Metronidazole For Dogs Diarrhea

[Guest kar]

Has anyone's dog been on this? The snowflake saga. Now she has diarrhrea,

[Hubcitypam]

Rex my irrutable tummy colitis dog had a standing script for it. It worked to a degree but a food high in beet pulp worked better.

[Guest kar]

thanks she is on kidney diet food though

[PrairieProf]

The question is more whose dog hasn't been on it? It is the common first line treatment for diarrhea. It is an antibiotic and also has an anti-inflammatory effect. Very effective in many cases.

[KF_in_Georgia]

There's a thing called "metronidazole toxicity." It doesn't happen to a lot of dogs, but you want to be aware of the possibility. It usually--but not always--happens on fairly high doses, and on dogs that are on it for a while. And it's generally completely reversible once the drug is stopped.

 

Vets still give the drug because it works, because side effects are not common, and because the side effects can be reversed. I'm not trying to scare anyone who uses metronidazole (I used it for years on one of my dogs), but you just want to know that this can occur, so that you know not to ignore sudden odd behavior.

 

My vet warned me about this because my angel Sam had frequent diarrhea episodes and almost always took metronidazole for them. He wanted to make sure I knew to watch for problems--which Sam never developed. In fact, Sam wound up on a low maintenance dose of metronidazole as the only way to keep his gut under control and he never had a problem with it. I wanted to mention metronidazole toxicity only because I read (on here, I think), about a dog having sudden, scary neurological issues, and much worry could have been eliminated if someone had recognized metronidazole toxicity a little sooner.

[tbhounds]

thanks she is on kidney diet food though

Did the diarrhea start after starting the food? Many dogs gi tracts can't tolerate the script renal foods. They are higher in fat to make it more palatable. Fat is hard to digest and often causes loose stools.

[Guest GreyOrchard]

When I don't want to use pharmaceuticals as the first line of action for this problem, I have fed canned pumpkin or cooked sweet potatoes (really) and both have always worked great. Of course, rice is well known for working great too.

Edited August 29, 2015 by GreyOrchard

[Guest kar]

She won't eat pumpkin. Fussy. I think she ate something on one of our walks. Stools have always been loose but not dirrhrea she has been on kidney diet dice she was five and now is almost nine. Thinking of mixing a little of solid gold holistic in her food

[cleptogrey]

i do rice and 1/3 boiled ground beef for a couple of days. don't go back to kibble too fast, get firm stools first. if that doesn't work then i always speak to my vet, their preference can vary either flagyl or tylan powder. the vet knows best. i do have both on hand, tylan powder when it's squeaky stomach. that is 1/4t daily for a couple of days- just throw it on the back of the tongue and feed fast. that's what i take when i'm traveling for a quick fix. but paris prof is right, it's an excellent antibiotic for cleaning up the gut. usually my dogs need the 2 week rx repeated when their gut is really loaded w/ bacteria.

[Guest mgodwin]

I would try Olewo carrots. I've only had Ginny about 5 months and at first she never had really nice solid stools. They were usually formed but often very soft. After a bout of diarrhea and a week of rice and boiled chicken I transitioned her back to her regular kibble and now give her 1tbsp of carrots rehydrated in 1/2 cup of hot water split over two meals. Since then, her stools have been well formed and even somewhat bouncy. Even if she gets into something she shouldn't or is on antibiotics (like she is currently) she's had softer stools but not pudding poop. Just something worth trying instead of pharmaceuticals, unless of course your vet suspects something that would require an antibiotic.

Edited September 1, 2015 by mgodwin

[SanTanSnuggles]

My dog took this drug before I adopted her. I changed her diet and never had to give it to her,as the diarrhea went away. How ever she recently may have gotten GME and is recuperating slowly under the care of Dr. Cuff, a neurologist. He has helped her so much. (She had been off the drug for 10 months when she got sick) We adopted her 09/07/2014.Could her current problem have been caused by that drug? shared the article with him, as I never mentioned to him that she had taken that drug, as I did not know its use could cause adverse neurological problems.

[Guest BrindleBoy]

Indy has had diarrhea for a week now. I was trying raw meat for the first time, as I have been reading about raw being better for the higher nutrient content... diarrhea started immediately. I immediately started boiled chicken and rice- no kibble, not even his normal stuff-, which didn't seem to help. Had his stool tested yesterday for parasites/worms, negative. Vet gave me probiotic powder and metronidazole.

QUESTION: vet said boiled chicken but NOT THE RICE? Anyone else ever heard this/know why???

Edited October 6, 2015 by BrindleBoy

[Newgreymom]

I have used a small amount of Carob powder and water mixed. It worked wonders. I gave it 2x a day. Instead of raw meat, maybe you could try Stella and Chewys dehydrated raw. It's amazing.

[KF_in_Georgia]

QUESTION: vet said boiled chicken but NOT THE RICE? Anyone else ever heard this/know why???

 

Some dogs don't process rice well. I've had a dog vomit 6 hours after she ate, and the rice came back completely undigested. You wind up needing to overcook it to mush to make it more digestible. Your vet is going straight to a grain-free diet to try to calm your boy's gut. If your boy continues unwell, it could indicate a chicken sensitivity. This way, you should know pretty soon if he tolerates chicken well. If he does, the vet may encourage you to branch out.

 

Sometimes, I'll use oatmeal instead of rice because the oatmeal seems to be more digestible. In Indy's case, I'd go with the vet's recommendation. It won't do any harm, and it may be informative.

[Guest BrindleBoy]

Well, he's been eating chicken for the 4 years we've had him... his favorite, no sensitivity. As for the rice, I wasn't cooking it to mush, I just followed the directions on the box. He never vomited it up tho.

 

I did switch to pasta, and everything seems fine... he's now had 2 solid poops in a row, altho his volume/output has dropped... he usually goes 3-4 times a day (on walks)... he went only once yesterday. While eating all of his breakfast and dinner. My wife says maybe he's just "pooped out" LOL from the D. Hope so, I'd hate to think, between the antibiotic (he's also getting a daily probiotic powder tho) and the meat/pasta diet that he's getting constipated..... we were thinking of re-intoducing his normal kibble for dinner tonight... just a little tho, like 1/2C