Stitch Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 Yep I hear you sandgrubber. Unfortunately it isn't just soft poo, it is poo with mucus and it is happening about 4-6 times a day....and even though she is toileted at bedtimes she is also pooing overnight. Last night she went to bed at 9pm and I heard her get up at 12.30am and poo in the X-pen. I don't really care what food I feed her, the problem is finding the food that is right for her and what settles her intestines and that is not proving very easy. If she could talk it would be a lot easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Maybe consider getting a nutriscan done to see what foods to avoid . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danois Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 Food alone will not address the clear gut health issue. Go check out The Balanced Canine on Facebook. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boronia Posted March 17, 2018 Share Posted March 17, 2018 Try giving your dog 1/2 charcoal tablet (1/2 for small dogs and a whole for big dogs) twice a day and see if that helps, at least there will be no harm by giving the tablets. Slippery elm (I use capsules) is also good; it lines the gut wall and allows it to settle down and repair itself. I use both of these remedies when the dogs have upset tums and it does help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest crazydoglady99 Posted March 18, 2018 Share Posted March 18, 2018 It sounds like Colitis. My previous dog had it, and unfortunately it cost her her life. If it was me, I would: A) definitely get a nutriscan test done (it is the only reliable test) B) put her on a raw barf, single protein food. C) talk to the vet and get a course of steroids. D) Include some probiotics in her diet. With my beautuful old girl, I got zero good recommendations from my vet, tried every food on the market. It was a living nightmare and she suffered horribly. Good luck with It! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 I have got things to settle down a little. I am now 'serving' boiled chicken & rice laced with slippery elm & Protexin. Got her through the night a few times until I added a few veges yesterday and then got poos at 5am today so won't be doing that again. Back to just chicken and rice. Yesterday I took a sample of her poos to the vet and am getting a full spectrum report on that hopefully before the weekend. If that is clear I can then discount infections, bacteria, parasites, etc. I know that flaxseed meal and more so flaxseed oil will cause runny poos and unfortunately I have found out that the Big Dog BARF has flaxseed oil and Leading Raw BARF has flaxseed meal in it. Is there a nice palatable BARF that doesn't have flaxseed in it? Not keen on Dr.B's. Won't be doing steroids yet. Considering Nutriscan however looking at the sample results report on their site it seems like most foods caused a reaction so not sure how that works? Boronia, I thought charcoal was mainly for farts? I know that it works by absorbing pollutants when used for other purposes and am thinking that 1/2 a tablet isn't going to do much to help in this case?? Maybe I am wrong?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boronia Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 (edited) It will help, give 1/2 tablet twice daily. what does your dog weigh? we could give 1 tablet if she is heavy (the Westies 8.5-->9.5kg get 1/2 tablet) Edited March 22, 2018 by Boronia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Kisses Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 I would suspect charcoal would have the potential for preventing uptake of vitamins and minerals? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 7kg...what exactly have you found charcoal helps with? I can see that it might absorb gasses but it would become saturated very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest crazydoglady99 Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 Do you think she's tolerate fish? (Sardines, wild caught salmon). I had a dog many years ago that had explosive liquid poo on anything other than Fish & Rice. It's hard isn't it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boronia Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 7kg = 1/2 tablet (or 1/2 capsule, you'll need to pull the capsule apart and shake out the powder, messy but I've found that it is easier to sprinkle over the food) some info here: https://wagwalking.com/treatment/activated-charcoal have a read of this link also, it may be helpful: https://ehomeremedies.com/dog-diarrhea/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 (edited) Thank you for that Boronia, I will definitely investigate that. As you say it can't hurt. Today, and I take one day at a time, poos awaited me when I got up however they weren't very soft at all, so I suppose that is an improvement. I am going to remove the rice from the diet and try sweet potato tomorrow....after all rice is a grain. Maybe it is multiple intolerances....who knows. Animallover, I did try her on MFM Salmon and Sardines dryfood....not good. Tried her on tinned tuna which she refused to eat. That's about the extent of it for now. It's a good thing I have other dogs who are happy to eat reject food from this girl. Also, forgot to say, I am now adding 1/2 teaspoon of slippery elm once daily. Edited March 22, 2018 by Stitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted March 23, 2018 Share Posted March 23, 2018 The nutriscan tells you what are a higher / lower risk for your dog and what type of reaction level so you can then feed based on the results . By the the time you buy various foods and supplements it’s a cheaper more accurate guideline Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted March 23, 2018 Author Share Posted March 23, 2018 Nutriscan will be my next 'port of call' if the faecal sample that was taken on Wednesday doesn't show up any problems. I do need to know if there are any prepared BARF products on the market that don't include flaxseed. I might start up another topic if I can't get an answer here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest crazydoglady99 Posted March 23, 2018 Share Posted March 23, 2018 (edited) I don't know know about the flaxseed sorry! I don't mean to sound like I am lecturing you, but, assuming it's colitis- you will more than likely need a course of steroids and possibly antibiotics to clear up whatever is going on in there. It's possibly caused by a food intolerance, that has built up and become a bigger issue. So... maybe, vet for some meds, and nutriscan while you are on the meds? Edit to say - this is what happened to us. We'd change food and things 'seemed better' for a few days, then back to square one. We didn't do nutriscan because I thought it would take too long (so stupid). Oh man, I just read that. I sound like a broken record! Sorry! Edited March 23, 2018 by crazydoglady99 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted March 23, 2018 Author Share Posted March 23, 2018 You may be right about the steroids but I have had experience with them in the past. They have the potential to be a rather nasty drug and not one I want to get into unless absolutely necessary. In this case it is an option that the vet hasn't raised yet so that may still happen. I do have a 16 year old dog that is still motoring on despite having almost a lifetime of IBD so I am very familiar with gut issues.....not that they get an easier to deal with. She couldn't tolerate steroids and they caused more problems than they helped in her case but that was years ago we stopped them and so she had to take antibiotics regularly. I thought she was coming to the end a few weeks ago. She had been on long term antibiotics because of her uncontrollable gut issues. Metronidazole and sometimes combining that with Amoxyclav but she had gradually built up a resistance to them and was quite poorly so I had to stop them last week and just let nature take its course. That wasn't easy so I started to give her probiotics (Protexin) plus slippery elm plus a fibre supplement. If she gets a rumble in the gut I give her a Buscopan. I don't know how much longer she has but she is now eating well and so much happier not being on those antibiotics. At least she now has quality of life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boronia Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 when Penny had gotten old-old she used to get a pain in her tum after her meals, though her poo was normal. She was in the habit of gobbling her food down FAST. Her vet put her on Zantac syrup which helped, it wasn't overly expensive but if you have a friendly dog-owning GP you can get a script for bottle of 500ml and just pay the chemist (and doctor) It may be worth asking your vet about it anyway. http://dogtime.com/dog-health/54801-ranitidine-zantac-dogs-uses-dosage-side-effects Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest crazydoglady99 Posted March 25, 2018 Share Posted March 25, 2018 Organic paws - They have some single protein barf. Without all the extras. You'd have to Google, cause the place near me that sells them only ships locally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted March 25, 2018 Author Share Posted March 25, 2018 Thanks Boronia....yes I remember Zantac is one that has been tried over the years. I will look it up and remind myself of what it does. It might be helpful for the young one or even revisiting for the old girl. Thanks Animallover, I will do a search for Organic Paws. I really appreciate all your ideas. Everything tends to get a bit overwhelming at times. It is surprising just how many dogs have gut issues. I wish there were vets that actually specialised in this problem. I know we have internal medicine specialist vets nearby because I took the old girl there several times but unless the dog is at deaths door, they are not really into solving digestive issues. I don't know why that is as I would have thought there was a real call for someone who could solve or even help with this kind of problem before it gets too bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest crazydoglady99 Posted March 25, 2018 Share Posted March 25, 2018 Oh I totally understand! When it happened to me, the only thing that gave my girl any quality of life was a bottle of prednisone we had in the cupboard. We were so exhausted with the vet shrugging their shoulders saying "well she is getting old - buy this bag hydrolysed food". In the end, a wonderful holistic vet gave us a great plan & some herbal tinctures, but as we tried to wean off steroids all the problems resurfaced and my poor girl was in awful discomfort. I couldn't let her suffer a single day longer. I feed my dogs a barf diet, but I dry the offal/fruit/vegetable component, and feed that too them in various enrichment activities. Long story short, my sons teacher last year has 4 little dachshunds, all with various health issues. One in particular had recurring bought of mucous poo/food refusal etc etc. Her vet gave her steroids & antibiotics to get over each bout. I gave her some of my dried 'treats' which snowballed into it being their exclusive diet for 12months (only stopping because I was waaayyyy to tired to continue!). In that 12 month period, he only had 1 bout of tummy trouble, and it was when he had eaten only lamb variety of food for about a month! My interpretation of these tummy issues, is that an offending food creates the problem, and then you simply cannot overcome it without some medical intervention (please prove me wrong here!!!!) Plus you still have to find a food/s that are well tolerated. Its a bit of a nightmare really! Good luck with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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