• If you're a past member of the board, but can't recall your password any more, you don't need to set up a new account (unless you wish to). As long as you recall your old login name, you can log in with that user name then select 'forgot password' and the board will email you at your registration email, to let you reset your password.

Diarrhea

T

Tammy

Member
Hi everyone,

I don't have much experience with boards, so forgive me if I make a mistake here! My cav Lexie is around 19 mos. old. She has had loose stools off and on since we got her. Tried all different foods. In Feb. we treated her for giardia with metrodonazole (hope I spelled that right) she had loose stools with mucous off and on but stool checks were always negative. Also, treated her with febendazole? a few weeks later just to be sure. Also, put her on the Chicken Soup brand food without any preservatives. She seemed to do really well after that for about a month. Then she had to stay away from home for her first time for about 3 days. Would not eat during that time, came home and started with the loose stools, still did not eat much, went into full blown diarrhea. I took her to the vet, another negative stool sample (surprise, surprise!) He decided she may have a nervous stomach. Started her on antibiotics in case she had an overgrowth of bacteria, continued the boiled chicken and rice and after a very long time she had about 1 week of solid stools. As soon as I started adding a very small amount of kibble the stools became loose again. I then put her back on boiled chicken, turkey, hamburger, and liver and rice. My vet wants to do a blood test to test for allergies. Have any of you had the allergy test? And if so did they find allergies? I do feed pumpkin and I started giving her vitamins because she has been on the chick/rice for so long but her diarrhea started up again about the same time as the vitamins so I am waiting to try that again. It's really frustrating and I worry about her getting enough nutrients. One thing I have noticed is that she is passing a lot of dog hair in the diarrhea. I am trying to keep her crate, dish and water free of hair and she gets brushed out every other day. I don't really notice her chewing on her self or pulling out hair. We do have 3 dogs so our home is full of dog hair! She never really had actual diarrhea before it was just loose and mucousy and stuck to her back end. Now it is foul smelling and sometimes liquid. I guess I am afraid the blood test will not come up with anything or they'll tell me she's allergic to everything! Lexie acts pretty healthy. I guess I just want to hear your experiences.
Tammy
 
Hi Tammy,

My lucky had the dread Diarrhea as a puppy also - It looks like you are working closely with your vet, so I'd suggest you keep doing what you are doing.

Also, monitor closely what toys and treats you give her - some treats like rawhides can cause an obstruction and an upset tummy. Robe toys could too if they swallow strands from the end. So could the hair. Lucky had diarrhea last week and I'm pretty sure the hair is causing it for him. Keeping him brushed and making sure any random little hair clumps that accumulate on your floor are sweeped up will go a long way.

I'm sure some others will chime in, but in the meantime, you might try doing a search of the board (if you haven't already) because this is a topic that does come up from time to time.

Good luck. :xfngr:
 
Hi Tammy,

I am sorry to hear you're going through this with your little precious. Unfortunately it seems like there are a lot of Cavaliers out there with different types of food allergies.

A lot of us on this board feed a food called Innova:Evo. It's grain free and my boy, Kosmo does very well on it. In fact, he will not eat anything else. :eek: His stools are solid almost 100% of the time. I chose this food because I was having the same problem as you and I just wanted to eliminate what I could - Evo has a lot less ingredients than a lot of other foods.

My little one is eating Natures Variety RAW in the morning and Evo in the evening. I feel that it's best to give her a variety and the RAW that I get is convenient for me because it's pre-done and it has many nutrients that would have been lost in it from the extruding/baking process.

She could also be picking up foreign objects on walks that don't agree with her. I know Kosmo will eat ANYTHING he sees on a walk and I always end up paying the price for that after.

Are you currently feeding Chicken Soup?

Good Luck! :dogwlk:
 
My Cody was the same way when he was a pup. He did great on the Chicken Soup then all of a sudden he developed an intolerance to something in it. The diarrhea instantly went away when we changed foods. Currently all of my dogs are on Wellness Fish and Potato mixed with Evo, but we are going to switch to either Solid Gold "Barking at the Moon" or Evo for the protien levels.

If she is having this reaction to lots of different foods, then a blood test would be the quickest and most sure method of getting results, but it is costly. You could try the Elimination Diet" which will help to isolate the specific ingriedients that bother her, but it takes a lot of time, patience and dedication. I would do a search on this site and there are lots of threads about it.

Maybe she is having a chicken intolerance? Have you tried another protien source?
 
Lani said:
Hi Tammy,

My lucky had the dread Diarrhea as a puppy also - It looks like you are working closely with your vet, so I'd suggest you keep doing what you are doing.

Also, monitor closely what toys and treats you give her - some treats like rawhides can cause an obstruction and an upset tummy. Robe toys could too if they swallow strands from the end. So could the hair. Lucky had diarrhea last week and I'm pretty sure the hair is causing it for him. Keeping him brushed and making sure any random little hair clumps that accumulate on your floor are sweeped up will go a long way.

I'm sure some others will chime in, but in the meantime, you might try doing a search of the board (if you haven't already) because this is a topic that does come up from time to time.

Good luck. :xfngr:
Click to expand...

Lani,

I hope I am replying to your quote the right way, if not bear with me. Thanks for your input. I don't give Lexi any treats at all anymore. Too nervous about starting something! Rawhides definately caused problems. She was shedding really bad about a month ago. We had hair floating in the air even! So hopefully now by brushing her, vacuuming and keeping her dishes free of hair we can keep her from ingesting it.
Tammy
 
No chicken soup right now. She just had her first firm still in a week, so we are still doing chicken or turkey and rice. Do you know where to find Evo in the US? I was told The Chow Hound may have it.

Tammy
 
I think I may have seen Nature's Variety in a pet store near me. I'll have to check out the ingredients on that.

Thanks!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top