What Now? Unexplained Diarrhea

[greysmom]

So two weeks ago Sunday, everyone was good. We've been on Canidae Taste of the Sea (salmon) kibble for several months and everyone loves it. Their poops have been smaller and firmer. No gas. Everyone eating just fine. Everyone gets basically the same thing - 1 cup kibble, 1 TBLSPN canned, 1 TBLSPN full fat yogurt - plus individual meds that they've gotten for months. I will ocassionally add in some people food and it has never been a problem.

 

That Sunday, they got the remains of an all beef kosher hot dog split between the five of them on top of dinner. So there was barely more than a mouthful. That night, Dorie (11 yrs old in October) wakes me up and has horrible diarrhea. Just brown water coming out. She has had this before when she's gotten into some pork, which she apparently can't handle, but there wasn't any in the hot dog or anything else she had that day. I fasted her for three meals, added a loperamide diarrhea pill (same as for people), and made sure she kept hydrated. When I started her meals again it was rice and boiled hamburger. She began to firm up and had a couple days where I thought she had turned the corner and was back to normal. We've done this whole routine twice now, and she's still having diarrhea.

 

Then tonight, Copper (just turned 11) refused his dinner and had diarrhea. He has been eating normally and having normal poops until this afternoon.

 

It's been VERY hot and humid here lately, and I know they sometimes can do this from the heat, but this doesn't "feel" like that. Is there something that could have been passed between them that my other three wouldn't get (yet) that would cause this? We had a cat in the yard that they chased and treed the Saturday before. I don't think anybody got their mouth on it though it was dark and I didn't see it happen. Plus there was some cat poop that they might have gotten into. And the crows are always dropping food in the yard that they seem to have no trouble finding. They both are current on all their vaccines.

 

We did open a new bag of kibble at the same time, but everyone has been eating from it and three don't have diarrhea.

 

I'm just stumped and wondering what's going on. Thought I would check in here before we head to the vet. Thanks everyone!

[macoduck]

Any chance they drank water from a bird bath?

[HopeForHounds]

Chris, sending everyone some major We had an episode of unexplained diahrea about 5 weeks ago. Never did figure out why, but 3 out of the 4 were off their food and liquid poop for a couple of days. Right when I was about to take them to the vet they all got better. The only thing I can think of is they ate something in the yard. Praying they improve quickly.

 

Came back to add this in case you haven't seen it already. Link to OSU Nesletter - Digestive Upsets

Edited August 26, 2011 by foxysmom

[greysmom]

Chris, sending everyone some major We had an episode of unexplained diahrea about 5 weeks ago. Never did figure out why, but 3 out of the 4 were off their food and liquid poop for a couple of days. Right when I was about to take them to the vet they all got better. The only thing I can think of is they ate something in the yard. Praying they improve quickly.

 

Came back to add this in case you haven't seen it already. Link to OSU Nesletter - Digestive Upsets

 

Yes, Janet. I saw that newsletter! I'm just stumped.

 

Yes, they could have gotten water from a birdbath. But they routinely do. Maybe a sick bird? We do often have bird body parts in the yard as it's a favorite hunting ground for the local owls and other raptors.

[macoduck]

I asked about the bird bath because when my 3 simultaneously got diarrhea, the only common denominator was that they'd drunk from the bird bath. My vet suspected there something nasty from the bird poop in that water.

IIRC we used Flagyl and Cerenia and at least one of them needed sub-Q fluid to rehydrate.

[Guest Scouts_mom]

Chris, My Mindy has had bad diarhea off and on for a couple weeks. I gave the vet a stool sample and they just told me she has hookworms (yuck). I know it has been about a year since Dorie was here, but have you had her checked for worms?

Edited August 26, 2011 by Scouts_mom

[GeorgeofNE]

Any chance you brought a bug home with you from one of your trips to the vet?? I don't mean an insect...I hope that's clear!

[greysmom]

Thanks everyone!

 

Ruth, I haven't had her checked yet, but hooks is on the top of my list. I have no idea where she would have gotten them from though. She hasn't been anywhere in the last two months. Unless it somehow got brought into the yard.

 

Though - I should have posted this sooner. Today everyone seems fine. Go figure. We did have a nasty thunderstorm last night, and it's much cooler and less humidy.

[BatterseaBrindl]

Checking for an update...

Glad things are better today

 

[greysmom]

Well, I took three stools samples into the vet this morning for them to take a look at. No hooks, no rounds, no giardia, no nuthing = except a LOT of rice passing right through their systems without being digested. I now have kibble and cans of I/D and we'll see if that makes any difference by Monday. If not, we'll add panacur and/or metronidazole.

 

Wish us luck!

[GreyPoopon]

FWIW, I heard an Animal Services officer telling a neighbour that one of the concerns about birds is salmonella. Some dogs seem to be able to fight it off; others--my Edie, for example--cannot.

[greysmom]

Two days of I/D seem to have taken care of Copper and Dude. I'm not sure if their diarrhea was even related to what's going on with Dorie, but they seem to be resolving. This is good as Dude really does not like the I/D. The kibble is almost completely ignored. He will eat the canned though.

 

Dorie is much worse today. Liquid diarrhea nearly every hour. Plus now she's vomiting up anything in her stomach, including water. I'm waiting for a call beack from the vet and hopefully I can get her some meds to help her out. Metronidazole and sulcrafate probably.

[Batmom]

If she's vomiting water, does the vet not want to see her? Might be a good idea to get her in for some IV fluids and a quick x-ray.

 

Hoping all will be well.

[Charlies_Dad]

Hope Dorie makes a turn for the better soon!

[PrairieProf]

Scary -- hope you get it figured out! I'd agree that poor Dorie probably needs fluids.

 

Beth goes on metronidazole the minute she gets D -- it quiets inflammation as well as the antibiotic effect. My vet is also big on 24 hours fasting. (Fortunately no more D incidents since she went on I/D full time in the spring -- and fortunately she likes it fine, I put about 1/4 can on top of the kibble each meal.)

[greysmom]

A shot of Cerenia, some PediaLyte, and pills (metronidazole and sulcrafate) for Dorie. No we see if she gets better. No vomiting for most of the day, at least. She's not going to be happy that she's not getting dinner though!

[Walliered]

I am now trying out Slippery Elm on my IBD grey.

[jimsherriek]

Dorrie please feel better!!

 

Your houndie friends

 

Secret and Izzy

[greysmom]

We don't think she's all the way to IBD/IBS. There's no blood in her stools and these "attacks" are very spotty. They seem more related to pancreatitis than Irritable Bowel issues.

 

Interestingly, there was a post in EEG many months ago looking for offspring of Mi Designer, which Dorie is. If I remember correctly, this person was posting to see if any other offspring had noticed partcularly sensitive stomachs. My answer is now "YES!"

[luvhounds2]

Hope these meds get Dorie straightened out & back to normal poops. Poor girl!

[4My2Greys]

Chris, are things any better with Dorie?

[greysmom]

We fasted Dorie yesterday and this morning, and gave her both sucralfate and metronidazole. She is feeling better, though she did have some more diarrhea this afternoon. It was not just liquid and had *some* substance. I'm hoping that means she's getting better. Does anyone know how long metronidazole takes to work? I know it will be several days, I just want her to get back on track as soon as possible!

[MaryJane]

The Flagyl (in our case) works pretty quickly - usually by the next day we were seeing results but, I don't know if most people see it that quickly. I do have to say that even though we got it under control quickly, it did come back and we had to do a second treatment. So far the second time around seems to have done it .... still keeping our fingers crossed.

[4My2Greys]

I hope you see more improvement tomorrow. Also wanted to say I'm glad Dude and Copper are feeling better. Have they been able to return to their regular food yet?

[greysmom]

Yes, the boys are both fine and dandy. I'm pretty sure whatever was going on with them wasn't related to what's wrong with Dorie. Especially after we found out thre was no parasites involved. Copper has always been semi-senstive to the heat, and it's been very hot and humid (for here) lately. And Dude was reacting to his trauma with Toni and the antibiotics - plus he was already going through a patch of tummy trouble from his regular meds.

 

Dorie has had a couple bouts of diarrhea before before I reaized what was going on - she is not tolerant of any sort of pork product at all, and we do give our dogs probably more people food than is "good" for them. This just kept getting worse though. Except for the days I would think about calling the vet - THEN she'd have a good day! But it was just going on too long. She lost nearly five pounds in two weeks. Fortunately, she's a big girl and could have stod to lose that extra weight anyway.

 

She's feeling much better today, even with a bout of pudding poo. It was better than pure liquid anyway. We'll see how she does over the next few days.