Ongoing Bouts of Diarrhea

[Nicole and Teddy]

Hi all! I'm at my wit's end with Teddy and hoping y'all can offer some guidance. He had lots of issues with rounds of diarrhea when he was a puppy and we tried everything- multiple rounds of meds, changed his food a bunch of times and after switching to fromm's he had a really good spell- about 6 months of doing well. Well, now he's back to having a sick tummy. This is his 3rd round of loose, runny stools and waking me up in the middle of the night to go outside. The first round we chalked up to picking up something at the dog park and got him on meds and he did fine. About a week later, he got in the trash and of course had a field day. 36 hours later he was a mess- doc suggested putting him on another round of meds- we did that and he was fine. About a week later I started a new obedience class with him and was treating with bacon and cheese (which he's tolerated before but maybe not in such large quantities- oops?!). About 36 hours later, we had another bout on our hands. This is the most recent. Switched him to I/D food (which we have on hand in case of emergencies because he seems to stabilize on it) and he was doing well until we switched him back to the fromm's- sick again. Loose, runny stools, with the urgency to go. I just got off the phone with the vet and they recommended a round of pectolate (I am SURE i'm not spelling this correctly, but essentially it hardens the stool) and fortifor (again, sp? it's a probiotic though). They suggested using both of these with his regular food and if this doesn't work, we may need to think about IBD and switching food permanently- of course, they recommend I/D or W/D (Hill's) which I am really leery of. In addition to IBD concerns, I'm also thinking maybe he has some kind of food allergy? He has no other symptoms- playful and energetic as usual and no loss of appetite. I just want him to fully well again :( Any thoughts/suggestions? Thanks in advance!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Nicole, please keep us posted. 

[Shari Becker]

I totally agree with Karen. I personally would make sure he's had 4-5 days of totally formed, stable stool. As a human with a very bad stomach, I can tell you with far too much personal knowledge that "better" is not the same as "healed."

[Nicole and Teddy]

Thanks, ladies- I will keep you posted for sure!

[Nicole and Teddy]

Hi all! Just wanted to share the latest! Teddy has been on chicken/brown rice and we switched him to pumpkin instead of sweet potato a few days ago as his stool didn't really seem to be hardening. He's also been on the proviable capsules for about a week now. The last few days have been great- his stool is much firmer and he's been going 1-2 times/day. This morning his stool was a bit softer and I'm wondering if I'm giving him too much pumpkin. I've also started to introduce his new kibble- the Wellness Simple Solutions Salmon and Potato . I'm going to try and transition him over the next few days but also don't want to rush it. We also got him the Pure Bites chicken treats and he seems to love them. We had an obedience class over the weekend and I used fresh chicken as his treat- he did great! Again, thanks so much for all the advice- I'll continue to keep you posted :)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This sounds positive, Nicole. No harm in cutting back on the pumpkin, you can always increase it again if needed. Thanks for the update.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Sounds like good progress.