Miracle Med For The Big D

[Guest houndhome]

My little Julie developed horrible diarrhea. We don't know what started it while we were on vacation (stress? ate an acorn? who knows?) but some well meaning but wrong care from our dog sitters made it even worse while were gone. When we got back from vacation, she was having pure water stools. After a series of flagyl and a shot of something (some sort of antispasmodic), she still wasn't doing much better. She had good days and bad days for a month, but had either very loose stools or watery diarrhea. After a couple of trips to the doctor, decrease in food, and a couple of other medicines there was still no change. She was happy and active with no fever, not dehydrated, and not losing weight, so there wasn't a fear that she was in immediate trouble, but we just couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. Finally the vet said to have her try Metamucil. He wasn't sure if it would help, but he had heard that it helped other dogs. I gave her a 1/2 teaspoon with her morning meal and a 1/2 teaspoon with her evening meal. It was a miracle, but she had a normal stool the next day and has been fine ever since. Since all three of my hounds are prone to loose stools, I've been giving them a 1/4 teaspoon with each meal the past couple of weeks. They all have firm "normal dog" stools.

 

Has anyone else tried this? As I said, I consulted my vet first, and I would definitely recommend anyone check with their vet if their dog was a bad as Julie was, but I just couldn't believe the result. It is likely this has been addressed before, but I just hadn't seen it.

[jenners]

I don't know if this has been tried and addressed here before, but it's sure worth checking iwth a vet and trying, since greys are so notoriously prone to the Big D!

 

Jennifer

 

[GreyTzu]

My holistic Vet recommends that.

[MerlinsMum]

I've not tried it yet, but Merlin had to get one of his anal glands expressed this week. The vet recommended either pumpkin (which I already use) or Metamucil.

[Guest houndhome]

Oh, I forgot to also mention that she was throwing up a couple of times and had a really gurgling tummy and was quite gassy. The throwing up stopped immediately also.

[Guest SoulsMom]

The vet at Tufts told me to do this with Soul after his scary bout of HGE. I tried it for a few days, but it didn't seem to do much.

[patricia]

I read somewhere and I can't remember where...or if it is true...but it said if your babe was on Soloxine to not use the Metamucil. Again...I don't know if this is true...but Flashy is on Soloxine so we give pumpkin.

[Guest GentleHugs]

Yep! Sure do use metamucil when the big D strikes!

 

I use the capsules though. In case you have a hound that is refusing to eat because of the big D - the capsules come in handy.

 

A few years ago, I had no choice but to do an abrupt food switch (the pet supply store had already closed for the night so I had to go to the grocery store). One of my girls ended up with horrible watery diarrhea because of it. We tried everything - withholding food for 24 hours, rice, boiled and well drained hamburger, plain roasted chicken, pumpkin, immodium AD - you name it. Finally a friend of mine that is a walking encyclopedia of lab values said for me to "shove" a metamucil capsule down her and wait for 6 hours. She told me to check with my vet first before doing it which I did and he ok'd it.

 

So, I went and got some metamucil capsules, shoved one down her throat and waited. It worked like a charm! It took a couple of days for her to produce a stool - even a firm stool but she was back to normal in no time. No more diarrhea! She was a small girl so I only had to use one capsule. My friend said for larger kids - you might need to use two capsules.

 

My bottle of metamucil capsules is with all of my emergency dog stuff.

 

 

[Guest EnzaFerrari]

Yep - Enza gets one capsule in every meal. Sometimes two if she loosens up a bit.

[rschultz]

wow interesting cause our dog has had loose for over a month since coming back from a kennel and vet did all the screenings tests, meds. we even tried low residue food. pumpkin did nothing. I may give that a try. this site is great. he wants to do an edno next but we want to put it off to see if we can fix it for her. I hate for her to go through all that and they say to do what we are doing now anyway.

[LuvAPuppy]

and FWIW, my vet says to get the Metamucil brand. The Benefiber and Fiber Sure they don't have as good of luck with and the Citrucel's flavour sometimes deters the dog from eating it.

[Guest greytexplorer]

What's the deal with "no metamucil with soloxine"?

Can anyone elaborate???

[turbotaina]

Yup. We regularly treat our fosters with metamucil wafers when they have diarreah. Works really well in most cases

[seeh2o]

What's the deal with "no metamucil with soloxine"?

Can anyone elaborate???

 

I'd like to hear more about that, too. I've been searching on Google, but have found no contraindications for Soloxine and Metamucil yet.

[Guest rubysdad]

My little Julie developed horrible diarrhea. We don't know what started it while we were on vacation (stress? ate an acorn? who knows?) but some well meaning but wrong care from our dog sitters made it even worse while were gone. When we got back from vacation, she was having pure water stools. After a series of flagyl and a shot of something (some sort of antispasmodic), she still wasn't doing much better. She had good days and bad days for a month, but had either very loose stools or watery diarrhea. After a couple of trips to the doctor, decrease in food, and a couple of other medicines there was still no change. She was happy and active with no fever, not dehydrated, and not losing weight, so there wasn't a fear that she was in immediate trouble, but we just couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. Finally the vet said to have her try Metamucil. He wasn't sure if it would help, but he had heard that it helped other dogs. I gave her a 1/2 teaspoon with her morning meal and a 1/2 teaspoon with her evening meal. It was a miracle, but she had a normal stool the next day and has been fine ever since. Since all three of my hounds are prone to loose stools, I've been giving them a 1/4 teaspoon with each meal the past couple of weeks. They all have firm "normal dog" stools.

 

Has anyone else tried this? As I said, I consulted my vet first, and I would definitely recommend anyone check with their vet if their dog was a bad as Julie was, but I just couldn't believe the result. It is likely this has been addressed before, but I just hadn't seen it.

 

I joined this forum in February just to sing the praises of Metamucil. Where have you all been?

 

[Guest KennelMom]

Yep. Metamucil is just fiber. Any fiber source should work just as well. Be careful not to give too much or you'll have a constipation problem.

[Guest KRKWMU]

Thanks so much for posting this. Bonnie has been having quite a bit of trouble with diarrhea lately. I hate to add more medication, seeing how we have a whole case full of meds for her. I picked up the Metamucil wafers at lunch time and we'll try those with Bonnie. I hope it helps!

[Guest Greensleeves]

Actually, you shouldn't get constipation from "too much" Metamucil--soluble fiber works wonders for *stabilizing* the bowels; Metamucil works just as well as a laxative as it does to control diarrhea. That's why it's one of the very first treatments recommended for patients with irritable bowel syndrom (which can present as constipation-predominant, diarrhea-predominant, or a combination of the two). This site provides good information on how/why soluble fiber works so well.

 

And, since I'm on daily fiber therapy AND thyroid meds myself, I'd also like to hear about the "No Metamucil + Soloxine" thing. No one has ever mentioned anything of the sort to me (including my GI doc, who prescribed both of them).

[krissn333]

Actually, you shouldn't get constipation from "too much" Metamucil--soluble fiber works wonders for *stabilizing* the bowels; Metamucil works just as well as a laxative as it does to control diarrhea. That's why it's one of the very first treatments recommended for patients with irritable bowel syndrom (which can present as constipation-predominant, diarrhea-predominant, or a combination of the two). This site provides good information on how/why soluble fiber works so well.

 

And, since I'm on daily fiber therapy AND thyroid meds myself, I'd also like to hear about the "No Metamucil + Soloxine" thing. No one has ever mentioned anything of the sort to me (including my GI doc, who prescribed both of them).

I had to give Skimmie metamucil because his poops were too hard

[Guest BasilMom]

It truly is a wonder for the big D. I've been using it for years with reccomendation from my Vet. My Basil boy has Colitis and when he has big flare ups I sprinkle it on his food. The old version of Kaopectate was a wonder drug too,the new version doesn't work for us here.

[Guest EmbersDad]

wow, i gotta keep this inmind. my new girlie, althea, may have some d...i havent seen her take a dump yet, but she does have what appears to be dried poo on her inside legs...yet the heiney is clear....i dont know how it got there unless she was running in the yard and hit the "bullseye" while trucking around. she has no gas and has not had an accident in the house. she arrived eating pro plan and i have started transitioning her to evo. she gets 2 cups of pro plan in the am and pm. ive been cuttingthat back to like 1.5 cups pro plan and 1/2 cup evo. maybe im going too fast?

[Guest MZH]

What's the deal with "no metamucil with soloxine"?

Can anyone elaborate???

 

I'd like to hear more about that, too. I've been searching on Google, but have found no contraindications for Soloxine and Metamucil yet.

 

All I know is that when we were giving Metamucil/psyllium (we didn't give that brand -- my vet liked the GNC brand better for some reason) to Cullen his phenobarbital levels dropped a lot. When we stopped the fiber granules, his levels became normal again. We didn't change the pheno dose. Cullen's poos were better on the psyllium but his seizures got worse. We dropped the fiber and went to tylosin powder instead and life got better fast!

 

The Mayo clinic actually did a study on the effects of fiber supps on certain meds. It may not say thyroid meds but why take a chance. I would guess that giving meds as far away from when you give the fiber should be OK.

 

PS Psyllium (like Metamucil) gives some of us diarrhea whereas the methylcellulose (like Citrucel) doesn't. It's a good alternative if the pysllium doesn't work they way you want it to.

 

Marcia

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

I have posted on too many of the "D" threads to count, but yes I believe that Metamucil works wonders. I have a close friend that is a vet and she suggested it to me for my cat. When I got my first grey he had the "D" for many weeks with a trip to the vet (no help). I decided to try it on my own, and whammo, nice regular poops.

 

Chad

[grey8greys]

I sure hope the Metamucil works for my girl. She has had the runs for 2 weeks and has been to the vets. I started it yesterday, time will tell

[Guest Lovey_Hounds]

What a grerat idea! we have tried everything we could to help out our boy.... he regularly poops the same consitency as soft serve ice cream... i will call my vet in the mornign and see if he says it is ok.... we have tried everything else anyways.....lol