Doggie Diarrhea

[Captain_Happy]

The wife and I have been dealing with this problen now for well over a month now. Been to the Vet many times, and have yet to come up with a treatment will stop this problem. Our little girt (toy poodle) is now 12 years old.

I figured this the place to find some answers to our problem.

[dturm]

Without knowing treatments that have been done over the course of the month this has been going on, recommendations here are basically shot gun - hit or miss.

What kind of diagnostics have been done? If she is a toy poodle and on 10 units twice a day (what's her weight?) how good is her glucose control? I'd also be wondering about Cushings disease.

Things you can start to do at home are the probiotics (raindove recommended the yogurt).

With a diabetic, I'd be wondering if the pancreatic exocrine function has stopped as well as insulin production. Perhaps the solution would be to try supplementing digestive enzymes (viokase, pancreazyme), suggest this to your vet if it hasn't been done.

Switching diets repeatedly may create more problems and hinder diagnosis.

PM me if you need to discuss details of a diagnostic or therapeutic plan.

Doug, DVM

[Grillmeister]

Clicky

[Rede2]

I would get her off the Purina but do it very slowly. Introduce a few pieces of the new food and increase the amount every two days and reduce the old food by same amount. Here is a link to a review of all dog food along with the reasons as to why they received the rating. You can see all the five star dry and canned. Over to the right is a list of reviews of all dog food by brand. The site also list any recalls and you can sign up to receive emails of recalls as soon as they come out.
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/dry/

[Crowe]

Give her a dose of Flagyl and stop feeding her for at least 12 hours. Reintroduce boiled hamburger and rice, in very small amounts. Do not use chicken as it can be part of the issue and does not have the binding qualities that red meat does. Stay on this course until stools firm up. 24 hours after firm stool, slowly reintroduce regular food. If the problem recurs, it's probably the food but also have her re-checked for worms & bacterial infections.

[raindove]

If the dog has been through several courses of antibiotics, a dollop of yogurt with active cultures in it, may help. Sometimes the antibiotics kill the "good" bacteria in the GI tract, along with the "bad" bacteria.

I'd do the boiled chicken and rice for a while until you get a good firm stool out of her for several days. A dollop of pure pumpkin will help form the stools, too. After she is formed up for several days. start adding her kibble back in, very slowly to see how she tolerates it.

If she won't take the yogurt, you can try acidophilus tablets - I've gotten some in tablet form already that are flavored with strawberry. My fur kids gobble them down like treats.

We had problems a number of years ago with diarrhea in multiple dogs. They kept passing it around. We ran a number of stool samples, etc and couldn't get a handle on it. Finally, they found coccidia. One of our dogs was out showing and he dragged it home. From what I was told at the time, the organism has to be in a certain stage in order to show on the slide when they do a fecal sample- which is what amade it so difficult to diagnose. Once they figured that out, a course of albon finished it off for good.

Another possibility, since she is an older gal, could this be age related? I had an older cocker who started having diarrhea issues. Got to the point I ended up home cooking for him for a little over the last two years of his life. He just coudln't tolerate commercial dog food any more.

I hope you get her straightened out. If you are some place where it's hot, watch her for signs of dehydration. You can offer some pedialyte, as it has the electolytes in it.

[YC_1]

Ditto the white rice and chicken or rice and cottage cheese. Works every time for our dogs.

[xteacher]

Captain_Happy wrote:
She eats Purina dry dog food, and has for ever. She's also Diabetic, and take insolin shots everyday (10 unit, twice a day). And I'm starting to think this might be the problem. but the Vet says no. As far as feeding her pumpkin, that would be battle. This on picky eating poodle. Not much in her diet that's changed over the last few months.

I found something on the internet, it's called BM-Tone-up Gold. It's on Petwellbeing web site. Has alot of great reviews from people have used this product.

Purina has caused a lot of problems, digestion and skin-wise for many dogs. Dogs can develop sensitivities to foods fed for a long time; also to a protein fed for too long (chicken is a common problem now-a-days b/c it's in so many kibbles). Purina is very grain heavy. Your diabetic dog probably doesn't need this. I'd look for a kibble with a lower glycemic index, perhaps a grain free. If you do switch, do it slowly (at least 10 days) to avoid further tummy upset.

To help settle her tummy in the short run, you could try boiling skinless chicken breast, shredding it and mixing it with cooked white rice at a ratio of 4 parts rice/1 part chicken. This shouldn't be fed long term, b/c it's not a balanced diet, but it often helps settle a dog's tummy, and most dogs will eat it. After a couple of days on this, and if the dog's poos are better, slowly start mixing in a little kibble with it until the dog is totally back on kibble after several days.

Again, I'd look into switching to a better kibble. There are several that are budget friendly, if that's an issue.

[Grillmeister]

A couple table spoons of cottage cheese for a few days always worked for us and the dogs love it like a treat.

[PapPappy]

donn0128 wrote:
White rice and boiled chicken is the best thing you can do. Fought this problem for the first year with our Lab and that worked wonders within a day or two. Is possible that she is near the end of her life?

Not to say there aren't other problems, but a 12 year old Toy Poodle will often live to be 15-16 years old.

[Pawz4me]

What treatment has she had specifically for the diarrhea? A course of Flagyl (metronidazole)? Something else?

It's really impossible for anyone to offer truly helpful suggestions until we know what's already been tried.

[donn0128]

White rice and boiled chicken is the best thing you can do. Fought this problem for the first year with our Lab and that worked wonders within a day or two. Is possible that she is near the end of her life?

[Captain_Happy]

She eats Purina dry dog food, and has for ever. She's also Diabetic, and take insolin shots everyday (10 unit, twice a day). And I'm starting to think this might be the problem. but the Vet says no. As far as feeding her pumpkin, that would be battle. This on picky eating poodle. Not much in her diet that's changed over the last few months.

I found something on the internet, it's called BM-Tone-up Gold. It's on Petwellbeing web site. Has alot of great reviews from people have used this product.

[Rede2]

What are you feeding? There is a recall on Innova and other dog food made by Nutura.

Have you changed her food during this time?

Try a teaspoon of PLAIN canned pumpkin a couple of times a day. Feeding boiled lean hamburger or boiled chicken with white (not whole grain) rice is sometimes recommended.

Are you giving her any treats or is there some new treat or 'people' food you have recently started?

Probiotics might help, here is a link to an article from the Whole Dog Journal.
http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/15_3/features/Probiotics-For-Dogs_20473-1.html

[PapPappy]

Have you tried Pumpkin? Not the stuff that has the additives (for a pie), but the organic or plain stuff in a can. I think you look in the veggie section of the store, not the baking section.
Is your pup eating canned or kibble? Have you considered RAW? They make medallions that are a bit less messy.
I can't say that these all work, though they are the suggestions I've read about on our Papillon Forum (PapFriends.com)...so you may want to give the a try.

What has the Vet said?

Good luck