Gretchen gave us a scare, but all is well

rockhillmanor wrote:

Dashonthedash wrote:
Glad to hear that Gretchen is OK. So far, I haven't noticed any cysts on Hannah. Shadow has a continual problem with loose stools, even without antibiotics, and even Forti-flora hasn't cleared it up. Diarrhea is rare, but all his stools are loose. I have tried changing foods (gradually), but that usually makes it worse, so I wind up going back to his "usual" food.

I too came from the era that as soon as a dog had diarrhea you were told to stop giving them their 'normal' food and switch to ground beef and cottage cheese, etc.

Took me a lot of years of obeying this advice until I moved and had another vet. His advice was 'fast' them for a day or two, quit giving them more food to 'feed' the bacteria. And he believed that drastically changing the food on onset just added to the viscous cycle.

Gotta tell you the fasting DOES WORK. I have no problem now of battling runny stools for days and days on end anymore. First sign of loose stools they don't get fed. And within 24 hours it is cleared up.

I'd like to see you try that on Calvin. ...



Pops

Dashonthedash wrote:
Glad to hear that Gretchen is OK. So far, I haven't noticed any cysts on Hannah. Shadow has a continual problem with loose stools, even without antibiotics, and even Forti-flora hasn't cleared it up. Diarrhea is rare, but all his stools are loose. I have tried changing foods (gradually), but that usually makes it worse, so I wind up going back to his "usual" food.

I too came from the era that as soon as a dog had diarrhea you were told to stop giving them their 'normal' food and switch to ground beef and cottage cheese, etc.

Took me a lot of years of obeying this advice until I moved and had another vet. His advice was 'fast' them for a day or two, quit giving them more food to 'feed' the bacteria. And he believed that drastically changing the food on onset just added to the viscous cycle.

Gotta tell you the fasting DOES WORK. I have no problem now of battling runny stools for days and days on end anymore. First sign of loose stools they don't get fed. And within 24 hours it is cleared up.

Glad to hear that Gretchen is OK. So far, I haven't noticed any cysts on Hannah. Shadow has a continual problem with loose stools, even without antibiotics, and even Forti-flora hasn't cleared it up. Diarrhea is rare, but all his stools are loose. I have tried changing foods (gradually), but that usually makes it worse, so I wind up going back to his "usual" food.

When ever we give antibiotics to us or any of our critters including dogs, cats, calves and even our parrot who has only been sick once in the 33 years that we have had her and we fed her yogurt to help replenish the good bugs,ie digestive enzymes etc.

we have used lots of different products over the years, When we were bottling calves we used a product called Probios and added some to the calves bottles as a preventative. It has a long list of animals, birds and reptiles it is good for. It has a vanilla taste to it.

We have 4 different brands of products we keep in the fridge that contain live micro-organisms.
We get the water dispensable type. It's a powder instead of a granule. It mixes much better.
I hope Gretchen heals quickly without much in the way of loose stools.

dturm wrote:

Forti-Flora

is one by Purina that is species specific for dogs (also a cat version), but any human product should work.

X2

I went the same go around were all the antibiotics we used on my old guy to try and save him but diarrhea was just about killing him.

My vet gave me Forti-Flora and this stuff REALLY WORKS!

I found Forti-Flora provided by your vet is the BEST. IMHO better than the otc. It also has an aromoa/taste that helps a real sick dog want to eat too. It was what ultimately pulled him thru.

I keep a box of this on board in the RV at all times.

Glad Gretchen will be ok.

Fingers crossed for no GI issues.

Glad to hear all is under control. Hope she heals fast.

Hope your pup heals fast.

DOTLDaddy wrote:

dturm wrote:
...Try a probiotic...

Being totally ignorant of such things, is there a brand or type you might suggest? :@

This is the stuff I buy over at Amazon; Nutramax 80 Count Proviable-DC Health Supplement for Cats and Dogs. They sell'um with a 30 count box as well.

Glad Gretchen is OK!


Pops