast majority of the trots can easily be rectified at home, some cannot and require proper testing. If this is ruled out I would look at food allergy.

colitis

I took Star to the vets this evening,and was a bit annoyed,because they told me to starve her today .When I got there she didnt even examine her,just said she is very small for an 18 week old lab,and there may be something wrong. She wants to do a blood test to see if there is something like a liver shunt or anything else which may be causing the diarrhoea. I explained that the whole litter,and the parents ,were small,but she is insisting that she should be a lot bigger. I have to take her in on Thurs morning for the test,and keep her on the bland food in the meantime.She was 4.8 kg at 11 weeks,and now she is 9.8 so she has doubled her weight in 7 weeks. The first thing she asked was if I had insurance,and then went on to mention blood tests,scans etc.She says even though all the litter were small,the rest of them might be bigger than her by now,so I will phone the breeder tomorrow,and see if she knows how the rest of them are doing.I am really worried now.They are going to do some tests in the vets,and send some away for analysis at another lab.Poor wee thing. I needn't have bothered starving her today,she was ravenous,and couldn't understand why she wasn't getting anything to eat.On hindsight,I could have given her something,as they gave me nothing for the diarrhoea,as I said,she didnt even examine her.

When Bess has stomach upsets (with poo like in Jacki's link, blood mucus etc.) I always give her porridge as starving makes her worse. I make it with water and put a teaspoon of Slippery Elm (like the Tree Bark) in if I have any. They are both very soothing. :)

Kath.

Hi Jean

I will mail you later as am tied up with Indi

Lucy
xx

Ok Lucy,Thanks