Just a quick update folks!

Zena is totally, utterly back to normal in herSELF, just wish I could say the same for her rear end By Saturday night, half way through the Panacur treatment, her poops went really normal, then Sunday it all went downhill, to runny yellow cow pats, which have now turned dark brown/greenish, never seen the likes of it before. I had changed nothing, she was on the Chappie.

Spoke to the vet yesterday, he still hasn't had the campylobacter result in yet coz it takes 10 days to grow, so that should be imminent now. I told him about her poops. He said I was doing the right thing by changing her diet to turkey and brown rice which I started yesterday morning, not only because of the poo, but because she was refusing to eat, she's so fed up with that old Chappie. I add the probiotics that I bought online, I add the Purina Proflora, plus 1/4 teaspoonful of oatbran to each meal, 3 a day. This is the first day that she hasn't produced me a cow pat on our lunchtime walk, so I'm really hoping it might be in the process of being a fully formed one for later on tonight!

She's absolutely mental in herself though, totally back to normal, so much so, that this morning when I was trying to hoover, I kicked her ball, it hit the cd storage cabinet, she flew into it bashing her poor little head quite hard and knocking it over, along with my hoover, and then went mental on me when I tried to take a look at the damage she'd done to her head lol!

Yesterday morning, up on the big hill, in the really thick fog, couldn't see further than 5 yards in front of me, she did a disappearing act on me OMG headless chicken wasn't the word for it, I called and called, she was nowhere, and she's NEVER done that before, she's always by my side never more than 3 yards away at any time, so I did panic. As I called again in the direction she had gone, through the shrub and bushes, I suddenly heard the click clack of her collar as she came speeding back to me. I know it was a deer coz we saw it this morning, but I had put her onlead past that spot today, once bitten and all that!!! OMG she could have chased it to infinity and beyond I dread to think! She's been trained to leave all the bunnies and squirrels alone, but we don't come across many deer to have taught her this, and of course, I never had a chance to say "leave it" coz she was already gone without me even noticing as I was just strolling back to the car yesterday. Scarey moment!!! Yep, definitely back to her cheeky little self!

I've received a small bag of F4D salmon and potato, and I shall be introducing that next week in her little treat ball, so that she can't gulp them down in one go, she will crunch each one up and that's the food I'm sticking with, I'm fed up with this soft, tinned stuff and so is she, she needs crunchy again. If she does well on the turkey and brown rice, I'll stay on it longer until everything settles down nicely, along with all the umpteen supplements.

I asked the vet about that pumpkin seeds but he said it's a fallicy! I checked again on the internet and I think that eHow site recommended it, but said it always had to be freshly ground for it to do its job, and it's FULL of minerals, a really top, top health food even for us humans! I'm reluctant to start it yet, but I might when all this is over.

Thanks for all the support and getting me through another nightmare! xxxx

glad she's perked up i lost Anoushka once in the fog it's so scary isn't it, by the time she found me she was panicking too so I never let her off in the fog again

Glad things are on the mend and hope that rear end product forms up soon .

At least she's back to her bouncy self so must be feeling better even if the back end product isn't back to normal yet.

I'd never thought about it before, because I've never had to, Zena would NEVER leave me (or so I thought!), but I got chatting to a lady this morning and she said that's the whole reason she never walks up there in the fog, and come to think of it, there were NO cars in the car park yesterday nor any people, so maybe I shouldn't do it again either, it certainly taught me a lesson! Thanks zoe.

Thanks Chris, yes, I'm just glad she feels herself again now. She had taken to lying down as soon as I put her in the car in the mornings, which I found strange, and one morning, she didn't even WANT to go out Now she's back to sitting upright in the back, peering through the window with her little nose in the open gap, so it just goes to show, just how awful she must have been feeling and I'm glad I did shorter walks. I did miss the REAL Zena I can tell yer, let's hope we've hit it hard enough as the vet said to get rid of it once and for all.

Oh my word Helena I've just read through this thread and I was paniking for you.

What you been through you poor thing you must have been so worried. I can only imagine.

Thank god you have finally gotten to the bottom of it and have a name and something to treat.

The not knowing is just the worst part. My mind goes into overdrive!

I'm so glad she is back to her usual bouncy self and driving you mad again. Long may it continue xx

When Baruska was much younger she did chase them to infinity and beyond the worst was when she was out of site for half an hour and I heard a rifle shot it was a long way off but dogs can cover amazing distances in full flight. Of course I wasn't too worried about roads (there are none nearby where we were) and I knew she would never catch a deer (Never has before or since) but the forrest rangers carry rifles and they might have been stupid enough to mistake her for a pole cat or even a fox.

I found her sitting by our side gate waiting for me to come home

I'm glad it all ended well for you and also that princess Zena is back to her normal self.

Thats fantastic news H, so pleased she's back to her mental self lol

Glad to hear Zena is back to her old self mentally, but sorry the rear end is still not 100%.
I know it was a long time ago I done my dog nutrition course and exam so probably I am a bit out of date but I would not be feeding turkey as it is quite rich, especially for a dog with a delicate tum.
Hope things get back to normal for her soon as this must be doing your head in going on so long.

Pheew, I just read the entire thread. What a scare, she gave you

I'm glad to hear, she's getting better, and you found out the cause.

Luna's having stomach-aches. No problem with vomiting or diarrhea, "just" a bit of a tummy ache and a bit nausea after eating.

Its been like this for a while, perhaps I should hear my vet tomorrow, if we have any giardia cases here in Denmark these days.

ETA: oh I forgot.. She had her poo tested for all sorts of things a few weeks ago.. Hmm

Thanks all, and sorry about the length of the thread

We've still got issues with her rear end, so I spoke to the vet again yesterday, he refused to do another poo sample as he said it wouldn't tell us anything yet and he wanted to save me the £60 so I've taken his advice. I told him I had started on the tinned Purina EN that he gave me, but in all honestly, Zena had problems eating it, it was like eating a tub of liver pate, very difficult for her, even though I mixed it with chicken and rice. He told me I could now use the F4D salmon and potato kibble I had bought mixed with a bit of chicken, and I've already been giving her a handful of this for the past couple of nights just to re-introduce it because it's been over a year since she had kibble.

It's not that she has diarrhea as such, like needing to go outside, it's just that her normal morning and evening poo is so weird, a bit of it is formed, then it's just a pile of porridge, but nothing like it was a week ago, that was scarey, just the colour of it and that was after the 5 day course of Panacur.

She's getting more lively each day, but I still don't like her sudden changes where she slopes off to bed and looks miserable, but then within 10 mins she's up again bouncing around, so to me, something happens, she's getting stomach pains now and again.

The vet said we are going to do another 3 or 5 day Panacur course in a week's time (which will be a 2 week gap from the last one) which is the right course of action after a positive result for giardia so I'm pleased about that.

Hopefully, this change over to kibble from all that wet slop and changes with a lot of chicken and rice might actually sort out this rear end problem.

Jeanette, you need to have the more expensive test done (my vet does a £30 and a £60 one), as it is more in depth, they even grow cultures from it, and do smears (yuk!). Normally this giardia is so very hard to find, you would have to take a sample in on a daily basis for at least 3 if not 5/7 days of a week to get a positive result, so I consider myself lucky that they saw it first time. They didn't actually see the parasite, but they saw the antigens they produce.

Giardia is getting pretty rife, I'm sure half of these dog's problems with constant diarreah and intermittent vomiting may be caused by this parasite, but that's just my take on it. It is spread from dog poo lying on the ground, the cysts that are expelled from carriers, it lives in the earth for years apparently, or dirty water (which Zena came into contact with in that dew pond) dog treads in dog poo, licks his feet, or picks up the cysts on a toy from the earth, and so it goes on. The problem is, yes, Panacur will get rid of it along with a course of Metronidazole, but then the very next day, the cycle can start all over again, hence the reason Zena has been having so many irregular episodes of vomitting and diarrhea on and off for a year now. We should have hit this harder a year ago, instead of sticking with a regular 3 monthly worming programme which I use, because in all honestly, I think she got a build up and so does my vet now.

This could actually be living in the soil in my garden I remember when we first moved in here many years ago, the sewer drain had blocked at the manhole cover down at the bottom and the whole garden got soaked in sewerage We didn't even realise coz we never used the garden back then, we always come and go out the back, it was the postman who told us. Even though the garden has been dug out and new topsoil and turf added 4 years ago, you just never know do you, it could still be out there I suppose Can't wait to move!!!!