Diarrhea

[Shannanigan]

I've read a few posts here and elsewhere about dealing with diarrhea, and I'd just feel safer running my plan by you guys before I carry it out today.

This morning makes Day 4 of Paco having diarrhea. I think it's because he ate some leftover steak. If not, it might be the water from the new apartment I've moved into (I really hope that's not it). We've been watching him and he's still very energetic and his attitude hasn't changed one bit, he just "asks" to go outside more often, and when he does, it's messy.

It's gotten better - the first day it was very watery, but yesterday it actually looked like he might be almost all better; then this morning he's gone twice already and I feel like I need to take action.

He had dinner last night (Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul), and I've skipped breakfast this morning. I'm going to buy some canned pure pumpkin and chicken today after work and come home and boil the chicken and shred it. Should I give him both the pumpkin and chicken at the same time, or give one first and wait before giving the other?

He's been chewing on one of those white "Dentist's Best" bones today. He usually doesn't "eat" them, but he does chew small pieces off sometimes and chew on them, and I'm sure he ingests a bit of that. Should I take it away to ensure a "totally empty" stomach tonight?

Thanks all! You're amazing!

edit if he "firms up" after eating pumpkin and boiled chicken, then the idea is to shift over to his regular diet gradually over a period of a few days, yes?

[tanza]

Best to really see the Vet, 4 days is at least 2 days too many for runny stools.

Boiled Chicken and rice is best until the problem clears up. Pumpkin can't hurt, but the key to the "bland" diet is to remove the fat that can be hard on the digestive system.

Question about the water? Do you drink it? If so and you have not had a problem, that is most likely not the source. If you don't drink it, then I would not give it to any animals. We use filter water both for us and for the animals.

[renaultf1]

When any of my kids have had diarrhea I usually give no food for 24hrs to let the gut settle. Then I boil chicken with white rice and drain it off - and feed that for a day or 2 and then start to reintroduce their food. When my girl had bad diarrhea a couple of years ago, she couldn't tolerate the pumpkin and because of the fiber it made it worse. So I typically forgo pumpkin on my kids.

Just my .02…but 4 days for diarrhea sounds like a long time and I would take him to the vet. Is he drinking water...diarrhea can lead to dehydration. Could be giardia or something else going on.

[Shannanigan]

Thank you for your quick responses!

We collect rainwater here and I've always drank it without problem, but…new apartment...and a new roomie who prefers filtered water...I've been drinking the filtered water he puts in the fridge but filling Paco's bowl from the sink, so I can't tell if it's the water. The neighbors upstairs let their cats and dogs drink the unfiltered water, and say they don't have a problem; maybe that's because they've been drinking it their whole lives?

I've switched to filling Paco's bowl with filtered water in the meantime, but I guess if something in his system already from the water before, that that won't matter.

I haven't gone to the vet yet because, besides the stool, Paco's been eating, drinking, playing, and behaving totally normal. Everything seems fine except for this one thing. He just went for the 3rd time today...still soft, but not "watery." I still haven't fed him for the day and won't until later tonight when I'll boil the chicken and white rice I picked up. I didn't bother grabbing pumpkin based on you guys' advice.

I'd really like to try to solve the problem at home before I go to the vet, but if the problem doesn't get resolved by the end of tomorrow, I will go. I just haven't tried anything yet and would hate to pay someone to tell me to put him on a boiled chicken and rice diet for a few days when I already plan on doing it...especially with the new apartment taking up most of my finances as it is.

Thank you again, guys. I will let you know how it goes.

[dmey]

hello shannanigan,
What a coincidence,.. Ayo had the exact same thing last week. The first day he started doing really watery I started giving him only yogurt and oral rehydration, like pedyalite. But he was perfectly well otherwise, happy active , his usual self, by the second day I started giving him rice but still nothing changed. Four days into it I thought ere has to be something so I called my vet and she said to give him some furatrex, I don't now wether that is called the same thing there, but its basically diareah medicine for children and it deals with bacterial infections as well, like salmonella and things like that, and that worked perfectly after two days he is back to normal and eating better than ever!!!

[sharronhurlbut]

Hope he is better quickly. If not, I would say, off to the vet.

[Shannanigan]

dmey - how strange that they would have something so similar, so close together, and us living relatively near each other! A little too much coincidence, in my book, so I'll keep that in mind if it comes to that.

I got home and Paco had one more little bit of "emptying" to do; still soft and watery. I started preparing the chicken and rice and he got a bit worked up over it and then started heaving. Only a little vomit came out - literally looked like someone just spat on the balcony.

Shredded the chicken, mixed it with twice as much rice as chicken, and gave him about a cup of that mix. He ate it right up, looked at me to make sure he wasn't getting more, and went to cuddle with Chris on the bed, who was playing video games. All's well since then - I'll give him more in the morning and hopefully see some kind of progress soon.

Thanks all for the input.

[Patty]

I know you are loathe to take Paco to the vet but personally, although I'm not a 'rush to the vet' person, I wouldn't leave a dog for 4 days with diarrhoea. Other complications can occur.

[Shannanigan]

Thanks all.

No diarrhea today; in fact, he hasn't gone at all today. I'm thinking the food is just taking time to go through his system. He's still fine - playful, went for a long walk, played nice with people and other dogs. Not drinking much water, but he never did drink a lot to begin with, and I know there's a lot of water in the chicken and rice I'm giving him.

I will call the vet tomorrow morning if he doesn't finally "go", or if he does and there's no improvement.

Thank you again, everybody.

[DebraDownSouth]

Well just sharing my yucky experience. I am sure the culprit is my daughter had a LOT of left over rice from order out, but it was dry. So I added canned food (too much) to it and shared between Cara and Arwen.

Flash forward to 4:30 in the morning, Cara gets up and I smell poo. Get up, step in poo turning on light. Okay so I open the bedroom door to put them out while I clean the little beside my bed, BOTH SIDES and the huge amount at foot of bed. Get it all cleaned, THEN notice right in front of door. So I have opened the door and run it over the poop. THEN I notice after I clean it up and go to shut the door that she had sprayed diarrhea ALL OVER THE DOOR. So I had to clean the door, and put soaked paper towels on the floor and run door over it several times and spray to get off bottom of the door. Thank goodness I have hardwood floors. Anyway, dry kibble only today and she is fine. But ewwww what fun that was.

[Shannanigan]

I am sooo glad that Paco managed to wake us up and beg to be let out before letting loose every time. I can't imagine really feeling like my carpet was "clean" after something like that, if it had happened.

So sorry you had to go through that!

Called the vet; Paco still hasn't had a bowel movement since putting him strictly on chicken and rice. It's been two days. The vet says that this is to be expected after having him not eat for a day and then giving only chicken and rice, and as long as he doesn't seem distressed to just keep calling in and updating them. They say they'll take us as walk-ins tomorrow if he does seem to have any change in behavior.

Fingers crossed.

[Shannanigan]

Update: Paco finally had a bowel movement yesterday. He's still eating, and we're now mixing his regular dog food in with the chicken and rice. The first time, he ate around his old food, but then went back and finished it up. The second time he ate it all in one sitting.

Thank you all for your help with this - I'm back to being able to enjoy romping with Paco without worrying about his health.

[Patty]

Thank you for letting us know. I am so glad that all is now well and that Paco is back to normal.