hi all, my sister has a 10 mth old enlgish bull,the problem is she has had the runs now for about 4 months,and is even waking through the night to go. has tried various foods ,has been to see the vet they tested a sample but came back clear, but gave antibotics not sure why,she was then told to only feed chicken rice and bread still made no difference,was then told feed only pasta boiled eggs and tuna ,spoke to sis the other day and she said rosie was put on the pasta friday had 2 day's without the runs then sunday had her up all night and was really bad ,her worming is all up 2 date . i have gave her the name of my vet and told her to call them , the man i see is excellent. was just wandering if anyone has any ideas on what could be wrong
thanks dina x

Both suggestions from the vet contain wheat (bread, pasta)

This could be an intolerance to wheat and/or gluten (present in wheat, barley, rye, eg. bread, biscuits, rusk, many dogs foods) and if it is it could take a while to settle down on the right foods.  Try feeding just rice and meat for a week or so (no bread, biscuits, dog foods or treats) and see if it starts to settle down (it could take up to a month before any change is noticeable and 6 months before the gut heals ;) ) If it is Gluten intolerance then even the smallest amount could start off the runs.

Thankfully there are a number of wheat/gluten free dog foods as it is fairly common.

Hi Dina,

The dog may well be allergic to what she has been fed - even on the changed diets :(  For example if she's allergic to wheat, she's been changed away from one diet with this onto a pasta diet.  It seems strange advice to add bread to a chicken and rice diet for instance.  If it presents as a food allergy, wheat, corn (sometimes all grains), gluten and dairy are usually the first things to remove immediately from a diet

You've certainly advised her well to change vets - I'd not tolerate a vet who didn't refer a case to a specialist vet long before 4 months had passed when he's clearly gotten nowhere   Depending on what your own vet finds and recommends after his/her exam, I'd be requesting a full blood panel within a week if there was no improvement to rule out common causes and specifically request an EPI test too.

Please keep us posted and wish your sister all the best with her youngster - it must be a dreadful worry for her with a puppy having suffered so much for so long.
Best wishes, Teri :)   

hi,i did wonder about food allergies ,sister cant get in to see the vet untill monday what should she feed her on till then?the antibiotics they gave her are to clear up anything in her stomach,but surley if they don't no whats wrong how can they just give out pills? sister is getting so tired at the moment oh works away all week ,she has a 3 year old and a 7 wk old then getting up for rosie aswell its just to much
thanks for your reply's will pass the info on x
 

Hi Dina,

As Dill suggested try just feeding chicken with either rice *or* potato (my personal preference) until the pup is seen by your vet - this will eliminate a multitude of possible antagonist foods from the diet and hopefully allow any internal inflammation to calm down.  It's very important not to add anything else to an elimination feeding regime - no table scraps, dog biscuits, chews, pigs ears absolutely nothing else.  This way if the tummy and bowel calm, your sister and the vet can be confident that at least the puppy is able to tolerate the one protein and one bulking/carb source that she has chosen.

If after a couple of days things are no better, I'd personally switch away from chicken and onto white fish as the protein source and definitely stay away from grains too, using potato as a filler instead of rice.  Please keep us posted meantime.  Good luck, Teri :)

When I first rescued my bitch she had big problems with the runs.  She was as skinny as a rake and wasn't a good eater either.   We did what Teri suggested, still no joy.  Tests revealed nothing. The only thing that helped was antibiotics from the vet.  But every time she finished the course, back came the runs.  This went on for 6 months.  So the vets suggested I keep her on antibiotics long term and this was from 3 different vets.  I didn't know what else to do.

So I started asking German shepherd breeders and people who were very familiar with the breed.  One person told me that she knew of an old vet who prescribed a teaspoonful of bran and maize to the diet for loose bowels.  Well I was at my wits end so I tried it and the runs stopped.  Now, I don't know whether it was the bran and maize that helped or if it was the fact that she had just come to us and was unsettled and anxious.  Within a few months when I got her settled on a good diet, I gradually withdrew the bran/ maize and the runs didn't come back. 

I asked my vet, (that I have now), if he had heard of this theory and he said he had.  Something about the over production of amino acids in the gut and the excess is absorbed by the bran.  I don't know if this helps any but sometimes sharing experience do. :-)