Stomach Issues

corbinam

corbinam

Moderator
I'll try to keep this short (I'm not so good at that!)

About 2 weeks ago Bentley went through a few days of stomach upset. He had diarrhea to the point of going in his crate multiple times. It has happened before, so we immediately switched him to chicken and rice. He was sick for maybe 3 days, and then his poops and schedule got back on track. We slowly weaned him back to his food and he had no issues for a few days (2 or 3?).

Then, the same thing started again. So we went right back to chicken and rice. This time he only got sick for maybe 2 days, and things started getting better. So, we slowly weaned him back to his dog food--but we purchased a different protein source (we typically rotate between 4 protein sources) thinking maybe he had developed a weird sensitivity to something.

He was fully back on regular dog food and doing well, no issues. And then today (maybe 4-5 days later) he got sick AGAIN! So it's obviously not the food.

We are taking a stool sample to the vet in the morning (we had planned to do it multiple times before but he kept getting better the day we planned to take it in), but I just can't imagine what it could be.

Do you guys have any ideas? I don't know what would clear up and then come back several days later.
 
If the bland diet only temporarily settled him down, my money is on a parasite. We've had dogs come back from play groups and in a few days have diarrhea just like you described. In almost all cases it was a parasite.

Our pups tested positive for Coccidia twice and the vet said that as long as the older dog wasn't eating their poo, and we picked it up right away, there was no need to treat/test him. After the second treatment of the pups I took stool samples of all three for analysis and as I suspected, the pups were negative but the Schipperke was positive. Hopefully this round will clean up everybody.

Having a long-haired dog with the runs is not a good thing. :(
 
I have no other ideas to offer and I also think you are doing the right thing!

I hope they find what is causing this and that Bentley get's healthy quickly.

Stomach issues are no fun at all for the pup and no fun for the owner who needs to deal with the cleaning and the worrying of what could be causing it:gaah:.
 
Fecal and our vets would probably do an exam since it has been ongoing and they might try metronidazole, fluids maybe and bland diet. Does he act lethargic, or vomit any ? Sounds like he has an appetite...maybe the new food caused a flare up. Hope you get to the bottom of it and he feeling better very soon.
 
Nothing on the fecal. And his poop tonight was totally normal.

My thoughts are that maybe he is stressed (but he doesn't seem particularly sensitive/in tune with our feelings), or could it just be stomach issues that crop up randomly that can't be prevented?
 
Bentley is the one who had the obstruction and surgery? You may find he will have issues off and on. I know with Liam I do. Every once in a while, his poop is different and he acts off for a few days. This may be something you will unfortunately have to deal with. Stress is also playing a part in what is going on.
 
Emmasmom said:
Bentley is the one who had the obstruction and surgery? You may find he will have issues off and on. I know with Liam I do. Every once in a while, his poop is different and he acts off for a few days. This may be something you will unfortunately have to deal with. Stress is also playing a part in what is going on.
Click to expand...

Yes--I thought about too. Interesting to know Liam has similar issues. I guess there are worse things to have to deal with. I just hate it when he doesn't feel good :(
 
I wonder if it's going to be a random thing too.

Deska has developed a sensitive stomach over the years and sometimes he throws up and has loose stools for no apparent reason, then it clears up. I had thought it was all the crap he eats from the ground, but with it being winter there is nothing for him to scavenge and he still gets the upset tummy.

I had a chat with several vets over this they recommended prebiotics for iffy tummys - MOS and FOS are the canine ones. There is some research into certain probiotics - the ones that work aren't the same as the human ones which a lot of dog probiotic formulas use. As we have a limited range in Australia (and tight import rules) I'm on a mission to find out more about natural sources of both, so I let you know when I have something concrete.
 
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