Hello everyone,

I am not a breeder but always peek in to learn interesting things and I hope I can find some advice here as well.
My 2 yr old rescue girl had pretty serious diarrhea about a month ago. We went to Huron River and then about two weeks after it started. For a few days she had grayish diarrhea and had hard time holding it in. It always kind of exploded when she went outside. I called my vet and I fed her blend diet for about a week (cooked chix. w rice). It was not getting much better, the diarrhea continued and was light brownish colors. After about a week or so, when I noticed that my dog was losing weight my vet did a test to rule out salmonella, e-coli, urinary tract infection, campo, and ghiarrdia. Everything came back negative. The diarrhea has improved but her stool has never came back to the usual shape and consistency. So, we still have softer stool than usual (sorry about the details) – it does have a shape but colors are sometimes brownish/orange and it is softer than normally. I haven’t changed anything that would cause the diarrhea to start. Oh, and I should say that we live close to the lake and so at the time when the diarrhea started Chocolata still swam almost every day and sometimes sneaked to eat goose poop. My friend breeder thinks it might be ghiarrdia but my vet is reluctant to accept the idea as the lab told her that the results could be possibly wrong only in about 10 % cases.

Any ideas?

Any dog eating it's daily ration of Goose pooh , is going to have the runs. NO GOOSE POOH !!!
I would guess Coccidia is the culprit , and it does not always show up when tested, ask your vet questions about that. I would treat for it , and see if that works, but she can't eat any more goose pooh. I was at Huron River , and don't have sick dogs.

I believe we did testing for coccidia as well. NO more eating of goose poop now

I always thought that ghiardia was difficult to diagnose because they don't shed it in every bowel movement. It's possible that the sample your vet tested was negative, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have ghiardia. I think the only way to be sure is to have several samples tested over a period of time, which isn't very cost effective, so most vets will treat for it even if they get a negative test result (and can't find any other cause). Has she ever had normal stool? If not, it could be the food she's eating. I had this problem with my first puppy, he had recurring diarrhea for almost a year before I figured out he had food allergies.

Most all poultry carry cocci , and just because you didn't find it , doesn't mean it isn't there. At this point , treating the dog for it isn't going to hurt as much as allowing the condition to continue.

Another possibility is whipworms, also not detectable if the sample is taken when the worms are not shedding eggs.

Clostridium is another possibility. It usually has a grey color to the totally liquid diarrhea and a really nasty smell. Also hard to detect.

MK

I have heard about the testing being difficult as well. So, this doesn't sound like a ghiarrdia to you guys?

Oh - as well as food goes, I would be quite surprised if this was an allergy as we are on a raw diet and she has done very well on it.

Another possibility is whipworms, also not detectable if the sample is taken when the worms are not shedding eggs.

Clostridium is another possibility. It usually has a grey color to the totally liquid diarrhea and a really nasty smell. Also hard to detect.

MK

When it started it was grey liquid and very nasty smell.

I would definately get the test for Clostridium.

Also I think your vet is wrong about the percentage of incorrect Giardia tests. My experience of giardia is that it is hard to catch and that the poop was was either yellow and liquid or on good days it was just soft and appeared to be covered in a thin mucus type film.

Good luck

I too think that my vet might be wrong on that one which is why I came here to ask. I am sure that many of you, who have been in labradors for years, have experienced similar situations. And yes in the beginning the diarrhea was very mucusy and light.

You may also talk to your vet about running a liver pannel. Orange color after prolonged loose stool makes me worry.

We did and it came perfect.

I would try giving some slippery elm. I know some traditional vets who suggest it for the runs. I always have it with me.

Sometimes after a nasty bout of diarrheah, the lining of the gut/bowel is destroyed. It may take a couple of months for the gut to repair itself - like a form of colitis or IBS. I would try a parasite treatment, and then use a bland diet and wean back onto the regular diet, using Tylan for at least 5 to 6 weeks, to let the gut heal.

If you feed raw, has Botulism been ruled out? It is more common in raw fed dogs than people care to admit.

I talked to my vet and we'll probably do Panacur. As far as Botulism goes - I have no idea what it is but I am reading about it. And no, we didn't look into that yet.

I'm guessing that the vet ran a Giardia ELISA test, which has more false positives probably than false negatives. Giardia can be incredibly difficult to detect on a "routine" fecal, however there are much more accurate tests for diagnosing it nowadays...

Bacterial overgrowth caused by types of Clostridium can produce toxins -- Botulism. I know of an acquaintance's 9 week old puppy that died recently while hospitalized and under the care of a team of vets, and Botulism was suspect as the puppy had been raw fed; the illness started with vomiting and diarrheah. She is still waiting for the necropsy results. Clostridium had been found in the puppy's fecal testing.

Botulism has been found in chicken carcasses; I believe that Clostridium has to be treated aggressively when present to prevent it from producing the toxins that eventually overwhelm the animal's system.

"Botulism is an intoxication caused by the neurotoxin of Clostridium botulinum. Clinical signs are characterized by progressive, symmetric, generalized LMN (lower motor neuron) dysfunction. The severity of the illness depends on the amount of neurotoxin in the circulation and on the susceptibility of the animal. The incubation period may vary from a few hours to 6 days, and the course may last about 14–24 days. In case of recovery muscle weakness dissolves in a descending way, starting from the muscle of the head, through the front legs, and the trunk to the hind legs.
The diagnosis of botulism can be based on the detection of the toxin in serum, faeces, vomitus or contaminated feed. The most widespread method is the toxin isolation and neutralization test performed in mice. "