Diarrhea - gross....

[Sandy]

Yesterday when Toby got up, after a restless night, he ran right to the door, went out, and had the runs. He seemed fine through the day - ate, drank, played, went on walks, etc. Last night he got very restless around 3:30, and whined just after 4 (which he has NEVER done). I let him out, and he had the runs again. Put him back to bed, he stayed there until this morning, and is now up and acting normal. From what I've read it looks like maybe I should fast him today, and then feed 1/3 lean meat, 2/3 plain white rice for a couple of days, and then ease back into his food, unless he stops drinking and becomes dehydrated. Does that seem about right? I would go to the vet if I thought it necessary, but he's acting normal except for the two "first thing in the morning" episodes.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

My chihuahua used to have a lot of stomach issues. I personally never heard of the fasting idea, but if your vet says that, I would try it.
How I used to handle bouts of the runs with T: after first occurence, feed him 1/2 his normal amount of food with a little rice in it. My rule was if he had diarhea that lasted longer than 24-36 hours, I took him to the vet. But he was also only 6 pounds and at higher risk for dehydration.
Good luck! I say if Toby gets sick again, call your vet.

[Michelle]

we had this on and off w/ our Vinny....one time he picked up a bacteria infection from eating stuff on our walks and the other time his food just wasn't agreeing w/ him. He was given the Flagyll and the diarrhea stopped w/in 24 hours. Then other time w/ the food it took about 3 days.....I would call the vet, it could be a bacteria infection.

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

I would say it depends on what may have caused this in the first place, if he got ahold of something that upset his stomach I would do the boiled hamburger and brown rice for a day and than see how he does going back to his food on the second day, if there are no other symptoms. If there are other symptoms a trip to your Vet might be worth it.

[Sandy]

So far he is accepting the rice water, and he normally doesn't eat much in the morning anyway, so I've held back his food. At supper time I will likely either do boiled hamburger or chicken with rice, just a little, and see what happens. He is drinking and peeing, so he's not dehydrated. I'm hoping his tummy just gets a little time to rest and then is better. He does tend to have a sensitive stomach - he's always been a dog that throws up easily, so it doesn't surprise me that he has some stomach upset going on. I just want to help him over it.

[Stella]

We usually skip one meal and then give half rations for the next couple of meals before gradually going back up to normal feeding quantities.

We seem to have a knack for picking dogs with sensitive sotmachs, Hartley had diarrhoe almost constantly until he was 10 months old or so. We had him back and forth to the vet and they couldn't find anything wrong. He eventually 'grew out' of it! Chase also has runny poops, and he moves around the garden to poop in more than spot at a time - lovely! He has got better since we changed him from a chicken to lamb based food.

I always joke that they have the lab desire to eat everything in sight, but a poodle stomach!! Hope that Toby is feeling better.

[Sandy]

Toby is back to his old self, for better or worse. I'm still mixing a little rice into his food, but other than that it's back to normal. He definitely has a sensitive stomach though - he's normally a puker, if he's going to do anything. This was something new.