Diarrhea

Oliver woke me up at 1:30 this morning needing to go out where he proceeded to have diarrhea. I had been gone all weekend to a wedding and he stayed with a friend, where he was fine, and he was fine all day after I picked him up. He seems to feel ok and is drinking water and running around. I have been slowly switching him to Flint River Ranch (trout) over the past week from Innova, so that my boyfreind and I are feeding our dogs the same food, as it makes life easier. Oliver hasn't had any problem with it- so I'm not sure if its the switching food or a bug. He is still getting a mix of the new/old food.

Just wanted to check... do you all recommend not giving him any food right now, just water, then boiled white rice and chicken and slowly introducing his food back?

Thanks!

Withhold food for 12 hours or so to give his gut a rest, but give plenty of water -- they can get dehydrated without water so water is important.

In 12 hours try a light (small) meal of boiled rice and plain chicken.

Keep meals small -- he doesn't need his usual amount -- see how he does. If it lasts for longer than 24-36 hours, take him to the vet.

Lots of things cause diarrhea -- could be some treats he was given or something he ate or a bug he picked up or just some stress from having been in a strange place for a few days.

I doubt it was the food transition unless he has problems with the new food. I actually have never had an issue with offering totally different foods day to day (that's what I do regularly anyway --they rarely have the exact same thing two days in a row) so while some dogs may have issues with switching it is certainly not the norm and I've never been sure why people are advised to take such care in switching foods -- after all dogs are omnivores!

If as many raw feeding advocates say, dogs have stomachs that have no issue even with organisms like salmonella that can make humans extremely ill, than certainly just changing kibble is not going to cause any problem (BTW I don't agree that dogs do not have problems with salmonella etc -- but it seems very odd that on the one hand there's a whole feeding movement based on the assumption that dogs can literally stomach just about anything (and where people have much successs with feeding in this way), and on the other hand, lots of people are being advised that dogs' digestive systems are so delicate that they cannot change from one kibble to another from day to day. icon_nwunsure :lol: Anyway, personally, I have never bothered with slow transitions of food and cannot imagine it causes much problems for most dogs unless they are fed for long periods on only one brand of kibble with nothing added to it, ever. So if you've been doing a gradual transition I don't really think that would be a likely cause of diarrhea.

Thanks, Karlin. I have learned so much from this board. It seems like every few months we go through an episode of this. I have aksed the vet whether it could be whipworm as they have a life cycle similar to this. My old roommate's dog had whipworm- apparently they can pick it up outside. The life cycle is such that it makes it hard to pick it up. Oliver has been on Sentinel for several months now, as that takes care of fleas, heartworm, and whipworm.

He has had xrays and other tests done, but they all come back negative, so the vet always says it's just a bug or something and it goes away within a few days.

I will keep an eye on him and if it's not better take him to the vet.

I just came home (I was also home at lunch) and he was frantic to get outside and had it again...he hasn't eaten since about 6:00 pm last night, but he is drinking water. He seems a little gloomy and needier than usual but not too bad.

Can I give Immodium? If so, how much would you recommend? My friend's vet recommended 4 milligrams for her Springer, but she only gave him 2, which was one pill.

Should I still feed him a bit of rice even though he is still having diarrhea?

Be careful with the immodium. I accidentally gave Lucky too much and he threw up. It was just a little too much (those are tiny pills to cut ... I gave him the 2/3 side of the cut by accident instead of 1/3).

I'll let others comment on the dosage for Immodium ... since my last attempt at giving it to Lucky was a miserable failure. One pill will definitely be too much for a Cavalier though, I can tell you that.

I would keep him on the rice, but I should tell you Lucky's latest bouts of diarrhea have all corresponded with me going away for a few days. I think there's a definite stress factor in it for him. I'd bet that is probably true for Oliver too. Hope he feels better soon. :flwr:

Thanks--it's funny because I was just thinking that the last time this happened was when I went away at Christmastime. The day after I got home he had this same stuff going on. I took him to the vet and they couldn't find anything wrong. Maybe it is stress??

Hi Holly!

I swear by Kaolin when my dogs have this, I with-hold food for 24 hours and give them a teaspoon of Kaolin every 6-8 hours, another thing I also use is arrowroot biscuits after 24 hours of starving. Always let them drink as this can be very dehydrating. Can you get hold of kaolin at all in the U.S? Only ask as I'm in the UK is all!

Hope he's feeling better soon anyway!

My two have been having off and on bouts of diarrhea too, and my vet told me to give Bentley a half of an Imodium pill (Bentley is 19 lbs.), and it did seem to help him a little. Bailey tho, threw up the Imodium....Bailey is only 6 lbs. (he is a Poodle, whereas Bentley is a Cavalier of course, in case you are wondering, lol!), I had gotten the liquid Imodium for Bailey and the vet told me to give him one fourth teaspoon, but it seemed to make Bailey sick. Bentley was OK with half a pill tho. I gave them all the water they wanted, including Gatorade (vet recommended that), and I did feed boiled chicken and rice for a while, then I started to slowly mix in their dog food with it. It took several days though.

Thanks, Cathryn. I am not sure about the Kaolin...I haven't heard of it here but I will look into it. He is drinking water, so that's a good thing.

Thanks, too, Renee. I appreciate everyone's advice. It's stressful when your baby is sick!!

How is Oliver today? Bentley is back to having a few loose stools again....hopefully we won't go back to the liquid diarrhea.

Hope Oliver is better! Keep us posted!

Thanks for asking...I had him on just a little boiled white rice yesterday and he didn't go at all last night. This morning I gave him white rice and a spoonful of the Science Diet I/D (only because the vet had recommended it as it's supposedly easy on their stomach. I never feed Science Diet). He seemed starving and has been drinking water and playing and wanting to eat. This morning (not to be gross) it was formed at first, then liquid. When I went home at lunch, liquid again, poor baby. I may have to take him to the vet, except that he seems perfectly fine otherwise.

I hope Bentley feels better, too! It's hard being a mom- I can't imagine what it's like to have real kids!! Especially when they get sick- you worry so much!

I've been really tempted to try that Science Diet I/D, and about the time that I was going to go get some, Bentley (and Bailey) got better. Today Bentley had a couple of soft stools, somewhat formed tho. At least we aren't back to the watery diarrhea again. Sometimes I wonder if maybe Bentley doesn't have a touch of colitis, at times his poo is a bit mucousy. Has your vet ever mentioned colitis? It's nerve-wracking isn't it...

I hope the new dog food helps Oliver's tummy and intestines get better. It sounds sort of like what Bentley gets....he acts just fine, yet he gets the runs every now and then. Altho this last time when both Bentley and Bailey got the runs, I think that may have been caused by a virus or something. It lasted about 6 days, and they both had the exact same symptoms, and just as quickly as it came on it went away that fast too. I'm hoping Bentely's soft stool today were just a one-time thing....otherwise I'll take him in to the vet. Sometimes a teaspoon or two of pure canned pumpkin (not the pie filling tho) will help with the diarrhea. I fed that to Bentley a few times and it did seem to help.

Is Oliver drinking enough water? That was the one thing my vet was concerned about, making sure that they didn't get dehydrated.

Yes, he is drinking-I've een vigilant about that. I am going to take him to the vet today so we shall see...Thanks for your concern! Hope Bentlet does okay, too- I love that name!

I think that Kaopectate would be about the same as Kaolin. Don't know about dosage.

The I/D isn't a bad food, and it's a pretty good idea to keep a can or two on hand. I had a shihtzu who had IBS and we would often have to go on I/D and metronidazole (flagyl). This would happen whenever she was stressed.

The vet can't see him until tomorrow, but said in the meantime to give him an Immodium which is helping a little. He is still eating the I/D and some white rice and I am making sure he is drinking lots of water.

He goes through this every few months and ends up on the I/D and flagyl-they have done xrays and other tests but never find anything. I am thinking it's stress related, too. I hope he is feeling 100% soon!

I swear by the I/D for upset tummies! It's the only thing my two can eat if they get upset. Both of mine get it from stress....definitely! I was surprised neither got sick this weekend away in Burbank/Mission Viejo. I brought their raw in a cooler and they were both fine.

Can they have "normal" poops on the I/D and rice? I never thought I would be having such an involved poop converstaion until I got a dog!

I'm glad that Oliver is doing OK and isn't worse or anything....it sounds so much like what Bentley gets....he will get that from time to time too. I think I will try the I/D next time too. Hope it goes well at the vet for you and Oliver tomorrow....sounds good tho, that he is drinking and eating, that is half the battle. Does anyone know...are Cavaliers more prone to colitis than other breeds? Sort of seems that way to me. Leave it to me to have a dog with intestinal troubles, half my family has colitis, LOL! I know what you mean....since I got Bentley I have a lot of poop-related discussions....LOL!

Can they have "normal" poops on the I/D and rice

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Yep. But I don't give any rice...just I/D. And in very small (Tablespoon) amounts at frequent intervals.

Tonight, on our walk, Shelby's poop was so firm...it rolled down the hill That's never happened before...I used to have to scrape it off the sidewalk and hope no one saw me leaving that big old poop smear on the sidewalk.

Welcome the poop round table Had a nice discussion about just this topic with another Cavalier owner on the phone tongiht. I was so excited about Shelby's poop rolling downhill. :rah: