# Mysterious dog diarrhea



## cscribe2180 (Jan 13, 2009)

Hello all!

I'm having a very perplexing issue with Seamus, my little 15-month-old Japanese Chin. He's such a sweet little boy, and very tough - we almost lost him to Kennel Cough when we first got him at 5 months old. Ever since he joined our family in March of 2008, he's had issues with soft stools and periodic bouts of diarrhea. He's been crate trained from the beginning.

We are currently in a very frustrating process of elimination as his stomach issues have gotten worse. Numerous stool samples have yielded nothing. A full blood count done before his neutering surgery yielded nothing either. We've switched his food twice because of speculation that he might have a "bad bag of food" or the food just irritated his system, with the most recent use of Evo (a small bites, high-protein low-grain food) initially successful. However, over the last couple of months, the diarrhea bouts have gotten worse despite us switching immediately to a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice whenever we see a loose stool. About a month ago, we woke up to soft poop in his crate four days in a row. The vet put him on pills (forgive me, I don't remember the name, but I do know the pills are supposed to negate the prevalence of a certain bacteria that kills good bacteria in the intestines) as well as full de-worming treatment since his records weren't conclusive about whether or not he had it done as a young puppy. 

After that visit, he's been OK for the last few weeks, but now we're right back to where we started upon beginning the second course of the de-wormer. For the past three days, he's had diarrhea in his crate every morning when we wake up, and yesterday when I came home from work early to check on him. The vet instructed us not to feed him for 24 hours and give him Kaopectate. He had a dose last night, and still soft poop in the crate this morning. So, we're waiting for it to work through his system and hopefully do some good.

But here's the kicker: other than his diarrhea, he's perfectly normal. Happy, playful, wants to eat, drink, antagonize his big brother (my 6-year-old Chin Linus). No fever either. The only thing I've noticed is that he's been particularly clingy with me lately, moreso than usual - he has to be near me every second and he apparently gets upset if I leave. 

The vet said that if the Kaopectate doesn't work to call again. They said either we take him to an internal specialist, which they said would cost major money, or accept that every few months or so he's going to have a bout like this and just deal with it. 

Obviously, he can't help the diarrhea, but we've speculated in the past that something behavioral might be going on. I've also wondered if he might not just need to stay on a bland diet forever, if his system is that sensitive. We just don't know what to do because it seems like no matter what we try, this problem keeps coming back! We're so thankful that he's not acting sick or showing any other signs of a major problem, but waking up to a poop-laden crate every morning IS a problem for us!

Any thoughts on what this could be, or what I should ask the vet?

Thanks so much, and sorry for the long post!


----------



## deege39 (Dec 29, 2008)

Well. I can't offer much advice, but I'm hoping that someone will post something to help you out soon.

I've had dogs in the past that would have diarrhea every now and again, nothing serious and nothing that ever made us take them to the vet.

Possibly, from what I've researched for my dog, is that yours could have a food allergy, as that [diarrhea] is one of the symptoms. It's possible you could have the vet test for allergies or what not.


----------



## cshellenberger (Dec 2, 2006)

Look at the food and see if there's a common ingredient (such as the meat since you've gone low carb abd grain free). Then try to eliminate the ingrediant. I would do this AFTER the fast and putting him on a bland diet (boiled hamburger or chicken and BROWN rice with canned pumpkin stirred in). 

There are many foods out there that are great and targeted for food allergic dogs. Natural BAlance hgas two nad Wellness has three or four. Solid Gold also has a formula called Wolf King.

Oh and has the vet checked the gall bladder? I know there is a condition in humans that is hard to detect that is caused by the gall bladder producing too much bile.


----------



## w8ing4rain (Sep 4, 2008)

My last dog had had something similar. She had sever seperation anxiety and would get diahrea if left alone too long. She would also get diahrea on the fourth of July or if there was a thunderstorm. She had a lot of fear and anxiety issues and anything scary gave her diahrea. The vets never did find a physical cause. We dealt with it for 15 years. 

You mentioned that your dog was being clingy. I guess that's what made me wonder about the anxiety thing. Shekinah was my "velcro dog" I couldn't even walk across the room without her following me. 

You asked about questions to ask your vet. I have no idea if this is your dogs problem but you might want to ask your vet about it as a possibility.


----------



## cscribe2180 (Jan 13, 2009)

Update: 
The diarrhea continues. We did an experiment last night where we left Seamus' crate door open to see if he'd sleep there. He certainly did - and just went diarrhea all over the rug instead.

While he still eats and drinks, he's become very mopey and just not himself. We took him back to the vet this morning, and he was placed on special food, back on the pills from before and back on the de-wormer. The vet noted the de-wormer might actually cause diarrhea because if he does have a parasite his body is purging it. We should expect this to continue for another couple of days but were told he _should_ get better...

However, we are having an ultrasound done to rule out a more serious problem, because while he did not have a temperature he has lost some weight (from 10.7 pounds to 10 pounds) so the vet is concerned about liver problems, intestinal problems that prevent him from absorbing food properly, etc. Still, he had a full blood work-up done in October and everything came back normal...

I'm just very concerned for my little guy....


----------



## myminpins (Dec 20, 2008)

My minpin, Zoe, had the runs off and on her first year. I never did figure out why and it seemed to go away and it hasn't been back since. We DID switch her to a raw diet somewhere in that first year so that may have helped.

When you put him on the bland diet, do the runs completely clear up? If so, are you feeding him rice and chicken or rice and beef? Whatever the protein source, it's obviously something he can tolerate well as is the rice.

Would you consider switching him to a home cooked or raw diet? That way, you can monitor everything that goes into his system and know for sure what affects him and what does not. It's a thought. There are many good home cooked recipes out there if you wish to stay away from raw. You just have to ensure you do follow a guideline to ensure you have all the things in the diet your dog needs.

He may also be more clingy because he's not feeling well quite often - it's hard to say. It could also be a phase.

I'd definitely try to figure out what he's sensitive to and go from there. There are some kibbles out there that have fewer ingredients than most but they still have a LOT of ingredients. If you can figure out what bothers his system, then you can start researching food.

Good luck!!!!


----------

