# Diarrhea, possible allergies?



## Michael Bennett (Apr 19, 2011)

Having some issues with constant diarrhea in my one year old female that I have had for a month, but only at home. She is fine in the car for extended periods, fine when boarded elsewhere, but when she is at home she constantly has the runs every couple hours. I'll lay out a timeline so that maybe I can get some suggestions as to what it might be and some help. We have already taken her to the vet. No parasites, vet tried to get us to spay her saying that's the issue which I don't believe at all. Based on the fact that she is perfectly fine everywhere outside the house it makes me wonder if there is something that may be causing the reaction.

Week 1: Brought her home to VA, lived in apartment for almost a week and was fine.

Week 2/3: Drove down from VA to TX (I moved). Dog was a dream in the car, 0 issues over 2 days/20 hours straight driving.

Upon getting to Texas she went in to her first heat cycle the day we got there with some blood in urine, inflamed lady parts. I had planned from the get go to board her for a few days upon arriving since I was alone and could not deal with both dogs plus trying to unpack all of the stuff and get all of the errands done that come with moving so she was boarded in a place where she was in a run alone. They cited no issues, though I am not sure how much they would notice (high volume facility).

At the end of week 2 she is in the house. I start to transition her to a raw diet (been feeding it to my male for years) by feeding chicken. Prior to this I believe she was eating Diamond Naturals Chicken & Rice. She whines in her crate a lot at this point but I attribute it to her heat cycle.

Week 4: Heat cycle is over it appears, swelling is gone. Still has diarrhea so I put her on chicken, rice and pumpkin. She has been on this 2 days so far. It stopped her from needing to poop for about 40 hours but when she did it was all goop and liquid again.

During this entire time when she is in the house she pants heavily and rapidly but no tongue sticking out. She doesn't lie down at all and doesn't do well in her crate (after 2 hours she starts whining and when let out runs outside to poop).

Some nights I have taken her out to the car where she does fine in the crate there, will sleep for 6-8 hours, not a sound. Also does not seem to have diarrhea when taken out to the field, lake or ipo club.

I need suggestions on what I should be looking for or doing from here.


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## Alice Bezemer (Aug 4, 2010)

How is her overall demeanor? Character and Healthwise? How does she show to you, nervous, anxious or stressed? It could be environmental or stress or food....to many things to pick from, more info would be helpfull.


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## David Winners (Apr 4, 2012)

Could be nerves as Alice mentioned. It's common for deploying dogs to have the squirts for a week when we first hit the ground.

What is the consistency of the poop? Slimy? She could have contracted Giardia, especially in a high volume facility. It creates slimy diarrhea. It may be worth taking a poop sample to the vet.

I actually contracted Giardia once... don't do it. Stuff was coming out both ends with force, and I had a 104.7 deg. fever.
Moral of the story... don't eat dog poop.


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## Michael Bennett (Apr 19, 2011)

Alice Bezemer said:


> How is her overall demeanor? Character and Healthwise? How does she show to you, nervous, anxious or stressed? It could be environmental or stress or food....to many things to pick from, more info would be helpfull.


 
Her demeanor is curious but confident I guess I would say. She is very playful with my other dog, likes to explore the house. She is not really afraid of anything, we have taken her to two different ipo clubs and she is all about it, the helpers both said she has great confidence, strong nerves and wants to work. We got her from a breeder very well known for producing very strong nerved high drive dogs.


I don't think its Giardia, the vet checked her fecal sample and said its fine.

I currently still have her on cooked chicken breasts (boneless/skinless), rice and pumpkin. Should I stay the course on that for a few more days and see?


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## Michael Bennett (Apr 19, 2011)

Also the fecal matter is pretty slimy. If it were giardia, how would I go about treating it? Whats the timeline?


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## Alice Bezemer (Aug 4, 2010)

Michael Bennett said:


> Her demeanor is curious but confident I guess I would say. She is very playful with my other dog, likes to explore the house. She is not really afraid of anything, we have taken her to two different ipo clubs and she is all about it, the helpers both said she has great confidence, strong nerves and wants to work. We got her from a breeder very well known for producing very strong nerved high drive dogs.
> 
> 
> I don't think its Giardia, the vet checked her fecal sample and said its fine.
> ...


did the diarrhae start after meeting the other dog or before? Could be the other dog has something that doesn't affect him but will affect your female. I would defo do another fecal matter check with the vet, slime does indicate giardia in most cases but not all.

Stress is another thing I keep in mind since its a new environment for the dog. Lots of strange new things, might be something happened in the house you have no know of that affects her state of mind and gives her the squirts. 

I would stay on the chicken and rice until the diarrhea has subsided.


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## Alice Bezemer (Aug 4, 2010)

Michael Bennett said:


> Also the fecal matter is pretty slimy. If it were giardia, how would I go about treating it? Whats the timeline?


Depends... There's the risk of re contamination with Giardia. You need to wash the dog several times and the other dog as well. All things of the dogs, bed, blanket, toys, kennel, sleeping area need to be cleaned thouroughly. 

Could be up to a 6 weeks treatment if I remember correctly, might be even longer.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

The vet checked one sample?

Do you know that Giardiasis is notoriously hard to diagnose? This is not something to diagnose with one routine fecal. The protozoa aren't passed with every stool, and serial samples over several days may be needed to be moderately sure of ruling it out (or in).

Is the poop an unusual color? (Is it yellow or tan or beige or partly blackish?) 

Does it have an unusual odor?



Do you know that you want to overcook the white rice (doubling the water) at least until the ends of the grains begin to splay, and preferably until the rice resembles a soupy gruel? And don't drain it before giving it.

Also, with this inflamed gut, very small frequent meals of the soupy overcooked rice are much better than two large meals.

I missed the breed of the dog. Is she adult (fully grown) at age one? I ask this because of the much bigger wiggle-room for adults for giving an unbalanced diet for longer than a few days. (I would give you amounts of ground eggshell to add for calcium if the dog is still growing.)




I would not recommend a transition to raw until GI issues are resolved. Even if the GI problem turns out not to preclude raw feeding, the poop's consistency is my number-one guide for tweaking bone content when transitioning. Diarrhea eliminates (ha!) this useful gauge.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Alice Bezemer said:


> Depends... There's the risk of re contamination with Giardia.


In fact, it often recurs even with uncontaminated surroundings, for reasons not yet fully understood. It may be that the protozoa mutates to become immune to the med, and/or that it "hides" in the intestine and flares up again when the dog is stressed (physically or otherwise).


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## brad robert (Nov 26, 2008)

coccidia??? definately affects young pups not sure about young dogs but can live in the soil for years or your other dog could have it and not show affects as he has built up immunity to it


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## Amber Scott Dyer (Oct 30, 2006)

When they did a fecal, did they just float it for parasites or do a smear for bacteria? If she has an overgrowth of certain bacteria, it can cause the on again/off again thing. Did they give her metronidazole at all? I know some vets recommend giving ten days of metro in conjunction with ten days of panacur - knockout bacterial overgrowth plus the combination of the two works better against giardia than just metro alone, just in case that's it. We do have some dogs that have tested negative on in-house giardia snap tests end up coming back positive when they're sent out, so even if he did test in house, I would send it out if the dog doesn't improve.


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

Michael Bennett said:


> Having some issues with constant diarrhea in my one year old female that I have had for a month, but only at home. She is fine in the car for extended periods, fine when boarded elsewhere, but when she is at home she constantly has the runs every couple hours. I'll lay
> At the end of week 2 she is in the house. I start to transition her to a raw diet (been feeding it to my male for years) by feeding chicken. Prior to this I believe she was eating Diamond Naturals Chicken & Rice. She whines in her crate a lot at this point but I attribute it to her heat cycle.
> 
> I need suggestions on what I should be looking for or doing from here.


If she was eating Diamond w/o problems then I would move her back to that diet and see what happens.


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Sarah Platts said:


> If she was eating Diamond w/o problems then I would move her back to that diet and see what happens.


I agree. I also agree with what Connie said and the others about the possible relatiinship to environmental stress. You mentioned having her for a month, what got me curious about something was your description of her behavior when inside. Was this dog kenneled our housed differently prior to you getting her? I suspect she was or something about this new environment over stimulates her.

Have you discussed this with her former owner?


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## Michael Bennett (Apr 19, 2011)

Nicole Stark said:


> I agree. I also agree with what Connie said and the others about the possible relatiinship to environmental stress. You mentioned having her for a month, what got me curious about something was your description of her behavior when inside. Was this dog kenneled our housed differently prior to you getting her? I suspect she was or something about this new environment over stimulates her.
> 
> Have you discussed this with her former owner?


She lived in a run, so it could be the environment. She is settling in better now. 

We did end up putting her on metronidazole and high fiber food. The stool cleared up the next day making me think it was probably stress more than an illness as I think metronidazole takes a bit longer to fix things.

After a few days of solid stool we are now going to try to transition back to raw and see what happens.

Thanks for all the help everyone.


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

Michael Bennett said:


> She lived in a run, so it could be the environment. She is settling in better now.


That's exactly wahat my suspicion was. Glad to hear she's doing better and settling in now.


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## David Winners (Apr 4, 2012)

Glad to hear she's doing better.


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