Help - Kiya is having a diarrhea bout for months

[Alex]

It’s been several months, multiple anti-parasite medications (metronidazole, tolysin powder) anti-diarrhea medication (pectin), supplements, pro-biotic (probios) and nothing is helping. Kiya is eating well and drinking, but not absorbing food and lost a lot weight at this point. Last time she had a bout like that, the vet just diagnosed with stomach inflammation from eating our daughters French toast. The latest poop panel did not find anything abnormal.

It all started with both Chance and Kiya refusing to eat the home cooked meals we were making from Dr. Harvey’s dehydrated
meal and ground turkey several months ago. Both ate the meals without an issue for over a year, with no GI issues. We tried feeding them chicken and rice for a bit and then ended up changing the dehydrated meal from oat based to just veggie based from the same Dr. Harvey manufacturer and moving to ground beef. Both started eating it, and Chance who is a picky eater loves the new combo without any GI issues, but Kiya never recovered.

There is a slight improvement from a month ago, where she would have explosive diarrhea in the house multiple times a day, now she can hold through the day and night, but every morning it’s a runny mess. I’m getting a new vet, but wondering if a particular bland protocol exists other than chicken and rice (a couple of days of that don’t seem to firm things up) to get her back to absorbing the food she is eating and gain back some weight. At this rate, while she is active and does not show any signs of illness other than significant weight loss, she is not going to be able to go on without absorbing food for too long.

[eeeefarm]

Has she had a test for digestive enzymes?

[Alex]

@eeeefarm i don’t think so, I’m making an appt with vet internalist to rule out IPSID per recommendation from another community member.

[tanza]

@alex - Usually ISPID may not be something she would now get at her age.... could be pancreatitis..... I would look at that before ISPID.... But then I am not a Vet. Did they do full panel blood work? Complete thyroid panel? Did you contact Donna as Kiya's Mom had pancreatitis but it was from eating a "cake".... gee what a surprise, a Basenji eating something that they shouldn't.... You can reach out to Donna on FB... and message her.... she might be able to help. Also are you using white rice? It is easier to digest then brown rice. Could also be EPI....

[eeeefarm]

@alex This is interesting.

[elbrant]

@alex Try a teaspoon of pure pumpkin each day to see if that helps settle her stomach. The fiber, vitamins and minerals won't hurt her. I've found that this small amount typically helps "firm things up". Too much has the opposite effect.

[note: A can of pumpkin contains many teaspoonfuls. Put dots of pumpkin on a cookie sheet and freeze it, then pop the pumpkin dots into a zipper freezer bag and pull out the daily dose. Doodle likes them frozen.]

Please let us know what the new Vet thinks.

[Alex]

@tanza contacted Donna just now.

[elbrant]

@alex My Vet gave me several recipes for doodle, I thought this one might help:

Canine Highly Digestible Diet - Hill's Pet Products

[tanza]

@elbrant - Alex first needs to ID the cause of this diarrhea for months.... before trying all kinds of different foods... By changing the diet all the time is just a cover up to the cause.

[Zande]

@elbrant You need expert veterinary advice in this sort of situation. Changing foods without a proper diagnosis can be harmful.

[tanza]

@zande Exactly... Zande... she is an elder... and we know that with age there are many things that could be going on.... and happy that Alex is contacting Kiya's breeder.....

[Zande]

@tanza Donna will help. She's a good guy !

[elbrant]

@tanza said in Help - Kiya is having a diarrhea bout for months:

Alex first needs to ID the cause of this diarrhea for months....

Of course.

@zande said in Help - Kiya is having a diarrhea bout for months:

You need expert veterinary advice in this sort of situation

I never said anything to suggest that a Vet shouldn't be consulted....

Considering that this has been an ongoing issue and not just something that started this week, providing food that will be easier to digest may help the situation. Alex stated that the alternatives he tried were unsuccessful. Feeding Kiya a Vet recommended recipe made with human grade food and developed by a respected Pet Food Manufacturer certainly wouldn't hurt. Whether Alex decides to try it or not is his decision.

[Alex]

@elbrant thank you, Kiya is on rice and groundbeed for now, until all the tests are done.

[Alex]

Quick update, we called 10 vets on Monday, most are not accepting new patients, there is a shortage of vets in the industry due to covid I guess. We got 1 hit, which is all we needed, and had a mobile vet come to our house yesterday. The vet agreed that it does not look like a parasite infection, since we tried the usual anti-biotics without any success and took a bunch of blood tests (including TLI test for EPI). EPI tests is also something that was suggested by a bunch of Basenji people in the Basenji Companions FB group and also folks in the EPI Facebook group. I really hope that is it and a diet plan + enzyme supplement will get Kiya to digest the food again.

I also ordered an animal biome test, so we will see what that comes back with.

[Zande]

@alex Very interested to hear what the final diagnosis is. And so glad you found a vet. We are experiencing similar problems here but at least mine are well trained in Basenji-health

[Alex]

Quick update on Kiya, hope this is helpful to others dealing with similar issues:

We had a full blood panel done for parasites, kidneys, thyroid, liver function, etc.. also a TLI test for EPI and a urine test. Still waiting for the gut test results from (animalbiome.com).

While waiting for test results, and since all the signals were pointing at EPI, we started her on an enzyme supplement (BioCase Plus), which is enzymes + probiotic + b12 supplement. Something a lot of people successfully use for treating EPI dogs according to the EPI FB group. To our surprise after 2 days of supplement, liquid poop firmed up a bit and for the first time in months, she had solid poops (not consistently solid, but also not as liquid as before and not needing to go out every 30 min).

Fortunately and unfortunately, the EPI test came negative, her TLI was fine, and her liver functions were fine, no thyroid issues, but her proteins+b12+calcium level was very low, which supports the weight loss of 5lbs in two months. The vet diagnosed and decided to treat her for PLE protein-losing enteropathy and said we should continue BioCase Plus as it's probably helping her pancreas, which in turn helps other body functions.

She had an injection of a steroid (dexamethasone) and is on prednisone to ease her GI inflammation, also she is eating Hills Diet Biome prescription food right now + taking b12 + calcium supplement. It seems like she is doing better (no major diarrhea) and is less anxious, but time will tell and we will see if she starts gaining weight over the next few weeks on this new prescription diet.

[tanza]

@alex - Glad to hear that she is doing better and you at least got some answers...

[Zande]

@alex I sometimes wish we humans could get the same benefit from Vitamin B12 as our older Basenjis do ! My Vet calls it geriatric juice. So glad she is doing better -

[JENGOSMonkey]

@alex I'm no expert and am certainly not a vet, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt. Jengo had loose stools for the longest time. We struggled and finally ended up going to a grain free high protein kibble. That seemed to do the trick for him, but in retrospect I believe it was a mistake. Too much protein and not enough fiber.

I feed my current two high protein kibble, but not a lot. I mix in riced cauliflower or diced broccoli with each of their two daily meals, and pumpkin with each diner. I also mix in Dogzymes Probiotic Max with each meal. There are several other things I add, but the vegetables and probiotics are what seem to keep them firm.

Glad you're making progress.