Guest Gemma Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Peyton has been having intermittent diarrhea since November. Initially, we couldn't find a pattern. Then I noticed that it usually happened after he ate a turkey neck (he gets raw in the evening). At this time, he occasionally had fresh blood in his stool as well. I stopped feeding ALL raw for about a week, thinking that maybe a shard of bone had cut him and he needed time to heal. This seemed to be proven correct when everything returned to normal on the kibble. I decided to only feed him chicken backs/thighs from now on since it looked like he was struggling to fully digest any bigger bones. All was normal. Then, last week, I gave him kibble for dinner due to a timing issue and the next morning he had diarrhea with fresh blood in it. I took a sample to the vet immediately to have it tested for parasites. It came back completely clean. He's been on kibble since the diarrhea (Monday morning) and has had a small amount of fresh blood in his stool on and off since then. There is less of it than on Monday. I spoke to the vet tech and she is not super concerned. She agrees that a shard of bone could have been the original problem and the diarrhea irritated his healing colon, potentially resulting in more blood. We are taking him in this weekend to have an examine, just to rule everything out. While we wait, I am curious if anyone here has any thoughts on this. He is not showing any signs of intestinal discomfort and is not reluctant to go; no crying, whining, or straining. He's not licking at the area, either, which makes me question my thought that maybe something is going on with his anal glands. Is it possible he just cannot handle raw bones anymore? If we have to take him off for his health, we will do so readily. Is there another possible cause? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyandHollyluv Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Poor Peyton. I have never fed raw or given my hounds raw bones, but two of my hounds had blood in their stool when I fed them Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream. I think the food was too rich for them. I know it's a popular kibble but it didn't work for my dogs. When I switched them to another brand the bloody stools stopped. Just a thought: You might try a little Manuka honey. My (angel) girl who had protein losing nephropathy (kidney) was also dx'd with a related ulcer. She refused ulcer meds but would eat a little honey which helped soothe the ulcerated tissue. Manuka honey has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. Is the blood bright red or darker?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gemma Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Thanks for the honey suggestion! The blood is bright red and fresh. It's clearly coming from his bottom/colon. No indication of a bleed higher in his digestive tract, thank goodness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubcitypam Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 My Rex had colitis and would have bouts of runny dirrhea with bright red blood. They fecaled and tested him within an inch of his life and he had a standing script for Flagyl. He'd also get a gurgly tummy at night that was loud enough to wake me. Gurgly tummy would go away if I could get a snack into him, but it was a food change (and we went through several) that stopped the bloody runs for good...still not exactly sure why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time4ANap Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Try soaking the kibble in warm water for a while before serving so that it is softer. If his insides are irritated, hard kibble will irritate it more. We deal with this off and on with Rocket. Also, we have never had a test be positive for parasites or worms, but have had several times where de-worming resolved a similar issue. Positive tests are either luck and perfect timing, or a major problem where you can't help but have a positive test. There is no harm in de-worming if the issue continues, even if you don't have a positive test. Panacur will also help soothe the tummy in some cases. Quote Camp Broodie. The current home of Mark Kay Mark Jack and Gracie Kiowa Safe Joan. Always missing my boy Rocket Hi Noon Rocket, Allie Phoenix Dynamite, Kate Miss Kate, Starz Under Da Starz, Petunia MW Neptunia, Diva Astar Dashindiva, and LaVida I've Got Life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gemma Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Thanks for your opinions! I think what we will do is move him onto kibble for the next few weeks and see if that makes the issue clear up. If not, we'll worm him and see what happens. If it continues after that point, we will change his food entirely and see if that helps. I'm interested to see what my vet comes up with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest team_tonio Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Ok so I too jumped on the turkey neck bandwagon when I first brought Antonio home ...and it was fine the first few times... until it wasn't! The exact same thing happened. It was frightening actually and everyone else had such great experiences on this forum- ive not heard of this happening to anyone else! I threw the box of necks in the trash and will never make that mistake again. I personally dont think it has anything to do with bone shards but probably more along the lines of a colitis type reaction. But thats just my opinion. Clearly not a good treat for our dogs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sambuca Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 A clients dog gets this all the time. Hers seems to be due to extremely hard poop. They've added pumpkin to her to loosen things up a bit. Her vet called pumpkin "the great equalizer". It helps to an extent, but the vet isn't worried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_daerr Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Ok so I too jumped on the turkey neck bandwagon when I first brought Antonio home ...and it was fine the first few times... until it wasn't! The exact same thing happened. It was frightening actually and everyone else had such great experiences on this forum- ive not heard of this happening to anyone else! I threw the box of necks in the trash and will never make that mistake again. I personally dont think it has anything to do with bone shards but probably more along the lines of a colitis type reaction. But thats just my opinion. Clearly not a good treat for our dogs! Certain raw foods like turkey necks and the marrow in bones can cause the poops to be TOO firm. Maybe that was the problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest team_tonio Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 Not for us I don't think. He had never really had firm poo... until he got sick from what appears to be the turkey neck by process of elimination. I ended up changing him up to a venison kibble and he has been healthy and good poos since. Truthfully think it is a fowl thing with him. But that's just a guess on my part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gemma Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Update, and it's not great news. We changed his diet to all kibble and added some raw veggies to try and keep his stool softer. Still saw blood. I had to put off the vet for almost 2 weeks because DH and I both had flu and were stuck in bed for far too long. We finally went to our vet yesterday and we had lots of blood tests done. They came back with abnormalities. His electrolytes, sodium, potassium, calcium, and protein levels are all lower than they should be, some substantially so. His WBCs are a little low and his RBCs a little high but our vet is not so worried about these as greyhounds can often show these values. Right now, we have been instructed to put him on a prescription food (low fat, low residue), which I am not happy about it. It's $79 a bag and the ingredients are much lower in quality than what we have been giving him previously. I'm still going to give it a try but I am very skeptical about how it's any good for him. First ingredients are corn grits and rice bran. Blech. He's doing a 5 day course of panacur to be repeated in 3 weeks. We are also giving him probiotics and he's on a short course of antibiotics, too. In 4 weeks we will retest and see if his values are improving. I am worried about my baby. Our vet is confused by the results as she would expect to see other symptoms such as vomiting or listelessness with these type of levels. Aside from the blood in his stool, he is his usual happy, bouncy, sweet self. He showed no signs of tenderness during his exam. I really hope this is something minor or something we caught in good time. Peyton is 10 and I'd like to keep him with me for many more years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbhounds Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Does your vet also know that some of the other values you mentioned may be normal or common with ghs? Your vet is treating your hound much like I would--panacur, metronidazole and a food change to a low fat/low residue or high fiber diet. Hope he responds to treatment. http://www.mnjvma.org/mnjvma/notes/show/48 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gemma Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Thanks for the info, TBhounds! My vet is very familiar with greyhounds, thankfully, as she works with the old Lincoln track vet and their practice has been seeing greys for years. She should therefore be familiar with their values. I might get a second opinion if his next test comes back with no change, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesiRayMom Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Hugs for Peyton......there is nothing worse than knowing something is wrong...just not exactly what, nor how to fix it. Quote Blessed is the person who has earned the love of an old dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gemma Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Hugs for Peyton......there is nothing worse than knowing something is wrong...just not exactly what, nor how to fix it. Thanks. You are so right; it would feel easier if we knew what we are dealing with. He has had more fresh blood than usual since his first dose of panacur. Maybe that means he does have parasites? Either way, he's on the new food and the antibiotics so hopefully something will start to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest team_tonio Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Sounds very similar to what our vet did for Antonio minus the panacur... sending healthy vibes to Peyton. Hoping for the best! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gemma Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 UPDATE: Peyton went to the vet for his 4-5 week follow up to have more blood drawn. The results came back NORMAL!! Including his electrolytes, which my vet had been especially concerned about. He has had NO blood in his stool since his 2nd day on the panacur and has seemed a little perkier (although, this could be because we increased his pain meds at the same time for his leg, which has made him a happier pup). We are repeating the panacur since that was the plan all along and I was told I could start mixing in some of his regular kibble with the prescription stuff and see how he does. Peyton has lost weight on the prescription kibble and seems hungry all the time (despite lots of snacks) so I am pleased to be able to mix in some of his old, high protein food. If all goes well, we might be able to move him onto regular kibble entirely in a month or so. If we do, I'll likely have more blood drawn a month or so after that to make sure everything is good. I am SO relieved!! Peyton is my heart dog and will be 11 this year so I was really worrying about this whole mess. Now, I can breathe easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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