Sick senior dog

[Hector]

Our Sadie is a Sheltie-X, rescued off the street when she was about 1 year old. Now she is about 12 years old. She has diarrhea, and has had it for about four days now. She is a house dog and only goes outside to potty and then comes right back in. I think she may have got the diarrhea problem from eating kitty litter. That stuff must appeal to her (YUKKK!) because I have caught her eating it on several occasions.

 

Our other dog Bailey (BC-X) got the diarrhea about four days prior to Saddie getting it.

 

With both dogs, I did the following (which is what our vet told me to do when the dog has diarrhea).

 

1. Immodium pill by mouth (1/2 pill for Sadie)

2. No food for 24 hours

3. Then feed multiple small meals per day consisting of boiled hamburger and cooked white rice.

4. After 3 days of hamburger and rice, start mixing in some of the dog's dried kibble.

5. By 7 days after the initial problem started the dog should be back on the kibble diet.

 

That has worked just fine for Bailey. But it isn't working that well for Sadie. She still has a very loose stool even after the second day on the hamburger and rice. Plus there is blood in her stool.

 

I don't know what to do next. Any advice please?

[muggs]

Was a stool sample checked for giardia? If not maybe request a check because it can be knocked out by metronidazole (Flagyl) pretty easily.

 

Otherwise if negative on a stool sample - I had an old dog that developed inflamatory bowel disease which we couldn't control by diet alone, but low-dose medication worked.

[AK dog doc]

If you're seeing fresh red blood, that is coming from the colon. (You may also see mucus, since the colon likes to produce this to protect itself). If Sadie has small, frequent stools, blood and/or mucus, urgency and straining, +/- poor appetite and/or vomiting, I'd bet she has a large-bowel diarrhea (colitis), which may in fact be caused by giardia, but may also be caused by a bacterial overgrowth (clostridia being a common culprit in the colon). Even though they look horrific and can be very uncomfortable for the dog, large bowel diarrhes are usually less serious than they look. However, they still need to be treated, and as a lucky thing metronidazole (referenced by Muggs) usually works well on both giradia AND bacterial overgrowth. If I can't get a stool sample (which in colitis is very often difficult, as the stool may be very watery and difficult to collect), I'll often treat presumptively with metronidazole to cover both those bases.

 

Since Sadie is older, she'll be a little more knocked back by this than a two-year-old dog might be, and both dehydration and electrolyte loss can be an issue. I don't know if she's sick enough to justify the weekend emergency visit or if she's stable enough to wait til tomorrow, but in either case she probably needs some help with this. Even though colonic diarrheas are often less serious than small-bowel or mixed-bowel diarrheas, if they're not clearing with good nursing care, it's generally time for meds.

 

Good luck with this and I hope Sadie feels better soon.

 

(Ahhh... a nice juicy [so to speak] discussion about diarrhea before breakfast! An auspicious beginning.)

[Hector]

Thank you so much for the information. Sadie is not vomiting and isn't acting sick. She is stable enough to wait til tomorrow and then we will take her to the regular vet. We are getting some PediaLite (sp?) to feed her until tomorrow to help with any dehydration. Thanks again, I feel better about her status now.

[Joe Anne]

Hey Hector, hope the ol girl is ok. Please keep us posted.

Hugs for

(((Sadie & my Bailey buddy)))