Newbie Looking For Gastro Advice

[shauna]

Hi

I'm new to all this and wondered if anyone could give me some advice...................

I have 2 dogs a Weimaraner (George) and a Hungarian Viszla (Dave) both 4 months old. Dave is fine but George has had soft stools for about 4 weeks now since he had acourse of antibiotics, they range from soft to really watery. We have been to the vets several times and had an injection to slow his bowel down as well a 2 5 day courses of a pro-tex (a pro-biotic) to no avail. Last visit to vets they also said to put him on a rectricted diet for 3 days consisting of boiled rice and Hills ID but this still made no difference added to that when we weighed him he had only put on 1.5 Kg in 3 weeks (should have been more like 4.5Kg). The vet has now sent a sample off for analysis and we are waiting for the results.

We have also now put him back on a normal diet (Advance Puppy Growth for Large Breeds) with the addition of chicken necks as they can help to harden stools, no point in a restricted diet if it doesn't make any difference - except a hungry dog

Has anyone here has similar problems with a Weimaraner or indeed another breed and any magic tips to get his digestive system back to normal, otherwise he is fine eating properly running around etc.

Thanks for any tips you can share.

[InspectorRex]

I would be just feeding a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice UNTIL you get back the results from the Vet and then you will now what you are dealing with

I would be adding a human grade probiotic, eg Microgenics Dairy Free, to the dog's diet.Far cheaper than protexin and better quality

Please keep is updated.

[tdierikx]

What was George on antibiotics for? Might give us some more insight as to what may be going on... also some idea of what his stools were like prior to the antibiotics, and what you had been feeding him before the antibiotics, would be helpful...

T.

[shauna]

What was George on antibiotics for? Might give us some more insight as to what may be going on... also some idea of what his stools were like prior to the antibiotics, and what you had been feeding him before the antibiotics, would be helpful...

T.

Hi

Thanks for the replies (yours and the one above). George had the antibiotices for an infected dew claw, unfortunately not removed properly but now cleared up, removal will be completed at desexing in 6 weeks time.

Prior to the antibiotics stools were fine. Diet was Advance Puppy for Large Growth (as it had been at his breeder, so from about 4 weeks old onwards) with 250ml of puppy milk per day. Then most weekends a dried pigs ear, some bones, (lamb or beef) or chicken necks. As soon as we started having problems we stopped the puppy milk first and then began to stop all the other extras.

Other things they had before antibiotics as treats are, fritz, cheese, dried liver treats, commercial treats - none of these in large quantities each piece just less than the size of a pea and not too manh in a day just used for training.

thanks

Shauna

[Bow Wow]

Hope this helps. http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=135135

[laneka]

Slippery Elm Powder available from the health store is good for upset tummies and the runs.

[tdierikx]

Thanks Shauna... it's starting to look like maybe his little gut didn't agree with the antibiotics (maybe)...

I found switching from puppy food to an adult feed of the same brand worked well when my pups started getting the trots from the puppy version. Supercoat Adult Chicken worked well for my babies - with a small sprinkle of calcium powder mixed in - all made slightly softer with a small amount of warm water. Ask your vet if this may be worth a try for poor young George.

T.

[shauna]

Hi guys

Thanks so much for the advice. I think I will wait to get the results back from the vet before we try anything else, if there is something wrong we could be fighting a losing battle otherwise, hopefully we will get them today or tomorrow.

Very runny all weekend to the point of being liquid sometimes, so the chicken necks aren't helping to firm him up as the vet suggested they might.

I'll let you know when we get the results. I am really hoping it shows something that we can fix otherwise it will be a long road back to normallity changing diet and seeing what works.

Thanks again for the replies.

[GoldD]

shauna - just a thought. I can't feed my dog raw chicken otherwise he gets the runs. When he last got the runs we had to do the rice biz for 7 days which was enough to break the cycle. Then slowly introduced him back to normal food over the next seven day, very slowly. He does not get raw chichen anymore.....Maybe cut out the chook necks. I am no expert that's for sure but I'm sure I've read that some dogs do not tolerate raw chicken. Worth a try whilst waiting for vet results.

[shauna]

Thanks GoldD, have tried no chicken all week and still on normal food but no luck. I was very pleased last night though he managed to one normal textured poo and I thought Yay then this morning back to runny again. Hoping to get the results fomr the vets today, they have taken ages to come back which I am a bit annoyed about.

[jaegertheweim]

Not sure if anyone has suggested this to you yet but have you tried adding cooked pumpkin to his food? My Wei had soft stools (made worse by antibiotics too) when he was younger too and the added fiber helped him immensly

[Poodle wrangler]

What about bones like brisket?

I had some food that gave my larger dog looser stools and upping the raw stuff (some pet mince, some bones, some brisket) helped until I got thru the bag.

He wasn't otherwise unwell, or had a recent course of antibiotics though.

Best wishes for your wei.

[shauna]

Well got the results back from the vets late last week and all normal. I was relieved in one way but then worried that it could be difficult getting him back to normal. The vet gave us Scourban (chalky liquid) to add to his food for the next week which he has been having since Thursday and.............................

Yay!!! At last we are getting somewhere and are almost back to normal on the poo front after only 3 complete days of medication. I am so relieved, but at the same time wish we could have tried this stuff earlier in the process.

Thanks for all your help guys. I will certainly keep a note of all the useful tips you have posted in case we get a similar problems in the future.

[persephone]

Glad he's doing better.!!

Scourban will certainly firm him up... but unless a cause is found and treated, it may not be a 'cure'..and he can't stay on it forever .

Hopefully tho..it will give him a chance to heal..and maybe put on some weight