# Still having diarrhea issues after 5 months. :(



## MayBTheresHope (Feb 25, 2013)

What on earth is wrong with my puppy Miley? We got her at 14 weeks and she has had diarrhea/soft stool troubles since day one. She was diagnosed with Giardia shortly after we brought her home. Over the past 4 months, she has been on 2 rounds of Panacur by itself (7-10 days at a time), then metronidazole in combination with Panacur once (10 days). 

She FINALLY tested negative for Giardia after this, but started having problems again about a week after she finished up the meds. The vet sent off another stool sample and put her back on metronidazole. She was well again within two days and the Giardia test came back negative again.

A few days after finishing up the metronidazole, the problems started back again. The vet put her on a probiotic for 5 days, but it did nothing. He put her on the metronidazole in addition to the probiotic. It cleared up the tummy troubles right away. It has now been four days since she finished the metronidazole and the probiotic and then and she is having diarrhea again. 

I just don’t get it! Her problems always clear up within 2 days of starting the medicines, then come back within 2 days of finishing. We clean up her messes with bleach water. She has been on Prescription ID canned food since March. I added pumpkin to it over the weekend and it didn’t help. I am taking another stool sample to the vet after work and we will start metronidazole once more. After that, I have no idea what we are going to do. Anyone got any ideas about what is going on?


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## Pucks104 (Aug 16, 2012)

Sounds exactly like what we went through with a mixed breed pup we took in. After all that, I switched to a grain free food and the diarrhea cleared up and has never returned. We feed Fromm grain free.


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## MarinaGirl (Mar 25, 2012)

It sounds like Miley did well on probiotics so have you tried continuing to give them to her after she's finished her medicine? I give Emmie probiotics everyday. I open up a capsule and sprinkle it on her food in the morning and I give her a human-grade one that I also take myself - *Now Foods, 8 Billion Acidophilus & Bifidus Capsules*. -Jeanne


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## SJ1998 (Feb 4, 2013)

You could try a holistic vet for a different approach, or a dog nutritionist. Many people here use Sabine, she is a vet that provides that service. It's worth a shot. I would try a different diet too, maybe something less processed than the Hills. Not to knock your current vet but with a chronic issue some different eyes on the situation might be good. If you live near Knoxville maybe try the university vet school.


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## andra (Aug 23, 2010)

Im wondering, in addition to the probiotics, if you could give your pup plain, bland homecooked white meat chicken (cut up into small pieces) and boiled white rice for a week or so until things settle down and to start this before you finish the antibiotic and continue for a week afterwards.

My dog as a pup had stomach issues that were somewhat chronic and this was recommended to me to stop the cycle and also the inflammation that was possibly perpetuating the cycle.


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## MayBTheresHope (Feb 25, 2013)

All are good suggestions. It just seems weird to me that the diarrhea only starts once she is off of the meds a couple of days. Is there something in metradinazole that firms up stool? 

I gave her some plain/boiled chicken with rice once and the diarrhea was off the charts, so I am afraid to try it again. If I did switch her to boiled chicken/rice again, should I do that slowly or all at once. 

I also tried slowly sprinkling some grain free limited ingredient food into the ID over the course of a few days and we had issues, although I am not sure if this was due to a parasite or a sensitive tummy. 

I'll continue probiotics as this can't hurt. I am taking her to a new vet for her spay next week and will consult with them. UT and Sabine are the next steps. This is getting exhausting. My poor pup!


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## andra (Aug 23, 2010)

Ok, if the chicken/rice caused more diarrhea then that might not be the best option even if it was due to the parasite or some other reason. I think getting the consult with Sabine, continuing with the probiotics and consult with the vet is the best course of action.

I sympathize with you as I had a similar semi ongoing issue with my dog when she was a pup and yes, it is upsetting and exhausting. Keep us posted on how she is doing.


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## Pucks104 (Aug 16, 2012)

MayBTheresHope said:


> All are good suggestions. It just seems weird to me that the diarrhea only starts once she is off of the meds a couple of days. Is there something in metradinazole that firms up stool?
> 
> That is exactly what would happen with that puppy I referenced that I switched to a grain free food.


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## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

Can you list the medicines she's been on, and any listed ingredients? Which probiotics, and any listed ingredients in, or along with the probiotics.


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## MayBTheresHope (Feb 25, 2013)

Just panacur, metronidazole, and I will have to check on the probiotic. That also had a stool firmer in it, which didn't work on Miley. I'll find out today at the vet and post the ingredients later.


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## TilliesMom (Sep 30, 2010)

my pup ended up having an 'intollerance/allergy' to chicken and will have the runs every time she had any thing with chicken in it. I didn't catch it until she was older though because her food at the time was Bison based, not chicken. But I have no doubt if she would have been on any sort of poultry based diet she would have had a horrible time of it her first several months.. something to think about. Def. cut out grains and switch the protein of her food. Hills is not a stellar food and not something you want to keep her on long term ...


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## LexiBoo (Nov 20, 2008)

I'm so sorry to hear about Miley's issues with diarrhea. I went through something similar with my Neely recently. He had giardia when we brought him home, but then he kept having diarrhea after the meds. He had two negative giardia tests, but still his stools were still never great. We finally decided to switch his food (we went with Natural Balance sweet potato and fish) and that was what helped. 

Hope you get this figured out soon! I know how stressful it is.


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## Suzi (Oct 27, 2010)

How do puppies get gerardia? I have always thought it was from drinking water in creeks or streams that is infected from wild animals? Your poor baby probably has IBS and maybe needs Sabin now to figure out a really bland diet for a bit to clear it up. Maddie had a problem but only for a few days and our vet recommended a very bland diet. I really can't remember but I think we held food for a day and just gave water.Then added rice and boiled chicken ( No fat) Don't even give treats or chews. I would get sabins number if I were you.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Suzi said:


> How do puppies get gerardia? I have always thought it was from drinking water in creeks or streams that is infected from wild animals?


Unfortunately, Giardia is VERY contagious, and drinking from water in the wild is only one of the way a dog can get it. (and probably not the most common... Leptopsirosis is a much bigger danger that way) Giardia stays on/in the ground where a dog has eliminated for a long time. Also, it's not uncommon for healthy adult dogs to be carriers without showing any sign of illness themselves. So it's easy for dogs to pick it up at dog parks, day care, or any other place that dogs eliminate. They don't have to eat the poop... all they have to do is walk on infected ground and then lick their feet later.

Since many adult dogs never get sick from it, we don't even notice. It's when puppies get it, or a dog whose health is otherwise compromised, that you are more likely to see diarrhea.


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## littlebuddy (May 30, 2007)

Django has had his share of the runs. I always start with rice and boiled chicken for about a week until things get under control. perhaps you need to get her on a bland diet to get her bowels under control, then slowly start introducing food. I wonder if the medicine could be a part of the problem. Django was just on a round of antibiotics for his polyp and one of the side affects was diarrhea.


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## puppy-love (Nov 9, 2012)

Julie never had giardia, but she had soft stool and diarrhea for weeks until I found a diet that worked for her. She gets probiotics, pumpkin and wellness LID, grain free salmon canned food. She can't handle chicken or turkey or grain. You might try a food with a single source of protein and go with an uncommon protein, like venison. I never expected to have to learn so much about dog food and nutrition but it was worth it. There's great info on the forum and I also found Sabines website and dogwood advisor helpful.

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## Bustersmom1 (Apr 10, 2013)

Hi we went through this for months with one of our ragdoll cats. He was treated for months, had stool sample after stool sample run, tons of tests , was and still is on probiotics as are all of my 5 animals for good health. I finally decided to switch to a raw diet and it cleared right up. No beef or chicken though, seems to cause issues. They eat venison, duck, lamb. And rabbit and we have never had an issue again with any of them. I don't do grains either and we just started fish oil. I found no matter what food I tried they all have better teeth, coats, and their eyes are clearer on raw. My 2 vets are always amazed at how well they are doing. I have one vet for my 3 cats and one vet for my 2 havanese. Good luck!!


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## HannahBearsMom (Jul 31, 2011)

Sabine is NOT a vet, and she is NOT a certified canine nutritionist. That said, several people in this group have been very happy with her services. Others have had less satisfying experiences.

I recommend doing some research before hiring anyone to create a custom diet for your dog. You may be happy with the service Sabine provides, or you may want to use a certified vet nutritionist (a vet who is also a board-certified nutritionist). There are also doggie cookbooks available but I'd probably go with an expert, at least until you get the diarrhea under control.

I know there are good vet nutritionists at the UC Davis vet school and University of Tennessee vet school. I'm sure there are others out there.



SJ1998 said:


> Many people here use Sabine, she is a vet that provides that service.


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## tootle (Jun 19, 2007)

Have you checked with the breeder to see if any of the other pups are having a similar problem or if they have dealt with this type of issue in the past?


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## Suzi (Oct 27, 2010)

tootle said:


> Have you checked with the breeder to see if any of the other pups are having a similar problem or if they have dealt with this type of issue in the past?


 Thats a good idea. I remembered that canned natural no sugar pumpkin is supposed to help too. I can't remember how much. Maybe someone else can.


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## Diann (Apr 25, 2011)

You've already gotten good advice. I just wanted to chime in that we had the same problem with our female havanese. Finally, I stopped using the high-end (Blue Buffalo/Wellness) foods and switched to Pro-Plan, Lamb and Rice formula. She doesn't have any more problems. I think it's the Chicken for her but I'm afraid to take a chance of messing with something that's working.


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## puppy-love (Nov 9, 2012)

Suzi said:


> Thats a good idea. I remembered that canned natural no sugar pumpkin is supposed to help too. I can't remember how much. Maybe someone else can.


Julie ususally gets 3 tablespoons of canned food for each meal.

When she's having problems, I substitute one tablespoon of pumpkin into each meal: 1 tbs pumpkin/2 tbs canned food.

Her "maintenance" dose of pumpkin is about 1 tsp. I add that to the 3 tbs of canned food. If her stool seems too hard (which actually does happen), I'll leave the pumpkin out of her meals entirely.


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