4 month old yellow lab has diarrhea (allergic, clean, poop, vet)

[Tamrah]

I have a 4 month old female yellow lab puppy that has been having diarrhea for quite some time. We've taken her to the vet and they checked her feces and it had no parasites etc. so our vet put her on azulfadene and gave her an injection that would slow things down for her. He gave us some prescription canned food and gave us inst's to give 1/3 can with 1/3 cup water 3 times a day, and when we got to the last can we were to start mixing in her reg. dry food and when that can was gone switch over to just her dry food. And he said to continue with the azulfadene until we finished the prescription and she should be fine after that. Well , she was doing great until the 3rd day off and then she started to have diarrhea again!! we thought maybe we should wait and see if diarrhea stopped after a couple of days to see if it was just her system adjusting to not having meds anymore. Well it hasn't stopped so I called the Dr. and he said it could be she's eating leaves, sticks etc and to keep her in an area of our yard that was free of those things when we took her out and bring her back in right after she goes potty. Which we are doing, well she still has diarrhea and he says to wait for 5-7 days to see if things change and to call him if she starts to get deyhdrated, or stops eating. It's only been 2 1/2 days but she is really having diarrhea every hr or so and we are up all night with her. There is one thing that is puzzling me, after all the diarrhea frm the afternoon before and through the night, I gave her her breakfast and she went several hr.s without having to go out to poop, so 4hrs later I gave her the 2nd feeding (Dr. has us giving her 1 cup of her dry food 4 times a day) and about 4-5 hours after 2nd feeding I gave her her 3rd feeding and not even 15 mins went by and she went out to poop! The first part of the poop was pretty normal BUT, the last part was diarrhea!! And then that starts the pooping all over again every hour or so until this morning. I decided without letting my vet know to give her some boiled hamburger 1/3 c. with 2/3 cups rice. She's been acting otherwise normal through out all this with a good appetite, drinking water, playing and running around. Now after the hamb. and rice this am she hasn't pooped yet. It's been about 7hrs since she last pooped. Does anyone have any suggestions to what this might be? We are just exhausted and we are so concerned for her. We've had her on Iams puppy food. She was on Purina Puppy Chow when we got her at 12wks old, and we slowly switched her over to the Iams. She was good with the food no probs. when we switched her no diarrhea or stomache upset at all. Then one day out of the blue she went out to poop like always but the last part was diarrhea. I'm pulling my hair out, we've spent more than a $1,000 so far on vet bills and meds.

[Bulldogdad]

WOW. First put a seperation between lines if your going to type that much.

Now sorry to here about your Lab. Two things if you are sure she is not eating anything toxic then my guess is the bacteria in her gut is out of whack.

After so much diarrhea your dog can get plugged up because of all the water her colon has been sucking out of her system. If she stays plugged up for more than 36 hours then you might need a laxative.

I would switch to a NO grain dry dog food.

Check here here for a good brand. Four or five star only is my recommendation.
Dog Food Reviews | Dog Food Ratings

I would try a beneficial bacterial flora supplement for dogs to try and restore the balance.

I would also stay off the human food until balance is restored.

[alle]

Have her tested for allergies. Betting that food allergies are the problem and she needs to be on limited-ingredient food. Our collie is allergic to 21 different things (per testing) and does well on Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venison. Otherwise we too had diarrhea. Testing was @$250 but well worth it to isolate and treat the problem.

[Va-Cat]

She is too young for allergy testing to be accurate and there is no accurate testing to identify specific food allergies. Switching her food all over the place is also not a good idea as it can worsen an already bad case of gastritis.

A puppy's health can go from bad to critical way too fast for me to even think of giving you any advice on feeding and I urge you to not start trying different things suggested here without speaking first to a Vet.

Best advise I can give is to seek a second opinion from another qualified vet to ease you mind and see if there is anything else that you can be doing. Please do watch her hydration very closely in the interum and get her immediately to the vet if you see any negative changes in her energy or stools.

[Tamrah]

Sorry Bulldogdad I'm just so tired and tried to explain things not thinking about it all running together. Our puppy is by no means constipated, I'm thankful she hasn't gone for awhile it means that her food is staying in her long enough to absorb the nutrients and water. Hoping to have her stomache and colon settle down a little before starting back on her food. But thanks for your input.

Alle, thank you also for your suggestion that it may be a food allergy. We were thinking along that line also. I was checking out her symptoms on line and found something that was suggested that might be happening, it said that when the stool first comes out looking normal and then turns to diarrhea it's a sign of over feeding. Which it may very well be, maybe the feeding 4 times daily and the amt. we are giving her each time might be whats going on. Will talk with our vet again and see about allergy testing if we continue having problems. Thank you again..

[Tamrah]

Thank you Vat-Cat, I am watching her hydration and her energy level and would definatlely call our vet immediately if any signs of dehydration should occur.

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by Tamrah

I was checking out her symptoms on line and found something that was suggested that might be happening, it said that when the stool first comes out looking normal and then turns to diarrhea it's a sign of over feeding.

I was going to ask you something along these same lines... I was going to ask you if, perhaps, you were giving her too many treats.

My dog Artie is not food-motivated at all. He often skips his meals. But when I overload him with treats, his poop comes out like your girl's -- good to start, but then mushy.

So, if you've been heavy-handed with treats, you might want to start cutting back on those a bit.

Good luck. I know that these poop surprises are frustrating.

[dclamb3]

Originally Posted by Tamrah

I have a 4 month old female yellow lab puppy that has been having diarrhea for quite some time. We've taken her to the vet and they checked her feces and it had no parasites etc. so our vet put her on azulfadene and gave her an injection that would slow things down for her. He gave us some prescription canned food and gave us inst's to give 1/3 can with 1/3 cup water 3 times a day, and when we got to the last can we were to start mixing in her reg. dry food and when that can was gone switch over to just her dry food. And he said to continue with the azulfadene until we finished the prescription and she should be fine after that. Well , she was doing great until the 3rd day off and then she started to have diarrhea again!! we thought maybe we should wait and see if diarrhea stopped after a couple of days to see if it was just her system adjusting to not having meds anymore. Well it hasn't stopped so I called the Dr. and he said it could be she's eating leaves, sticks etc and to keep her in an area of our yard that was free of those things when we took her out and bring her back in right after she goes potty. Which we are doing, well she still has diarrhea and he says to wait for 5-7 days to see if things change and to call him if she starts to get deyhdrated, or stops eating. It's only been 2 1/2 days but she is really having diarrhea every hr or so and we are up all night with her. There is one thing that is puzzling me, after all the diarrhea frm the afternoon before and through the night, I gave her her breakfast and she went several hr.s without having to go out to poop, so 4hrs later I gave her the 2nd feeding (Dr. has us giving her 1 cup of her dry food 4 times a day) and about 4-5 hours after 2nd feeding I gave her her 3rd feeding and not even 15 mins went by and she went out to poop! The first part of the poop was pretty normal BUT, the last part was diarrhea!! And then that starts the pooping all over again every hour or so until this morning. I decided without letting my vet know to give her some boiled hamburger 1/3 c. with 2/3 cups rice. She's been acting otherwise normal through out all this with a good appetite, drinking water, playing and running around. Now after the hamb. and rice this am she hasn't pooped yet. It's been about 7hrs since she last pooped. Does anyone have any suggestions to what this might be? We are just exhausted and we are so concerned for her. We've had her on Iams puppy food. She was on Purina Puppy Chow when we got her at 12wks old, and we slowly switched her over to the Iams. She was good with the food no probs. when we switched her no diarrhea or stomache upset at all. Then one day out of the blue she went out to poop like always but the last part was diarrhea. I'm pulling my hair out, we've spent more than a $1,000 so far on vet bills and meds.

So sorry your little one is going through this.

My kids, esp. my girl, has a reaction to literally just about everything. She has a very delicate system.

Diarhhea could be SO many things. After the vet has run tests, finding the answer could be trial and error (it is concerning that the vet, at this point, hasn't corrected the issue yet, though).

Just some ideas to throw out there... if your pup is going outside, is it possible she's coming in contact with any pesticides, etc outside she's having a reaction to? My kids get horribly sick if they even walk past an area that's been treated. Keep in mind, people put chemicals on their lawns (often in the warmer months - but the chemical remains for quite some time thereafter), but pest control companies that treat inside homes, also often spray the yard as well (year round).

My girl even has reactions to indoor things like household cleaners, aerosol (hair spritzes, etc), the dust from cat litter, even my perfume.

We've switched from using eco-friendly cleaners to cleaning with just ingredients you can eat, such as vinegar-lemon-water, etc. I've given up my perfume, etc. and she's much better (unless we accidentally pass a yard that's been treated and we failed to see the pesticide sign too late).

Of course, as others have stated, treats, etc can also cause this.

Or, if she has access to human food scraps that fall, or getting into the trash, etc. could cause diarrhea.

I'd ask the vet if he tested her pancreas, among other things.

If it were me, I'd put the pup on a strict, water, boiled chicken, and white rice diet, no treats or other food, and see what happens from there. I never feed human food, unless there's illness. The chicken gives them obvious nutrients, and rice assists with the formation of stools. Putting just two bland ingredients in their body (boiled chicken + white rice) helps you rule out a possible reaction to an ingredient in their store-bought food (my kids have several ingredients they can't tolerate). If the vet has no solution, and the diarrhea still persists on a steady diet of chicken and rice, I'd probably get a new vet that could give you better answers (as prolonged diarrhea can cause terrible health concerns). Just my 2 cents.

If I think of anything else, I'll post it.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

[dclamb3]

My post posted twice. Sorry. Delete.

[whit97]

I know this post is old, but Tamrah if you see this, did you ever figure out what was going on with your puppy? Our scenario is very similar so am curious what you found out. Thanks!