Metronidozal alone was the medication that your vet tried...and that was it...?

Did they try a series of antibiotics in combination with the metronidazole? or a combination of corticoseteriods? or Pepcid AC or anything else....

Are you on a limited budget and do you think the vet is telling you what he thinks you can afford rather than what will help your pet?

Diet of course is key, but it sounds like some type of IBD or ulcers. Sorry your doggy sounds very uncomfortable. I would get a second opinion.... and do some research on IBD and ulcers, see if that fits your dogs symptoms. There are treatments and diets for those conditions... metronidozal is one treatment for IBD, but typically its used in combination with other medications...??

I have a coworker whose dogs has been struggling with similar symptoms for quite some time. I think her dog has finally gotten some relief by trying an ulcer protocal that was set up for humans, using the antibiotic strategy combined with ant-acids.

It can be Irritable Intestine Syndrome, but it can also be something else like histoplasmosis or anaerobic bacterial overgrowth ( reason why metronidazol reduces the symptoms ).

Did they check specifically for for whipworms? They can be hard to detect and you may want to treat for them anyway just to be sure. If your dog is on Interceptor for heartworms then that wouldn't be needed. How old is she? I think I would want to do a complete bloodwork pannel just to rule out anything going on internally that may be causing problems. If all is good there then pick one bland dogfood with a limited ingredient pannel and stick with it for a couple weeks. If she's not used to the whole food that could be contributing to the problems. If I fed any of that I think I would go with chicken and rice only.

Lisa

I agree with dobesrule and joepeyweed. A second opinion would be a good idea at this point. Is there any way you can afford to get further testing done, maybe by a specialist? I also agree with picking one bland food and sticking with it for a couple of weeks. It can take a while for her system to get used to it.

I'm sorry your girl isn't feeling well.

I thought that pumpkin was for constipation!!! I give it to my kitties when they CAN'T go. Try not giving that to him.

Thanks for all of the replies.

To properly diagnose irritable bowel syndrome - is a blood test required?

Christy is approx. 2 years old and has had one round of interceptor (her next dose is due tomorrow). I think I will try to get a second opinion and bloodwork.

I will start feeding her the same thing. What do you all think of Canidae lamb & rice? Do you think that is bland enough? It just has a single source of protein and a single carb source.

ritamay: curiously, unsweetened canned pumpkin works for constipation *and* diarrhea.

Poor pup, and you! This really sounds awful for both of you to be dealing with.

If you can afford a complete blood work test, that should narrow things down.

This sounds like a food allergy to me, but, issues others brought up could also be the problem.

Your experience is one that I've had to deal with, and it did turn out to be a food allergy (wheat).

From what you posted, it sounds like your vet is not going down the right road with this. Are you happy with the way things have gone so far with him/her?

When ever I get meds for my dogs, and especially if I am not familiar with them, I always make it a point to research what they are and how they work. I also ask the vet to give me a time table for how long they should start to show results (by what day should corrections start to show up). This puts the pressure on the vet to make things happen and you sound like you know something about the issue, even though you may not. Any good vet should be able to give you this info. If meds are constantly being changed, the vet doesnt know what they are doing, AND you are spending tons of money on something that might not be working.

Good luck! Keep us posted!

SG

I have had good luck with a combination of low-residue food and a product called Actipet Digestive Aid. I can usually find the the digestive aid at a health food store. We have dealt with this problem for over 8 years. Our poor old gal has been through every test in the book. She has in laymans terms bateria overgrowth. When it gets out of control we use a triple cocktail of metronidazole, antibiotic, and one other drug that I can't remember right now. I can look it up when I get back in town this evening.

The key for us was finding a vet that was determined to get to the bottom of her problem-no pun intended. Good luck!
Linda

My Aleksander had chronic diarrhea as a puppy. He had food allergies- lamb, beef, artificial preservatives (BHA/BHT). Anything different upset his tummy, so he had very few treats in his life.

If your dog does have food allergies, it's a trial and error thing.
1. Pick a diet that has nothing your dog has ever had before. Since you just adopted him, probably have to go with something like rabbit or venison with potatoes to avoid foods he had before you got him.
2. Feed that diet and that diet only for 6-8 weeks. No treats, no yogurt, no nothing but food and water. Usually GI-type food allergy clears up within 2-4 weeks.
3. After the trial period, you can start slowly adding different foods, carefully watching for signs of problems.

Diagnosing IBD for sure involves exploratory laparotomy (a BIG surgery) taking multiple biopsies for submission to a histopath lab. Obviously that is a huge expense and a huge procedure for your dog and should probably be saved as a last resort.

Personally, I'd deworm him first, even if the stool test was negative. Just checking one stool sample does NOT rule out intestinal parasites, and deworming him won't hurt and may help. With his history of heartworm disease, it is obvious that he wasn't on prevention which would have protected him from intestinal parasites as well. The metronidazole would have helped if clostridia was part of the problem.

I'd also ditch the yogurt and pumpkin for now because those are very rich foods. Adult animals can be lactose intolerant, which may explain the increased gas. Stick to bland for now- once his diet is figured out you can try to add other foods.

If your pup fails the food trials (no improvement after trying several different diets each for the prescribed amount of time), then you may have to do some advanced diagnostics.

It took me several months to figure out Aleksander's issues, and it was plain exasperation that did it. I went through every single Hill's dry food at the place where I worked, dewormed him several times (he did have parasites), put him on metronidazole and SMZ-TMP (an old antibiotic), and nothing helped. I figured he could have diarrhea on less expensive food just as easily as Hills prescription diets, so I bought a bag of Nature's Recipe turkey and his diarrhea immediately cleared up. The only difference between the Hills I/D and the Nature's Recipe was that Hills uses BHA and BHT and NR does not. Problem solved!

I hope your dog gets well as easily as Aleksander. Good luck.

My dog went through a diarrhea phase. The vet didn't know for sure if it was Colitus of the Large Intestin or Inflamitory Bowel.

For us it seems to boil down to an allergy issue. I went through several foods before settling with a high quality Lamb and Rice.

To start, you should put your dogs on one of the IVD foods (made by Royal Canin) for allergies. Your vet has to prescribe it, and you can buy it from your vet or online with the prescription.

See if that helps, but also explore the other possibilities mentioned. I was also told whipworm was a possibility.

BTW, MANY dogs are allergic to chicken and it's in SO many dog foods. I'd definitely stop feeding chicken immediately.

Geez! I just looked at what the vet gave you. I'd switch foods immediately.

The first bad thing is CORN is the first ingredient. Then you have Chicken and more corn.

Check out the Royal Canin IVD foods. The choices are Potato and Duck, Potato and Venision, Potato and Fish, and Potato and Rabbit.

Ingredients:
ROYAL CANIN Veterinary Diet canine POTATO and RABBIT FORMULA Dry
Dehydrated potatoes, rabbit meal, rabbit, canola oil, potato protein, potato fiber, calcium phosphate, natural flavor, L-lysine, salmon oil, sodium chloride, choline chloride, vitamins [DL-alpha-tocopherol (source of vitamin E), L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), inositol, niacin, vitamin A acetate, D-calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), beta-carotene, riboflavin (vitamin B2), pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement], minerals [zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, iron proteinate, copper sulfate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite], DL-methionine, preserved with natural mixed tocopherols, rosemary extract, and citric acid.

Science Diet i/d
"Ground Whole Grain Corn, Brewers Rice, Dried Egg Product, Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Pork Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Soy Fiber, Dicalcium Phosphate, Chicken Liver Flavor, Iodized Salt, Potassium Citrate, Choline Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Soybean Oil, vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Taurine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Ethoxyquin (a preservative)."

Here is a link that might be useful: Adverse Reactions to Food

To diagnose irritable bowel syndrome first you have to eliminate all the other probable causes: food allergy, whipworms, protozoans ( giardiasis, amoebiasis ), anaerobic bacterial overgrowth, along with all the tests required to rule those out which include blood work, coproparasitoscopic analysis, etc, etc, etc.; irritable bowel syndrome is not the most common of all the problems that can affect the GI tract, usually you hit the jackpot on any of the others if the proper tests are run, anaerobic bacterial overgrowth is by far more common than IIS.

I don´t think it´s problem of food allergy, the dog was put under metronidazole medication and it responded well to the treatment, metronidazole works on both, anaerobic bacteria and protozoans, also, you mentioned in your first post that the dog had a lot of gas and tummy rumblings, which again brings me to think that is not a problem of food allergy.

As for the pumpkin, it can be used on both cases, diarrhea and constipation. In the case of diarrhea it´s used as an absorbent of pollutans, it absorbs pollutants and bacteria reducing them in the intestinal content and it absorbs water giving more volume to the content. In the case of constipation it works by adding volume and increasing the transit speed of the intesting because it´s rich in fiber. It´s a matter of quantity.

It was said:
" you mentioned in your first post that the dog had a lot of gas and tummy rumblings, which again brings me to think that is not a problem of food allergy."

To date, I have had 3 dogs with food allergies. Two of them responded to "wrong" foods with looser and bulkier stools which, if I continued the food, would continue on to diarrhea. They also had rumbling guts and gosh awful, drive-you-out-of-the-house f**ts.

Other manifestations of allergies -- in my dogs, that is --have been itchy and scaley skin; hot spots; recurrent skin infections; chewing on skin, particularly on feet or belly; hives, usually first detected on belly. (Thank goodness only some of that was troubling any one dog.)

I have had the most success with limited ingredient dog foods. The IVD as has been mentioned, also Royal Canin. Try combos such as egg & rice; fish & sweet potato; duck & potato; rabbit & potato.

Two of those 3 dogs were sensitive to lamb.

Thank you thank you for all of the suggestions and comments.

Christy didn't respond SO well to the metronidizol. It never eradicated her diarrhea - just firmed it up a bit. She was also dewormed right before I got her and then again in another 3 weeks and then I gave her the interceptor.

Last night and this morning I gave her ground beef and sweet potato. Not to be gross but the first poop was mostly solid! The second, however, was going back the other bad direction.

I agree, CLG7067, the science diet i/d is nothing good. Unfortunately, AFTER I did research on foods that dogs could be allergic too - did I read the label. As soon as I did, I stopped feeding her that and bought a 40lb (smallest the store had) of Canidae. Now, I've got tons of different dog food and still have a dog with diarrhea. My husband doesn't want to try any other kinds of dog food. (He makes fun of me that I've been cooking for the dog.)

As some of you have mentioned, I think it's best to spend my $$ on bloodwork first. I wouldn't say we're on a "limited" budget but the sky isn't the limit either.

Will try to feed her the beef and sweet potato again tonight and see how it goes.

Thanks again!

My 13 y.o Border Collie had chronic diahreah much as you're describing. I switched to Nutro Lamb & Rice which is the only one I've found from reading the various lists of ingredients that only contains lamb & rice as the first two ingredients listed, WITHOUT any corn, soy, grains etc. Many of the other brands of lamb & rice do contain those other grains and/or lamb and rice are not the first two ingredients listed which means they aren't the primary ingredients. It's worth a shot, just buy a small bag of it and see. It's been a lifesaver for me.

Thanks pkguy-

Actually Nutro lamb & rice is what I had her on for the first 3 weeks because that was what the rescue contact recommended. She had diarrhea despite being on the Nutro and metronidizol.

Thanks anyway!

Ok - just to put a face to the case - here's our Christy w/my kids

...and trying to shake the squeaker out of her toy :o)

{{!gwi}}

tantadoodles,

In many cases, you can return food for a full refund if your dog doesn't tolerate it. So no need to keep a closet full.

HOORAY!!!!

This morning Christy had (her first since being with us for almost 2 months) a normal solid poop!! Last night I fed her ground beef, sweet potato, a little pasta and a few green beans.

OK - so - what do I do now? Keep feeding her the same for about 2 weeks or so and then try to gradually segue her to a super premium dog food with main ingredient beef ? Maybe I need to do more searching but I haven't found too much beef as a main ingredient in quality dog foods. It's typically some kind of poultry or lamb.

Thanks for hanging in there with us. Any other ideas?

You may not ever be able to feed your dog processed food. You can make your own dog food. Make it in bulk, freeze it in daily sized portions and thaw them as you need it. Its probably cheaper than buying premium dog food.

I've provided a link to a dog food recipe, but if you web search around, there are lots of recipe's out there.

I buy frozen patties from Nature's Menu. (www.naturesmenu.com) Its all meat, no grains. You can have them shipped frozen directly. And there are discounts if you buy in bulk.

Here is a link that might be useful: dog food recipe

Glad to hear some good news!

Since you were successful with this, I think I would continue for a while, perhaps a month? You and your dog must be exhausted from the experience.

I've had two dogs with food allergies. One was corn, the other wheat (this one had the diarrhea).

You need to alter food intake gradually, doing it to fast can cause it's own issues. Since things cleared up so quickly, you probably have put your finger on the problem. IVD venison and potato would be an excellent choice for food or any other high quality food labeled "hypoallergenic". What ever you choose, add only a few pieces of new food in with what you are cooking.

I'm curious if previous food had any type of wheat additive.

Good luck!

SG

This web site was in our newspaper recently.

http://www.petdiets.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: make your own

I was glad to see you tried pasta. I've owned two dogs that didn't tolerate rice well so I now alternate between spaghetti and egg noodles.

My current dog gets a homemade diet of chicken or beef (I often buy chuck roast at Costco, cook and freeze it) a mix of raw chopped veges and pasta. Along with that he gets a vitamin/mineral supplement.

I would leave her on what she's eating for a good 2 weeks and then add one new item....such as another vege. or maybe even try chicken.
With such a sensitive stomach she may have to be on a homemade diet forever.

Hi first time posting here. Please to meetcha all! I have a bulldog, and anyone who knows, bulldogs are infamous for "wind" and allergies. My dear friend Terry owns a health/vitamin store, she advised me to use eagle pack dog food, it is all holistic no junk added etc. not much more $ than reg dog food. Also give something you can get at the health store that is called All-Flora. It is the good live bacteria we and dogs have in our stomach. It should calm down whatever is terrorizing the digestive tract. It will be in the frig section of the store. MUST keep refrig'd. My bully once drank liquid peppermint soap and had a terrible time, crying at the door to get out so he could go!! 2 doses and he was back to normal. This will work on humans also. Plain yougurt may help also for upset stomachs and the big D. She looks like she is a sweetheart, I hope you can resolve this. I don't recommend the larger chain health stores, the people are not knowledgeable, if you do a search for it it is made by new chapter. But buy it locally if you can, I ordered it online once and it was not refrig'd. Also Terry recommended lentils cooked in chix broth for his allergies, that is all she feeds her dogs. I know that you are concerned about food allergys. Maybe everything is out of whack and just need a chance to rest. After the scare with commercial dog food I am so glad I feed my boy holistic. I am not promoting these products just listing what has worked for me. Good Luck. Dena

Just wondered how your baby is doing...my dog is going through something very similar. We just can't seem to figure out what will work. I'm at my wit's end. She refuses to eat rice, pumpkin, etc. We're currently trying the venison/potato food and it seemed to be working in conjunction with antibiotic #8, but today she had diarrhea again. However, it seems while I was at work she did get hold of some food from the counter and ate it...perhaps that's the culprit.

nlady,
Ask your vet about using carafate. It really helped my dogs GI tract. It comes in tablet or liquid..........if your dog doesn't take pills well, the tablets can be dissolved in water and then given with a syringe.