Diarrhea

[Guest EILEEN]

I've had my Greyhound fro 2 years now and since I have him he's had diarrhea regularly, almost daily. I've had him tested for everything the vet could think of, he did have Giardia and was treated, but still has diarrhea and goes very frequently, 5 - 6 times a day, can't hold it all night, I get up at least twice every night to let him out. If I don't hear him or he doesn't wake me he goes in the house.

 

This is my first Greyhound and my question is is this common in the breed, do others have the same problem? What was your fix? I'm really at my wits end and would like to solve this problem.

 

Any suggestions?

[Guest Ola]

The very first thing I'd be doing is getting a stool sample to the vet to check for worms, etc. The second is take a look at what you're feeding. My grey had this issue (ok, not quite this bad, but his stools were never solid) and switching to a raw diet resolved the problem completely.

 

Depending on what you're feeding you may want to consider a different food, or a different protein/carb source in the food. Adding digestive enzymes or probiotics. Adding pumpkin, a tablespoon or so to each meal (pure pumpkin, not the pie filling with spices). If you give him a bland diet (overcooked rice and boiled ground chicken/beef) does that help? The trick with all these things is that you should try one at a time, so that you can evaluate if it's helping or not. And yes, it does seem to be a more common problem in greyhounds.

[Guest spider9174]

i had a similar issue. Gable would have soft poo mostly, but then have a very runny one too. I've had him vetted and nothing came up. I've tried a number of things, different foods, adding ground beef and/or rice. I finally bit the bullet and changed his food again. I tried nutro lamb and rice, nutro sensitive tummy (better, but not stellar), and canidae. Feeding raw isn't an option for me, so I looked for a kibble that was no grain. I was still having troubles and I finally switched to Solid Gold Barking at the Moon. Solid Gold = Solid poopies for us, er Gable. TMI i know...

 

I think you'll have to try to figure out what is irritating your grey's digestion, maybe by eliminating one thing at a time. It could be the grains or it could be one of the types of proteins. I noticed with my guy that certain biscuits are not good in the digestive department. I ended up deciding to go as low grain as possible. Many of his treats now are no grain, I get some no grain biscits from the natural pet store, and his food is no grain now.

 

Consider everything you're feeding, not just the kibble. We cut back a lot on treats because of the high grains. When we did obedience, I even went to using boiled chicken as the reward.

 

Another thing that you might want to try is a probiotic to help with digestion. There is prozyme or dinovite or probios. Getting the good enzymes back in their digestion after a bout with diarrhea is important.

 

Good luck.

[ahicks51]

If it's food-related, like Ola suggests, pumpkin works for some dogs. We've had good results with beet pulp here; check animal feed supply stores. A 50-pound bag locally runs $10. We have to put the stuff we get in the blender to knock the chunks down to powder; I'm not sure what shredded looks like, but I hear that's also available.

 

About 1-2 tablespoons per meal. Works wonders if it's a simple dietary thing (i.e., the animal is not de-watering the stool enough) versus something more serious (medical).

[Burpdog]

What are you feeding? I have a feeling kibble that has rice?

 

Have you tried cooking meat and giving him only that for a few days to see if it clears up?

 

Is this controlled diarreha?

[Guest minzenon]

Try and find a kibble that is meat based - meat being the first ingredient on the packet

[BrGreyhndz]

We dealt with the same type of issues- we switched to raw and he didn't have another problem for the rest of his life...in fact- upon the switch, the next day his stool was wonderfully firm and maybe even bounced when it hit the ground...only those who have dealt with scraping up pan cake batter stool can appreciate how wonderful that was. I have been feeding all my dogs raw for 9 years now and we are thrilled with the results.

[Guest BlackandBrindle]

Spud had diarrhea constantly for about six months last year. We also switched to raw and it's taken care of that problem.

 

 

[Guest mandm]

What kind of testing have you done?

 

Sometimes tests don't give good answers. It's best to really look at the symptoms.

 

My greyhound also had terrible diarrhea problems. I got him Jan. 06. He tested + for hook and roundworm, so we wormed him twice with Panacur. No improvement. So we wormed him with Drontal (for tapeworm). Even though his fecal showed no tape and he did not have fleas, I knew he had been exposed to fleas before I got him. No improvement. By March, 3 months after getting him, I began to suspect TBD. Unfortunately, I had TBD experience. Vet suggested we do a platelet count, and if it was low, then run the titer. Vet said the money was better spent on other tests. Platelets were normal but the TL1 showed that he had SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth), which means his stomach was in bad shape. Vet said he should not be fed raw because of the SIBO. Treated with antibiotics, but not much improvement. In July, I took him in and said "I don't care if his platelets are normal, titer him for all 4 TBDs." Tick panel came back negative. In Sept, I took him back to the vet and said I was sure he had TBD, treat him. The treatment is pretty severe. Vet said do a platelet count. Platelets showed a decrease to borderline low from normal levels 6 months previously. I said "proof enough, treat him." Vet said "humor me by getting another tick panel." I agreed. It came back positive for Babesia. We treated the dog and his energy improved overnight. Since TBD affects the immune system, which affects the digestive system, we thought his digestion would also improve. It didn't.

 

Back up to getting him the previous Jan. He was wormed with Panacur (twice) and Drontal (once) and then put on Interceptor. The interceptor was dosed every month until he was treated for Babesia in Fall. I did not resume Interceptor because we live in a cold climate and his stomach was a mess. Everytime I went to the vet (often), I brought in a stool sample. No parasites were ever found. Ran the giardia test -- negative. Ran the Salmonella & other creepy bacteria in the poop tests and all were negative.

 

Switched him to raw after the TBD treatment and saw an incredible improvement, but still had intermittant diarrhea and could only tolerate a modified raw diet (low fat, high bone). He also ate an enormous amount -- about twice the daily requirement for his size. I continued to have fecals done about once every two months. Took him back to the vet in June just for a look-see. Had his TL1 repeated, and even though he was looking (& pooping) really healthy, his SIBO had gotten worse. Vet & I said, before we do any more diagnostics, we really should worm him with Panacur, just in case he had whipworm which were missed on his gazillion fecals. But we really didn't expect the Panacur to do anything other than upset his very sensitive stomach. Well, he's had two of the three Panacur treatments, and it seems to be working. His poop is consistently firm, and he is eating much less to maintain weight.

 

I think our experience with the negative tick panel and negative fecals was very unusual. So I am not recommending treatment without diagnostics, whether it is mild treatment like Pancur or harsh treatment like Imizol. I'm just saying that you really have to look at the dog and his symptoms. And repeat tests if you think you are on to something. You say this is your first greyhound, so you probably don't trust your instincts. But there is a lot of experience right here on Greytalk that you can tap into. If you would like to investigate rawfeeding, maybe join Naturally Grey and ask them. I think very many rawfed greyhounds originally had digestive problems and that's why they were started on raw.

 

I assume you have done food trials to try and figure out if it is food related. If not, I would do this first. I have found that decreasing or eliminating carbs really helps. I think that is why raw diets work so well.

[gracegirl]

First I'd try switching foods, this may take several food switches to find the right thing. Talk to a holistic or neighborhood specialty pet food store. Try some of the brands listed here, like canidae, barking at the moon, california natural, etc. Try varying protein sources. Try fish based foods, or duck or some other "exotic" meet (rather than chicken or lamb).

 

When I first got Grace I had tummy trouble myself. I found out that she was sensitive to both chicken and corn. In addition she had hookworm when I got her. He also tested positive for Babesia, a Tick Born Disease (TBD). She was treated with Imizol after MUCH back-and-forth on my end...do I or don't I put her through treatment. It's a chemotherapeutic treatment so not something to take lightly. She shakes and tucks her tail when she so much as smells a vets office now, poor thing. I'm happy to report now that with Canidae Lamb and Rice food and digestive enzymes, she's doing great. I occasionally add a product called Owelo Carrots to her food, usually 1-2 times a week.

 

Just also wanted to add that both yogurt and pumpkin, which are common things to add to a hounds food if they have the big D, could also make it worse. Fenway got the runs from pumpkin. no fun!

Edited August 26, 2007 by gracegirl