What to do for diarrhea

[gipceegirl]

My male basenji approx. 10 yrs old has it .It is black .Nothing but liquid.He is on cortisone.Had a bad fall. hurt right rear leg..Not healing right.Toes turning under..Under vet care for leg. Want to know if cortison maybe causing the diarrhea.I am giving him rice and pedialite..That has stopped it before….Any suggestions?

[tanza]

@gipceegirl:

My male basenji approx. 10 yrs old has it .It is black .Nothing but liquid.He is on cortisone.Had a bad fall. hurt right rear leg..Not healing right.Toes turning under..Under vet care for leg. Want to know if cortison maybe causing the diarrhea.I am giving him rice and pedialite..That has stopped it before….Any suggestions?

You should contact the Vet about it.

About the leg? Sounds like there is nerve damage?

[Kananga]

Usually what I do when it comes to loose stools like that, I cut off their food for 24 hours. Then I slowly introduce stable foods. Always seems to do the trick.

But, given the age and other potential issues, a vet visit sounds like a must.

[renaultf1]

I agree with both posts. First I would contact the vet - meds may be causing it. As far as feeding - I too withhold for 24hrs and then usually do a bland diet (boiled rice & chicken), then reintroduce regular food slowly (and usually with whole greek yogurt). Seems to do the trick.

[gipceegirl]

Thank you for your replies..Yes there is possible nerve damage of the leg..Right now it is splinted and as I said he is on cortisone..Hoping this works as I have spent over $700.00 on him in the last month.. When he fell it was on a Saturday evening and I had to take him to the emergency animal hospital which isn't cheap..I am 77 yrs old and my income is not bottomless..Seeing a specialist may not be in the cards..The splint was put on this past monday..My vet said to give it 2 weeks and then we will see ..He has had the diarrhea before ..We were used to taking daily morning walks with a friend and her basset hound.Sometimes one or the other finds and eats something nasty..Anyway it seems to be slowing down..He only went once so far today..thanks again.

[tanza]

Still you should check with your Vet since he is on other medications. Should be able to get some input with just a phone call.

[gipceegirl]

Hello again..I will check with my vet ..But I need to clarify something .I just noticed that I put my dog's age as 10 ..He is really 12..I should read things over before sending..I apologize..

[elena86]

If the stools are black, usually that means there is internal bleeding somewhere. Sometimes, cortisone can cause stomach bleeding. I hope you are not giving your dog Pepto-Bismol, but that will also make the stools black. Check with your vet.

[Patty M]

My little Lola was just diagnosed with giardia…. her stools weren't black, but were runny and eventually dark and mucus-like. Here's an article about it; I was surprised at how common worms/parasites are in dogs.
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+2102&aid=739

She is now on antibiotics and pro-biotics, along with a chicken and rice dinner. Yesterday she was obviously under-the-weather, but today, she seems like her normal spirit!

Please let us know how he's doing.

[DebraDownSouth]

Okay the only thing to add to the above is there is medications that help diarrhea quickly, and they aren't expensive.
It could be the diarrhea is being caused by nothing more than stress, but I also worry with steroids about internal bleeding so if the stools dark, get him in. It might help to give your dog generic antacid ranitidine to help the stomach. Long term, a product like Fastrack is cheaper and massively more effective than yogurt, but even yogurt with rice and a little boiled chicken will help reestablish the gut bacteria and help with the stools.

Please post and let us know how it goes.

[2baroos]

I use Canned Pumpkin and it works like a charm. I lump (I free it in ice cube trays) and only dry food. Usually by the next morning things are back to normal. If not I give one more dose.

[tanza]

The problem here is that this boy has other issues and on meds for those issues. A Vet visit or at least a call to the Vet is need. People should not be treating issues when the dog is already being seen by a Vet for different issues. The Vet needs to know all that is going on.

[DebraDownSouth]

Absolutely right Pat. Important point.

[Patty]

I totally agreee with Pat - the vet should know what's going on. Also the fact that the diarrhoea is black is a cause for concern, in my opinion.