Watery Diarrhea

[Guest haaky378]

I'm new to greytalk, and am a little ashamed that my first post is begging for advice. I adopted my boy Telly about 3 weeks ago and was told that he has a bit of a sensitive stomach. Apparently he also had a rather violent (i.e. vomiting and bloody diarrhea) reaction to his vaccinations a few months ago. He's been treated for worms, even though he never tested positive for them, given panacur, tested for allergies, etc. The first week or so I had him I transitioned him from Hills to natural choice for sensitive stomachs. I don't give him treats or "people" food. He had soft stools during this time, but they were still "pick-up-able". Then for a few days his poop was nice and hard and made his mama proud. Yesterday his stools got progressively softer until at 5pm, 8:30pm, 11pm, 5am, and 7:30 am he has had watery, light colored full blown diarrhea. He's eating and drinking okay and acting a little less peppy, but still pretty much his goofy self. Last night before the 11pm outing, he did seem to have some abdominal discomfort and was panting, arching his back, stretching, etc., but he seems better this morning. Should I be worried, or should I wait it out? I've been told to try immodium; does anyone know the dosing equivalents for dogs? I hope I'm just being an overly concerned new mom, but am willing to take any advice.

[Guest Ola]

I'm sorry your boy isn't feeling well. One of the things I would do is fast him for 24 hours so that his tummy can try to repair itself - that's tough for it to do when it's processing food. During this time make sure he is drinking water so he doesn't get dehydrated. After the fast I would be tempted to try him on some boiled rice/pasta with chicken/beef. Add a heaping tablespoon of pumpkin (100% pure pupmkin, not the pie filling) - it's high in fiber and helps to firm up stools for most dogs. I'd give him a few days on that and see if the stools firm up - if they don't we can give some other suggestions.

 

Have you seen the vet about this?

 

Re: the vaccines, since he's had a bad reaction in the past I would go with a very conservative schedule from now on. Look into the 3 year protocols (which are now recommended by many), skipping the vaccines that are not necessary for your area/circumstances, and also giving the vaccines individually instead of the combos. I believe once a dog has a vaccine reaction, they are more likely to have more in the future.

[Guest SusanP]

I'd take him to the vet. One of my guys had something along these lines that was so bad he literally sprayed the walls and carpets with liquid feces in two rooms downstairs during the nite while we were sleeping, then crept miserably into bed with us and leaked liquid stools. When I woke and noticed, he was very weak, and ended up on an IV for fluids at the vet's all day, followed by meds to help his tummy, and eventual transition to food (the vet prescription Iams Low Residue food has always worked wonders for us with diarrhea).

Edited August 26, 2008 by SusanP

[retiredracers]

Hi, Sara!!

 

I'm sooooo glad that you've found GreyTalk. It really is a greyt place.

 

I have to apologize for not responding to your email about Telly's arrival... I have the hardest time remembering to respond to emails (probably because I spend all of my time on GT ) . He is GORGEOUS!!!! I'm so glad that you've found him. I know that you are going to be the best mom because I know what you did for Bela!

 

I'm sorry that Telly's not feeling well. I would also advise that he have a vet visit to check him out.

 

Please keep us posted!

 

 

 

[Guest fatesrelease]

I'm sorry this has happened. I don't really have any advice except for what some of the others have suggested. But I am sending thoughts and prayers to you and your sweet greyboy.

[BootsyCollins]

I just went through this with one of my dogs. He did end up needing IV fluids and was diagnosed with hemmoragic colitis. I would err on the side of caution and get him to the vet.

 

We withheld food for a day, then put him on a diet of 2/3 overcooked brown rice + 1/3 boiled & rinsed ground beef with a bit of low sodium fat free chicken broth. He's been on that for about 4-5 days now, and I've slowly started adding kibble to his diet. He had a solid poop yesterday, so we know it's working. He's also taking flagyl, which I put in a dollop of beef or chicken baby food.

 

Good luck!

 

 

[dante2zoe]

I have a whippet that cannot tolerate various brands of heartworm medication and would have explosive liquid poo, literally all over the place. I eventually heard that this can happen, so if he recently took a heartworm pill, that might be a contributing factor.

[Guest argolola]

Welcome to GreyTalk. I will pray for your sweet boy.

[Guest haaky378]

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. Telly seems to be feeling a lot better. To distract him from staring at the kitchen and barking (in case I wasn't aware it was dinnertime), I just took him for about a 20 minute walk. He didn't decide he needed to poop until about halfway in, and then it was just one little thing that I could actually pick up. Now we'll go bland for breakfast tomorrow and I also got some probiotic capsules to try, so hopefully we can get back to "normal". I was reading through his prison records (the group I adopted him from has a training program at area prisons they send all their greys to before foster/adoption), and apparently soft stools were a pretty regular occurrence. No pun intended.

I still plan to take him to the vet, though, just to make sure there's no serious underlying cause.

Fingers crossed for hard poop!

[Greytlady94]

If soft stool are his "normal" I would really consider a food without grains. For now I would take him in for a check up, also take some of his stool.