Mushy Poop After ?colitis

[Guest ac53998]

Hi all, our 6 year old greyhound had massive vomiting Tuesday morning (looked like undigested kibble) which progressed to bloody diarrhea by the afternoon. The emergency vet took a fecal smear which didn't show anything abnormal and sent a fecal sample. Labs were also normal, she was ~5% dehydrated so they gave her subq fluids. She had watery bloody diarrhea for them while they were examining her as well. They sent us home with panacur x 5 days, flagyl x 10 days and Pepcid x 5 days. We didn't give her anything to eat until the next morning (small amounts of chicken/rice). Fecal sample came back the next day negative for giardia and any other ova/parasites. She's been acting normal for the last few days, maybe just a little more tired than usual. My question which I could decide whether to post here or in the food/dietary section was: are there any alternatives to chicken and rice that people have found their hounds to tolerate better? Our hound has had many bouts of colitis since we adopted her 2 years ago and every time we start her on chicken/rice her stools are never solid until we start adding kibble in. She loves the chicken and rice, but it doesn't seem like her GI tract likes it much. Her poop has basically looked like orange mush/applesauce texture for the last couple of days (at first it was brownish orange and complete liquid). Also, would the panacur cause mushy poop? Thanks in advance!

[greysmom]

Panacur is a dewormer, likely given prophylactically, since there you didn't mention they found evidence of worms in her stool. And yes, it could be causing her continued soft stools.

 

Have you ever investigated the cause of her colitis symptoms? Or has the vet diagnosed colitis through a biopsy? Did she have hookworms when you first adopted her? They can be super difficult to get rid of, often taking repeated rounds of dewormer for several months. If there are still hooks hiding in her tissue they could still be causing reoccuring issues through what's called "larval leak." There are many threads in Health and Medical to talk you through what works and what doesn't.

 

As far as a bland diet goes it can be pretty easy or pretty hard! It's basically a low fat protein and a low fat, easily digestible carb source. Chicken and rice is the most common but you can use anything that works for your dog. Examples of protein sources include: boiled ground chicken/turkey/hamburger, roasted chicken/turkey breast, poached whitefish (tilapia, cod), very low fat pork (cut up pork chops rather than ground, with all the fat removed). Stay away from high fat meats like salmon, tuna, and high end steaks. Also chicken is one of the most common food allergens for dogs, so try hamburger or one of the other options if it doesn't seem helpful. Carb sources include: overcooked rice and pasta, oatmeal, chickpeas and beans (well cooked), mashed peeled white potatoes or sweet potatoes (avoid other types of squash). Pasta and oatmeal are what I use, along with ground hamburger.

 

If your dog's reoccuring issues aren't worms she could also be having several other issues - stress colitis, IBS, pancreatitits, and some sort of food intolerance/allergy would be most common things to explore with your vet.

 

Good luck.

[cleptogrey]

often Flagyl needs to be repeated numerous times. talk to your vet. some vets like Flagyl, some Tylan Powder ask about the difference & repeating Flagyl. some vets swear by Hill's ID diets, some like home cooked lean meat- turkey or chicken and rice. when it comes to long lasting loose stools I call. Annie was diagnosed with chronic colitis, it took months of Flagyl with a slow reduction to get her down to 250mg every 3 days. when she's off of it, it's cow plops. and it doesn't matter if it's rice/potato/chicken or kibble that she has eaten. we worked on getting her settled from august thru nov. finally in october she gained some weight and settled down. my vet also insisted on worming since fecal floats can miss eggs/parasites. yes, that sent her into a tail spin. it was a long haul to get her back in weight, she had lost 10#!!!

[Hubcitypam]

I'm a broken record. We fecaled and wormed Rex within an inch of his rife and he had a standing script for flagyl. I tried what seemed like every high end food in the word at the time (more than a decade ago) and couldn't get anything out him I could scoop as opposed to hose in. I came home from work one Easter to a kitchen filled with bloody mucous filled runs. (Here comes my epitaph)...finally I got so fed up I tossed a green bag of Iams in the cart.

I fed Iams for years before the high end foods came out and those "in the know" on the internet lectured me on the demon corn. He started firming up as soon as I started switching him and he never had runs or gurgly tummy again. It's not the greatest food in the world on paper but the high beet pulp regulates the water in their intestines. Good luck.

[Guest ac53998]

Thanks Hubcitypam, we actually have her on the Iams green bag and she was doing really great (hard bouncy poops) before this recent severe episode. We did the same thing- bought all kinds of expensive grain free foods before seeing your post on this forum and giving it a try. It has been amazing! Thanks greysmom, maybe we will try ground turkey and rice as we transition back to the kibble. She only has two more days of panacur and then she will only be on the flagyl. The flagyl has worked wonders in the past so hoping maybe after the panacur we will be back to normal. She actually did not have hookworm when we got her. I believe she had roundworm which cleared after one round of drontal plus. Every single fecal sample has been clear of worms since. And yes, cleptogrey- cow plops is a good description for what we are seeing...but more orangey colored. and I'm pretty sure our girl has probably already lost a few pounds and it's only been 4 days.

[cleptogrey]

that Drontal Plus is heavy duty stuff, it took annie some time to get over it. felix was fine w/ the worming. do the cow plops smell pretty funky?- you can tell just standing up, when one tries to clean the yard it's time for a gas mask.....undigested food.

 

i agree w/ hubcityplam 100%, a lesser, simpler food is easier to digest. i ended up serving purina pro-plan focus large breed.i think i made the choice since it had a lower fat content, felix had been on low fat food for pancreatitis. the pro-plan line has other bases- this one is chicken. firm, reduced stools- 1/3 the output!!!! remarkable....and annie started gaining weight on it within 2 weeks!!! they both decided that they liked it dry...go know?and both grew incredible coats, the best i've seen in years!

 

and yes that demon corn is in most of the RX diets and everywhere else. but they seem to do well on it....what ever works!

[Victor]

We've found that i/d kibble works quite well for bouts of soft stool. Could she have eaten something she shouldn't have? Or might it have been stress induced? A course of metronidazole can be very helpful for clearing up stress-induced colitis. You might also consider doing a GI panel if it happens again.

[Guest Izzy2]

I give lily scramble egg she loves it and did the same for my Leonberger if upset tummy happened even stopped lily's gurgling tummy the other night !!