Rescue w/ Diarrhea, Vomitting

[pklingem]

Hello everyone,

I rescued an 11 mo. old male about a month ago from Miami, FL. I drove him to my home in Charleston, SC that day, it was a long drive and when we arrived, he began having diarrhea with blood in it and was vomitting. I took him straight to the emergency vet where they said it was likely he had stress colitis. He was prescribed Metronidazole (antibiotic for colitis) and I/D canned food that is very bland. He did well with this treatment and I returned him to a normal diet.

10 days or so later the problem recurred, though not as bad as the previous time. He would not eat the entire day, but by the next day his stool began to harden again and he began eating again. Another week or so later he had the same condition, though pretty light and would not eat that day.

This weekend he had the condition again and it was nearly as bad as the first time. I took him into the vet and we decided that since he has always been in generally good spirits even when having this condition that we would try the Metronidazole and bland food again for a longer period this time before exploring more options if necessary. I spoke with the vet where the dog was held for 3 months before I rescued him and he said that the dog never showed these symptoms during that period.

The vet said stress colitis can recur, so I am hoping that is problem. Has anyone experieced a similar problem?

Thank you in advance,
Pat

[frontierrots]

Has he been tested specifically for Giardia or Coccidia? Not just a fecal but specifically tested for these. Coccidia has to be looked for or is easily missed and Giardia has a handy snap test

Also has he had three fecal exams done 10-14 days apart to look for hookor whip worms? (it takes tests done at these intervals because these two are hard todetect)

[pklingem]

His tests a month ago produced "no signs of parasites", so I am not sure if he has had those specific tests, but I would imagine not. Are the symptoms I described consistent with Giardia or Coccidia or worms?

Pat

[frontierrots]

Yes those symptoms are consistent with Giardia or coccidia or even parasites as well as other non parasitic conditions

In order to be sure he does not have hook or whip worms 3 fecal tests 10-14 days apart need to be done (the South is a hotbed for these) and they need to be asked if they can specifically check for coccidia at those tests as well, plus a single snap test for Giardia should be done

This would be my baseline for tests before moving on to more complex or costly ones

[pklingem]

frontierrotts, thank you for your replies. After researching the symptoms of the diseases/parasites you mentions it sounds like either stress colitis, whipworms or coccidia is the problem. The symptoms of giardia mentioned something about light colored feces, which my boy definitly doesn't have, so I'll look into the other ones first if he has a recurrence.

Thank you very much for your help.
Pat