Natsy,nasty Poop!

[Guest S8VGreys417]

ok, so ever since i have gotten Mae two years ago,she has had tummy issues. She takes tylosin powder for her colonitis and every once in a while i have to give her a pepto tablet. Sometimes the poop clears up for a couple of weeks, but it always goes back to really runny. She and my other greyhound eat Wellness Venison and Rice, and both love it. I have tried different foods with Mae, this one seems to do the best, but it still is not good enough! She gets checked for worms and parasites at her annual vet visit, and takes heartguard, why is it like this? What could be wrong, i just don't think it's normal! Is there any other test i should ask to be done on her? I NEED SOME ADVICE!

[Guest crazy4greys]

Sounds like she has IBD.

 

Have you tried her on Precise Plus? My former foster grey, Blitz, has IBD and he did greyt on Precise Plus. You could also add 100% pure canned pumpkin.

[jenners]

My Talica had runny poop all the time, for many months, and the only kibble that finally firmed her poop up was

Nature's Variety Prairie-style kibble. It firmed up somewhat with home-cooked Dr. Fox's food ( http://tinyurl.com/3dscql ) as well, but the best poops were created with a combo of Nature's Variety in the morning and Dr. Fox's home-cooked food in the evening.

 

Jennifer (good luck!)

[Burpdog]

When I have one like this, I do a 5 day panacur treatment regardless of what the fecal shows.

 

Have you tried Eagle Pack or SG Barking at the Moon? Wellness either works or doesn't--seems not to be an inbetween. Other choice would be NB Duck & Potato.

 

How old is she?

[macoduck]

I tried a few high price kibbles but have come back to Iams Pro-health formula. Firm poops all around.

[Guest S8VGreys417]

When I have one like this, I do a 5 day panacur treatment regardless of what the fecal shows.

 

Have you tried Eagle Pack or SG Barking at the Moon? Wellness either works or doesn't--seems not to be an inbetween. Other choice would be NB Duck & Potato.

 

How old is she?

I'm curious, what is a panacur treatment? She is 4

[Guest Winterwish]

I understand. If you can,what foods have you tried?

 

Or this might be easier to answer,have you ever tried Solid Gold's Barking At The Moon?

Or Timber Wolf's Ocean Blue?

 

You know,my grey never did well on,not only wellness,but venison-as well as lamb- altho' both are recommended for 'sensitive stomachs'. Nothing wrong with Wellness at all,just sharing that it wasn't a food that worked here.

 

Even lamb treats for example,caused very serious bouts. Could be an allergy to even one ingredient.

very good you're checking for worms as well. Very important.

For us,whether it was an allergy,or IBS...it was food related. I also needed to change foods about every 9 months or so,which indicated some kind of an allergic/intolerance that developed over time with any given food.

Just throwing that out there.

I'm sure you'll find a solution for you and Mae soon. Hang in there. Lots of ideas will be posted I'm sure.

 

When I have one like this, I do a 5 day panacur treatment regardless of what the fecal shows.

Very important!

 

You know Burpdog,not one vet ever did this with us until thru' you I brought it up,can you imagine?!

It was a dietary/GI issue here,but defintely thank you for telling us all about this issue.

Edited February 24, 2008 by Winterwish

[Guest S8VGreys417]

I understand. If you can,what foods have you tried?

 

Or this might be easier to answer,have you ever tried Solid Gold's Barking At The Moon?

Or Timber Wolf's Ocean Blue?

 

You know,my grey never did well on,not only wellness,but venison-as well as lamb- altho' both are recommended for 'sensitive stomachs'. Nothing wrong with Wellness at all,just sharing that it wasn't a food that worked here.

 

Even lamb treats for example,caused very serious bouts. Could be an allergy to even one ingredient.

very good you're checking for worms as well. Very important.

For us,whether it was an allergy,or IBS...it was food related. I also needed to change foods about every 9 months or so,which indicated some kind of an allergic/intolerance that developed over time with any given food.

Just throwing that out there.

I'm sure you'll find a solution for you and Mae soon. Hang in there. Lots of ideas will be posted I'm sure.

We have tried Blue, Canidae, we have tried solid gold's barking at the moon,purina just for kicks,chicken soup, and Wellness. Her poop gets really bad on chicken or lamd products, which is why i lean torward venison because it has shown the most improvement.

[ElizabethGPAPS]

I second the round of panacur, and also suggest a round of metronidazole/flagyl just to make sure there aren't any nasties. I also give one of my pups slippery elm powder with each meal to help regulate her gut bacteria. You can get that at most large grocery stores in the supplement section.

[galgrey]

When I have one like this, I do a 5 day panacur treatment regardless of what the fecal shows.

 

I agree. False negatives on fecals aren't uncommon.

 

[Batmom]

I too would try panacur and then a different food. Wellness produces instant liquid diarrhea here, in all 3 dogs.

[tbhounds]

If this has been a chronic problem I would seek out an Internal Medicine Dr. It might not be as simple as changing foods. True IBD can be a very, life threatening disease and not to be treated lightly. There are some very good medications out there that can control-not cure IBD. Do, you have a University or a referral hospital near you? I think in the long run you will save a lot of time and money by having her examined by a specialist.

[dmswartzfager]

Sounds like she has IBD.

 

Have you tried her on Precise Plus? My former foster grey, Blitz, has IBD and he did greyt on Precise Plus. You could also add 100% pure canned pumpkin.

 

I have Blitz now. He got very sick when he first moved in with us, and we are VERY slowly working him through proteins and carbs to see what he can tolerate. I fed him the Wellness venison and rice for a few days, and he got gassy and stool looked like it was going to get looser, so I tried Nature Variety's prepared raw venison diet, and everything's great! So maybe venison is the right protein, but the rice might not be the right carb.

 

Here is a list of hypoallergenic foods given to me by the internal medicine specialist who saw Blitz:

Royal Canin Potato/Duck

Royal Canin Potato/Rabbit

Royal Canin Potato/Venison

Royal Canin Potato/Whitefish

Purina HA (similar to Hill's z/d)

Eukanuba Response Fish/Potato

Hill's z/d - there is a low allergen and an ultrahypoallergenic version - the ultra has "refined carbs" as opposed to single carb - Blitz was on this while we got him sorted out and recovering from surgery, to give his intestinal tract a chance to rest

Natural Balance Fish/Sweet Potato

Natural Balance Venison/Brown Rice

Natural Balance Duck/Potato

Natural Balance Vegetarian

California Natural Herring and Sweet Potato dry

EVO venison canned

EVO duck canned

EVO rabbit canned

Verus Fish and Potato canned

Verus Duck and Potato canned

Nature's Variety Prairie New Zealand Venison Meal and Millet dry

Nature's Variety Venison Raw Frozen (this is actually venison AND lamb, but is working VERY well for Blitz)

Nature's Variety Freeze Dried

Nature's Variety Venison canned

Nature's Variety Duck canned

Nature's Variety Rabbit canned

Solid Gold Holistique Blend (Fish) dry

Solid Gold WolfKing Adult (bison) dry

 

Not as hypoallergenic:

Solid Gold Turkey & Ocean Fish canned

Royal Canin low fat

 

All the foods are available in canned and dry unless otherwise noted.

 

 

When I have one like this, I do a 5 day panacur treatment regardless of what the fecal shows.

 

I agree. False negatives on fecals aren't uncommon.

 

This is true - in our hospital's records, we do not write that the fecal was negative, we write, "no ova seen" precisely because false negatives are relatively common. A lot of that depends on the method used to run the fecal - some are more error-prone than others.

 

[Hubcitypam]

I tried a few high price kibbles but have come back to Iams Pro-health formula. Firm poops all around.

:nod It's the beet pulp.

[GeorgeofNE]

George had chronic diarrhea when I got him. All fecals negative. Flagyl firmed him up, but after we stopped, he got runny again. I had read about Greyhounds and Panacur, so I asked my vet for some, and it really did help!

 

He tends to get runny with any excitement, so I keep pumpkin on hand all the time. That really helps, and he loves it!

[Guest Ola]

Honestly, the only thing that worked to finally firm Mayhem's "soft serve" stools was a raw diet. They are much smaller now also, and very easy to pick up.

[ahicks51]

I tried a few high price kibbles but have come back to Iams Pro-health formula. Firm poops all around.

:nod It's the beet pulp.

 

Beet pulp is available as shredded or pelletized material, and can be added to any kibble. Many brands already have beet pulp added; for some reason, just a bit more seems to radically improve the stool quality.

 

1 tablespoon of beet pulp (mixed in with 1 tbs peanut butter to improve palatability) seems to do it quite nicely. Check feed and seed stores; a 50# sack runs $10 locally.

[Guest rubysdad]

ok, so ever since i have gotten Mae two years ago,she has had tummy issues. She takes tylosin powder for her colonitis and every once in a while i have to give her a pepto tablet. Sometimes the poop clears up for a couple of weeks, but it always goes back to really runny. She and my other greyhound eat Wellness Venison and Rice, and both love it. I have tried different foods with Mae, this one seems to do the best, but it still is not good enough! She gets checked for worms and parasites at her annual vet visit, and takes heartguard, why is it like this? What could be wrong, i just don't think it's normal! Is there any other test i should ask to be done on her? I NEED SOME ADVICE!

Greyhounds need fiber. Try 1 tablespoon of metamucil in the dog food. If 1 tablespoon does not work, try 2. It solved our problems.

 

[shel0306]

My Grey always had runny poop from day one as well. I put her on a good food(Natural Balance) and then added Prozyme powder to her food, 1/4 tsp for every cup of food. Within 2 days her poop was firm, it has made a huge difference for me. You can order it online(just do a search for Prozyme) and they have a nice sized free sample where you just pay shipping so you can try it fairly cheap. I now buy it in the breeders size and it lasts about 4 months for 2 dogs.

[Guest S8VGreys417]

Thanks for all the great ideas everyone!

[Guest KateWantsaGrey]

wow.. at least you've got lots of options!

[Guest Javagirl]

I am having this same issue with my new grey as well and he's been moved to a white rice/chicken/pumpkin diet as per my adoption agent's suggestion. Poor guy. But poor US! Those upset tummy farts can clear the room.

We're going to switch to Fromm's White Fish and Potato after a week of the rice/chicken/pumpkin. If its still bad I'm going to try the Prozyme. We just did 3 days of Panacur and that didn't help either. Unfortunately I know he doesn't have IBD because he was fine at his foster's house.

 

If anyone out there had issues with their grey and liquid poop when they first adopted, can you tell me how long that lasted? We've had him nearly 2 weeks.

Thanks everyone,

Kristyn

[Guest mandm]

I am having this same issue with my new grey as well and he's been moved to a white rice/chicken/pumpkin diet as per my adoption agent's suggestion. Poor guy. But poor US! Those upset tummy farts can clear the room.

We're going to switch to Fromm's White Fish and Potato after a week of the rice/chicken/pumpkin. If its still bad I'm going to try the Prozyme. We just did 3 days of Panacur and that didn't help either. Unfortunately I know he doesn't have IBD because he was fine at his foster's house.

 

If anyone out there had issues with their grey and liquid poop when they first adopted, can you tell me how long that lasted? We've had him nearly 2 weeks.

Thanks everyone,

Kristyn

Many times you will see results of Panacur immediately, but sometimes it takes a 2nd or even 3rd treatment to see improvement. In my area, we give greyhounds 5 days of Panacur, even though the standard for other breeds is 3 days. My vet likes to go 7 days for recently retired greyhounds.

 

My greyhound came with the worst stomach I have ever seen. He had multiple problems & it took about a year to sort them out. He was treated for Babesia, transitioned to raw, and presumptively (all fecals were clear) wormed with Panacur (3 rounds), then put on year-round Interceptor despite very cold winters in my area. Since your greyhound was fine at his foster house, he probably doesn't have as many problems as mine. Were you feeding the same food that he got as a foster?

 

IBD is awful, and if you can rule it out, that is great.

 

[Guest Javagirl]

Were you feeding the same food that he got as a foster?

 

Morning, and thanks!

Yes, we fed him the same food he got in foster care for a few days until it was gone. I mixed a little bit of pumpkin in with that because the diarrhea/loose stool started right away and we were told that was common. Then we mixed a bit of his new food in with his old food to ease the transition between kibble. However, we were using Merrick, Turducken, and my adoption agent thinks that the "duck" ingredient may be the culprit as many greys can't tolerate the richness of the duck. So we took him off all kibble altogether and are taking him down to a very basic diet of chicken/rice/pumpkin.

 

Ladd has had 2 rounds of Panacur in the past month, each round for 3 days and of course, the 1 day of Praziquantel each round. Yet, like I mentioned before, his foster mom didn't have any problems with him stomach and stools. I suppose I could just be being a fussy mom and he just needs a few more weeks of R&R to ease more into his forever home. Anyone have issues with their dog moving in and having diarrhea?

 

Kristyn and Ladd

[Guest mandm]

Maybe it's the pumpkin? Pumpkin is generally recommended for mild stomach problems, but maybe it is upsetting his stomach. My greyhound can't handle pumpkin (although he originally loved the taste) or any other vegetables for that matter. If it were me, I would slow cook up a big pot of chicken, bones & all, and feed him just that to see if there is improvement. I'd remove some skin & the big globs of fat before cooking. Cook until the bones are mushy. If you feed him just that, nothing else, and he does well, that may indicate that either the rice or pumpkin did not agree with him. Of course, it may be the chicken that is causing the problem, but the rice &/or pumpkin are more likely culprits. As a bonus, the bones in the crock pot chicken may help to firm his poop.

 

I'm no expert, that's just what I would do. When their stomachs are in really rough shape, I don't even bother with dog food. And when their stomachs are in really, really rough shape, I don't bother with carbs either, only meat & bone. Just my experience.