Help! My Dutchie has chronic diarrhea!

[doglover55]

Hi everyone. I have a 2 year old female dutch shepherd with chronic diarrhea and I am ready to throw in the towel but I thought that I would try to contact a forum and a rescue to see if anyone has ever been in this situation and can offer a solution.

Stella had an intussusception in her colon when she was 4 months old. This is when the colon backs inside itself and causes a blockage. It was a mess as the first vet didn't know what to do about it so she sewed Stella up and I rushed her to another hospital. It looked like a giant pink knot. The second hospital was able to cut out the knotted section and Stella seemed to recover EXCEPT she has had chronic diarrhea ever since.

I have tried everything, different brands of food from Costco brand up to a number of premium brands such as Solid Gold and Taste of the Wild. I have tried raw, veggies only, giving her pumpkin, vitamins, smaller portions multiple times a day and Tylan powder. The vets stated that they had never had the problem of a dog having chronic diarrhea from the surgery so they just don't know what it is. I suspect that the dog had some underlying problem in the first place that was perhaps passed onto her genetically. If I feed her a normal amount of food for her size she becomes dangerously skinny so I feed her as much as my 70 pound male Malinois who was starting to get chubby on that amount. I had to cut back on his food but Stella still only weighs 35 - 40 pounds and her ribs show.

As if this isn't bad enough she has severe separation anxiety and goes crazy if I even leave the bedroom to go to the bathroom. If I leave her in a cage she spins around, barks constantly and poops so when I return there is poop everywhere on the walls, floor, cage, once the ceiling and Stella. The diarrhea was so constant when I left the house that I started putting the dogs (I have three) in the basement and leaving my back door open so they can go out to relieve themselves. I am willing to risk being burglarized rather than clean up another splat of poop but I come home and she has pooped in the basement anyway. It is almost impossible to clean when I walk her so I sometimes get the stink eye from people when she goes outside on her walks and squirts away. I do my best to clean it but try picking up liquid poop with a plastic bag. As a result I don't even enjoy walking her anymore especially after the last time when she shot it two feet out horizontally while standing as we walked past a church when the congregation was entering. We had been walking for over an hour so I didn't expect it and from the look on her face neither did she.

She is very energetic, super intelligent and seems happy when she isn't anxious. I love my dog but I simply can't take it anymore. Is there anyone out there who has been in the same situation and found a solution to the diarrhea? I can deal with the separation anxiety if she would just have a solid BM. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I live in Chicago. Thank you.

[Sugars Mom]

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear about the problems you have been having with your girl.

I am no expert, but my first thought after reading your story about the diarreha is that maybe she has a tapeworm or something? Eating so much but not gaining weight? But with all your vet visits, that must have been explored...

I sure feel for you on the pooping all over when you leave her. I took in a dog for a while with that same problem. It sure was horrible! I don't have any suggestions for you, but sure can empathize.

Hopefully someone else will be more helpful. All the best, and keep us posted.

[Dutchringgirl]

IM so sorry to hear about what you are going through. Although I dont have any idea either! But there are plenty of smarties on here who I am sure can help.

[syzygy]

Sounds like short bowel syndrome--it can result from surgery like your dog had and can cause weight loss, too. I assume you tested for whipworms? Done antibiotics for clostridium? There are so many things that can cause this and you can spend yourself to death testing. Food allergies, fungal infections, etc. but I would start with the fact she had surgery. Look up short bowel syndrome in dogs online and see if this matches anything. Unfortunately before you can properly treat this, since it can have so many causes, you'll have to keep looking for it. Good luck--I know this must be miserable both for you and for your girl.

ellisa

[Schlussdibusti]

Welcome to the forum and I am so sorry to hear about your problems.

Before you read on, I must warn you, I am one of those holistic weirdos.

Seems like she can't put on weight, even with huge amounts of food going through her system, since its been "flushed" out before nutrients can be absorbed. The whole digestive system is in turmoil. As Sugar's Mom first thoughts, mine were tapeworm too.They are difficult to detect in fecal exams, since they only shed here and there. Usually there are some rice grain looking like things in the stool but it is probably hard to detect in the fluids. Tape worm medication can be bought online (wwww.entirelypets.com).
Did any of the foods or home cooked diets show any, even small, improvements? Raw pumpkin puree from a can usually does wonders. So does white rice with cooked chicken meat. May be fasting on just some chicken brooth to calm the system down might help. Yoghurt with live cultures usually helps to restore the bowel's natural bacteria. My holistic vet gave us once "Fast Balance GI"
http://www.vetriscience.com/sellsheets/ ... e%20GI.pdf
to get the bowels back to normal. You can order it online. Just google it.

But I would stronly suggest to consult with a holistic veterinarian to get to the bottom of it. It might be psychological, caused by the extreme separation anxiety. Or some household cleaners, air freshener, carpet cleaning stuff, pest control, cigarette smoke, and the list could go on.........

The above is just an accumulation of the last 14 years of being a dog owner and what has helped me over the years. I have no medical training. Your dog might need something totally different as suggested.

Your puppy needs you, please don't give up on her.

[doglover55]

Thanks for the helpful advice. Regarding a possibility of worms, I deworm all of my dogs regularly since one of them had a bad case of whipworm and hookworm a while ago and I understand that the eggs remain in the soil for a long time. I have tried yoghurt and organic pumpkin but that didn't work. She just pooped orange diarrhea. Even though the vet insists that there wasn't enough intestine removed to indicate short bowel syndrome I realize that living beings can react differently to the same surgery so I am leaning towards that. When the vet said no I let it go but since someone on this site brought it up I am going to research foods that would be best for dogs with this problem. I read that lots of fiber is needed which is the opposite of what I had been doing. I thought that more fiber would create larger amounts of runny poop but now I know that more fiber helps the food to move more slowly so at least maybe she can get more nutrients.

Anyway, thanks for the responses. My vet did say that shepherd breeds have sensitive digestive systems and that is why I posted on this site. That coupled with her hyperactivity and its no wonder she has diarrhea. If I find a solution I will post it and for now I will try not to give up on her.

[Brindle]

Sorry to hear about the diarrhea dutchie
I certainly understand the frustration, and the need to leave the door open for the dog to be able to get to the bathroom easily. Been there, done that.

Although it's not really known in Dutch Shepherds , and the symptoms aren't text book, has your vet mentioned the possability of EPI ( Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency ) ?

I only mention it because I have a dog that had simular symptoms ( a Beauceron ) and after months of inconclusive testing ( including intestinal biopsies ) we tested her for EPI and although not a text book test result her labwork was off just enough to be suspicious for it. We started treatment and within a couple of days normal poop and weight gain started.

The bloodwork is done after a 12 hour fast ( no food, water is ok ).
They do a TLI (Trypsin-Like Immunoreactivity) blood test. It's also recommended that they do a Cobalamin (B12) blood test at the same time. As with insufficient digestion ( i.e. chronic diarrhea ) dogs often cann't absorb the B12 they need ( easy to treat if the results are low ). Can be run off the same sample.

Here's a website with lots of info on EPI : http://www.epi4dogs.com/

Not saying your dog has EPI but it might be something worth talking to your vet about.
My Beauceron sure wasn't the typical candidate with the typical symptoms, but stranger things have happened in veterinary medicine.
I sure hope you get to the bottom of her diarrhea and can get back to having fun together.

[vneerland]

Besides all the above suggestions, I get the feeling that part of this could also be stress colic You describe her as a difficult dog (my heart goes out to you) and her spinning and barking confirms that she winds herself up. From my boarding kennel, I know that stressed dogs almost always tend to have loose stool. Not sure what you could do to un-stress her, but does she do any better after a calm day? Does she ever have calm days?

[leih merigian]

I'm so sorry you and your dog are having this horrible problem.

Here's a recipe for a diet that has worked wonders for my dogs, when they've been in a similar circumstance:

2 sweet potatoes (weigh for comparison)
2 regular potatoes
2 medium turnips
2 leeks (just the white part)

Peel and dice potatoes and turnips and the white part of the leek.

Simmer until soft, then mash (like mashed potatoes)

Start feeding 1/2 to 1 cup at a time every several hours, and start adding some boiled meat (ground chicken, etc). and broth once the stools start normalizing.

(I generally make a double recipe, and freeze what we don't need during this round for the next. You can make as much or little as you want, just weigh the ingredients so they're similar in amount.)

[Christie M]

I'm so sorry you and your dog are having this horrible problem.

Here's a recipe for a diet that has worked wonders for my dogs, when they've been in a similar circumstance:

2 sweet potatoes (weigh for comparison)
2 regular potatoes
2 medium turnips
2 leeks (just the white part)

Peel and dice potatoes and turnips and the white part of the leek.

Simmer until soft, then mash (like mashed potatoes)

Start feeding 1/2 to 1 cup at a time every several hours, and start adding some boiled meat (ground chicken, etc). and broth once the stools start normalizing.

(I generally make a double recipe, and freeze what we don't need during this round for the next. You can make as much or little as you want, just weigh the ingredients so they're similar in amount.)

That's awesome Leih!!

Someone was recently asking me for a grain free option for loose stools - I'm a big rice person. Are the leeks different enough from Onions to not cause any toxicity issues?

[leih merigian]

Someone was recently asking me for a grain free option for loose stools - I'm a big rice person. Are the leeks different enough from Onions to not cause any toxicity issues?

I believe they are. I found this recipe on the internet and the woman who had posted it had gotten it from her vet. My vet had mentioned how good turnips are for this condition, so I thought I'd try it out. No idea at all why the leeks are in there, but I assume (and boy can this be wrong ) that since it came from a vet, s/he'd know not to put something in there that would be toxic over time.

I'd bet it would work close to as well, if not as well, without the leeks if someone was concerned about it.

[Mobil]

This post is over two years old.

[LyonsFamily]

This post is over two years old.

...and it's about my Elli in her former life. That was a dark time for her. She requests that it not be resurrected by some spammer. It's a touchy subject.

[cake73]

Is there a moderator that can move this thread to the "Medical" board?

[cake73]

This post is over two years old.

...and it's about my Elli in her former life. That was a dark time for her. She requests that it not be resurrected by some spammer. It's a touchy subject.

Sorry to hear this is a touchy subject.
Too touchy to share how these issues were resolved? Doing so may be helpful to someone here in the future?

[LyonsFamily]

This post is over two years old.

...and it's about my Elli in her former life. That was a dark time for her. She requests that it not be resurrected by some spammer. It's a touchy subject.

Sorry to hear this is a touchy subject.
Too touchy to share how these issues were resolved? Doing so may be helpful to someone here in the future?

Uhhhh, that was a joke in response to the very old thread being resurrected by a spammer that wasn't a real member on here, just someone posting to get links back to a website. I'd be happy to share how the issues were resolved if anyone is interested in more details. There are quite a few threads on here where I've discussed Elli (formally Stella) since we've gotten her and the raw fed diet I feed, along with her progress.

[Raven]

Moved to medical.

Note: while there's information in this thread, it was originally posted in 2012 and the OP hasn't posted since. A spammer "bumped" the thread.