Soft Stools diarrea at times

mhuinker · Mar 1, 2018

Our little Bitty is experiencing some stool issues, going on about 3 - 4 weeks now. We have tried some things without being too drastic. We have not changed her food any, with the exception of stopping banana. She gets Fromm kibble with Blue Ridge Beef (venison) raw, plus pumpkin. She has seen her vet of course, but she is there 2 times a week anyway to receive her fluids for her liver issue. First the vet tried a couple of injections, which worked a miracle for a few days, poop was a great consistency! She was also put on a pill (forgive me, as I forget what it is at this time), but that was only for a few days (8-10 I'm remembering). That also seemed to help, but when both of those treatments were done, we are back to very soft, running stools most of the time.

The vet then wanted to put her on a canned food (Hills SD I think) and cut back on the kibble. Obviously, I will not give this to Bitty as I am against feeding them this brand (among others), and this canned food has grain and chicken in it, which I will NOT feed. So that recommendation is out of the question.

We are at a loss as to what has caused this sudden change in her stools...... I'm sure stress is playing a very significant part in this problem with all the changes that have happened in the past 5 months..... but we are at our wits end with this issue and am hoping for some insight from ya'll!

Thank you for any advice!!!

2bullymama · Mar 1, 2018

Has the vet checked for colitis? Tylan powder is a safe choice to help with this.

Also, could Bitty be stressed about anything... change in the home?

Honeys Owners · Mar 3, 2018

Simplest thing to do would be to switch her to a different protein over a week eg. to turkey or duck and maybe to a dehydrated raw . eg Honest Kitchen Spruce or Marvel.
If she doesn't improve after 4 weeks,you might need more testing done at vet, simplest would be for parasites, then you can go on to further testing later if nothing shows up. Tylosin empirically for a couple of weeks might be useful to try before spending a lot of money on testing if there are no parasites.

mhuinker · Mar 4, 2018

2bullymama said:
Has the vet checked for colitis? Tylan powder is a safe choice to help with this.

Also, could Bitty be stressed about anything... change in the home?

Hi Christine - yes unfortunately there has been a change in the home with my dad (her papa and primary caretaker) passed away in September. Mom is under a lot of stress taking care of the 3 of them alone. But that’s been over 5 months ago, could that still be an issues? I suppose it could be.

We had her stool tested but I will have to look to see if it was tested for colitis...

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mhuinker · Mar 4, 2018

Is Tylan powder the same as Tylosin?

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2bullymama · Mar 4, 2018

mhuinker said:
Hi Christine - yes unfortunately there has been a change in the home with my dad (her papa and primary caretaker) passed away in September. Mom is under a lot of stress taking care of the 3 of them alone. But that’s been over 5 months ago, could that still be an issues? I suppose it could be.

We had her stool tested but I will have to look to see if it was tested for colitis...

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I thought it my have been due to Dad, but didn't want to say it [emoji29]

Yes, if Mom is stressed she is picking up on it.

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2bullymama · Mar 4, 2018

mhuinker said:
Is Tylan powder the same as Tylosin?

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Yes... I believe it is, i may be wrong on the full name
[MENTION=2100]Honeys Owners[/MENTION]

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Honeys Owners · Mar 4, 2018

2bullymama said:
Yes... I believe it is, i may be wrong on the full name
[MENTION=2100]Honeys Owners[/MENTION]

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Yes, tylosin is generic name for tylan.
I was thinking that I would try a switch of food first, as I suggested before, along with a probiotic. I don't usually recommend Fortiflora since I see enterococcus infections in humans, but it seems to work well in dogs for short periods of time for diarrhea. Or, try Proviable DC . If you don't want to buy a doggie probiotic, try live sauerkraut from refrigerator section of health food store or milk kefir. Least potent would be a live probiotic yoghurt.

Next I would try a 5 day course of Fenbendazole 50mg/kg once daily +/- Metronidazole 10-15 mg/kg twice daily, just in case Bitty has giardia which is hard to detect.

If after all that Bitty is still having diarrhea then try the Tylosin powder 10-15 mg/kg q12-24hr. It's very bitter so you'll have to disguise it with a treat.

mhuinker · Mar 4, 2018

Hi [MENTION=2100]Honeys Owners[/MENTION] - thank you for the input.... all the fur babies do get a probiotic powder everyday (Probios). Would that be equivalent to Proviable DC? Bitty is on Metronidazole 250 mg for the past 14 days.

We are at a loss!

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Honeys Owners · Mar 4, 2018

mhuinker said:
Hi [MENTION=2100]Honeys Owners[/MENTION] - thank you for the input.... all the fur babies do get a probiotic powder everyday (Probios). Would that be equivalent to Proviable DC? Bitty is on Metronidazole 250 mg for the past 14 days.

We are at a loss!

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Sorry to hear you have been trying all these remedies and Bitty is still having diarrhea. Probios should be fine as a probiotic. Is there any chance Bitty's liver problem could be causing the diarrhea? If that isn't causing the problem and switching foods doesn't help, then it's worth trying the tylosin instead of the metronidazole. They are both antibiotics, but tylosin is less toxic long term than metronidazole for dogs, and might work better for Bitty.