I'm So Frustrated

[Guest houndhome]

Of course, whatever your vet says is best should be followed, and I'm jinxing myself here, but there has been no extreme D in this house in over a year and a half, and it used to be a common occurrence. I give all three hounds 1/4 tsp of Metamucil with each meal (am and pm), like you are doing, and then up that to 1/2 tsp if they get loose stools. Sounds like your hounds have something going on, but my guess is their innards are also pretty irritated so upping the metamucil is probably a good thing if your vet agrees. Definitely, get the poop cup/stool guard. Many greyhound groups sell them, but here is one site - http://www.greyhoundsonly.com/onlinestore/doggear.html. You can google greyhound poop guard and get a bunch of sites. Good luck!

[Guest Swifthounds]

Frosty & Vinny both had their Rabies & DHPP booster shots on 10/10 and both of them have had diarrhea since then.

They have been on ground beef & rice for 3 months now....everytime I add in even 5-10 pieces of kibble, they get explosive diarrhea....

The ongoing diarrhea can be very frustrating, but have you tried adding a probiotic and/or a few days of slippery elm bark? Sometimes it's just a matter of the GI tract being upset and breaking the cycle.

 

Feeding solely meat, or meat with rice over a longer period of time (as opposed to the common 7-10 days to settle GI upset) can have problems of its own. Namely, it is high in phosphorous and totally lacking in calcium. Over time this can create problems of its own.

 

Could this be caused by the shots? Would it last this long if it were caused by the shots?

 

Yes and yes. If you choose to vaccinate again in 3 years, you'll probably want to separate the rabies vaccine and the distemper by 2-3 week period. If this vaccine had lepto, I'd definitely omit that next time. Giving the vaccines several weeks apart serves 2 purposes: 1) you can tell which vaccine causes subsequent issues, and 2) it allows the vaccine to actually create an immune response - too many vaccs at once can cause the immune system to not react as it should).

 

You may want to look into homeopathic treatments for vaccine damage.

[Guest FrostyBottoms]

Fecal results just came in...we are all clear! It was a level II testing for clostridium (i think that's what he said) and something else and any nasty parasite too. So we still have solid poop after I got rid of the rice and if I go out there with Vinny, he poops and runs right to the back door and isn't trying to eat the poop anymore (because there isn't rice in it) He will always be a poopsicle snacker, but he isn't relying on poop as food anymore.

YAY!!!! I am still using the metimucil, the vet told me to start bumping up the kibble and using less beef and see how it goes. I am soooo happy! It's a Christmas miracle!

 

BTW...I will never again do 2 vaccines at the same time...I will titer them first to see what they need.

[Batmom]

What we did for vaccines was to go 3-year on everything except lepto and bordetella. I give lepto annually -- we have a lot of critters here, and a lot of lepto cases -- and bordetella (kennel cough) as needed for upcoming boarding, events, etc.

 

Folks are always suspicious of the lepto vaccine but it's the one shot Zema has absolutely no reaction to. Go figure.

 

Glad the kids are better!

[Burpdog]

Glad things are getting better!

 

BTW...I will never again do 2 vaccines at the same time...I will titer them first to see what they need

 

I NEVER do shots together and will also break up the lepto from the DHLP if I give it. Also, never do shots with anesthesia. Yes, a lot of adoption groups do it for convenience, but it only takes once....

[Guest mcsheltie]

Titering first is the way to go. Most states accept 3 yr rabies now. If we have to vaccinate yearly I do it six months apart. With the 3 yr period I can space them out with over a year in between.