Another post about diarrhea....I'm getting worried

[Donna Vee]

Ok, I'm just a bit freaked out. One of my doods has very loose stool and can't hold it at night.  This is day two of waking up to 3 piles of diarrhea and urine.  My girls are 4 and 7 months old.  They've been trained to hold it through the night for a couple of months. It could be a few different things....

1. They somehow found and ate a pencil.
2. They've been eating my plants
3. We switched food...but several weeks ago.
4. We're possibly over-treating???

But my biggest fear is that it's the little one.  We do walk her around the neighborhood and she still has two shots to go.  They are both still running around VERY active, eating well, sleeping well etc...

 

Anyone had similar issues?

 

Donna

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Run...do not walk...to the vet for fecal cultures. I am willing to bet that one if not both of you puppies have giardia.

Giardia is very common in doodle puppies, and they get it from either drinking standing water, or from coming into contact with giardia cysts left by other dogs. This really has nothing to do with the puppy shots.

A food change can cause diarrhea, but it shouldn't last several weeks and it wouldn't cause middle-of-the-night urgency. (Nor would treating too much.) That's a major symptom of giardia.

Also, it is essential that you do not leave puppies unsupervised, indoors or out, if they at a stage when they will eat or drink things they find around the house or in the yard. If There is even a possibility that they are eating plants, indoor plants need to be moved out of their reach, and they must be supervised in the yard. Ditto things like pencils. Again, the dangers from these things are not that they cause diarrhea. They can cause something much worse, like the necessity for surgery, or a dead dog.

But I'm betting it's giardia.

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Yep...listen to Karen!!!  Good Luck!

[Donna Vee]

Thank you SOOO much!  Vet will see us first thing tomorrow.  If it is Giardia it could have been contracted a couple of ways.  The walks around the neighborhood....we try to keep her from sniffing poop (parvo) which is why I was concerned about her shots....or....it could be in the puddle of rainwater in the backyard which I didn't see until after they'd discovered it and were drinking out of it.  We do supervise pretty well most of the time in the yard.  When we aren't home, they are kept in the dining room with nothing in reach.  The pencil incident happened while my son was doing homework and it rolled off of the table. Arrrrrrrr, the little inquisitive beauties don't miss a thing.

 

Thank you again, I'll post back when I hear more.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This will sound weird, but bring in several samples, if you can possible get them. Or at least a good sized sample, lol. The cysts aren't always present throughout every sample.

Please keep us posted on what the test shows.

[Donna Vee]

Oh there are some GOOD sized dod doos...lol. I'm sure I can grab one from first thing in the morning and maybe a sample from tonight. I just have to follow them around to make sure we know whose is who's....lol. Thank you Karen. I so appreciate your input.

[Donna Vee]

UPDATE!

 

Well, we took the girls in last Friday. Vet said he's seen many, many cases over the past few weeks of puppies, rainwater and diarrhea.  I mentioned the possibility of giardia, and he said he would do his best to check although it is hard to diagnose. They still haven't called to confirm but he started us right away (both dogs) on some antidiarrheal tablets twice daily and an antiparasitic. One or both treatments stopped the diarrhea immediately. Phewwwww. My only concern now is that Ginger (my big girl) isn't as interested in her food.  She is eating but not snarfing it down.  It could be though, that she doesn't really like the new food.  When I stir in a little peanut butter, she gobbles it down.

 

Anyway, just wanted to thank you for your feedback and advice. :) I love this place!

 

Donna

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Glad to hear the meds stopped the diarrhea. It's common for them to keep getting reinfected, though, so keep being vigilant about not letting them drink from puddles! And keep us posted.

[Donna Vee]

I will Karen and thank you so much for the great info.  It really helped.