Hi im just after some advice for a friend, she has a 5 and a half month old Siberian Husky bitch. Her poos have been very loose almost since day one and she seems to have some intolerance to whatever she is eating. They have been to the vets several times and it has been incolnclusive and fed her variety of different things, all of high quality products. She has been back to the breeder and his advice hasnt helped either. They got her from a good breeder kc accredited and runs all required tests for glaucoma and hip scoring etc, i met him and his dogs and they are all good healthy stock that attend and win crufts etc. She is thinking of changing vets now too. I am wondering if anyone has experienced similar events or has any experience on the issue? I have a friend whos dalmation could not eat protein and had to be on a special diet that cost alot of money, luckily she is insured so if this is a problem she is covered. She is also drinking alot of water passing it just as often too, they have tried chicken rice and potatoes and chappie and all those sorts of things. She is herself and a happy little puppy and it doesnt seem to be affecting her, she isnt overweight either. Any advice would be helpful, she is at her wits end and as with a first child its her first puppy and she is very worried.

Thanks Louise

Has the stool been checked for campylobacter (sp) as this can be hard to shift.

The reason I ask is my friend when she bought her well bred Dobe pup home he had the runs, on and off from the start and that is what it turned out to be.  After testing the right antibiotics knocked it on the head.  Problem is that prolonged 'dire rear' can inflame the digestive tract so you get a chicken or egg scenario.

Also I was told years ago that Sibes can have trouble metabolising Iodine from some commercial diets (but that was in the days of the muesli types).

If your friend thinks her dog may have food intolerances then she can get this tested at the vets. I did and I was suprised at just how much my girl can't have! Her diet was 'tweaked' and, as most dry foods contained rice or wheat/yeast/egg powder or whatever it became a big issue to get her on the right track.
Or
you could just try one food at a time, say chicken, and stick to that and nothing else - no grains etc. Then introduce another meat and see what happens. Far better, imo, to have the blood test and save some time :)
Like Barbara said though, prolonged dire rear (or colitis) isn't a good thing so she needs to get it sorted asap

Hi Louise,

ditto Brainless & Missie - I'd get further checks done sooner rather than later.  Discuss with vet possibilities of giardia and SIBO too - both relatively easily treated with meds :)

TBH I'm not a believer in the allergy tests done by York etc - they are not always accurate and unless covered by insurance probably not worth paying out the cost of at this point.  I'd have the faecal sample and bloods done to rule out serious ailments and if intolerance was then the most likely cause I'd go down the exclusion trial route :)  As Missie suggested before, give one ingredient at a time for at least a week then add another and when your friend gets to (say) 3, stick with those alone for a minimum of 8 weeks providing there are no obvious diverse effects.  Then gradually introduce another ingredient - any problems arising this way are easily recognised, identified and can be discarded from the dog's diet.  It is a lengthy process but a reliable one :)

EDITED to add I would probably go down the route of a home prepared and/or raw diet - even ingredients known to cause problems can often be fed raw when not possible to cope with after processing.

ooh you put it sooo much better than me Teri ;)

I think mine had the intolerance test because my vet was running out of ideas :rolleyes: and she was going downhill fast.  I did attempt the exclusion trial first but, as it turned out, she had 'other issues' so it wasn't working quick enough :(

I also agree with Teri's edit :)

Hi thanks for the advice, she went to pets at home and spoke to one of the workers there that has sibes too, she said she had a similar problem with hers when they were young so she suggested 'Wainwrights'' i think it is. I dont rate it myself but we shall see. I was doing a little bit of research on the matter and found Arden Grange food products being hypoallergenic etc without wheat, beef, dairy and gluten. So if what she has bought now doesnt work, which i dont have high hopes for as it isnt anything special, i will suggest that and the vets analysis of (insert word) what ever you said to try. Sometimes i wonder why they go to uni for 5 years they seem to know less than us at times. Thanks for your advice, glad i dont get this with my DDBs, just bloody fussy is what they are. xxx

>she suggested 'Wainwrights''

I bet she did - it's Pets at Home own brand! :-P

Has she asked the breeders' advice?
Is she feeding what the breeder had them on?

My ACS had either loose stools or vomited regularly when he was a puppy. Depending on the food I gave him (and they were all good quality foods), it was one or the other.

In the end, when a flea allergy triggered additional symptoms like itching skin and inflamed spots, I put him on Nature Diet Lamb and Rice and nothing else at all for about 4 weeks! That did the trick... no more vomiting, no more loose poos! He is now able to digest a variety of other stuff too... but only as long as his staple diet is Nature Diet as above! Any other food he either throws up again or has diarrhea again... or both!

So I would try an exclusion diet with just one protein source and see how it goes.

Vera

PS. We also have a dog that is allergic to animal proteins alltogether and he is doing very well on a vegan diet.

When i first got my pup (nearly a year ago now, aahhh-where's the time gone) he suffered from terrible bouts of sickness and diorrhea. I would have a few days of him being fine, then loose stools or a bout of sickess (all for no reason).  The vet said it was an allergy, not a medical problem.He was and has never been given wrong food and is on a good complete food, but even now he still has these "episodes". When he first had it, the vet gave me tins of Hills, prescription diet - z/d ultra allergen free. Once he'd had this for a few days we worked on a process of elimination to work out what it was causing the problems. It turned out he was allergic to gluten. Unfortunatley he is always going to suffer from a weak stomach and still has days where he is sick or loose. These happen a lot more than i would consider a "normal" dog would have. I'd recommend getting your puppy back to normal, then work as i did on a process of elimination. I also give bio-yogurt to try and replace the good bacteria, and always keep a tin of his z/d food incase he gets really bad, and i can therefore try and stop it getting any worse. Hope that helps. Good luck-it does get easier and become more manageable!!!x