Poorly Greyhound - Please Help!

[Guest welshbec]

We've had Paco for nearly two years. All was fine until just before Xmas this year when his poos started getting runny and more frequent. We gave him as plain food as possible and this seemed to do the trick. He gets fed twice a day once about 10am (which he sometimes does not eat) and once about 6pm. He generally gets James Wellbeloved with chicken/beef/sardines etc. The diarrhea was very infrequent and ONLY took place at night time - from about 1am and then stopped at 6am. I took him to the vets - he was given a course of antibiotics and a course of Pro Kolin. This combined with rice and chicken seemed to do the trick. We stayed with the rice/chicken combo after the antibiotics but he still continues to have bouts and it is only EVER during the night. I took him back to the vets yesterday and we have more Pro Kolin and Hills ID tins and his poos have been sent off to the lab. I have been told to only feed him chicken and rice until further notice. Now however, I am noticing his poos are almost bright orange and jelly-like with mucus in them. The results should be back in a few days. In himself, he seems fine and as active and hungry as ever. But practically every night from 1am on the hour he is squirting out this stuff. Any ideas/advice?

[Guest Stargirl]

That does not sound fun at all. Here is a dog food analysis report of James Wellbeloved food. http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?product=2330&cat=all . They like it because it has no grains, but not full of much protein, so they don't recommend it. Still, that may not be the problem as you have used it for quite a while. When I first got my greyhound she was getting mucousy poops and wasn't feeling well. A blood test showed high pancreas enzymes, hence a bout of pancreatitis, so I really watched what I fed her, no fatty foods and that solved the problem. I feed Wellness Core and Taste of the Wild. Still, it is hard to understand why she only has it at night, but if she isn't eating in the morning, and only at night, that could be why. Plus, when I fed chicken and rice, it did NOTHING to control her bowels. I did feed raw chicken legs for awhile, one a day, and she liked that and kept her poos solid, but I haven't kept up with that practice.

[joejoesmom]

We've had Paco for nearly two years. All was fine until just before Xmas this year when his poos started getting runny and more frequent. We gave him as plain food as possible and this seemed to do the trick. He gets fed twice a day once about 10am (which he sometimes does not eat) and once about 6pm. He generally gets James Wellbeloved with chicken/beef/sardines etc. The diarrhea was very infrequent and ONLY took place at night time - from about 1am and then stopped at 6am. I took him to the vets - he was given a course of antibiotics and a course of Pro Kolin. This combined with rice and chicken seemed to do the trick. We stayed with the rice/chicken combo after the antibiotics but he still continues to have bouts and it is only EVER during the night. I took him back to the vets yesterday and we have more Pro Kolin and Hills ID tins and his poos have been sent off to the lab. I have been told to only feed him chicken and rice until further notice. Now however, I am noticing his poos are almost bright orange and jelly-like with mucus in them. The results should be back in a few days. In himself, he seems fine and as active and hungry as ever. But practically every night from 1am on the hour he is squirting out this stuff. Any ideas/advice?

I don't really have much advice. I just wanted to welcome you to greytalk and I am very sorry it is under these circumstances.

 

I know from personal experience that it is possible for a human to develop an allergy to a food that they have eaten their whole lives. I assume it could be the same for a dog. But it does seem concerning that this is happening after such a long time on the same food.

At this point, I would probably go to a specialist (if you have a large vet school or a specialty hospital, you can find them there). I trip to a doggy gastroenterologist won't be cheap, but it should get you some answers. I know there are some on this board who deal with inflammatory bowel disease in their hounds. This sounds like what they describe so I am sure one of them will give an opinion also.

 

For what its worth, my foster has food allergies. The only (non-prescription) food he can tolerate is Natural Balance venison and potato.

 

Jane

[greysmom]

If he's not always eating his breakfast then that explains why he's only having diarhea at night. The color could be a result of the ID or the meds, especially if it started after the change to this food. ID always causes orange poos!

 

I could be a food allergy, but it's not the only possible diagnosis. Providing all his other bloodwork and tests are good, it might be as simple as adding more fiber to his diet (with Metamucil or other fiber additive) or as complicated as Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

 

I hope you and your vet can get it figured out!

Edited January 27, 2010 by greysmom

[tbhounds]

Orange stools sometimes mean you need to check for EPI

[o_rooly]

Orange stools sometimes mean you need to check for EPI

 

I hadn't heard of EPI, so I googled and found this website: http://www.epi4dogs.com/ VERY informative.

[greyhead]

Glad they're testing the poo, and I hope they're looking for "bugs" and not just worms. Our Spencer had orange poo and diarrhea at night, and it turned out to be a SIBO infection (with Clostridium perfringens, which vets normally expect mainly in german shepherds) and subsequently Inflammatory Bowel Disease. We wasted several months doing food changes, sweet potato, etc. We did get improvement from raw food, very low fat, and no carbs. He appears to be unable to tolerate chicken and beef, so he eats venison -- of which he now gets both commercial kibble and canned, and also raw venison.

 

Best of luck. I know what it's like to have to get up four times a night to let them out! And by the way, welcome to GT.

Edited January 28, 2010 by greyhead

[Guest 4rooers]

When I first adopted Rourke, he had a lot of mucous in his stools and was unable to keep weight on. My vet thought he might have an allergy to chicken, so he started getting beef food(diamond natural) with homemade stew. Got some better, then my acupuncture vet suggested GI-encaps made by Thorne Pharmaceuticals. It is an herbal mix with slippery elm that can help with bowel problems. It helped immensely and he still gets one with every meal, and he went from a very thin 78 lb. to 88 lb. You can get them at Naturamart.com for about $8 for a bottle of 60 capsules. Helped my Ozzie when he was eating grass, too.

[RobinM]

Is his stomach gurgly?

[Guest Greytluv]

Lots of good advice here. I hope he's feeling better.

 

Welcome to GT. You'll get all the answers you're looking for here.

[Guest welshbec]

Thanks so much for your advice guys. I'd heard about Greytalk for some time, but for some reason I couldn't register. Paco was better yesterday - in as much as he only had three poos. Once in the morning after food and once at 2am and once at 5am. All the poos are pretty orange, jelly-like and mucusy. I should get the test results back in a week or so. I was thinking of trying him with pasta as well as rice at the moment. What do you think? I'm really torn by all the advice. The vets are insistent on feeding him chicken and rice but I've read so much about how they can be intolerant of the same. I've been told definitely not to feed him any kibble at the moment. I'm liking the idea of potatoes and white fish - that sounds plain and easy on the stomach. In himself he is a bit quieter, but not noticeably so. He is still as hungry as ever and loving his walks and wagging his tail. However I have noticed he is taking less water than normal - not that he has ever drank a lot. So I am feeding him little drips with a bottle every few hours.

[robinw]

Since he's not drinking a lot, i wonder if it would help to add a little bit of electrolyte solution to Paco's water, just to make sure everything stays balanced...i add a little bit of paediatric stuff to my hounds' water if one of them doesn't seem to be feeling well. it might also be a good idea to continue to feed chicken and rice, as per your vet's recommendation, until you have reason not to.

Edited January 28, 2010 by robinw

[FRISBYSMUM]

Frisby has been exactly like this since last Friday night. Pooing about every hour from 1am to 6am. He's also been off his food, both morning and evening and even his pig's ears. Then on Tuesday night he was vomiting all night. About eight times in all. Took him to the vet's yesterday and he also had a very high temperature. The vet thinks it is an irritated and infected bowel. So after injections of steroids antibiotics and anti sickness drug, he is now also on small meals of chicken and fish only, which he has eaten. He is very lethargic and doesn't really want to go out and I hated leaving him today. I took yesterday off work as I didn't want to leave him and I was very tired through being up all night.

[Guest welshbec]

Frisby has been exactly like this since last Friday night. Pooing about every hour from 1am to 6am. He's also been off his food, both morning and evening and even his pig's ears. Then on Tuesday night he was vomiting all night. About eight times in all. Took him to the vet's yesterday and he also had a very high temperature. The vet thinks it is an irritated and infected bowel. So after injections of steroids antibiotics and anti sickness drug, he is now also on small meals of chicken and fish only, which he has eaten. He is very lethargic and doesn't really want to go out and I hated leaving him today. I took yesterday off work as I didn't want to leave him and I was very tired through being up all night.

 

 

Oh poor Frisby. Hope he is better soon. Paco has not been off his food at all. Let me know what the vet says x

[Batmom]

Any results back from your pup's labs yet? It's good that he's done a bit better.

 

Re rice vs. pasta: Some folks on this website don't like giving rice but it's really a matter of what your individual dog does well on. Rice is a good low-residue food (which is usually what you want for diarrhea). When I cook rice for a sick dog, I add extra water to make sure it's very soft -- otherwise it just goes through and comes out looking like rice . I've only had one dog ever that did OK on pasta, and have never had a dog that could tolerate potatoes (both of which are often mentioned as better than rice -- not for my pups they aren't!).

[ozgirl2]

Hi welshbec - welcome to GT!

 

My Cody always had a very sensitive digestive tract. She also had a few bouts of pancreatitis so NO fatty foods for her. I ended up finding a food she could eat & always added digestive enzymes (I used ProZyme, got it online MUCH cheaper than at vet's).

When her stomach would act up, the vet would immediately tell me to do the chicken & boiled rice thing. It didn't help & made her worse - I had one of the few dogs allergic to RICE!!! When I switched her to chicken & pasta, the big D got MUCH better. Then I had to find a food without rice... There's more of a choice there now than there was 12 years ago!

 

Good luck with this - once you find a 'cause', it should improve. You just have to find it...

Edited January 28, 2010 by ozgirl2

[Guest Fasave]

I was told by a vet that mucus in the stool means colitis and the pup needs more fiber. Just a thought. I also had a dog that didn't do well with rice. Instead of pasta you may want to talk to your vet about millet, quinoea (sp?), oatmeal or barley. My dog did much better with these grains.

[Guest TBSFlame]

Thanks so much for your advice guys. I'd heard about Greytalk for some time, but for some reason I couldn't register. Paco was better yesterday - in as much as he only had three poos. Once in the morning after food and once at 2am and once at 5am. All the poos are pretty orange, jelly-like and mucusy. I should get the test results back in a week or so. I was thinking of trying him with pasta as well as rice at the moment. What do you think? I'm really torn by all the advice. The vets are insistent on feeding him chicken and rice but I've read so much about how they can be intolerant of the same. I've been told definitely not to feed him any kibble at the moment. I'm liking the idea of potatoes and white fish - that sounds plain and easy on the stomach. In himself he is a bit quieter, but not noticeably so. He is still as hungry as ever and loving his walks and wagging his tail. However I have noticed he is taking less water than normal - not that he has ever drank a lot. So I am feeding him little drips with a bottle every few hours.

 

If you are using rice overcook the rice. Try putting some chicken broth in his water. Just a little bit.

[Guest welshbec]

To update you ALL - Paco has been on chicken/rice/Hills ID tins since Monday (on vets advice). He has eaten his two meals a day. No treats. I have noticed however that he has been drinking far less water - although he has never been a big drinker. What do you advise?

 

The explosive pooing seems to have calmed down a bit. The night before last he needed to poo at 1am and once at 5am. Last night he didn't poo at all. In fact, all day yesterday he only pooed once in the morning - and it was orange and mucusy. He ate his two meals as normal yesterday. This morning he picked at his food and I could hear his tummy rumbling. When we went walking he did however have a "proper" poo - a relatively firm stool with no orangness/mucus.

 

So that it where we are now. I am waiting to hear the results on the tests but my vet advised me this may not be until next week. To be honest, I don't think the vet has much of a clue about greyhounds. So many people have advised against the chicken/rice diet they have suggested. I have gone along with it until now but now I've got some potatoes and plain white fish and will be trying that over the weekend.

 

From what I've read/been advised, it seems pretty likely to be colitis and perhaps a food-related allergy. I've been looking at Webcol and Wainwrights Salmon and Potato and think I will be trying them once the test results come back and if things have calmed down. A very gentle introduction though.

[Batmom]

If he's eating canned food, he'll drink less water. After a bout of diarrhea, they'll usually poop less until the pipeline fills up again. Hopefully the "picked at" meal is just a one-time thing but I would keep an eye on that.

 

Re chicken/rice: Again, all dogs are different. Some do well on chicken/rice, some don't. Mine all do well on rice -- and would have horrible diarrhea on pasta, oatmeal, potatoes, etc. -- but I have one that can't have chicken. So it really depends on the individual dog. The Hills canned I/D works well for a LOT of dogs with upset innards, in my experience.

[Guest Energy11]

Glad he is doing better! I REALLY like the ID by Science Diet OR the EN by Purina (both available by script only), for irritated digestive tracts. Does sound like colitis.

 

Hope he contines to get better, and like everyone has said, adding either Pedilyte or Gatorade to the water couldn't hurt.

 

Hugs to you both~