UPDATE: Need some advice - 6 months of diarrhea in 9 month old puppy....IBS, IBD, Collitis, Allergy???

[Rory]

UPDATE: So, it has been only six days, but I am pleased to report that everything is looking normal!! Maybe it is still too early to tell for sure, but last time I took her off the meds, it only took a couple of days before the diarrhea returned. I am cautiously optimistic. Thanks for all your support, everyone!

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So the diarrhea started about 5 or 6 months ago after a bout of gastroenteritis - Tylane has been keeping it at bay, but her stools are still on the (sometimes very) soft side.

 

A specialist suggested doing 4 rounds of panacur, even though nothing showed in the stool sample, and we are on round 3. My vet also wants to start with a prescription diet (I said no) and if that didn't work, then a scope and biopsy (I also said no). I have just started her on enzymes and probiotics.

 

I keep reading that food allergies don't manifest with gastro symptoms, and while I don't want to use a rx diet, I am tempted to change her to a healthy grain, single source protein food. She did really well, in terms of her bowels, when her food was high, healthy grain, but she also barely ate at all!!!! She is super picky, and the only food I have found that she is willing to eat is EVO. I have a feeling that this is due to the very small size of the kibble (small bites), because she doesn't really chew her food. Does anyone know of a good quality, healthy grain food that also comes in very small sized kibble??? The main reason I like EVO as well is because it has a very high calorie:volume ratio. My Yetti will not, WILL NOT consume more than 2, maybe maybe 2.5 cups of food a day, and I want to make sure she gets all her nutrients. She is 9 months and ~ 50 lbs.

 

If anyone has any food suggestions, or other ideas about what this could be, I would really appreciate it!!!

 

Thanks,

 

Rory

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You can calculate it yourself. There are only three macronutrients, and in dogs, the ones that are important are protein and fat. If you subtract those from 100, the remainder is the carbohydrate. So in this case, the carbs make up about 57% of the total calories.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

I was taught to subtract the moisture too

100 - protein - fat - moisture = carbs

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's hard for me to know if the moisture and the fiber need to be subtracted. In people food, they don't include the moisture in the analysis. Technically, the calorie content of any food can only come from three sources: protein, fat, and carbs. The vitamins, minerals, ash, fiber, water, etc. don't contribute to the calorie (metabolic energy) total. So I don't know if these numbers are including those in temrs of volume (weight) or in terms of the percentage of usable energy. For example, they also give a percentage of phosphorus, but that should be an indication of how much of the recommended amount of phosphorus the food contains, and not an indication that the food is made up of 1.2% phosphorus overall. So it's a bit of a puzzle for me.

[Adina P]

Well fiber is a type of carb so the total carbs should include the fiber (at least it does in people food).  For humans with diabetes who are counting carbs we teach that they can subtract 1/2 the fiber grams from the total carbs to get the 'total available carbs' -- though I'm not sure how actually useful this is for non-diabetic pets.

[BG and Gavin]

Wow it is price-y!  Online at least.  $90 for 10 kg (~22lbs).

[Rory]

Well, it's dehydrated and the pieces are very light - a 10 kg bag is the equivalent to a 20 kg bag of regular kibble.

 

http://www.canisource.com/CANISOURCE/english/formats.htm

[BG and Gavin]

AHA!

[ej]

K had the worst and longest bout of loose stool and massive diarrhea when he was little (6 to 12 months old - don't remember exactly).  We tried grain-free (TOTW) and healthy-grain (Timberwolf) and to our dismay, nothing worked.  I had to rush home during lunch for those months to a miserable poo-covered pup and skunky laundry room (that was where his "crate"/ den used to be).  We gave up on kibble and went the homecooked food route.  It cleared up instantly, but it was much more expensive and so much work (grocery shopping, cooking, portioning out to cool, then freeze, store, defrost, etc etc, you got the idea) and also we really don't have that much freezer space to store the cooked and raw food.  So we gradually introduced small amount of kibble into his HCF, and the moment it reached to 50% HCF and 50% kibble, the diarrhea/loose stools started all over again.  So we finally resorted to home cooking for him for the entire four to six long months.  When he turned one, we figured maybe his GI has become more "developed" and stronger to handle kibble, we then slowly introduced kibble back into his diet again.  This time with success!  And he has been on kibble since... no more home-cooking except on special occasions or weekends.

 

What I am trying to say is, is it not feasible for you feed her HCF (I believe most dogs prefer HCF to kibble) for a few months, and slowly introduce single protein and grain-free kibble back into her diet?  

[Rory]

My main issue with HCF is that she is a grazer, even with home cooked, and she generally eats the bulk if her food in the middle of the night. With fresh food, it's not really possible to leave it out.

[Adina P]

Would you be open to setting really strict meal times and then removing her food after a set time (10-15 min) if she is not eating it?  I tend to believe no dog will starve itself and if you were consistent she'd gradually learn that she either ate when she was served or not eat at all.  Just a thought...but I can see how when you're fighting one health issue you don't want to stir things up in another area.  However, if she's not significantly underweight then it might be worth a try.

[Rory]

I tried that - many times, and for a week or two. And every time she lost weight, because she just didn't eat.

[Michael Gurley]

Were you standing there with her while the food was on the floor? I have to keep Sunny on a strict schedule and only give her one chance, twice a day, to eat. If she wanders away or decides to go play with her toys instead of eating, I put the food away. I have to do this because my other dog is a dachshund and will eat everything and get fat. She's on diet dog food.

It took about 3 weeks for Sunny to get used to the fact that she wasn't going to be able to just eat whenever, but it really really helped her poop. Her digestive system now works like clockwork! She eats twice a day and poops twice a day.