[Fodder]

i'm so frustrated that i'm going to try and keep this short. i have an 8yr old spayed gsd. she has hd but never any other sickness or ailments.

its been almost a week since she's had a solid poo. tuesday night i come home to find freshly regurgitated dog food and several puddles of diarrhea in the house (NEVER happens). wednesday she ate nothing but chicken, rice & a bit of acidophilus. thursday no appetite at all and diarrhea had then progressed to what looked like 90% blood. activity = normal. water intake = normal.

by now you're saying "what is this girl thinking - take her to the vet!!!"

done!
friday between two vets (wasnt able to see my regular vet as soon as i'd liked and i was afraid of an intestinal obstruction) she's had xrays, complete blood panel & a fecal. surprise surprise - everything came back "normal" and/or "negative".

her appetite has returned but she's still having the bloody diarrhea. not AS bloody as yesterday, but still not in the least bit solid.

what now?
experiences? advice? homeopathic recommendation?

i only wish i had a billion dollars to have an exploratory procedure done, but i dont.

 

[LisaT]

What were you feeding before this started -- what is her regular food?

Any other supplements? Do the probiotics contain dairy?

 

[Fodder]

Originally Posted By: LisaTWhat were you feeding before this started -- what is her regular food?

Any other supplements? Do the probiotics contain dairy?

hi sorry, i totally forgot that this info would be necessary. she's eating canidae platinum & is on nupro silver. other foods from time to time include fresh eggs, raw bones, raw chicken, carrots, and rice if they have the "normal type" of occasional loose stools. however, the only of the "extras" she had was an egg about 4 or 5 days prior.

 

[LisaT]

Sometimes they get a bug, sometimes it's a bad batch of food, sometimes a bad egg (if fed raw), sometimes you'll never know.

Have you fasted her at all?

My mixed breed had something similar a couple of times in her life, with no known trigger. Last time I had to keep her off solid food for about 5 days. I'm going to pm you the liquid diet I used. The vet did check on her at about the fifth day and couldn't see anything wrong, no dehydration, etc., so the liquid diet at least provided enough so that she looked and felt good.

I certainly wouldn't feed anything solid in her current condition.

 

[EastGSD]

I would be very concerned about a case of HGE in this dog

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/23311.htm

Please keep us updated.

Cherri

 

[LisaT]

I would agree with that -- and that's probably what Indy had both times. Unless there is an actual bacterial infection though, there is no real treatement, just make sure the dog doesn't get dehydrated. No way to tell if there is bacterial issues going on, unless it doesn't resolve at all. Hmmm...they didn't do a fecal, did they?

Just curious, Camerafodder, what did the vet tell you to do?

 

[Fodder]

Originally Posted By: LisaTI would agree with that -- and that's probably what Indy had both times. Unless there is an actual bacterial infection though, there is no real treatement, just make sure the dog doesn't get dehydrated. No way to tell if there is bacterial issues going on, unless it doesn't resolve at all. Hmmm...they didn't do a fecal, did they?

Just curious, Camerafodder, what did the vet tell you to do?

yes they did a fecal, i was able to collect a fresh sample in a baggie right outside the vets office.

on friday i was given a prescription can diet. royal canin h.e. i think its called and was told to offer her chicken broth throughout the day. a tech called me today to let me know that the fecal and blood panel were okay - the vet is not in again until tomorrow.

i received your pm about the liquid diet - i will read it in depth in the morning when my brain is functioning better. so thank you!

also, thanks for the link East. looks like my sunday will be filled with research. it'd be nice tho if the vets did this for us, i mean they did go to 8yrs of school after all

 

[WiscTiger]

I believe DeeDee had HGE three years ago in August. She threw up a bit of bile foam and had a trace of blood in her stool, the next day her stool was all fresh blood. Long story short, I had to get on a plane that morning for a biz trip, hubby took off work early to take her to the Vet. She had to stay overnight, put on an IV to hydrate, gave her two rounds of two different anitbioics via IV and a Med used on Ulcer patients. At that time my Vet didn't know what it was had quite a few dogs coming in and found that the program she used worked. I don't want to scare you but watch for dehyration.

DeeDee had a relapse after the meds were gone and we got another round of the Ulcer Med, she was the only dog that my Vet treated that had a relapse.

Keep us updated on your girl.

 

[kularing]

Two of my dogs had that a couple weeks ago, including the blood. I think it was a bug because they are back to normal.

 

[Fodder]

hydration is the one area that we've (surprisingly) done okay in. i was nervous considering the last two days have been over 90, but she's drinking normally on her own and ive been giving her chicken broth (as instructed by the vet) and pedialyte for dogs the whole week.

i will have her with me all day today, so i'll be able to monitor & log all of her poops.

thanks for all the help you guys!

 

[dd]

Also bear in mind that a fecal may not catch what's there. Giardia in particular does not always show up, but may be present. There's a giardia thread somewhere that I saw recently.

dd

 

[Lauri & The Gang]

Is the blood bright red or dark red?

Bright red blood is undigested blood - from the lower half of the intestines. If that is the case I would treat her with a wormer that takes care of Hook and Whip worms. Sometimes you need to check several stool samples to find those so I just go with the wormer.

If it's dark red blood then it's digested (or partially) and is coming from either the stomach or the upper intestines. If that's the case I would talk to the vet Monday about scoping the dog to see what's going on in the stomach.

 

[bearlasmom]

could it be a virus? i dont know, i know people may say i worry about this far too much, but if your dog is active is there a chance that she is extremely active and crashed into something? could she possibly have a form of hemophilia or vWD that you are not aware of. vets wont find it during regular blood panels, they ahve to test for it. you may want to consider it. in the mean time, try fasting and keep the dog off the solids as you have been advised and give the angel lots and lots of broth. i also agree with lauri that maybe a scope is in order. albeit expensive depending on the vet but its well worth it if it makes puppers better

again, just my point of view.

 

[JenM66]

HGE was my first thought. Whatever it is - good luck. I Hope you get an answer quickly.

 

[selzer]

Could be colitis too. My crew went through and through and through that last summer. The good thing was that the dogs seemed otherwise healthy. We were on chicken and rice for a month, at least a dozen vet visits, and the ER, numerous fecal examinations. Wormed them anyway even though there was no evidence of worms. It did not help.

Colitis can be cause by stress, something they ate, or a bug.

Watch her energy level and make sure you know how to check for dehydration and if those things are ok, I would not do any scoping or IVs, but rather fasting, then adding some pumpking. Then yougurt -- Dannon's with the live cultures in it. This is good to give dogs after any bout of antibiotics.

Hope this gets cleared up quickly for you.

 

[spartshep]

I would not give this dog any cow's milk products at all. If anything, give plain, organic goat milk yogurt and a bland diet along with plenty of fluids...even pedialyte if the loose stool persists.

 

[debbiebrown]

i had this problem with a few of my dogs with raw bones, marrow bones, etc. not all dogs can tolerate these. especially as they get older.

debbie

 

[LisaT]

I think that it's hard to distinguish between HGE and colitis sometimes.

Lauri, didn't think about the bright red with the worms. Indy's was very bright red. (She also has a history of something that panacur seems to take care of, though we're not sure what.) It's just awful when this stuff hits them -- it looks terrible and you know they feel miserable.

Camerafodder, I might consider a different protein source for your broth and when you go back on solid food, unless you are absolutely sure that chicken isn't a problem (I'm assuming it's also in the canidae). Sometimes the culprit is in the last place you might think of looking.

 

[BowWowMeow]

Basu was very prone to colitis. Before I got his diet straightened out this happened a lot. I followed the Pitcairn protocol, starting with broth and then gradually moving him to overcooked rice with sweet potatoes (very important and this isn't in Pitcairn) and other pureed veggies and boiled and shredded chicken breast. <u>Do not give yoghurt or any dairy products until the gut heals.
</u> That will make things worse.

For herbs I had excellent luck with slippery elm and homeopathic the Homeopet Digestive Relief formula.

 

[Fodder]

i dont have alot of time right now, but i just wanted to let you guys know that i made some sort of soupy concoction today with chicken broth, a bit of rice (because now that her appetite is back she acts like she starving), a few of the herbs that lisa recommended since i had them in the house already, along with her nupro supplement and sure enough gia produced a semi almost kinda barely solid poo this evening. its a start eh?

tonight i will do some research and figure out a plan for the next couple weeks until i believe she's 100%.

its crazy how scary things can get. but just seeing her poo today, a billion pounds have been lifted from my shoulders.

thanks again everyone!