Still Diarrhea with my puppy

[Lisa Marin]

My little Tucker still continues with his tummy troubles. I have posted before but wanted to update everyone on the situation. Tucker just turned 5 months old and has had diarrhea since we got him at 8 weeks. He has had multiple fecal that have all come back negative and has been dewormed (even a special dewormer for whipworms...just in case). He has been on metronidizole with success. He has normal stools on the medicine and then within days of stopping it gets the severe diarrhea again. So he has been on meds most of his little life. I have been feeding him Acana Wild prairie and have tried pumpkin and probiotics. After researching from the food group I just switched him to Natural balance duck and potato LID food. I did it cold turkey because he is on the meds and the stools are fine. Has anyone else had this problem???  The vet wants to start with very expensive tests...I have tried to avoid this but might have to?

[BG and Gavin]

I feel so bad for you.  What a terrible struggle.  I do not have any advice unfortunately.  I remember when we picked Gavin up the breeder she said that in the 12 years she had been in business she has never ever had one puppy get diarrhea upon going to their new home.  At the time I though "uh big deal."  Now I understand it IS a big deal. In fact, touch wood, Gavin has never had diarrhea.  Again I am very sorry for your struggle :(

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Lisa, this is a pretty common problem with puppies. Sometimes it's just a question of finding the right food with the right balance of nutrients. Some people have found that their dogs just can't handle kibble of any kind and end up home cooking or using one of the dehydrated raw products like Honest Kitchen.

One thing I can tell you is that switching foods too often can contribute to the problem. I know how hard it is to be patient when your dog has diarrhea, but try to give each food a chance for an adjustment period. There will be good days and bad days. Also, try to keep the treats at a minimum, and use fresh food as treats whenever possible....a piece of cooked chicken or turkey, a baby carrot, that kind of thing.

What kind of tests does the vet want to do?

[Lisa Marin]

She wants to do a biopsy, blood work, endoscopy etc. My gut is that I just need to find the right food. I am hoping the LID diet will help. Just not sure that I like the Natural Balance? Seems very low in protein. My neighbor suggested Natures Variety instinct?  Tucker is only 5 months and growing...I really want the best food for him now. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Having just gone thru the whole blood work/endoscopy/biopsies myself, I have to say that I wish my vet had suggested it sooner. Waiting too long did not help at all, and there was a major problem going on that maybe could have been treated before it got that bad. I don't know your vet, but my experience has been that they do not suggest those tests without a very good reason, because the scope and biopsy require anesthetic, are expensive, and the vet has to refer your to an internist anyway, so there's no financial reason for her to recommend that unless she truly has concerns about inflammatory disease, which gets worse and worse if not treated. I would say to do the bloodwork at the very least. I don't mean to scare you.

If the food is helping, I would stay with it for now, but if any of the symptoms come back, get those tests done.

[Lisa Marin]

thanx karen. He is getting neutered next month so that might be the right time for the tests...

[Trudy Harlow]

I can only relate my own experience with Paddy.  He came to us with coccidia, which we treated for.  I cleaned up the yard faithfully so he would not reinfect himself, and I kept him away from other dogs.  He was on meds (can't recall which, unfortunately) for months.  Once we had discontinued the meds, he continued with the diarrhea. I finally gave him a long, long, long course of probiotics, and that (and probably time) resolved the problem.  I don't know how long you have had Tucker on the probiotics -- possibly because he's been on meds for so long, he will need them for many months.

At the same time, Karen has some good information which you can use to inform your decision. 

Gosh, I feel bad for both you and your little guy!

[Lisa Marin]

Do you mind telling me the brand of probiotics you used? Seems to be so many out there.... 

[Trudy Harlow]

Well, some people may laugh at this, but I prescribed them myself for Paddy (thinking that since I take probiotics when I am on ABX, he probably would benefit also) and gave him some of mine (a brand called PB 8) for a while.  It seemed to help him so the next time I took him to the vet, I asked her about it. She said human probiotics and dog probiotics are slightly different and gave me some of what they had.  Unfortunately, I don't recall the brand.  I'm sure Karen can give you some good suggestions.  Yogurt with live cultures may also help, unless you are tightly controlling what Tucker is eating.  I didn't want to go that route since I was afraid the milk product would worsen the diarrhea, although a lot of people here feed their dogs yogurt with no problem.

As a result of his early difficulties, Paddy has always had a sensitive digestive system (not a sensitive stomach) and gets diarrhea easily.  He can't have bully sticks, pig or cow ears, etc.  Even Zuke's bones sometimes give him the drips.  But overall, he's healthy and at a good weight now.  When he was little, he was the smallest in his litter but he starting gaining weight and growing fast once we had the infection and diarrhea cleared up.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Plain unflavored fat free yogurt does seem to help some dogs with loose stools.

One probiotic (actually, it's a prebiotic, but it seems to help) that's helped Jack when he had antibiotic induced diarrhea is Gentle Digest by Ark Naturals. All natural and made in the U.S.A.

[Lisa Marin]

That is the one I am using. I hope it helps...

[Trudy Harlow]

I don't know about prebiotics because I think they tend to be full of fiber.  I know that gave me some problems when I had an issue -- had to stop taking them. And fiber certainly seems to irritate Paddy's insides. I'd certainly recommend the probiotics over the prebiotics in this instance.

Oh - found the latest brand my vet recommended:  FortiFlora.  But that is not what I gave Paddy -- it was something else.  FortiFlora is a product of Purina; I don't know where it actually is made so don't want to recommend it.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I don't know about most prebiotics, but Gentle Digest does not contain fiber. I think it depends on the individual product and ingredients, like anything else.

Also, regarding fiber, there is soluble fiber and insoluble fiber, and they each have very different effects on the digestive system. Soluble fiber will slow gastric emptying, so is beneficial for certain types of digestive issues, and also improves cholesterol levels and is beneficial for regulating blood sugar. Insoluble fiber will speed digestive transit time, and is beneficial for other types of issues, also will bulk stool and help clean the colon.

Fortiflora is indeed made by Purina, and is full of low quality ingredients, probably from China, and costs a fortune since it is only sold through vets as an Rx product like Rx food. I do not recommend it.