# Diarrhea for a long time now on a puppy



## Amoun (Mar 30, 2010)

Hello,
I have a (now) 7 month old Cane Corso male. He was on Ajisen mixed with cooked chicken meat and sometimes carrots. He has been having diarrhea for a long long time. I remember when I got him his stool was literally shooting out because it was so liquid. Then eventually he started getting a little better and there were a few times when the stool was nice and solid. However, most of those times were only in the mornings and the rest of the day it was bad to kinda "mashed potato" consistency. I slowly switched him to mostly kibble but it does not look like he digests it well because his poop is very much like the color of the kibble. It is this sandy brown color. I switched him back to chicken and just a tiny bit of kibble for other nutrients. His stool is together when it hits the ground but it is still not the proper "solid" state. The thing is that he play, runs, sleeps, eats and interacts normally and loves his chicken. I am not too sure what to do at this point. Could it be that there is a problem with his digestive system?

thanks for reading all that...and i appreciate any advice.
I had the vet do a stool sample for bacteria and they found nothing.


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## Loki Love (May 23, 2010)

What did the vet all check for? I would run a fecal again. It's quite dangerous for a puppy to have continual diarrhea. It could also be his GI tract is so irritated from the continual diarrhea that he needs a bland diet for a goodly while, along with probiotics. Some canned pure pumpkin may also help. I still think another check from head to tail from your vet is needed though for your pup.


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## Amoun (Mar 30, 2010)

Thank you for your reply.
The vet checked for worms and bacteria.
Yea I agree I think I will take him over there to do a complete checkup. I just cant figure out what the problem is...but then again, I am not a vet.


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## Cytosol (Jan 19, 2010)

My now 10-month lab has had a similar experience most of his life, but not really to the same extent that yours seems to.. He has had on and off again diarrhea for most of his life. I have tried over a dozen different brands of food, and he has had fecal tests on several different occasions. His most regular type of stool is very mushy, more toothpaste or peanut butter consistency. Also like yours, he is a perfectly normal, active (insane) puppy. 

The vets have pretty much determined that he has an overgrowth of 'bad' bacteria in his gut, causing this problem. The vet perscribed 2 weeks of antibiotics (which didn't do much) and also a canned food called Medi-Cal Gastro. I think this food really made the difference; he hasn't had any problems ever since he has been on it. 

I am still not sure what is wrong with him, but I am guessing it is a food allergy or intolerance. I am hoping it's just a puppy thing that he will grow out of, but there is a good chance he will need to be on this rather expensive food for quite some time, if not the rest of his life. 

I would recommend putting your dog on the canned version of Medi-Cal gastro (only can be purchased from vets), and then eventually moving him to the dry kibble. At least this way, he will be digesting his meals properly until you find out what is really going on. 

I am going to start the rather difficult task of trying to find what my dogs intolerances are, but I am glad to know there is a food that he is able to digest.


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## sammy loo (Sep 21, 2010)

unless you are simply a spammer for some spasi-gastro-pukeo food, then you also need to make sure you hydrate your dog using some sort of generic pedialyte so they can live long enought to begin to respond to the good food.


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## becky2226 (Aug 30, 2010)

My pup displayed the same exact symptoms - completely and insanely active, good appetite, drank water consistently, very happy. Except his stool was a light brown (almost orangish) mashed potato-y mush. And smelly. A couple days ago it went from mush to almost pure liquid. We took a fecal to the vet yesterday and found out it is giardia. I have heard that this can be difficult to detect, so maybe you should have another sample done, maybe by a different vet?

I've also read that some suggest the best way to test for Giardia is to obtain a fecal sample direct from the source (swab the rectum).


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## Cytosol (Jan 19, 2010)

sammy loo said:


> unless you are simply a spammer for some spasi-gastro-pukeo food, then you also need to make sure you hydrate your dog using some sort of generic pedialyte so they can live long enought to begin to respond to the good food.


That's a bit of an extreme recommendation. Chronic soft stools over a long period of a time is way different than accute extreme diarrhea, which absolutely requires a vet visit. My dog was experiencing the same thing as the OP for months, and exhibited none of the symptoms of dehydration. It's completely safe to transition your dog over to a new food without having to give him any additional fluids, electolytes, or any other BS like that (as long as he/she is drinking plenty and shows no signs of dehydration). 

I still recommend trying the Medi-Cal Gastro; just try a 5lb bag of it for a week and see. From what I have read, this stuff is absolutely the way to go for dogs with these symptoms. I'm not surprised people would start accusing me as a spammer simply because I am recommending a vet brand food. But it works!

I tried literally dozens of the 'high quality' rich foods such as acana, origen, blue buffalo, evo, etc. Every single one of those foods made my dog sick. I am now officially off this 'high quality dog food' train seeing that a lower quality food (the main ingredient in Medi-Cal Gastro is corn) completely cured my dog. I am sure some dogs can handle it, but unfortunately many dogs are sensitive to these rich foods and need to be something more bland. 

I have also never seen my dog with more energy after being on this food. He seems happier, more full of life, and is doing great. Try it! I am interested to see if it fixes your dogs problem as well.


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## luv2byte (Oct 21, 2009)

Do a recent fecal test for coccidia, giardia and whip worm.
Once that is negative & still have problems then consider intestinal infection.
Once that rulled out then consider chronic collitis. 

It took us until our pup was 6mo old to confirm fiber responsive collitis. Now that we have learned, through trial & error, good probiotics, home made treats vs commercial, food with the highest fiber content I could find that was still quality food. He has a flare maybe once a month but mostly he now has normal stooling. Oh, and once we figured it out he gained 4 pounds in 1 month!


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