Colitis diarrhea

[Gome]

I've been bringing my rottie to the vet several times for the last few months for diarrhea with no success.... let me tell you what has happened, and any advice is appreciated.
He's been on Hills prescription diet regular adult for a few years now with no real major issues. I know it's a crappy food but we changed to that a few years ago from premium foods because of colitis. But a few months ago the regular diarrhea started again. The vet did poo tests for parasites, gave a precautionary dewormer, and put him on flagyl. The flagyl didn't work so next week the vet gave a higher dose...still no success. We did blood tests and found no major organ problems but he had protein loss. The vet tried diet and suggested Medi-cal gastro formula. Still no success. So the vet tried Eukanuba low-residue. It seemed to do the trick. He was reasonably good (not fully solid but could pick it up) for a while (two 15 pound bags). By the time I got him the 3rd bag, he started to have diarrhea again last week. Called the vet, and brought in a poo sample and went in this past Friday because of explosive 100% liquid diarrhea with ketchup squirt bottle noises. It has been this bad up until today. At that last visit the vet said she was going to order some other medication. I forget the name but it's a yellow powder that he was on years ago for when he had extreme gas. It will be in this Tuesday. But in the meantime this dog is having horrible diarrhea and very unhappy looking. And I don't even know that this new med. will work. She mentioned colonoscopy which is done under anaesthesia but it's costly and then what? What can I do for now? And what other suggestions or questions can I ask the vet? Thanks.

[Gome]

I wanted to add that the past few days he's also been vomiting too. But in the past, it was not accompanied by vomiting. Now I'm worried it could be from the tainted pet food issue? Anyhow I have the time and money to cook my dog's food at home. Does anyone have some recipes I can start with?

[Lola B Marie]

Lola now 2yrs spayed female had extreme diarrhea on and off for the 1st year we had her. Nothing but liquid poured out of this poor dog. Her weight loss was extreme. I mention this because,she was put on the Hills diet and every thing else the vet had. It made her better for a short while. She had every medication known to dog. The bottom line was a complete blood work that showed bacterial overgrowth in her belly. I don't know what the vet was looking for at the time but all the poop test had come back clean so he went looking for something that could be causing this. She was put on amoxicillin with food. She started with 500 mil. 3xdaily and is now down to 500mil once a day. She started vomiting also. She was then given tagamet 200 over the counter.1am 1pm. This did the trick. For the first time in her life, we have poop that actually scoops and very little vomit. Her energy level is excellent. The down side is we can't seem to take her off either of the meds without a terrible relaps. In addition, no dog food ever. I have cooked for her since we took her off the last vet dog food.
When she was first on the amoxicillin and her stomach was still irritated, I made the following. White meat chicken, no skin, simmered in chicken broth which I also made. While simmering,I added a hand full of fresh baby carrots and fresh string beans. They simmered to mush. I removed the chicken and veggies set aside. In broth I boiled a box of pastina pasta. When mushie, I added the pasta to the chicken and veggies. I took an electric hand beater and blended the mush together adding starchie broth to make a consistency I could form into balls. I fed 3x a day. I also used jars of baby food(lamb in broth, chicken, beef. Her snacks were plain rice cakes with a drop of peanut butter. Her weight improved and when she was on the meds for about 2months, I went all out with variations on the original recipe. I would start with this. I can always give you all the rest of the vet approved home cooked meals. Hard boiled eggs no shell were also a good snack. We were aiming for as little residue as possible initially with the home cooked foods. She now eats all kinds of meats, fruits and veggies. Nothing raw. She gets chedder cheese, cottage cheese, oat meal, etc. I hope your vet will do a check for bacterial over growth.The symptoms certainly mimic colitis but, can be managed with antibiotics. I hopes this helps you and your dog.PS Lola weighs 115lbs and is all muscle.

[brunie's mom]

It may be time to get a second opinion.
Has your dog lost weight? What about energy level?
Have you tried cooking up boneless, skinless chicken breast and white rice as a meal? One part chicken to two parts rice.

There is something going on with your dog...it could be all sorts of things...IBD,bacterial overgrowth,etc.? What is causing the colitis? Colitis means an inflammation of the colon...till you find out the cause....you cannot find out how to get your dog better.

Gina

[sebastianvoneli]

I'm there with you,
My dogs pukes occasionally and has bloody mucous stools. My dog is food driven and I always know it's gonna be one of those days when he does not eat in AM. Otherwise he is just a 100+ pound of naughty 8mos old Rotty. I plan on going to see a specialist this week to fix this once and for all. My husband is thinking of cooking freshfoods for him now.

[Gome]

He has had pure liquid diahreah that comes out with force like the garden hose since Friday. Since Sunday morning I have been giving him brown rice and boiled plain chicken with no fat. this morning his poo was medium solid with the rice grains visible. An amazing difference since this weekend.

I am still waiting for the vets office to call since we are waiting for them to order that medicine for him to try. He has lost weight and has had a decreased energy level this past little while. He's still got an appetite but my dog is food crazed and I can't ever imagine him not eating. I will make another appointment later this week to dicuss things, but in the meantime they will want me to see how the meds affect him.

I have read about some different home cooked recipes. Is it okay to feed one added with chicken one day and then a hard boiled egg one day and a beef recipe another? In other words, should I stay completely consistent with one because changing ingredients would be just as bad for the stomach as changing brands of kibble? I don't want to induce more diahreah.

[brunie's mom]

Glad to hear he is doing a bit better.
I would just stick with chicken and rice for now....don't start changing things around for him...get his guts back to normal...and then you can play around with different proteins and meats.

I would suggest that you cook the rice even more....see if you can over cook it...add more water...or cook it like you would pasta....cook it in a large amount of water and then drain off the water. I've had really good luck using canned pumpkin for dogs with upset tummies. The fibre of the pumpkin seems to tighten up things. You could try adding a large tablespoon full of pumpkin to his chicken and rice, and see how he does.

Gina

[moondog]

Originally Posted by Gome

He has had pure liquid diahreah that comes out with force like the garden hose since Friday.

I am, oh so familiar with this. My Luna has a protein-losing enteropathy.

Originally Posted by Gome

Is it okay to feed one added with chicken one day and then a hard boiled egg one day and a beef recipe another? In other words, should I stay completely consistent with one because changing ingredients would be just as bad for the stomach as changing brands of kibble? I don't want to induce more diahreah.

I would stay absolutely consistent in ratios and ingredients - until you get this under control, which can take several months. I always waited for one month of stability before I tried anything new for Luna, or she would have serious relapses, which are not good.

Brown rice has more fat and fiber than white rice, so I would use white rice, at least for now, as it tends to help firm up the stools. And as Gina said, make sure you cook it very well and it will be easier for him to digest. Luna could not tolerate brown rice.

Are you adding bone meal powder? If not, that is something that should be added and it also helps with firming up the stools. Make sure you are using plain bone meal powder, without any marrow in it.

Egg yolks are very high in fat. For a dog that has trouble with fats, as mine did, I was able to give her hard cooked egg WHITES for treats, but no yolks. I would wait until he stabilizes before doing this, though.

[Lola B Marie]

When Lola was at her worst, pure liquid diarrhea, her vet took her off rice and we had to make pastina pasta. This pasta when over cooked provides starchy mush. That combined with the mushie chicken really helped her out.He stressed no kibble of any kind.You can use baby food. Jars of plain meat, chicken, turkey in broth not gravy. She loves these and it's pure protein little residue, licks it right out of the jar. She was also allowed matza. It's a big flat cracker that can bind up any one. You can dip that into baby food and give as a treat. If you still want to use rice, cook to mush and use hand held beaters disolve the grains. Rice from the chinese restaurant is also good. It is more sticky. Brown rice has too much fiber right now. Your boy needs to rest his digestive track. Before you start more meds on him, please consider bacterial over growth. It's treated so differently. At least you can rule it out with blood work at the vet.

[Alaskan]

Sabor is having the very SAME problem but the boiled skinless chicken breast and white rice diet didn't even touch his diahrea. We have tried other suggested home cooked diets too and he's now on an antibiotic powder as of last friday BUT still no signs of the diahrea letting up.

The vet is suggsting we increase the amount of the antibiotic so we'll see what happens.

I wish that I had some good advice. I hope your dog continues to improve.

I can say that sabor WAS on the eukanuba maintance for the past two years without a hitch and then in february the diahrea started with the rare puking episode. My malamute is on the eukanuba even now without all of these problems so I doubt it's the food as much as something going on inside the belly.

[moondog]

You can also use tapioca as a carb source, as it is another food very easy to digest. I did use that for Luna early on, and she loved the stuff and did well on it. I picked it up at a Chinese market where it's much cheaper and sold in larger bags.

What will work is so individual from dog to dog. Luna could not tolerate pasta. I found that foods that were already broken down (tapioca and jarred baby food meat) really helped give her sustenance while also allowing her intestines to rest and heal.

You also might look into using colloidal silver as an antimicrobial. It can really help with toxin producing bacteria in the gut, more so than traditional antibiotics.

[Gome]

Thanks for all of the replies. I picked up his medication which is called Tylocin. He started last night so we will wait and see. I also started a new recipe that the vet gave me. The ingredients are cream of wheat, boiled chopped egg, creamed 4% cottage cheese, bone meal, brewers yeast, salt, sugar, calcium carbonate and some vegetable oil. It also says to add a daily requirement dog vitamin with all the necessary vitamins and minerals. Where do you get a daily total vitamin for dogs? I tried the pet food store and they didn't have anything.

[Alaskan]

You might have to order it off the internet. I wish you luck and hope your dog is getting better soon.

Mine has been on the same med for a week now without any show of improvement but he's eating wellness instead of the diet your vet gave you. I'll be interested to see whether it helps so I can compare notes.