Friend's dog in dire need of help/Nature's Variety frozen patties

[Zoom]

I know some on here feed these and I have a few questions. My friend just started her dog on these in an effort to get him to put on some weight and to try and clear up his chronic diarrhea. She's slowly been adding to his normal kibble and right now he's got non-stop runs. As in, can't be in the house at all right now it's so bad, which is saying something with this dog.

Is part of this just adjustment to the patties and should she just wait it out? I told her to give it a few days, smear some Nutrical on his gums and add some pumpkin to his food.

If this food doesn't work, she's talking about PTS. Our vet (we go to the same guy) has run every test in the book in regards to malabsorption and causes of diarrhea and hasn't turned up anything. He's literally a walking skeleton without an ounce of fat or even really muscle on him, despite her best efforts. He's been on satin balls, corn oil, a variety of high quality foods, mostly homecooked...and nothing has worked. He just keeps getting skinnier. I've been doing all I can to help, but I'm agreeing with her about the PTS...

 

[SisMorphine]

I would take away either the kibble or the raw. They are digested at different rates and for some dogs it can really mess with their digestive system.

What happens when the dog is on a bland diet?

 

[showpug]

My dogs never got a touch of diarrhea on these. I would stop with them if I was your friend. Food changes can cause loose stool. Diarrhea so severe that the dog can't come in is more serious and can lead to dehydration. Bring on the white rice for a day and back to kibble!

 

[Herschel]

Dehydration is a big concern--is the dog getting enough fluid?

Has your friend tried Canidae?? For a lot of dogs, it is really easy on the stomach and helps firm up stool.

 

[Herschel]

I would take away either the kibble or the raw. They are digested at different rates and for some dogs it can really mess with their digestive system.

That's not true.

From the Natura website:

"At Natura, we understand that it isn't always possible to feed your pet a raw diet. EVO is a convenient, complete and balanced supplement to a raw feeding program."

Someone once made the analogy that saying kibble and raw can't be mixed is like saying you can't eat meat and potatoes.

 

[Zoom]

The dog does drink plenty of water, he's good at that.

She's tried just about every food that I didn't think would make the problem worse--I think I suggested Canidae at one point, not sure if she went with it or not; I don't even know what all she's gone through anymore. When I say chronic diarrhea, I mean the dog is about a year old and has had maybe what amounts to a month or so worth total of firm stool.

 

[Buddy'sParents]

What about home cooked? Or raw, but not Nature's Variety, which is not 100% pure meat.

They are digested at different rates and for some dogs it can really mess with their digestive system.

Sorry, that's not true! ^

 

[Herschel]

The dog does drink plenty of water, he's good at that.

She's tried just about every food that I didn't think would make the problem worse--I think I suggested Canidae at one point, not sure if she went with it or not; I don't even know what all she's gone through anymore. When I say chronic diarrhea, I mean the dog is about a year old and has had maybe what amounts to a month or so worth total of firm stool.

I still lobby for Canidae (as I always do).

Two more suggestions:
1) Could it be an allergy? Has the vet run a complete allergy panel?
2) Fiber. Get some beet pulp, rice, or some other source of fiber and supplement the diet until the stool firms.

 

[Raine]

My Saint also has a loose stool problem that also affected this ability to gain weight. We too did every test under the sun.. with no answers. He's 2 and a half years old now and we finally have normal poop. Although he still has the odd loose one he's finally gaining weight.

The first food we tried that we had great results with was Eagle Pack Holistic, The fish and oatmeal formula. Beet pulp is fairly high in the ingredient list and it really helped firm things up and the fish is easy to digest.

It's all a matter of finding the right food. We went through at least 20 brands before trying Eagle Pack.

I finally bit the bullet and switched him to a grain free food (Orijen) when the recalls started and so far so good. *crosses fingers*

But my vet was thinking part of the problem could be that he just had an immature digestive system. Things definitely have got better the older he gets.. so that may also be a possibility.

 

[simplymisty]

My dogs had bad lose stools and it took me forever to find out what caused it, it was from some bones I bought - really weird because they've never gotten sick from raw hides.

Anyway, when they had it so bad that it was FLOWING (yes flowing) out of their crates while I was at work, the vet said to stop feeding them.

Have you tried the 24 hours with no food? Then after that the cooked hamburger and rice? My vet told me to boil the hamburger and then rinse it again after that and mix it with rice. That helped to get them back to a solid stool.

Once she can get them to stop with the lose stools then she can try out the different foods to see what they do best on. I'm a Canidae fan also.

 

[Zoom]

I passed all this on to her today at work, we'll see what she does.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[fillyone]

First things that come to mind:
Giardia - MUST be tested by Antigen and not the regular test! (Dante had 2 regulars come back negative, Antigen positive)

Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI) - http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_exocrine_pancreatic_insufficie.html

Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) - http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proceedings.plx?CID=WSAVA2002&PID=2580&Category=414