Rudie is sick again
The backstory: Rudie gets severe diarrhea every 3-5 weeks. Typically it's after he gets some sort of table scrap, however the last 2 times he did not get anything (to my knowledge) or it was a tiny piece of meat. We are strict about what we give him, but we bring him everywhere and have a hard time stopping people from feeding him 
Typically he has soft-serve like diarrhea in the morning and then he has an accident in the house at some point while we are at work. That night he will have to go out and have pure liquid diarrhea 2-4 times. We have been giving him metranidozole that we had leftover from when we took him to the vet a few months ago for this. Plus some pepcid, and rice mixed with water to keep him hydrated. After a day or two we wean him back to his regular food and he is fine. However, we went through this whole process and last night his poop was normal. But then this morning he had diarrhea again! I can't wait to see what I come home to by the way... So that's his story. I'm worried about pancreatitis so we will definitely be doing a blood test (which is fine because he needs it for his teeth cleaning anyway). I also want to get a fecal exam to make sure it's not bacterial. Anything else it could be? |
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| Wow, poor Rudy. Do you think he may have some sort of bacterial gastrointestinal issue? Wendel ends up with soft stools intermittently, but nothing like what you're going through.
Poor guy, give him a hug from me. |
| I think it's definitely possible.
My other thought is that his intestines became really irritated when he had the corn cob stuck in there, and now he has IBS or colitis or something like that. I just hope it's something treatable. To be honest the worst part is the sad face he makes when he realizes he is just getting rice for breakfast again. My poor little chub. |
| My gut feeling is pancreatitis. My parents' dog is like that. One microscopic bit of anything and he's sick. If this is the case, the good news is that very careful dietary restrictions can keep him happy and symptom free.
Good luck to you and Rudie. |
| My experience with pancreatitis is the other end
But since you know he reacts poorly to other foods at least you know what is causing it. Now I have to tell you in my experience, one tiny peice of something is all it can take. I don't even give Morgan any treats other than poached chicken. Even if you get a diagnosis you most likely will have to be diligent about diet. Sometimes leaving him home might be kinder. |
| Frankies the same way. In October he had what I call projectile diarhea.
I started feeding him Science Diet Id (I know Science diet isn't good food, but it's the only thing that works.) It cleared it up right away. Nothing worked for him not even pepto. Frankie gets absolutely no human food of any sort. About a month or so ago, we started him on Taste of the Wild dog food slowly mixing it in with his Id. Now that he is 100 percent on Tast of the Wild he's getting the diarrhea again. It started last Saturday at the groomer I guess he got everybody with it. He was on the grooming table at the time. He will have a solid poop then the next one will be watery. Back to the Id today. Keep me posted when you find something out. I would love to know what your vet says. Lisa and Frankie (babysheepie) |
| I hate to say it, but what you are describing sounds alot like the first 18 months of Tonks and Luna's life. They just had incredibly sensitive stomachs, and would literally poop powerful streams of brown liquid sometimes. Other times it would be the consistancy of soft-serve. I think time and changing foods helped for us. How old is Rudie now?
We just changed to Acana, a no-grain food with regional ingredients. Tonks and Luna could NEVER tolerate fish before, and now they are eating it with no problems, as the Acana food has it as a main ingredient. It was explained to me that maybe my girls have problems with fish from American fisheries, but Acana is in Canada, and since its regional it may simply be fish they haven't had before and therefore isn't bothering them. Since this most recent food change, Tonks and Luna are having the best poops of their short lives; they leave what look like over-sized shelled Pecans in the yard. Small, oval hard poop. Perhaps Rudie is having food related problems; allergies and the like? |
| Summer has a very sensitive stomach. She is fine on arden Grange chicken and rice. They do one for sensitive stomachs as well. She goes to the bathroom at least 3 times a day under normal circumstances anyway. Hope you get him sorted, I hate seeing them ill. Sheepies do seem to suffer from sensitive tums.xx |
| He is fine on his regular food, California Natural Herring and sweet potato. Also, he is fine with his regular treats. Day to day he is fine, it's just once a month or so.
Thankfully he is not vomiting, has no loss of appetite, and seems to be completely normal. He is a pretty tough dude, he just doesn't like his food being taken away! |
HeatherRWM wrote: He is fine on his regular food, California Natural Herring and sweet potato. Also, he is fine with his regular treats. Day to day he is fine, it's just once a month or so.
Thankfully he is not vomiting, has no loss of appetite, and seems to be completely normal. He is a pretty tough dude, he just doesn't like his food being taken away! Lucy had the same problem, but when we switched her to the California Natural Herring and Sweet Potato, it went away...so no help here! Hope he feels better soon though! |
| It's a hard one heather and a soft one for Rudi, maybe trying another food protein he has never had before? And if all checks out OK at the vet maybe just switching over a period of time to something besides the fish (Herring) he is getting.
Eagle Pack have things like venison, duck something all together different from what has been in his normal diet previously and sticking to that as well as they have those mixes in treats like dog bikkies. Putting him on something completely different in the protein he has never had before and seeing how that goes, then if all OK over a period of time start introducing one thing at a time and see overtime what the trigger is if he goes loose. Keeping him on & off & on again with the metranidozle is not helping him over the long term prospect of things, you probabaly if all checks out medically need to experiment more with his diet to putting him on some form of Protein he has never had before and taking it from there as to how he reacts with a new form of protein he has never had before. I had problems with Kelsey as a youngster, she was evetually put on a dry made from Kangaroo and Potato and over several months we progressed to other stuff, from that under vet guidence found out her trigger was beef, amazing the treats and munchies that contain things like bone meal etc from beef. Eventually she grew out of it but at the time her poos were intermitant with being normal, soft and occassionally watery. So changing her completely for awhile worked wonders. She was on and off on the Metranidozle for ages but just switching to a completely new protein did wonders.  In the end she prgressed back to a normal diet and I think she built up an intolerance to the problems we had with her as a youngster. Piglet in the end, could eat table scraps, all sorts of things and no problems. Took time over 8 months with starting from scratch and after things settled introducing one thing at a time to her diet. |
| Has he gone through a run of Panacur to kill any worms or other nasties that might be lurking inside of him? |
Quote: Has he gone through a run of Panacur to kill any worms or other nasties that might be lurking inside of him?
That's what I was wondering too. You might send off a stool culture to see if it's high in bacteria and anything else. Bacteria's the only thing that showed up in cultures we did on the pack several years ago. The Metronidazole would clear it up but it would return. The Panacur ended the cycle. Had to be some parasite thing... |
| A run of panacur would not hurt and may do wonders. Something could behiding I give my dogs a dose every 6 mos Spring and summer due to the bunny poo they snack on. I hope he feels better |
We lived through this with Bowie ( now 3) for the first two years of his life. It was stomach the battle of the loose poop and diarrea cuasing several hospitalizations for dehydration. He did test positive for giardia once and that seemed to stay with him a long time and took a few rounds of Flagyll to rid itself. Giardi is difficult to diagnosis and they can reinfect themselves if its in the yard or on their rear so wiping the behind after pooping is recommended 
Also, we changed the food to Orijen and started using Tylan powder twice a day with meals. The Tylan powder worked wonders. However, it is EXTREMELY bitter. My dog wouldn't eat it sprinkled in the food. So I put it into empty capsuls and feed with some cheese wrapped around it. Yes, I actually spend time putting stupid powder into little capsuls  |
| Thank you for the suggestions.
He did fine yesterday so we skipped the vet. I'm trying to hold out for a month so we can do everything at once, but I will wait and see what his poop looks like today. sigh. |
| Heather it would not hurt rudie to also in his diet try a Pre-Pro-biotic powder like Pro-Zyme. flora-zyme there is a lot on the market to help there with his system. Here vets sell it or at good pet shops. A lot of Holistic vets prescribe it to help with poopie problems. Just aids them and keeps the good flora going in the gut. |
lisaoes wrote: Heather it would not hurt rudie to also in his diet try a Pre-Pro-biotic powder like Pro-Zyme. flora-zyme there is a lot on the market to help there with his system. Here vets sell it or at good pet shops. A lot of Holistic vets prescribe it to help with poopie problems. Just aids them and keeps the good flora going in the gut.
Good idea!! Thank you. |
| ^^^^
we get ours from Nature's Farmacy and it does seem to help, butnif you go to their site, last time I was shopping there I noticed they sold a vit compound as well to use if you give the probiotics. we have a cabinet of Nature's farmacy supplements we add depending on the dog's needs. |
| He didn't poop for 3 days. Then in the middle of the night last night he pooped twice (normal but he struggled a bit) then he had diarrhea twice. Poor Dave was up taking him out all night.
Off to the vet, wish us luck! |
| Good luck, Rudie! Hope you come up with some answers soon! |
I hope it goes well |
| Poor Rudie. I hope it's nothing, but I hope they find out what's causing this. |
kerry wrote: ^^^^
we get ours from Nature's Farmacy and it does seem to help, butnif you go to their site, last time I was shopping there I noticed they sold a vit compound as well to use if you give the probiotics. we have a cabinet of Nature's farmacy supplements we add depending on the dog's needs. I bought the vitamin compound as well as the pro/pre-biotic. I started out using the dosage recommended for his size. We ended up with runny stool. I took him off it because we had been to a show (where I bought both) & didn't know if it was the vitamim &pro/pre-biotic or just that he'd picked up something at the show (timing was right for that too.) Waited until he was back to solid & then started with 1/2 dosge of just the vitamin compound to start with. I thought maybe his system got unbalanced from adding the pro/pre-biotic as it was fine before. We'll see how he does. I was told to expect a bit of a softer stool until his system adjusted to the vitamin. |
lisaoes wrote: Heather it would not hurt rudie to also in his diet try a Pre-Pro-biotic powder like Pro-Zyme. flora-zyme there is a lot on the market to help there with his system. Here vets sell it or at good pet shops. A lot of Holistic vets prescribe it to help with poopie problems. Just aids them and keeps the good flora going in the gut.
Lisa: I also keep on hand a box of Forti-Flora made by Purina. I got it as a sample from one of the show reps about a year or so ago. Sprinkled on the food it works quite well. I took it to keep on hand for my older guy who has always had a more sensitive intestinal tract, although he's been doing quite well now on the Sensitive Skin & Stomach. I only use the Forti-Flora if I see his stool getting soft which isn't that often anymore....maybe once or twice a year now (KNOCK ON WOOD)! |
| Good luck Rudie. |
ChSheepdogs wrote: lisaoes wrote: Heather it would not hurt rudie to also in his diet try a Pre-Pro-biotic powder like Pro-Zyme. flora-zyme there is a lot on the market to help there with his system. Here vets sell it or at good pet shops. A lot of Holistic vets prescribe it to help with poopie problems. Just aids them and keeps the good flora going in the gut. Lisa: I also keep on hand a box of Forti-Flora made by Purina. I got it as a sample from one of the show reps about a year or so ago. Sprinkled on the food it works quite well. I took it to keep on hand for my older guy who has always had a more sensitive intestinal tract, although he's been doing quite well now on the Sensitive Skin & Stomach. I only use the Forti-Flora if I see his stool getting soft which isn't that often anymore....maybe once or twice a year now (KNOCK ON WOOD)! I've just gone back to using it, after the vet treatment with Babette and all the drugs she had being on drips etc she had HGE, was having a hard time getting her right, was amazed, the vet suggested it, used it years ago and forgot how good the stuff is and within 48 hours we had firmys after using it. All 3 are on it at the moment, Syd went down sick with diarreah too so straight onto medication which destroys all in the system he did not have the extreme that babs did with the Hemmorage as as soon as he went loose straight to the vets, and also the powder worked wonders with him and Brie showed signs of going down too but the powder has kept it at bay and no medication was needed for her, so keeping fingers crossed the good flora is out numbering the heebie geebies that invaded their systems. |
| He had a little bacteria in his poop, so he is on antibiotics and science diet id. waiting on blood tests and have to bring a fecal in to look for parasites. |
| I hope they find out what is bothering him. Poor boo boo.
Hugs to Rudie... and one for you too. |
| My sister in law is the vet tech where I took him and she just called to tell me his thyroid is way low. This is actually good news, as we're hoping the medication will help him increase his energy, lose some weight, and stop smelling so bad. haha.
Still waiting for the rest of the results, but good news so far as everything seems treatable. |
| Low thyroid function in humans often has a big effect on bowel function, so I'd guess it probably does in dogs too.
Glad its treatable. |
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