Diarrhea For 5 Days....need Advice Now....

[Hudson's Alpha]

Hi all,

My soon-to-be 1 year-old Rottie, Hudson, has had diarrhea for 5 days now. He does not have worms, as he is on Heartguard Plus every month.

Nothing has changed in his diet whatsoever.

He did, however, drink from a dirty puddle. Is it possible he has giardiasis? His stools will start out "mushy" and then go to liquid, about 4 per day.

I have started him on a gruel of Hill's CD; 1/2 can 2x/day. He is about 95lbs.

He seems lethargic around the house, but when we go to the dog run, he runs around like crazy and his affect is good.

I am more than willing to take him to a vet, but I just moved here and haven't found one I like.

Is there any advice or wisdom out there for what *might* be going on, and what else I can do to help clear up his stomach, short of taking him in to the vet??

His stooling has always been VERY normal and regular until 5 days ago, so I'm ruling out colitis.

I appreciate any advice. I need to do *something* probably rather swiftly.

THANKS.......

[Hudson's Alpha]

<I have cross-posted this to try and get as much advice as possible>

Hi all,

My soon-to-be 1 year-old Rottie, Hudson, has had diarrhea for 5 days now. He does not have worms, as he is on Heartguard Plus every month.

Nothing has changed in his diet whatsoever.

He did, however, drink from a dirty puddle. Is it possible he has giardiasis? His stools will start out "mushy" and then go to liquid, about 4 per day.

I have started him on a gruel of Hill's CD; 1/2 can 2x/day. He is about 95lbs.

He seems lethargic around the house, but when we go to the dog run, he runs around like crazy and his affect is good.

I am more than willing to take him to a vet, but I just moved here and haven't found one I like.

Is there any advice or wisdom out there for what *might* be going on, and what else I can do to help clear up his stomach, short of taking him in to the vet??

His stooling has always been VERY normal and regular until 5 days ago, so I'm ruling out colitis.

I appreciate any advice. I need to do *something* probably rather swiftly.

THANKS.......

[Miabella]

My first thought was also giardia, in which case you need to get him to the vet. You can also put him on a diet of boiled hamburger and white rice with a couple tablespoons of plain canned pumpkin (not the pie filling) mixed in. But I think a trip to the vet would be a good idea. ;)

[JoJo]

I'd suggest that you find a vet and now. He needs to be seen by a vet. You don't want him dehydrating. Diarrhea for 5 days is way too long for me. Also, being on Heartguard is no guarentee that he doesn't have worms.

JoJo

[TrishB]

5 days of diarrhea is reason to go to the vet. Something is going on. Since diarrhea is a symptom of so MANY other things that it can escalate to. Be sure to take in a sample.

At this point, it's been too long and he should go to the vet.

[Hudson's Alpha]

Miabella,

Does the pumpkin help "firm" him up? I am familiar with the hamburger and rice, but didn't even think about that. How do you boil the hamburger? And what amount of the mix would you give him (twice a day).....one year old, 95lbs?

If I was where I used to live, he would have been to see my vet days ago; she was fantastic. But I don't have a vet here yet, so I've been watching it and trying to deal with it on my own.

Thank You for responding so quickly; I'm pretty stoic when it comes to my dog's minor "ills", but this is starting to concern me a bit, because of the 5 day duration.

Thanks.

[Miabella]

The canned pumpkin does help to firm things up. As for the hamburger, I mis-typed. I fry the hamburger in a skillet, drain all the fat, and then rinse the rest of the fat off in hot water. Then add to boiled white rice, generally about a 50-50 mixture. I generally just give the same volume of the rice mixture as I would kibble (probably about 2 cups for your dog per meal). This is hardly exact, but close enough. But I still think you really need to seek out a vet ASAP, because he could become dehydrated.

[TrishB]

Not that Miabella's advice isn't good - but it's too late. Her last statement is corrrect.

Please get your dog to the vet. You might have been able to fast him for 24 hours on day 3 - but at day 5, you're much too late. Please don't take any further chances on your dogs health. Please don't delay.

[RottiMomCT]

Having gone thru 10 days of Mr Poopy Pants (mucusy diarrhea on my living room floor :)), I feel I can give a qualified response on this one ;)...he drank out of what I can now qualify as a 'community dog bowl' at an event, and 2 days later was leaving poop puddles on the floor...he picked up something from that bowl...

FEED NO DOG FOOD for diarrhea stricken dogs! Feed boiled rice and hamburger (or boiled chicken) for as long as it takes to see firming up of stool. Yes, pumpkin will help as well. If lethergic, give the vet a call - he might have a fever to go along with the diarrhea. make sure he's drinking water. If you can, get him to drink Pedialyte to replace the electrolytes he's losing with the diarrhea (I froze it to a slushie consistency and Ben loved it).

You don't want to give him enough food to give him something to poop out (Ben was actually pooping rice). Give 1/2 cup 2-3 times a day, enough to take the edge off his hunger.

I found a canine version of Kaopectate (liver flavored) at PetCo...that seemed to help alot.

I gave Ben 2 tablespoons of Kaopectate, 1/2 cup rice/burger mix, big scoop of pumpkin & about 10 pieces of kibble - mixed with a bit of warm water (looked GROSS!) but he ate it right up.

There were 2 days when he didn't poop at all, and I thought maybe I had plugged him up too much . But when he did poop, it was much more solid than it had been. Two days later, he was fine.

OH, as gross as it sounds, try to make sure you keep the rear end clean. Use baby wipes if you have to to remove any 'hangers on' back there. If it dries and sticks to the fur & skin, you'll have a whole new set of troubles with 'diaper rash' on your dog :p :p . I had Aloe Vera wipes and Ben seemed to appreciate the 'extra effort' to keep him comfortable <LOL>!

Good luck! Hang in there!! Ben now travels with his own bowl, as we normally did, but this one time I forgot it, and learned my lesson!

[Roscoe's dad]

I agree with other post's. 5 days is to long to wait, find a vet and drive there as fast as you can.
At this point I would look in the phone book and find the closest one.:)

[Hudson's Alpha]

Okay everyone.....Hudson is lethargic today (I think I mentioned that). I had met a vet tech in the dog run recently, and happened to find out what hospital she works at.....and she told me she really liked the vets she works for.

I have an appointment there at 2:15. As I said, he drank from a dirty puddle before I caught him, and he also drinks from a community water bowl at the dog run. My concern now is Giardia.

Do dogs ever get a 5 day case of the runs for no reason that can be *elucidated*?

At any rate, you all have firmly led me in the right direction.....and I appreciate it.

I will let you all know what the vet says. Cross your fingers for Hudson; I just hope they can make a *definitive* diagnosis. I really dislike the "It's hard to say why he has diarrhea, but here, lets give him this pill or that pill."

P.S. I think I have warded off dehydration, as I have added lots of water to his gruel meals for the past several days. His mucous membranes are nice and pink, mouth wet, and capillary refill time 2 seconds; that's why I hadn't been too concerned about the diarrhea. I'm hoping for a quick turnaround for the boy.

P.S.S. You don't even need to tell me----->Hudson will go to the dog run with his OWN pail from now on, which will be hooked up high on the fence, only for him to drink from.

[Barbara Surplus]

I would fast him for a couple of days to get whatever is working its *magic* in his gut out. Then think about a bland, natural diet. Keep an eye on his water intake of course but the best thing to do is let his system rest for a bit before reintroducing anything substantial.
Barbara

[TrishB]

Originally posted by Hudson's Alpha
I really dislike the "It's hard to say why he has diarrhea, but here, lets give him this pill or that pill."

So you know, it may be what you'll hear. ;) Diarrhea itself is a very non-specific symptom. Partner it up with lethargy, and you've got a potential serious problem brewing. Getting him checked by a professional is the right and only option here. I'm glad to hear that you're going. :)

Please let us know how the visit goes!

[WorkinDogz]

Never EVER allow your dogs to use community watering stations!

That is the #1 cause of spread of nastiness like LEPTOSPIROSIS.

Be mindful as well that Heartgard Plus does NOT eliminate whipworm which is another biggie at dog runs/parks...........

PS- Boil the hamburger vs fry it........ the fat is removed more thoroughly that way...

[JBCB]

Hudson's Alpha,

Our girl, Kaeleigh, has lymphangectasia which was discovered by her having persistant, recurrent diarrhea. She was fine before then, BOOM! If you read the post on lymphangectasia you'll get the background. If it doesn't clear up on it's own soon, or doesn't turn up to anything else, get a blood panel done -- if his total protein and albumin levels are low then that could point to protein losing enteropathy which can be caused by many things, of which lymphangectasia is but one.

Just a heads up if nothing else seems to be the cause.