ANyone help?  I have a goldie who keeps going through a cycle of having the runs and seems to be intolerant to most foods.

I am taking him to the vets again at 8.30 and i suspect he will be given the usual injection/tablets.

We have worked through Burns/James Wellbeloved and chappie as suggested by the vet and i think the next step will be a prescrition diet from the vet.

Is  there anything in particular i should check with vet?  Are there any tests etc i should be asking for??

Thanks.

Hi Timhere
Sorry to here about you goldie, I can only tell you what ive been through with my Leo at about 6-8 months old he started having bouts of runs not much in the way of sickness. But we were back and forth from the vets in the end they had him in for the day I was told he had Helicobacter. He was given a long course of antibiotics, his motion did improve slightly but sometimes antibiotics long term can unsettle the gut. Gave my boy Bio Premium granules just a teaspoon a day on his food and they did the job. I would put him on very bland food with the Bio Premium and see how you go. Good luck..

There are various things you can test for - campylobactor and pancreatitis are two that spring to mind but there are many others.  Has your vet done a faecal sample test?

Have him allergy tested; blood sample taken and sent to Yorktest if he has tested negative for e-coli, salmonella, giardia, campylobateria etc, my have a small intestinal bacterial overgrowth so needs to be tested for that too.

my dog had repeated bouts of this....it turned out she had chronic pancreatitis and wasnt absorbing her food. I would insist on a few blood tests to exclude this condition.

Well apparently he is absorbing his food as he is not loosing weight.  Also because he is not being sick that is a good sign!

He had antibiotics and has course of tablets.  Rice until thursday when we have to go back.

Vet seems to think blood tests would not tell him much and that the next step is to try him on different food (I have already been doing this but he thinks it worth a try with more)

Anybody please tell me if i should press for blood tests or any other testing (he is insured).?

Annoying thing is that he looks absolutely fine and is full of beans, just so frustrating that he is always having the runs.

Thanks all.

Put him on a low-fiber, low fat diet for food that may help.

I was looking up in one of my books and these are some of the reason's for Diarrhea in dogs:

Addison's disease, Autoimmune disease, Bacterial intestinal infections, Dietary indiscretions/changes, Food allergy, Fungal infections, Intestinal foreign body, Intestinal neoplasia, Intestinal obstruction, Intestinal parasites, Kidney disease, Liver disease, Pancreatitis, Toxins/drugs, Viral intestinal infections

I think you should have blood work/counts, serum biochemical profiles, and a urinalysis. A fecal exam if not all ready done. Ultrasonography and endoscopy, you may need to do all these to find out what is causing the diarrhea. It sounds like he may have chronic diarrhea and that can cause malnutrition and stress both which can suppress the immune system....Do hope you can find what is causing it...

My lil boston with the rectal prolapse would always get diarrhea I had him on Euk/Iams, then his stool would be too hard and I had to give metamucille to soften him up, it was always back and forth...I ended up switching him to Nutro natural lamb and rice and his poo is just right. I don't give him metamucille anymore...In the real hot days he will get the diarrhea from the heat but rather then that he is fine...I can't feed any of my dogs dog food with chicken cause it causes them all to get diarrhea, but I can give them our chicken no problem which seems kinda weird...All food works differently for different dogs, if you have him on chicken try lamb or even potato and fish I think it called its suppose to be for dogs with alergies. My friend has her dog on the potato and fish cause she got the diarrhea from chicken and lamb.

Good luck :)

Have him allergie tested and go from there. There are a lot of dog foods on the market for dog that are allergic to different ingredients. But what about home made food like a mixture of chicken and rice and stuff like that. Look for signs like getting fat, hair loss, blood in diarrhea and exsesive drinking these signs point to cushings disesie.

sarah xxxx

I'd go for the various tests.  For the sake of a few quid (I know you're insured but I'm not), I feel it is not worth the worry and the potential harm to the dog.  Vets are often like GPs - useless at something that requires specialist knowledge, unless they see the results from tests. 

Also, many internal things in dogs aren't apparent without tests.  I had a dog that had cancer of the spleen - no outward signs at all until he fell ill - far too late to do anything.  His blood tests told all.

My Cavalier was the same he had colitis, then put granulated charcoal (available at petshops into his food ), and now his poop is solid. Give it a try it worked for us.

He was on Nature diet by Hills, now he can eat puppy meat, without the bleeding and runs.

Hi There
I dont know if i can give you any advice you havent already had, but here goes.  I have a pug, she is now comming up to three years old.  the first six months of having her was a complete nightmare, she constantly had squirty (sorry for being so blunt) poo.  we seemed to try everything, had loads of test done and nothing could be found to be wrong.
she is a greedy dog now, because we were constantly starving her(vet recomended) for 24 hours at the time. just feeding water and bland chicken rice.    In the end someone recomended to us to put her on wafcol the purple bag. it is wheat free.  they also said to weigh the dog and give exactly the amount required in several smaller feeds.  give nothing else.    well it took three /four days for the tummy to completly settle, but it did.  unless i allowed her extra treats then it would come back.     she is now a little fatty, still very greedy and has to have her food away from others to stop her pinching theirs.  but her tummy is well and truely sorted and unless she pinches the others food, or i feel sorry for her and give her extra she is fine.   I thought she had a seriouse problem, it was just diet though.
Beviex

Hi,
A couple of months ago I had exacctly the same problem as you. We tried lots of different foods and were eventually told that our cocker had a rice intolerance. By chance we saw a different vet who immediately did a stool sample and Campylobacter was diagnosed.Looking at my dogs history,the vet thinks he may have had this bug from birth.
A hefty dose of antibiotics followed and we haven't had any problems since.

Could she be Celiac, Have a look at www.oscars.co,uk. Kizzy went on to thier Gluton free diet about 6 weeks ago and has thrieved

Just an update, if anyones interested....

Back to Vets today and he cant do blood tests yet because of the tablets he gave me monday.  Apparently they would make the results meaningless. So Dylan is off the tablets now and back in 10 days time for the allergy testing.  In the meantime got to stick to plain rice.

Vet has suggested feeding a special food, which is apparently only available from vetand good for dogs with sensitive stomachs..  My gut instinct is to use this as a last resort and to try and establish exactly what the problem is.  Vet has agreed to this so we see how it goes.

If anyone disagrees or knows this food is good let me know.

Cheers.

P.S Dylan is feeling a lot better and seems happier at the moment :)

Hi,

May not be the case here but with my Goldies when they are teething they seem to have bouts of diarrhoea 2 of them did this and once finished had no more problems funnily enogh one of my babies when cutting a tooth did exactly the same.I also understand there alot of tummy bugs thatdogs are getting just now.

Also contact your breeder and see what they have to say :-)

Hope the problem soon sort itself out .

Briony:-)

Hi,

Wood green animal shelter did have a problem with the Coronavirus which their dog  causing diarrohea and thre was large oubreak in Scotland as well,just something else to consider.

Briony

Hi, he is 19 months and he has been like this since he was about 4 months.  We got him settled on Burns for about 3 months but all of a sudden this seems to upset him now as well.

Breeder suggested mince and winalot but this didn't suit either.

Glad things seem better at the moment. What food is it vet has suggested? Viv

I cant remember what the food was called!!!! Sorry.  He said only get if from vets and very very plain so shouldn't upset him.  Think it may be Hills as there seemed to be lots of that around

I thought it might be, if so have a look at www.hyperdrug.com it's where lots of vets get there supplies from, but I didn't tell anybody this. did I>viv

Try adding some oat bran and some cooked sticky rice, real rice, not instant stuff. Oat bran may at first make soft stools, but after a few days, it should bulk him up and normalize his peristaltic action in his intestines. Rice will tend to bind, but won't add bulk and that's what you want, bigger in diameter stools. LOL. gross. If he's got flax in his food, some dogs are allergic to that.

Carrie

Hi there! Just been trawling through the CD pages for help re my pup's soft pooing and came across your cocker's story. Charlie has had on and off soft poos ever since we got him and has been diagnosed with campylobacter. He had a week's course of erythromycin but still his afternoon poo is soft and huge. Do you think he needs more antibiotics? I've tried cutting his food down and it has improved things but not completely. Just interested to know how long your dog was on the meds for and what sort?

Hope you can help!

Hi Diane,
I have replied to you, feel free to get back to me if you need any more information.

I had a Lab that did this and it ended up to be a wheat intolerance!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Bella, but I haven't fed anything with wheat in it for months. Just Wafcol Salmon & Potato for the last few weeks. Have also tried Burns Puppy but that seemed even worse. Tried mashed potato and egg for a week and he seemed a bit better, then mixed a little bit of rice in but he immediately got worse and very smelly so I think he might have a rice intolerance. Might try Wafcol Corn & Fish next. Wanted to try Nature diet but I think that's got rice in it so probably no good.

Any other ideas, folks?

Thanks for replying but I can't find your reply anywhere!

Please try again!

Big thanks

Hi Diane,

Sorry to hear about your Pup!  Alfie was on antibiotics for about 10 days, to be honest I can't remember what the antibiotics were called but I do know they weren't the same as your ones. When the vet first mentioned the possibility of Campylobacter I did an internet search and that said the best antibiotic to use was the one you have!!!  Needless to say, when the vet prescribed something different I was concerned but he assured me that it needed to be a very strong antibiotic and that the one he prescribed was good. Well it certainly did the job, by the end of the course Alfie's poo was normal!! Oh, he also gave us some granulated probiotics!!

I will take a look at my old post about it as I can't remember how much detail I went into, and don't want to bore you by repeating it all!!!

Please feel free to get back to me, and if I think of anything else (or remember the name of the antibiotic)! I'll let you know

Diane,
Just wanted to add that until we had a diagnosis, I tried the Wafcol food (salmon and potato) and this flooded out of him about 7 times a day! To me, it sounds like the Campylobacter is still present!

Back again!! Rice also had the same effect that you are having!!

Thanks again!

Just been out and bought some Naturediet and some Wafcol Fish & Corn but after reading your messages I've decided to phone the vet. Typically the best one is away this week but one of the others will ring me back. I know there was another antibiotic but she wasn't allowed to give it to Charlie as he's under a year old so it had to be erythromycin. If you remember which one your dog had please let me know!

Charlie hasn't exactly got diarrhoea but just seems to "go" more often than he should on just 2 meals a day and half the time it's very soft/runny. My other dog's pretty much the same but the vet said he could easily have picked up the bug from Charlie.

I'm desperate to get this sorted as we're going away for a week soon and don't want to leave them if they're not 100%.

These dogs are more of a worry than the kids! Wish I'd stuck to goldfish (ha ha not really!)

Happy to help!! This just sounds so familiar it's unbelievable,Alfie was exactly the same, the poo was very loose and in copious amounts but not watery like proper diarrhoea. It was also very strong smelling (sorry folk)!!! Diet change made absolutely no difference while he had Campylobacter! Will try and find out the name of the antibiotic and what age Alfie was when he had it. I should also point out that he was never sick, although that apparently can be another symptom.

Found it!!! The tablets prescribed were 50mg baytril but looking at the date Alfie was exactly 12 months old!!

Still waiting for the vet to phone!!

Have given them a bit of Naturediet tonight but I'm not holding out much hope after what you've said. I think it's still the campylobacter. Neither of mine have been sick either, though the erythromycin made Charlie sick (hence why I'm not looking forward to him having to have it again!). We had to reduce the dose down until he could tolerate it so maybe it wasn't enough to kill the bug. Flynn wasn't sick at all but he's still got a dodgy belly though! Think the meds may have been stopped too early but until the blooming vet phones I can't do anything! Just hope it's not the vet who told me just to try every dog food until I find one that suits. Very helpful NOT!!

Will ask about baytril but think that may be the one he's not allowed til he's one! Hope not though.

Big thanks again.

<Baytril®
Baytril® is an antibiotic containing enrofloxacin.

This highly-effective product is available in a variety of different presentations and is active against a wide range of bacteria. It is licensed for the treatment of bacterial diseases in cats, dogs and exotic animals (small mammals, reptiles and birds), as well as cattle, pigs and certain classes of poultry. It is on prescription by a veterinary surgeon based on clinical experience, supported wherever possible, by sensitivity testing.>

Forgot to ask - what does Alfie eat now? Can you feed him normally? I dream of the day!!

Hi Diane, Looking back at the vets bill I realise it was only a seven day course of Baytril and the probiotic was given afterwards. Alfie now eats Burns, but to be honest he could eat anything as nothing has an adverse reaction now!!!
I know exactly how you are feeling, I tried so many different brands of food, even different flavours, rice, chicken, eggs, you neme it, we tried it!!! I was absolutely desperate and that's why I tried a different vet.......and bingo!!! We have never looked back! Let me know how you get on xx

We had loads of problems with Charlie for months, diarrhea & terrible rumbling noises. We were at the vets at least once a weeek for injections (£25 a go) to calm his stomach. We had him tested for various things the vet thought it may be but everything came back clear.
In the end after the vet advising us to try Hills, we started from scratch. We fed him chicken and rice for about three weeks, nothing else whatsoever even dog biscuits, treats. Nothing. We then began introducing certain foods that we thought had triggered him in the past, really bizzare but cooked meats seemed to be the problem. He had been getting meat scraps as treats in the past.
He is now fed on Autarky and is fine with that, we went through the usual trying different foods including burns, chappie, wagg but he is doing fine on Autarky and has for months.
If we go to introduce a food to him now we give him a tiny bit and see how he reacts over the next couple of days before trying it again but mainly we avoid meat and fatty foods.
I hope you get to the bottom of this as I know how frustrating it is not knowing what it is.

We've been down that route already, I'm afraid! Started on egg and mashed potato for a week, tried to add a tiny bit of rice but straight away he had terrible wind and the runs. He also had half a tin of the Hills Chicken & Rice prescription diet but that just came straight out the other end. That's why we thought he had a rice allergy and started giving both dogs the Salmon & Potato but even this is not solving the problem!!

Hopefully vet will phone soon! According to baytril website it's safe to give to dogs at 8 months and Charlie is that now so I'm hoping to give it a go. Before we got Charlie or other dog Flynn could eat anything which is why I'm now convinced it's not an allergy problem.

Thanks for you help anyway!

Hi, have you tryed superdog sensative? this is a very good food i have to feed one of my dogs it as he can get bad a times although not half as bad as he used to be!, he has now been diagnosed with an allergy problem (not food by the way).

Hope all goes well Fiona

Hi

My westie had a simlar problem.  We tried the probotics/kolin from the vet which are quite expensive so we used a powder on her food called protect which are the probitics and childrens kolin from the chemist.  It works for her if not better then the stuff from the vets and its cheaper.  Maggie has to have food for sensitive tummys, I mainly keep her on Wheat gluten free and we have had no problems since.  If she is a bit loose she now just has her medicine which she will only take off a spoon like a child and she loves it.

Hi Diane, was just wondering how Charlie is getting on?