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Solid Poops To Liquid: Pain Meds?


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Summary of the past couple of days: tuesday night/wednesday morning, Betty apparently suffered a big shoulder injury and we ended up at the e-vet, twice in 12 hours. She's now on a lot of pain meds. But Wednesday, even when all the pain and opiates from x-rays was happening (causing her to not even be able to lay down for many many hours), her stools were surprisingly solid. Even yesterday (thursday) morning. I think last night's was a little soft, but still very well formed.

 

This morning, it started solid and turned into a big gloop-y soft-serve-ice-cream mess. At that point I wondered if I should come home at some point from work and check on her, but yesterday she was so fine that I thought I'd be OK at work all day. But I came home at 5:30 to lots of poo puddles. Some still fresh, some less so. The fresh ones seemed closer to that runny pudding style; the old ones... I don't know how old they were but in any case, it's not pure pure foamy liquid, but getting close. We immediately went for a walk outside and she had a couple of liquid-y (but not explosive/foamy) poops. During all of this she's at least walking ok. But when we got home, I had a hard time again getting pills down her, even using new 'pill buddy' pockets that she's been consuming since yesterday.

 

She's now on:

 

- Gabapentin (200mg every 12 hours)

- Tramadol (70mg roughly every 8)

- Rimadyl (50 mg every 12)

 

I'm sure that diarrhea is a possible side effect for all of these. Gabapentin is new to us, she's taken tramadol and rimadyl before. She can be a bit sensitive to new medication. I'm just surprised that this didn't show up Wednesday (when Ace/Buprenex was still in her system; and when she couldn't lay down at all) or even Thursday (our sleep/recovery day), but today. I understand Gabapentin can take 48 hours to get to full strength; does that mean it could take that long to have some side effects?

 

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Betty "Beauty" Joan. 63B-21375. June 2003 - March 2015. Thank you pretty girl!

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Yeah, it could take that long to have side effects.

 

In our house the opiates do it, and the effect can be a little delayed and can last a couple days (oh joy, eh?).

 

If she hasn't had this problem with Rimadyl before, it isn't likely to be that, but I would put a call in to your vet and wait to give the next dose until you've talked to him/her.

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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Hmm. Our regular vet is coming tomorrow, but probably won't be available to talk to before then. That's a couple of medication times away. Think I should keep on? He was thinking I could increase the meds even more (prior to knowing about the soft stool / house accidents).

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Betty "Beauty" Joan. 63B-21375. June 2003 - March 2015. Thank you pretty girl!

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Fuzzy cannot take deramax at all and Paul took it for about 2 months and then got diarrhea. Anti inflamatories are hard on the stomach. They both take or have taken the tramadol and gabapentin with no digestive affect. I would think it is the rimadyl.

Irene Ullmann w/Flying Odin and Mama Mia in Lower Delaware
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Talk to your vet about whether she needs to start Pepcid or something like that. When my boy developed an ulcer from an NSAID he'd been taking for a couple of months, we suddenly had liquid poops. (This is why Betty needs to eat before she takes pills.) And watch for reddish poops (or poop so dark that any reddish color would be hidden). Any sign of that, she needs to see the vet.

 

I'd suggest skipping the Rimadyl, but continuing with the other meds on the regular schedule until you have a chance to talk to your vet. Feed bland food (oatmeal is fine) before pills, and watch her poops.

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Kathy and Q (CRT Qadeer from Fuzzy's Cannon and CRT Bonnie) and
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Missing Silver (5.19.2005-10.27.2016), Tigger (4.5.2007-3.18.2016),
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Crap. I just gave her rimadyl and gabapentin before dinner (Pedigree Plus "Healthy Digestion", canned) as I was unsure if she even felt like eating and I didn't want to suddenly stop the meds if she would take them. Unlike an hour ago, she did eat the pill-buddy. And ate the Rimadyl too.

 

Then I read the replies and tried dinner immediately afterwards and she did eat that. It was funny, I didn't know if she'd eat so I'd scoop a slice out of the can and drop it into the bowl to see if she would eat it, and she did. So we ate the whole can that way.

 

All the poop marks I saw on the floor were light to medium brown. Maybe a reddish brown? Well, burnt umber I guess. But I don't think I saw anything super dark or really red (definitely not bloody if that's what's implied, but it's hard to tell what some of the harder, drier patches were).

 

Anyways, vet comes tomorrow, hopefully it's not too eventful of a night. And I'll be a little more careful for morning doses.

Edited by jshell

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Betty "Beauty" Joan. 63B-21375. June 2003 - March 2015. Thank you pretty girl!

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I would stop the rimadyl just to play it safe and contact your vet. Is there mucus or blood in the stool?? There really isn't any fiber in most canned food--I suspect you will need to increase her fiber intake. The easiest thing you can do is either add Metamucil to her current food or get W/D from your vet (ultra high fiber). No vomiting?? She could have diarrhea also from stress--stress colitis would not be unusual considering what she has been through. The treatment would be the same--higher fiber food and metronidazole.

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There doesn't seem to be mucus or blood in the stool. She had a few foamy-sounding bursts in the wee hours of the morning and then seemed to settle down. A few hours later her stools were still goopy but one could see the normal shapes. So it seems that she worked the main issue out.

 

Our vet did give us a metronidazole prescription and some I/D cans. His thought is that the diarrhea is most likely stress related.

 

He seems to think Betty is going in the right direction. She does seem to be doing better. My concern as of tonight is that she's not eating much of anything. I had to force pills down again - even the trick of dipping the Pill Buddy in peanut butter wasn't working. And she completely ignored her dinner (although she may not like I/D at all).

 

So the good: shoulders seem OK. The vet pinched and poked them and no Yelp or Yipe ensued; the worst of the diarrhea seems to be abating but she still seems to have to go out every 3 or so hours for this goopy stuff. I hope that settles down.

The bad: I don't like when my food motivated girl doesn't eat.

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Betty "Beauty" Joan. 63B-21375. June 2003 - March 2015. Thank you pretty girl!

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Does she have any meds for her tummy? Sometimes it helps to do as follows:

 

1. Give 1 regular Pepcid (generic is 10mg famotidine -- cheap, over-the-counter, and a tiny pill).

2. Wait @ 40 minutes.

3. Feed a meal or substantial snack (substantial = a hard boiled egg or a small hamburger patty or @ 1/3 of can of canned food ....)

4. Very shortly after the meal or snack, give other pills.

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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All through the night without needing to go out! And through the morning too. But given how little she ate yesterday, that may be expected.

 

I gave her some Pepcid this morning (thanks Batmom) and she did manage to eat about 1/3 of a can of canned food (with probiotics sprinkled on top). But that was after I had to still resort to forcing pills down her throat, and she hasn't touched anything else aside from some Plato Turkey and Pumpkin treat biscuits. After she had that food, I put another bit in her bowl but she's ignored it.

 

We went on a short-ish walk around the block and towards the end she stopped to drop a single, but solid, turd. She walked pretty well the whole time too. Now she's back in a hard sleep.

 

Still hoping for this appetite (or trust?) to come back soon.

Edited by jshell

jeffbettybanner2.jpg

Betty "Beauty" Joan. 63B-21375. June 2003 - March 2015. Thank you pretty girl!

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Could be too that the combo of meds just makes her not feel hungry. Sounds like she is really much better :wub: and I hope that continues!

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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