Severe Diarrhea

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

Thanks for being so kind and answering my non-Rottie questions. Moose my rescue Cane Corso has severe diarrhea and sometimes it has blood in it too. He has been checked for worms and it was negative. I tried him on Innova but I thought that might be too rich for him and switched him to Nutro with GC for his joints he's on meds for this and its still isn't helping if I can't get him stabilized on something the vet is going to recommed a food. I personally don't like what's available at the vets, does anyone have any suggestions. I thought about BARF but he is a foster dog which means I'll probably have to keep him not many people have the time to cook for their dogs.

i swear by boiled hamburger and rice -
i've used that on both my dogs when they get diarrhea and it always works.

good luck with the new boy,

[Melina]

Have you had more than the one stool sample checked? Coccidia is hard to find if you're not looking for it, supposedly, and the symptoms are off and on diarrhea, etc. I had this problem with my Kali and it took 3 samples for them to figure it out.
I did the same thing: Innova, then CA Natural, another flavor of CA Natural, then BARF and of course the diarrhea kept coming back until the Coccidia was discovered and treated. Atleast I got turned on to the BARF diet because of it.
The blood is from the irritated intestines. To help soothe the intestines and firm things up try feeding mashed banana. According to what I have read cooked rice works the same way a cork would work -- it plugs everything up. You may also want to add some probiotics in the form of yoghurt.

Well, I hope Moose is feeling better soon.

Oh, I just remembered you are giving him supplements for HD... did you recently start him on large doses of vitamin C? Just wondering, because if you start out with too big of a dose they can get diarrhea. Vitamin C is water soluble so whatever is not used by the body is released and often it can cause diarrhea.

[frau]

Amen on the Vit C and diarrhea!! I dropped it back to 1 tab per day and the diarrhea cleared immediately.

Frau

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

Melina, you covered so much thank you. I haven't started the supplements yet because of this but they need to get started soon. I never thought about the ciccidio?? in a grown dog but yes that is what it looks and smells like and he was in a shelter and we do see alot of that there. The vet asked me to bring him a stool sample when it was in the form of a stool sample but it doesn't look like thats going to happen even the medication he gave me doesn't seem to work. I think I'm going to try the chicken and rice for dinner and for his dessert plain yogurt with mashed bananas. If that doesn't work I'm going back to the vets.

[Christine's harley]

I agree 100% with the boiled hamburger and rice. Also have you tried some yogart???? Or even some pepto??? I have used it in the past and it worked.

[ZeusTheRot]

I have also used Pepto Bismal mixed with rice and mashed potatoes.....

Cleared it up pretty fast!

[Melina]

Diane, I just remembered one more thing. The vet told me after they found the Coccidia that the fresher the sample the easier it is to find. Now when I take samples in I wait for Kali to do her thing and then bring them to the vet without an appointment, no need for them to see her at the same time they do the lab thing anyways.

Also, my experience with Coccidia is that things would clear up for a few days, even a couple weeks, but then it always came back. The one consistency with it was the awful gas and voracious appetite.
Life got much better around here after treatment .
Watch out with the diarrhea medicines, because I know a few people's dogs who ended up with anal protrusions that were linked to it by their vets. I don't know much about that, but worth lokking into.

[Kozmo]

I agree with Soapies Mom, Hamburger and Rice will bind up your boy. I think switching to a BARF diet would be a mistake because your dog would be getting inconsistent meals and this would lead to more diahrea if he has a sensitive stomach. A kibble formula like Nutro is very consistent (he would be eating the same food and his digestive system would NOT be on a roller coaster ride as it would if he were to eat different meals each day (BARF diet) I would stick with a Lamb and Rice formula.

[Argos]

You recommend Lamb and Rice? That's interesting. I was going to recommend if she were feeding lamb, she might stop, because lamb and rice formula dog food has caused these same type symptoms in my friend's dog. I believe it may be an allergy, and I'm sure all dogs don't have it. I just like the chicken formulas. But then again, I also feed Pro Plan Performance which is a Purina Product, and I know lots of folks on here look down on that. I have good results, though, so it really doesn't matter. Whatever works for your dog is what you should feed. I just try to get the best feed I can get that doesn't make my boy sick.

Have you had good results with lamb? I would like to hear about some folks who had. I truly believe my boy has an allergy to it, though.

[Kozmo]

It is usually the wheat in the feed that causes the allergy not Lamb. If your dog is doing well with Purina products imagine how well he would look and feel if you put him on a by-product and chemical free feed?

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

It seems like the meds the vet gave me are working it probably was a little slower then I'd like, I was concerned because he had lost 4 pounds since I took him out of the shelter but all seems to be going well. Thanks to everyone who responded.

[Argos]

I tried him on Innova, and he didn't do well at all. He had lots of vomiting and diarrhea. He loved the food, though. He would gobble it up like candy. My friend who also has rottweilers has tried several others. Nutro Max was the next best thing to Innova he tried, but it caused intestinal problems as well. We thought it might just be the change, but the problems didn't stop after a while, so we switched back to Pro Plan Performance.

[Melina]

Argos, regarding the lamb question... My kali who can not tolerate beef in more than very small amounts (she gets marrow bones and has no problem with those) or grain products, especially wheat, does very well with lamb. She eats mainly chicken backs and necks, hearts, kidneys, etc a couple times a week, cuts of lamb a couple times a week, and veggies, fruits, etc.
According to Pat McKay's book Reigning Cats and Dogs the "order of digestibility of proteins is: eggs, chicken, fish, lamb, beef, turkey, dairy products and lastly pork." The list is from most to least digestible. Reigning Cats and Dogs is a good beginner's guide to feeding raw, because it is a very easy read and has a broken down list of the pros and cons of most foods. Personally, I do not follow her particular diet, I feed more meaty bones than she suggests.
Innova has a lot of ingredients and you may want to try California Natural as an alternative. It comes in a lamb or turkey (I thik, either that or chicken) version. The ingredient list is small and so it is a good food to try for allergic dogs. It's made by the same people as Innova and you can get an ingredient list at www.naturapet.com . That website also has ingredients posted for most major pet foods and has info on their particular ingredients. Even if you don't get their food it's a good place to research other foods.

**Diane, how is Moose doing?

[Sue]

I'm curious, Diane. When you say you should have thought of coccidiosis because that's what it looks and smells like, what did you mean by smell? I've worked with bovine coccidia for 8-10 years now, and the only smell that we find is if the infection is severely clinical and the animal is passing blood and/or tissue casts. That is a very distinctive odor....unfortunately I could tell you blindfolded what a stool looked like
by it's odor.

Giardia on the other hand causes what is sometimes referred to as "purple burps". Rich, foul, sulfurous smelling gas. But Giardia while a protozoan is a flagellate, not a coccidia.

Hope Moose is feeling better.