Intermittent Diarrhoea

[Perry's Mum]

Perry has had this for 6 weeks - she is a 7 year old Koolie, desexed, fully vaccinated, etc. She has been to the vet twice - first time she was definitely off colour and had some vomiting and a dry warm nose, she was given some pills and it seemed to go away, the last few weeks the diarrhoea has returned but otherwise she seems fit, healthy, full of energy and her nose is cold and wet. I have not altered her food (a mix of fresh meat, vegetables and pasta) and she is eating normally and drinking normally. The vet now thinks she may have developed an allergy to something and wants me to take her to a specialist in Sydney or put her on a low allergy diet for 6 months. She has also done a blood test to check liver function, etc.

Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations?

[Sticks1977]

The only thing I can suggest at the moment is to perhaps give your dog a diet of plain chicken breast fillets and rice.

Henry is about 20 weeks of age and had a rather awful case of diarrhoea and the vet mentioned to give him a very bland diet.

I just purchased some breast fillets from the supermarket and steamed them for 20 minutes and boiled up some rice. It took a few days for it to pass through his system but I have seen a pretty good improvement since.

He has been on the chicken and rice for around a week and just today have been slowly re-introducing dry food.

Hope that all goes well - sure is frustrating when they get the runs and that they can't tell you what it's from...

[Erny]

Did the Vet look at stool samples, checking for worm burden count, giardia, or the like? What did the Vet check for?

Edited April 15, 2010 by Erny

[Perry's Mum]

She seems pretty confident that it is not giardia because of the first lot of drugs she gave her. She has not examined a stool sample and that is one of the things which surprised me. It is a good practice but she is a new vet - I think she has the makings of a good one but not at the price of my dog. I am waiting for the results to come from the blood sample and then will make an appoointment with one of the senior vets. She has been regularly wormed - most recently on 1 april since this started.

[Erny]

Good luck PM. Hope she shows nothing particularly serious and recovers quickly .

[Perry's Mum]

Thanks - I am hoping it is not serious either - she is very precious to me.

[becks]

i would try treating her with Panacur wormer, as this is used to treat Giardia, at least you will be able to then cross that off the list of causes.

[Perry's Mum]

Thank you, I will get some tomorrow.

[Erny]

I wouldn't be administering any wormers or any other chemical if it were me.

If it is not giardia or worms that is the cause of the problem, if it is a tummy bug, say ..... then you wouldn't be helping your dog's system by feeding drugs that are not necessary. They could even serve to irritate your dog's guts further. Just my opinion.

Edited April 16, 2010 by Erny

[Staranais]

Giardia sheds intermittently so you won't always catch it by taking one stool sample - you often need several to get a diagnosis (or rule it out).

Hope you find out what it is.

[stormie]

I'd ask for a fecal float to check for worms. We had a couple of clients whose dogs had an awful whipworm problem, even though they were wormed routinely. After discussing it with drug companies etc, seems there is a bit of resistance developing.

[Erny]

Giardia sheds intermittently so you won't always catch it by taking one stool sample - you often need several to get a diagnosis (or rule it out).

You're right, Staranais. I remember I had to send in 3 stool samples (one from each day) for the Vets to check for Giardia (my avatar girl, bless her cotton socks). It was confirmed positive. She had come to me with a huge infestation and we had to medicate over a period of time and send in periodic stool samples for checking, before we finally managed a zero count.

[Perry's Mum]

Vet rang this evening - I asked about stool samples and she said that they rarely do that because of the difficulty of getting reliable results. The blood test was normal except for thyroid function - she thinks that might reflect the fact that Perry has not been well. I have to keep her on a bland diet for a week - straight chicken and rice - and also give her some probiotics. If it does not dry up in the next week then she has to have more thyroid tests.

[Perry's Mum]

Diarrhoea seems to have cleared up - will go and talk to her about the thyroid levels in the next few days. Thank you all for your help.

[VJB]

Diarrhoea seems to have cleared up - will go and talk to her about the thyroid levels in the next few days. Thank you all for your help.

Glad it's cleared up a bit. If it comes back, maybe ask about colitis? This can also be one of those 'come and go' things. What colour are the stools?