Would appreciate any advice. Am taking care of my goddaughter's Basinji while she is in college. The dog has chronic diarrhea. Had it when we took her. Vet has done lots of blood work. Tried thyroid medication. Now they have her on a special diet. It's not working. She drinks lots and lots of water and is skin and bones. But she seems really healthy otherwise. We cannot afford a $2000 vet bill. Please, any suggestions?
Has she been tested for Fanconi? Do you know who the breeder is and have they been contacted? Drinking lots of water, is she also peeing a lot? If Fanconi she would be spilling sugar in her urine.
Here is information about Fanconi http://www.basenjihealth.org/health-content.html#fanconi
This poor girl. How old is she?
The polydipsia (excessive drinking) is most likely related to the amount of fluid loss from the diarrhea. I have never heard of chronic diarrhea being an indicator of fanconi. The fact the dogs seems "really healthy otherwise" also suggests fanconi is not high on my "diagnostic list" at this time (nor IPSID for that matter).
I suggest you familiarize yourself with EPI -
See if this does not sound familiar to what you are dealing with. We are hearing more and more about basenji with this condition. Then go back to your vet armed with knowledge of what kind of testing you want. Supplement for this disease is fairly cheap - all things considered.
Good luck.
The polydipsia (excessive drinking) is most likely related to the amount of fluid loss from the diarrhea. I have never heard of chronic diarrhea being an indicator of fanconi. The fact the dogs seems "really healthy otherwise" also suggests fanconi is not high on my "diagnostic list" at this time (nor IPSID for that matter).
I suggest you familiarize yourself with EPI -
See if this does not sound familiar to what you are dealing with. We are hearing more and more about basenji with this condition. Then go back to your vet armed with knowledge of what kind of testing you want. Supplement for this disease is fairly cheap - all things considered.
Good luck.
Linda, I never said that Chronic Diarrhea was an indicator of Fanconi? I was responding to the excessive drinking and asked about her urine output.
But EPI sounds like a better possible cause and yes, we have been hearing about more and more Basenjis with this condition.
My two year old male had horrible stomach issues and all the blood work was negative. He ended up having an alergy to the food we were feeding him. About 3 - 6 months after changing his food, he would start the episodes all over… Like his system would get use to the food and start rejecting it or something... For the past year now we have had him on California Natural's Salmon and Sweet Potato dry kibble and can food mixed with a 1/4 teaspoon of " Probotics" ( sold at the holistic store too) and have never had another episode. No bile throw up, no kennel messes and regular stools.
--- just saying, might be a food alergy ??
My suggestion would also be to try a diet change, what are you feeding?
tanza , pedro is haven the same thing (the runns) but he was cleared on the fanconi, 7 he's not drinking alot or peeing a lot!, but i did rescue a baby ratcoon, and had to put it down because of sarcoptic mange but none of us have shown any signs! 7 i keep my daughter& basenji away from the baby coon!!!. i talked to a 5 different vets and they have told me that the any person or animal would have to touch the coon to get this mange!! . the only thing that has changed with him is he has diarrea!! for 2 week now! dont know what to do , he wont eat dog food of any kind it's , back up unless i mix it with hamburger but i wash the hamburger after i cook it to get the grease off!!. dont it for the past 2 yrs now with his food!. i dont know what do do!???> i was the only one around the coon 7 i havent shown any signs of mange !, i did spray the back yard (all) with bleach & water (1/2& 1/2)!! i need to thingabout this… it's been 2 weeks since i did the yard too!!!. oh my gosh it just hit me could that be the problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????/
Copper, my oldest, has always had a sensitive stomach and would get diarrhea out of the blue all the time, so badly that he would have blood dripping from his rear. It freaked me out the first few times it happened! The vet always tried to prescribe an antibiotic but it never helped. The way I always got rid of it was to cook a pound of ground beef (rinsed), mix with a cup of cooked white rice, a cup of cottage cheese, and a cup of plain yogurt. You feed it for about 3-4 days (I always gave him about a cup and a half a day) and then start introducing their dry food back in. A friend on another forum gave me this concoction years ago and it worked perfectly for years.
Almost two years ago he got diarrhea and any time I would stop feeding the mixture it would come back. I finally consulted a holistic vet and she said I could continue feeding the mixture but needed to add some veggies to it for fiber, or I could change his dry food. She said to avoid chicken, wheat, soy, and corn. She also recommended feeding a probiotic/prebiotic several times a week in addition to two other supplements, Gastriplex and Moducare (both by Thorne). He's been on Taste of the Wild now, which is grain free (I buy the fish variety but they also have a bison/venison as well as a lamb), and and has had no problems. I'm very careful about the ingredients in the treats I give him now and have had NO diarrhea problems since changing his diet, which is absolutely wonderful!
Here are the links for what I use:
http://tinyurl.com/27jaroe
http://tinyurl.com/2adwtqn- 1 capsule 2x per day
http://tinyurl.com/276rn24 - 1 capsule 1x per day
http://tinyurl.com/2g47lsp - 1 capsule about 3x per week (I give it on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays)
Good luck!!
