At my wit's end with chronic diarrhea... advice?

[furrykidmom]

What worked for us.

My female had a similiar problem as a pup. Raw diet was the only thing she could eat and retain. She was on it for almost two years. I would have kept her on it but it was expensive for three dogs. We tried to do our own but had a difficult time finding local sources of raw meat at a reasonable price. One of the butchers asked why we were buying so many necks and wings and I explained that it was a growing trend etc. This was at the time of the melamine issue. He said that was great, he was going to raise his prices. We also did not have the space. Anyway, we used Nature's Variety for her.

We also use filtered water. We put in a reverse osmosis system. It has also been great for our Keurig and humidifier. Our problem is mostly resolved at this point and she is able to tolerate other types of foods but we do avoid all foods containing corn, wheat and soy. I believe most people here do anyway.

I hope this helps.

 

[SherylM]

Good luck with the switch. Hopefully this works for Tyson. Once we had Lucy completely transitioned to Sojo's we started adding extra meat to it, just to give her a little more protein since she was so skinny. We add raw chicken and turkey to it and have also tried beef which seems to work out okay. Also it helps cut costs to cut back on the Sojo's a bit.

 

[BillChris]

We were dealing with similar problem, I know you posted that they have checked for parasites, did they check for a bacteria call Clostridium if you don't treat it with enough or the right antibiotic, it gets worse... We had her on 3 meds for 10 days, and she is doing so much better now. I hope you get Tyson on track soon.

 

[mancin]

Thanks for the support everyone. I haven't been able to get the Sojo's complete yet. I was out of town for a few days (and didn't want my dog sitter stuck with the ill effects of a food switch) and then my normal store closed early for Mother's Day, so I'm hoping to pick it up today or tomorrow.

However, I am HAPPY to report that after being on a bland diet for over a week that his stool is COMPLETELY NORMAL! (Other than him trying to eat it, but I think that's in part because he's not getting many nutrients from the bland food)

 

[Gatorblu]

Glad things are going well! I hope the new diet works for Tyson and you!

 

[EAO76]

Thanks for the support everyone. I haven't been able to get the Sojo's complete yet. I was out of town for a few days (and didn't want my dog sitter stuck with the ill effects of a food switch) and then my normal store closed early for Mother's Day, so I'm hoping to pick it up today or tomorrow.

However, I am HAPPY to report that after being on a bland diet for over a week that his stool is COMPLETELY NORMAL! (Other than him trying to eat it, but I think that's in part because he's not getting many nutrients from the bland food)

YAY! I'd keep him on the same diet for a few more days. Keep him normal for awhile before you try to switch. Also do the switch very slow. I'd only add a table spoon of the new food at a time. Im glad you are seeing good results!

 

[mancin]

YAY! I'd keep him on the same diet for a few more days. Keep him normal for awhile before you try to switch. Also do the switch very slow. I'd only add a table spoon of the new food at a time. Im glad you are seeing good results!

I think I tried to give him too much of the new stuff last night, so he had an accident last night. Poor guy.

So far I've been feeding 1 lb per meal consisting of cooked russet potatoes, carrots and ground beef twice a day for the bland diet (added the carrots recently and that did a world of difference). At first I was doing 50/50 for the mixture of potatoes/carrots to beef but he was STARVING so I started giving more of the beef and less of the potatoes and carrots, but not exceeding 1 lb per meal. That combination seemed better.

Now what I'm thinking is cutting the potatoes/carrots and beef by 1 oz per day (.5 oz each) and add in 1 oz of the new stuff. So the schedule would look something like this (in oz) so he would be fully transitioned in a couple of weeks:

How does this look?

5/11/2011
Cooked Ground Beef 10
Potatoes/Carrots 5
New Food 1
Total 16

5/12/2011
Cooked Ground Beef 9.5
Potatoes/Carrots 4.5
New Food 2
Total 16

5/13/2011
Cooked Ground Beef 9
Potatoes/Carrots 4
New Food 3
Total 16

5/14/2011
Cooked Ground Beef 8.5
Potatoes/Carrots 3.5
New Food 4
Total 16

5/15/2011
Cooked Ground Beef 8
Potatoes/Carrots 3
New Food 5
Total 16

5/16/2011
Cooked Ground Beef 7.5
Potatoes/Carrots 2.5
New Food 6
Total 16

5/17/2011
Cooked Ground Beef 7
Potatoes/Carrots 2
New Food 7
Total 16

5/18/2011
Cooked Ground Beef 6.5
Potatoes/Carrots 1.5
New Food 8
Total 16

5/19/2011
Cooked Ground Beef 6
Potatoes/Carrots 1
New Food 9
Total 16

5/20/2011
Cooked Ground Beef 5.5
Potatoes/Carrots 0.5
New Food 10
Total 16

5/21/2011
Cooked Ground Beef 4.5
Potatoes/Carrots
New Food 11
Total 15.5

5/22/2011
Cooked Ground Beef 3.5
Potatoes/Carrots
New Food 12
Total 15.5

5/23/2011
Cooked Ground Beef 2.5
Potatoes/Carrots
New Food 13
Total 15.5

5/24/2011
Cooked Ground Beef 1.5
Potatoes/Carrots
New Food 14
Total 15.5

5/25/2011
Cooked Ground Beef 0.5
Potatoes/Carrots
New Food 15
Total 15.5

5/26/2011
Cooked Ground Beef
Potatoes/Carrots
New Food 16
Total 16

 

[mancin]

Ugh. 10 steps back. I went back to only the bland diet since I messed up and gave him too much of the new food the first day. Tyson had 2 more accidents this morning. sigh. STINKY!

I've been up for close to 2 hours and now I'm off to work. Here's hoping he'll make it to noon when my friend comes by to let him out.

 

[mancin]

He's not improving anymore. :( He's losing too much weight.

I'm going into the vet today to see if they can try Baytril. He seems to have most of the signs of HUC, and a friend of my fiance (who is a vet) recommended this. Fingers crossed. :(

 

[DiverDiva]

... The dog food store I normally get my dog food from carries Sojo's Complete, so I'm going to check that out this weekend and see if I can wean him to that.

Just to chime in, I was given some samples of the Sojo's Complete along with some of the other Sojo's varieties of dehydrated dog food. We tried three different types and each time, Mali threw up everything on the carpet, and Oscar had explosive liquid poo, so Sojo's is not a good choice for my two. I feed them RAW 3-4 days of the week, and they get kibble on the other days.

Maybe Tyson is another dog that just doesn't do well on Sojo's.