Night time Diarrhea

[JazNRafs]

Hi All,
We had Milo since December 26th. He is now 12 weeks old. We gradually changed his food and for the last 2 weeks he has been eating his new food with no problems.
For the past 3 nights, he has been having night time diarrhea(loose and sometimes watery stools several times in the night). This has been happening only in the nights. It's kinda puzzling.
Any suggestions of what might be going on would be helpful.
Note: we are a first time dog owner.
Thanks

[1np1tlyyqzo7v]

My puppy went through this too and I was told by the vet that it was the WORST time to switch their food. Better to wait a month or so. I had NO idea and felt horrible. You *probably* need to take your puppy to the vet where they'll give him a shot or too and send you home with some pills. That will help him get over the problem and you'll probably just keep feeding him the new food. That's how it was for me anyway.

The vet can make sure there's not more going on.

On the other hand, it may be that the new food just doesn't agree with him. Your vet will know the answer. The good thing is that once they get back on track, you don't have to deal with it anymore. It's not an ongoing thing (hopefully), at lest it wasn't for me.

On the other, other hand...you could always stop the kibble, put him on cooked chicken and rice for a few days to settle his system down and then slooooooowly start adding kibble back in.

[1np1tlyyqzo7v]

oops, shot or two, not too!

[Doris]

I would take Milo to the vet. I love my vet and feel so much better after I see them and get their advice. Good luck!

[JazNRafs]

Hi Julie and Doris,
Thanks for the responses.
We took Milo to the vet this evening and after doing a fecal test, it revealed he had coccidiosis.
It seems like we diagnosed it right in time as it could be worse with bloody stool etc.
The vet gave us some SMX antibiotics for a course of two weeks. Will update on Milo's progress.

[Janie]

It was good that you took Milo to the vet....coccidiosis can be dangerous and It can only be cleared up by antibiotics.

[Adina P]

This is a total guess, not from experience, but it's possible if he's not tolerating the food...it's happening at night because of the total meals in the day adding up to a GI issue 'later' rather than sooner. So maybe the whole thing 'builds up' and leads to the diarrhea...but um...honestly I'm not sure if I even make sense to myself...LOL.

[JazNRafs]

He seem to be tolerating the new food pretty good. I guess it was the coccidia.
Ann - Yes, even the vet thought it was strange that it's night time only.
Let's hope hope the antibiotics work fast even though it usually takes its own time:)

[JazNRafs]

Hi everyone,
Milo seems to be back to normal since 2 days ago. He is loving his medication because it means he gets a good chunk of cheese(to conceal the huge pill).
I am so happy we acted fast.

[JazNRafs]

UPDATE: Milo has started diarrhea again since yesterday morning and has gone potty more times than I can count and it is all liquidy now.
Also he wasnt eating much since yesterday. I fed him some yogurt and he just slurped it up. Dinner time, he wont touch his kibble so I mixed it with some yogurt and hand fed him and he ate about half cup of yogurt mixed kibble.
This morning he had some water but wont touch his kibble. Should I just watch him until tomorrow when I will call the vet? Should I try to hand feed him something?
He is still on the anitbiotics.

[Adina P]

I'm so sorry...I hope you get some answers from calling the vet or another vet visit. Sometimes, in humans antibiotics can lead to diarrhea...try yogurt again and maybe a tablespoon of canned pumpkin (UNsweetened) to firm up his stool. Yogurt won't firm it up but the good bacteria it has may help? And pumpkin can help with firming stool....BUT if he's pooping liquid it may not help MUCH.

Please continue to update us but so that it doesn't get lost maybe start a new discussion and then put a link back to this original one for background info.