Aurora9 Posted April 18, 2006 Report Share Posted April 18, 2006 I searched some other post, but they seem to be different situations. I've had Aurora since november and she is almost 7 months now. For the last 3 weeks she has had diarrhea off and on. It comes and goes about every 3-4 days. Some times is minimal with one accident in her crate when I get home to all evening. We first started by watching what she gets into, no toys to chew up such as string toys, limited treats and then we changed from IAMs to Science Diet. She was on IAMs since I bought her home and Science Diet for a week now. We've taken samples to the vet and they don't show up anything. She was at my sisters house for the weekend with aurora's sister ally while we were out of town. She got bad diarrhea and my sister took her to the emgerency vet. They tested her and didn't find anything, the vet suggested using Lactobacillus to treat any possible bacteria she could have. She has been taking that since saturday with no problems tell tonight. She had more messes in her crate and she has been squatting all night with the runs. We are running out of options what to do! It doesn't seem to slow her down much, but you can tell shes not feel %100 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaggieDog Posted April 18, 2006 Report Share Posted April 18, 2006 Check out the post "Poorly Daisy" in the General section - there's a lot of good info there and Daisy's situation sounds a lot like your pup's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK dog doc Posted April 19, 2006 Report Share Posted April 19, 2006 Things to note about diarrhea: * Is it small amounts frequently, large amounts infrequently or something in between? * Is blood or mucus present? * Is there urgency? * Is there straining? * Is there an unusual color? * Is there weight loss? * Are any other symptoms present (vomiting, lack of appetite, lethargy)? Things to test about diarrhea: * Fecal samples (and you may need to do repeat samples, both smears and floats) * Occult giardia test * Advanced fecal analysis (done at a special lab, not usually in-house) * Screening bloodwork (CBC/chem panel/UA) * Abdominal radiographs * Gut biopsy * Special chemistries (depending on results of other tests) I'd say if she's going in her crate, there's at least urgency and maybe frequency. You haven't noted whether there's been weight loss, vomiting or lack of appetite, or whether she's been given any medications and if so what response she had and for how long. In general I tend to treat symptomatically on the first go-round, since the vast majority are nothing too complex and will respond readily to that (although I ALWAYS want to see a fecal on a dog with diarrhea). If we have no response or response with recurrence, I tend to start doing more workup. The wax/wane thing is reminscent of giardia, which is notoriously difficult to find on a fecal float and relatively common up here. Because of these factors, I will sometimes treat symptomatically for giardia (as a happy coincidence, the treatment for giardia also treats bacterial overgrowth, another very common cause of diarrhea. Two birds, one antibiotic.) There are other things which will wax and wane, however, so don't fixate on that. I generally start with the simple and common and proceed onwards to the more complex and rare, unless something is going on to make me cut to the chase and do a more advanced test first. Without knowing more about the treatments/responses, test results, etc, I probably can't tell you any more than that. As always, remember that this is general info to help you organize your thoughts about the situation, that I can't diagnose your dog over the 'net, and that you should pay more attention to the person who can actually see your dog than you do to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluggie Posted May 3, 2006 Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 My one-year old BC got diarrhea yesterday. Very runny with some mucous. She's eating, drinking and playful, but not quite herself. I took a fecal sample to the vet and it came back positive for hook worms. (??) I've never had this with any other dog. So I asked a lot of questions and was given a liquid strongid for treatment. (treated both dogs, by the way.) That was this morning. I came home from work tonight and Baylee still has a the same output. How long will the diarrhea last after the dose of wormer? It's frequent as she "asked" to go out about every hour last night - all night. She did not mess her kennel, but did go when I let her out. I've only ever seen this in a horse, and it wasn't good. Should I be more concerned and if it is hook worms, how long will this last? I plan on calling the vet again in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurie etc Posted May 3, 2006 Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 I'll let AK Dog Doc or someone else qualified give you an official answer, but if she were mine, I would make sure she has plenty of water to drink, but limit her solid food for 24 hours or so. (You didn't mention that, but maybe you are already doing it). If the diarrhea doesn't firm up adn become less frequent in a day or so, I'd be calling the vet to ask for a) another fecal test to check for other problems because there could be other parasites or bacterial infections compounding the initial diagnosis; and something anti-spasmatic and/or soothing and/or flagyl(metronidazole)in addition to the dewormer. You might also consider giving her some plain yogurt to help put the good bacteria back into her gut. As a horse person, I can assure you that frequent diarrhea is not as "quickly devastating" to a dog as it is to a horse. They have very different digestive systems and abilities to cope with gut problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK dog doc Posted May 3, 2006 Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 Good general advice from Laurie. Hooks are pretty nasty, so it's not a big surprise if they upset the gut, which may lead to secondary bacterial overgrowth or other problems. The frequency, watery consistency and presence of mucus are all pointing me at the large intestine, which is usually (not always) less serious than small intestinal diarrhea. Metronidazole is a good first choice for that, but let your vet tell you what they think - some of the choices of what to do next depend on the type and dose of wormer, and the parasite burden you started with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluggie Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 Wow, you folks called it. metronidazole and her first "food" tonight which consisted of boiled rice and boiled hamburger (very little burger) - small amount. She is zonked and ready for a full night's sleep I think. (So am I and my other half). No diarrhea since 11 this morning. She was running a low-grade fever. Need to take a stool sample in 4 weeks for re-test. Thank you for all your help and for giving me the right questions to ask. I'm more familiar with horses than border collies. I did some research on hookworms since I've never had to deal with them before. I'm still not understanding how Baylee picked them up as her "run" area is about 5 or 6 acres. But I guess the weather conditions are right for the worms. Thank you again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurie etc Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 good luck, and here's to a full night of sleep for all of you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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