Diarrhea and Loose Poop: Here we go again!

[Photinie Koutsavlis]

Hello! I had asked advice for my tiny goldendoodle (2.5 years old) earlier in the year, where she had diarrhea and loose bowel movements for a long time after her bout.  Your advice was great, used a strong probiotic and slowly got her back to solid and formed bowel movements.

Well here we are again, she has started earlier in the week with diarrhea and I am having a hard time getting her bowel movements solid again, she's on metronidizole for colitis (after a fecal exam) and I have her on proviable, slippery elm, and a bland diet.

What I find odd is that it has happened once again at the same time of year as it did last year - a couple of weeks prior to Christmas, when the cold and snow hits here in Canada - am I reaching, or is there a connection?  Any thoughts?

Also - she is on single serving Acana, and have thought about doing raw with her sensitive stomach issues - what are thoughts on that?

Thanks again,

Pixie's mom 

[Stella]

Interesting, I'm in Canada (Ontario) and know so many people whose dogs have had four or five days of diarrhoea in the last week or so (we also have recently had the snow arrive here), so maybe there is something to it?  Cooked or raw won't necessarily make a lot of difference, if your dog is sensitive to a specific protein (which it doesn't sound like she is), then she will be sensitive to that protein in any format. 

Keep going with the Proviable, the Metro is going to kill all bacteria (good and bad) in her intestine and often ends up causing an bacterial imbalance that again creates diarrhoea once the meds stop. Make sure you give the Proviable at a separate time than the Metro, and keep going with it after she is done with the Metro. 

What are you giving for the baked diet? Karen usually recommends chicken and sweet potato, you usually need to feed about double (I think) what they get in kibble format to provide the same number of calories. If you are considering switching to raw, I certainly wouldn't do it until all of this is over. Her guts are upset and would likely not tolerate the switch well. 

Hope this helps some. Karen is our resident dietary and poop expert, but she recently lost her dog (Jack Doodle) to bloat and isn't very active here right now. 

[Photinie Koutsavlis]

Thank you Stella! I am also in Ontario (Ottawa) - and we started to get our snow last weekend, and this is when it all started for Pixie - odd isn't it?

Yes, I have experienced diarrhea after the Metro is done, so aware of that this time.  She also never gets full solid poops even on the Metro - but no urgent runs or as runny, more cow pattie-like.  Once we are done with the meds, we will continue with the Proviable to help her firm up.

The ONLY bland diet she will eat is rice and hamburger meat - and even with that, she starts to pick out only the beef...awww, the joys of a poodle mix.

Will hold off on the raw until I do more research and speak to her vet.

Thanks again for all your advice - so helpful to know I am not alone :)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

At Karen's suggestion, we used VSL#3, a human probiotic, when our Charlie needed  a very strong probiotic and Proviable wasn't helping.  Her vet recommended it for Jack.  It can be found at human pharmacies - it has to be kept refrigerated so you have to ask for it.  Don't get the sachets.

[Bonnie and Kona]

I don't know if you have Costco in Canada, but VSL#3 is less expensive there than anywhere else I have tried. (I don't use it for my dogs but for my daughter. )