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Sensitive Stomach/Stool issues

2K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  Sweet Girl 
#1 ·
Hi, I'm posting to see if anyone has shared a similar experience with me that may be able to provide some helpful advice!
My Finley is 7 months old tomorrow (crazy!) Ever since the day I picked him up at 8 weeks, we've been off an on battling stomach/stool issues. Worms, giardia, coccidia, other bacterial parasites-he's had the whole deal. He also seems to have a very sensitive stomach and doesn't tolerate chicken-based foods. His most recent stool test was a month ago, a few days before his neuter, which came back positive for both giardia and coccidia. He was put on Albon and Metro to treat those, and was back to normal in a few days. However, for the past couple of weeks, he has had off an on loose stools (mushy to pudding piles, sometimes even mucusy). He'll be normal for 2-3 days then it seems a switch flips and he'll suddenly have messy stools. He has been given a couple new treats in this time frame, but I've since cut him off those and nothing has really changed. He's currently on Taste of the Wild adult food, the Sierra Mountain lamb-based formula. (He's previously been on Blue Buffalo and The Hill's Science Diet-both recommendations by a vet we no longer see.)

I should probably mention he acts completely normal other than the poo issues. He's just as, if not more playful and eats and drinks normally. He's been on TOTW food for about 3 months now and I recently made the switch to the adult food. I was thinking that may be the culprit, but wouldn't that mean constant loose stools, not just every few days or so?

I was going to try adding pumpkin or some sort of digestive aid to his food for awhile and see if that helps anything. I'm also wondering if I need to dig deeper, say switching to a limited ingredient diet. I'd like to avoid yet another trip to the vet for now as Finley and my wallet both need a bit of a break from the vet's office. :) Obviously if nothing changes or he starts having more frequency in the loose stools, we'll be off for another checkup.

Please let me know if you've experienced anything like this with your pup and if you came across a solution! Thanks in advance.

Here's a recent picture of my boy.
 

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#2 ·
Finley is a very handsome boy. I have not experienced what you have been through with Finley and I am not a vet but I do know that gardia is difficult to treat and eradicate. It sounds like it has been a very difficult 7 months for you and Finley. Adding pumpkin may help. I have used it many times for my dogs. It does tend to firm up their stools. You may also want to talk to your vet about adding a probiotic. I had a dog whose stomach was extremely sensitive and, since she was also diabetic, our food choices were limited. The probiotic helped tremendously. Unfortunately with giardia you will need to continue to see your vet. It doesn't just go away on its own and often requires multiple rounds of Metro. I'm sorry.
 
#3 ·
Oh my goodness, change the name and age and this could be my story with Rayder (16 weeks). He had coccidia and giardia from the time we got him. Seemed to clear the coccidia easily, but the giardia test has remained frustratingly positive, despite multiple rounds of Panacur and metronidazole. He got markedly worse when I tried him on boiled chicken and white rice (first time I've ever encountered a dog get worse on that) and we have had a very expensive few weeks on canned i/d, with worsening stool quality every time we try to wean him off.

We finally went to an internist last week (it was weird because he was a vet school classmate of mine, so it was awkward asking his advice as an expert). We reran the fecal ova and parasite test, giardia, and added a fecal PCR looking for things like clostridium, campylobacter, salmonella, etc. He came back positive (still) for giardia (no cysts seen, but the ELISA was positive. Interestingly, the PCR negative for giardia). He was also positive for clostridium. The internist put him on another course of Panacur for 10 days PLUS metronidazole for 7 days at a MUCH higher dose than is typically used for plain old diarrhea (giardia needs quite high doses, but this will also treat the clostridium). He is to be bathed on days 3 and 7 to try to prevent reinfecting himself. The internist also recommended trying to wean him onto w/d dry due to the high fiber content. From that, we can try to wean him back onto a puppy food (I hate how long he has been off a food labeled for puppies). I am pleased to say that his poop is almost totally normal. It remains to be seen if it stays that way as he finishes the meds in the coming days. If the poop stays normal, the plan is to retest after 2 weeks off meds. If it is not, then try different meds. The cherry on top of this poop story is that we bought insurance for Rayder, but because he was diagnosed with giardia during the waiting period, NONE of this is covered!

So I would say if your vet has not retested the poop since treating for giardia, that would be the first step (giardia can cause this sort of cyclical diarrhea). Also, make sure they are doing the giardia ELISA as well as the O&P, as giardia is only shed intermittently and the regular fecal O&P can miss it very easily. The fecal PCR can also be very helpful but it is not cheap!

I hope that helps.
 
#4 ·
So unfortunately you actually might have to head back to the vet. Giardia and coccidia sometimes are both hard to eradicate, so it actually could be one (or both of them)--either he never completely got rid of it, or he got reinfected. Giardia often gives intermittent loose stools.

You have a lot of moving parts, so it could be the TOTW switch, but it also could be something infectious, like the Giardia or coccidia. Unfortunately, it also could be that he's developing a food intolerance or something else also, or has an imbalance of bad/good bacteria in his gut as a result of having the metronidazole. It gets rid of the good bacteria as well as the bad bacteria, so usually if I have a dog who needs it, I give a probiotic afterwards, like purina forti-flora.

Given that he recently had giardia, you might need to start there, and send a stool sample over to your vet. You might be able to just send a sample and not have to actually bring your dog in for a visit if he's drinking and eating well...
 
#6 ·
We went through this, too. Most important - get a LONG course of antibiotic. 14 days. And don't stop the treatment until its done, even if your pup is better. Both giardia and coccidia are notorious for calming down and then flaring up, at least one more time. Usually by 6 months old, their little systems are getting strong enough to withstand an infection without showing symptoms, but when they have been fighting them off as puppies, that can delay their immune systems getting strong enough.

We did Forti Flora after the antibiotic treatment for many months, too, to rebuild the good bacteria in my dog's gut. We probably did it daily for 3-6 months - I can't remember. But I do believe it helped, too.

You might want to try Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach and Skin Salmon formula. We had really good luck putting Shala on a prescription food for a few months, but it was chicken based. I know many people have good luck with this Pro Plan formula.
 
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