ronross
Posted : 1/8/2007 3:03:08 PM
ORIGINAL: seashell
My dog had the worst possible diahrea this morning and I am trying to figure out what could have caused it. How far back should I be looking at her diet? She had some veggies on Friday. We haven't changed her food or treats, so I am assuming it was table scraps or the pretzels I dropped yesterday.
First, you might consider having her skip at least one meal and fast her on liquids like chicken broth and water for up to 24 hours. This rests the stomach and will not hurt your dog. One of the most common causes of diarrhea is over-feeding so even if her dog food amount remained the same, the extra scraps and pretzels could have brought on the diarrhea even if in themselves they weren't a problem.
As I understand it there are basically two kinds of diarrhea depending on where the problem lies in the gut. If the dog is defecating on a normal schedule but the movement is explosively liquid, this would indicate a problem in the small intestine. Certain parasites take up residence in the small intestine and can cause this kind of diarrhea.
If the dog is defecating more often than usual and has problems in the house, it is a large intestine problem. I'm not too sure what the cause of large intestine problems is. I became an unwilling expert on diarrhea when my cocker contracted what we believe is the giardia parasite, which is a small intestine problem.
Assuming the dog isn't vomiting and there isn't blood or any unusual coloration in the feces, a short fast should help help her feel more comfortable. At that point you can feed plain white rice and boiled chicken breast or hamburger to help settle the stomach. If you choose to go back to her regular diet, feed much smaller amounts more often so as not to overwhelm her gut.
Pumpkin and imodium are often recommended to stop the diarrhea and firm up the stool, but I have not found them to be effective myself. A concoction of slippery elm powder and water fed by the spoonful several times a day seems to have a very positive soothing effect on my dog. The powder is readily available at health food stores and some pharmacies, is inexpensive, and harmless.
One thing I can share that I learned from my giardia ordeal, which I hope is over now that Dylan was dosed with Panacur, is that I should have gone to the vet sooner. I thought that even the chronic diarrhea was due to what I was feeding or some garbage my chow hound had inhaled off the street. A blood test, urinalysis, and fecal test were inconclusive, but at least more serious problems were ruled out. In cases where the fecal doesn't show parasites, a vet may decide to medicate with flagyl anyway because parasites like giardia and whipworm are very hard to detect with normal tests. The idea is that if the dog gets better on the antibiotic, then he probably has one of the conditions the medication addresses. However, my dog, and apparently many others, got sick again as soon as he went off of the flagyl. Panacur, another type of worm medication that also fights protozoa, seems to have worked better.
It's been a nightmare. Although Dylan never really got sick "within himself," the bugs and the fasting took all his extra fat off him in no time at all (alarmingly so) so that even though his weight has never been better, he can ill afford to lose any more. For the past ten days, since he finished the first course of Panacur, he has not had explosive diarrhea but his poops are still frequently very soft. FWIW, I fed rice and boiled chicken for the first few days, then started adding in California Natural Chicken and Rice (the vet recommended Science Diet Sensitive Stomach but I hate the idea of it). I also fed him pumpkin occasionally and good plain yogurt everyday. Today I decided that I would just feed the CN kibble plain for a couple of days and see what happens.
Good luck. It's probably nothing, but if the diarrhea starts to be off and on over time, please see your vet.
Ron