Hello,

I am hoping that some of you have some advice to offer me regarding my 18mth old Yorkie (male) who has had diarrhoea on and off for about 2 months now.

It all started when he drank the milk from my cereal bowl, knowing that dogs aren't good with milk, I expected what I got...runny poo for about a week.

Before he drank the milk he had always had solid poo, and had never once had diarrhoea.

My vet reccommended just feeding him plain chicken and boiled rice, which I did - for the week.
He seemed a bit better after this, as we gradually reintroduced his normal food (just the dry stuff though - he hasn't had the pleasure of wet food mixed in since then).

The dry food we were using was Eukanuba Maintenance Lamb and Rice, added to half a pouch of Pedigree.

After more bouts of diarrhoea during the night, we took him to the vet agian,who reccommended we swap his diet to a food containing only ONE source of protein - dogs often find it difficult to digest different types...so we gradually replaces the dry Eukanuba with dry Hills Science Plan Sensitive Stomach (which is actually egg and rice).

Thats where we're up to now...he has been on the Hills sensitive stomach for three weeks now, and still bouts of diarrhoea are occuring.

The are very unpredictable.

We give him no treats at all - nothing between meals (little at breakfast, lunch, and then a larger portion at Tea time, and a little at supper).

His problem seems to be that he can't hold it in...he wakes in the night to do it - there were two bouts of it last night during the night (we hear him trotting round downstairs as we have hard floors).

We are off to the vets again this afternoon for more advice... Has anybody experienced this before or have a remedy?
Any help, coments or advice would be very greatefully recieved.

Lisa Bradshaw
lisajanebradshaw@hotmail.com

Hi Lisa,

He could be allergic to the rice?  Rice along with several other grains is contained in most dog foods and although regarded as the least likely to cause a reaction can and does cause problems for some dogs.  It can also be the case that while your dog has been able to eat boiled rice as prepared at home, he may not cope so well with the processed version in dry kibble.

There are so many ingredients in commercial diets that finding what is causing a reaction can be difficult and it may be worth asking the vet to arrange for tests to be done to isolate the allergen(s).  If not insured it can be an expensive procedure and therefore it may be worth looking at a minimum content diet such as Wafcol's Salmon & Potato.  For this trial to be effective, everything including treats, titbits, chews, rawhides, sips of your morning cuppa :P etc must be completely excluded.

Having said that it may not necessarily be a food intolerance which is causing the diarrhoea - has your vet done a faecal sample and full blood panel to rule out other causes?

Good luck, hope your vet is able to shine more light on possible cause.  Let us know please.  Teri :)