Need Help And Advise

[Guest ThreeGreys]

Just before Thanksgiving I came home from work and found that one of my girls stacey had the "BIG D" in her crate. I gave her immodium and that did not even work. I took a sample to the vet to test it and everything came back ok but the vet did give me flagyl for the D and also meds for hookin case there were eggs that could not be seen to treat all my girls, and to put her on a bland diet of boiled chicke and rice. The next day or so my other 2 girls Heather and Cheer developed the "Big D" so everyone in my house was eating the chicken and Rice. After everything seemed to be back to normal Stacey developed the "Big D" it again and she was put on Baytril and did blood work and everythng came back fine and again the others developed it and cleared. The beginning of this week Stacey started to urinate more than normal so I took a sample to the vet and found a UTI which was probably caused by when she had D and bacteria must have got into her UT. The vet started her again o Baytril for 14 days. Well this morning Stacey developed the Big D, took her to the vet today and everything seemed to be OK and that it might be a side effect she is having this time from the Baytril. When I got home Heather had the Big D and now tonight Cheer developed the Big D and its just driving me crazy that this is going from one to another and so on. And just tomorrow I was going to start to mix in regular food gradually. I will have to call the vet in the AM and let them know now all 3 have the BIG D.

 

I have been using 10 min boil in a bag for their food along with the chicken and they seemed fine. The other night I bought a big bag of parboiled rice since I am using it so much I thought it would be easier and cheaper. I wonder if the change in rice could have caused it. I need advise.

[Guest greyttech]

Did they check for Giardia in the stool sample? Sometimes that can be VERY difficult to get rid of, and it spreads easily among dogs and cats.

[Burpdog]

I personally prefer boiled meat only or boiled meat and pasta or potatoes.

 

Make sure, as mentioned above, they are tested for giardia. Since it is going around, I wonder if they all have worms, a virus or giardia or have gotten bad food. If it's been awhile since being wormed, I'd do at least 3 days of panacur for all of them and would probably do 5 days for all of them.

[Guest ThreeGreys]

Yes giardia had been checked and everything is OK.There original food is Nutro High Protein and worms are neg

[ahicks51]

Giardia can be tricky to pin down; Flagyl is effective against the protzoan, but Baytril is not (in case you were wondering). As Burpdog says, Panacur is probably the drug of choice at this point.

 

In the days prior to illness, were there any opportunities for the dogs to be exposed to water or fecal material from other animals that could have been infected? Incubation can take several weeks.

 

IIRC, direct visualization (microscopy) for giardia is hit-and-miss. So is the stool antigen (EIA) test, but it is more sensitive and therefore more likely to detect the organism. You might ask your vet which test was run.

 

[zimsmom]

I have no advice but I feel for you. My Patches gets diarrhea frequently; but not like your describing. Hope it resolves quickly.

[Guest Ola]

Are they all eating the same food? Could it be that it's a bad bag or has gone "off"?

 

My other thought is that all these antibiotics and meds are messing with their gut flora - maybe try some acidophilus pills?

[Guest laceyj]

Hi ! It's Joanne, Heather's foster mom! I'm so sorry the girls are having so much trouble with the big D. you have a greyt resource here on GT. There is a lot of experience here at your fingertips.

 

If worms and Giardia have been ruled out, and if a food problem seems unlikely (if you've been on boiled chicken and rice for a while then it's probably not bad food), my guess is it's unlikely too that the change in rice is a factor. The only thing I can think of to add to what's already been suggested is maybe trying the HSD I/D food from the vet for a few days or a week in combo with an antibiotic. That worked for my Bandit almost immediately, although his was stress induced. I know Stacy was your stressed girl in the past, but that doesn't explain why Heather and Cheer started with symptoms too. The probiotics or acidophilus pills as Ola mentioned is a good suggestion too and certainly can't hurt.

 

Please keep us posted, I hope this clears up quickly for them, and you.

 

 

[Guest lotsahounds]

Didn't Nutro just get bought out by another company not long ago? Maybe the formula has changed and is not agreeing with your gang. I know Nutro does give most of my gang the big D. Just a thought!

[Trudy]

Yes, Nutro was bought out by another company, but their formulas have not changed in the last almost year.

[Guest ThreeGreys]

Hi everyone thanks for all the advise. This morning I went to the vet and got some flagyl for the D and some panacur and dronsit on the advise of a friend who runs an adoption organization in Fla where my girls Cheer and Stacey came from. When I was at the vet we came to a possible thought that prior to the beginning of all this happening weeks ago there were tons of crows in the neighborhood and then the leaves feel and my girls started to do a lot more sniffing, etc outside than normal. My vet did some research after we left the office and called and mentioned that crows carry a bacteria along with other stuff that just might be causing all this. On Monday Im gonna take one of the girls to the vet for an anal swab to be sent away and looked at. So far then meds seem to be somewhat working.

 

** Hi Joanne, Heather is just doing wonderful she has become such a couch potato and is Miss socialization everywhere we go she just love to give non stop kisses and has greatly helped stacey with her stress. They even follow eachother and sleep together in a crate. I'll send some pix soon.

 

John

[Guest wolfieskitten]

I find that if anyone has diarrhea all I've ever used was cottage cheese. That's it. ONLY cottage cheese, as much as they want until stool is firm, then one more meal of it just to be sure. If I had your case I'd probably add molasses (which is high in vitamin B)and perhaps some honey for energy. I've never had it last more than a couple of days, with the exception of the case of the missing chicken carcass and it lasted a full 5 days with bloody diarrhea.

 

**She was fine just little shards inside made her bleed in that case she was given Gaviscon plus cottage cheese and antibiotics, x-rays showed all clear.**

[SAVED2]

When ours get the Big D I start feeding cooked spaghetti noodles and Plain NOT FAT Yogurt mixed together. after they stop having the Big D I still feed this but I start adding a little of their reg. hard dog good to the mix and keep this up for at least a month, gradulally adding more dog food and less noodles but I keep them on the plain non fat yogurt. now they get the yogurt every day with their reg. dog food. seems to work here and this is what my vet told me to do. if the Big D does not stop in 4-5 days then he fixes me up a "combo pill" and they usually get two of these @ 1 pill a day. at 5.00 a pill normally this whole package does the trick for us.

Edited December 9, 2007 by SAVED2

[Guest laceyj]

John,

 

I'm so happy to hear that the girls are improving! I'm happy too that Heather is doing so well and has had a calming effect on Stacy! I would love to see some pictures when you get a chance. I think of Heather often, I usually fall for the big goofy boys, but she was such a love bug. She took a little piece of my heart with her. Thank you for giving these 3 girls such a wonderful home.

 

Joanne

Edited December 9, 2007 by laceyj

[patricia]

Sending many good thoughts for continued good poops all the way around.