3 Weeks of Diarrhea

Our dog has had diarrhea for three weeks now (plus occasional vomiting). At times the diarrhea has some blood in it, but oftentimes he will poop then walk around and poop out a little bit of blood.

We took him into the vet (shortly after this started); they ran some blood tests, stool tests, and prescribed some antibiotics. He has run the full course and I don't think they did anything. He was also on some special food from the vet, but that made his diarrhea worse... he is doing a little better on his normal kibble (he can wait about 6 hours between going out, vs 2 hours on the other food). His diarrhea was originally a bit mucusy, but that seems to have mostly gone away. We have tried a bland diet of chicken, rice, pumpkin and it didn't seem to work.

He drinks a lot of water and seems like his fairly normal self, though more recently it is hard to get him to eat his food.

Any thoughts? Our vet place has a few different vets and we are thinking of trying to speak with another vet there... because the recommendations we have been receiving are not working. Thanks for any suggestions.

My 8 month old lab kind of went through the same thing. I switched her on to new food (Costco puppy food) right when I got her and I didn't do it gradually. Two weeks of constant diarrhea and then the point that freaked me out, bloody stool.

Made a visit to the vet and all they gave us was antibiotics, bland wet dog food and fortiflora and bill of $120. The week supply that they gave us worked but when I switched back to the food, the diarrhea came back.

So this time I switch the dog food to Science Diet Large Breed Puppy food and gradually introduced the food to her for a whole week (feeding her only once a day) and the problem was fixed. She has solid stools now and I feed her twice a day now.

Your dog might also be allergic to something that you're giving them.

Another thing the diarrhea could be from the presence of worms. If you haven't dewormed your dog in awhile it would be a good idea to do so with a over the counter medication for your dog.

These are only a couple of possibilities of what could be going on. I am no expert. I am only another dog owner with a dog that has had a lot of problems.

Could be an allergy.
any other symptoms? losing weight? how is the fur?
gurgling noises from tummy??
hope you'll find out soon what it is as such a worry.

These are the classic symptoms of a dog who cannot tolerate kibble. They are also the classic symptoms of other problems ... worm infestation being mongst them.

Personally I would immediately worm him with Panacur or Drontal if you haven't wormed him recently, but look at raw feeding ... BARF or prey model. You can google both and get all the information you need. I have fed my dogs on BARF for 15 years having nearly lost a dog 15 years ago with exactly the symptoms you describe ... eventually ending up with a prolapsed anus.

The dietary change will not involve expensive vet bills but could be the answer ... no harm done if it isnt. Good luck, hope this helps.

Is he prone to eating silly things? Something else to consider is a blockage of some sort

it needs further investigation as its been going on for so long definitely

Hi everyone, thank you for the suggestions. Since the vet did not turn up anything we are looking into allergies. We are trying a no grain and no chicken diet and will see how it goes.

So far he has been eating it and drinking plenty of water and now seems fairly happy. He is still a bit loose, but we will see how the next few days go. His stomach makes some gurgling sounds from time to time and his fur is super shiny, but he has a bit of dandruff. He doesn't eat odd objects. If this doesn't work we will look into a raw diet. Thanks again.

Diarrhea in dogs can be causes in the following ways:

It may due to change in diet.
Ingestion of poisonous substances.
May due to some allergic reactions.
Bacterial or viral infection.
Certain stress.
Kidney or some liver diseases.
Cancer or other tumors.

Hi,

I just wanted to update that we think it is a chicken allergy. Several weeks ago we switched him to a non-chicken diet and recently added in some psyllium seed husks (on the vets recommendation). One of those items is working and he has improved greatly. Thanks everyone.

Great news

Fantastic news x