Dutch Shepherd Forum

Hello All,
I have recently taken into my rescue a darling female Dutch that has had chronic diarrhea since she arrived here. I had her tested for worms and she was loaded with Whip. she has been totally wormed but the diarrhea is still a watery pool, sometimes with pinkish blood. We had her checked for Coccidia and Giardia and she was negative for both. I was unable to get in for a vet appt that Saturday so my vet said to try Metro for Clostridium treatment, an antibiotic. I was give a one week dosage and it definitely helped. I noticed the stools becoming firmer and she was not messing in the middle of the night. Well, two days after the end of the treatment the diarrhea returned. I will be going back to the vet this week and Im sure we will continue with Metro for a longer duration. My question is this, what is a good food, nutrients, extra help for my girl while she battle this illness. She of course is so incredibly thin. Bony through the spine, hips and her tummy is so drawn up again. She eats great, very voraciously and her water intake is good. Her spirits are always high but I can tell she must be miserable. Im worried she needs a little extra attention in the diet department while she undergoes this treatment which could be for a long time. Your thoughts and thank you?!
You may email me privately at AllAmericanDawgs@gmail.com

Good on you for rescuing and tryinv to the best you can for this girl! A few thoughts come to mind, and I know there will be many people here wiyh great knowledge and advice to cover anything I miss.

Giardia is difficult to diagnose, and false negatives are frequent, as it depends on whether they are shedding cysts or not depending on where they are in an infection cycle. So that COULD still be a factor despite the negative test.

In general, always helpful to supplement with a probiotic when undergoing treatments for tummy issues. This helps rebalance the beneficial bacteria that gets killed along with the bad guys during antibiotic use.

Something to keep in the back of your mind if everything has been covered via diet, parasite treatment , etc... and if she's still a mess with no solutions, test for pancreatic enzyme insufficiency. I had a GSD with this, and as long as enzyme supplements were added to her food she was fine, but as her body didn't produce these enzymes, without the supplement she could eat and eat and be starving to death, literally, because her body was unable to break down and utilize what she was taking in.

Hope your girl gets better quick and that it's something super-simple and easily treated!

feraloup wrote: Giardia is difficult to diagnose, and false negatives are frequent, as it depends on whether they are shedding cysts or not depending on where they are in an infection cycle. So that COULD still be a factor despite the negative test.

Sometimes Giardia diagnoses requires a "hot/fresh" sample taken directly from the dog at the Vets office.
Another possibility is intestinal spirochaetosis.
Whip worms can be a real PITA to get rid of, especially in your soil.

hi Sharon,
aside from the false negatives on giardia, it also waxes and wanes so it can give the impression of going or having gone away.
nothing else to add to what's already been said, except on nutrients, I think you should be feeding her platinum performance CJ to make sure she is getting the enzymes, vitamins, and nutrients she needs that may not be properly absorbed at the moment.
platinum performance [ .com] also has a product called ''bio-sponge'' ,an ''intestinal adsorbent'' which is di-tri-octahedral smectite, which would probably help greatly with the diarrhea, but discuss the wisdom of using this with your vet, so it does not make some condition worse or end the symptons without getting to the underlying cause.
finally, I urge you to give her daily probiotics, which is always a good idea, but becomes really essential when treating with drugs for any length of time. the addition of probiotics to the diet needs to be done at a time of day that is the furthest possible from the administration of any antibiotic. all the bacteria in her intestines is/was being destroyed and unless you help her re-fill her intestines with good bacteria, then bad bacteria are more likely to establish themselves again and more firmly when drug treatment stops.
again away in time of day from antibiotic administration by at least 2 hours [ but 3 hours would be better minimum ], additional feeding of a small portion of fat-free cottage cheese or fat-free yogurt would also aid the building of a good base of beneficial bacteria to help keep nasty stuff at bay. [ of course, you still have to actively fix the underlying cause - whatever that is.] good luck.