Is this Serious?

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Ben09
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Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2010 7:59 am

Is this Serious?

Post by Ben09 »

We got ben when he was 5 weeks old and he didnt eat much on his first few days and he had a bit of diarrhea. He was due to go to the vet for his shots anyway so we said it to the vet and she gave him an anitbiotic injection and sent him home again. There wasnt much change and we were in the pet shop and the man said he was having loose movements cause he wasnt really eating. He said to give him chicken and boiled rice. We did this and all was well and he started to eat. His movments became a little harder and there was like a mucus through it and an odd time there would be traces of blood. Then he got a kidney infection and more diarrhea so we took him back to the vet who gave him antibiotic injection and also antibiotic tablets to clear it all up. She also gave him like a chocolate sauce type stuff to build him up. He responded brilliant to this and would eat the arm of you and all was well.

2 weeks ago the whole thing came back again and he wouldnt eat for most of the week and his dirrhea came back. We took him to the vet again and they just did the exact same thing. While he was takin the anitbiotics this cleared up. He finished them on Wednesday and last night the poor wee pet was up all night again. I dont want to take him back to the same vet again as i dont think they are actually treating the problem. I rang another vet to see if they would take him in for second opinion and they wont do anything until they get his records from the other vet. I dont want to upset the first vet if they really are doing all they can but at the same time i dont want to waste time and have poor ben suffer if they not trying to sort the problem.

So sorry for the long post just wanted to give as much info as i could.

Thanks for reading!
Ben09
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Re: Is this Serious?

Post by Ben09 »

SOrry meant to say he is golden retreiver and now 5 and half months old
emmabeth
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Re: Is this Serious?

Post by emmabeth »

Back to the vets, or another vets, for a second opinion I think.

The mucous and blood in his stools when he was on the chicken and rice diet are indicative of an irritated bowel, the fact that he responds to antibiotics but as soon as they stop he goes back to diareoah... i can never spell that. The Runs. means there is a bug there, these antibiotics are not shifting it. I would be wanting a vet to test a stool sample and work out which specific antibiotics this bug is sensitive too.

What food is he on normally, or did he return to the runs whilst still on the chicken and rice?

I cant tell you what to do with your dog because I am nto a vet, I can tell you that if this was MY dog, I would take him off ALL cereals and rice as I believe these are most likely to irritate the gut (not being what a dogs gut was designed to handle) and I would limit the sugars he gets to those found in raw meat and vegetables (I wouldnt even feed fruit). Infections and bacteria LOVE sugar and an inflamed and irritated gut lining is a great place for an infection to grab a hold.

Antibiotics also kill the friendly bacteria as well as the not friendly ones so I would also feed live yoghurt as a probiotic to reintroduce friendly bacteria (also sugar free yoghurt no fruity flavourings).

I am sure Nettle will be able to tell you what she would do if this was her dog also, but definately back to the vet (dont worry about upsetting them, you pay good money and throwing the same antibiotics at it time after time is NOT good practice nor is it fixing teh problem!), take a stool sample, request that they run the tests and prescribe a specific antibiotic.
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Ben09
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Re: Is this Serious?

Post by Ben09 »

Thank you for your reply. Ill check the label on his kibble this evening when i go home from work and see what the ingredients are. He gets this mixed with a small bit of wet food to taste it otherwise he wont eat it. The mucus is everytime he gets the runs not just when he had the chicken and rice. Ill def take a sample and make them test it and get it sorted and if they wont then ill change vets. I just didnt want them thinking im making a mountain out of a molehill if you know what i mean
Sarah83
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Re: Is this Serious?

Post by Sarah83 »

diareoah... i can never spell that.
I just use Dire Rear to get around that problem :D

I'd also be back to the vet and/or trying a different vet since they only seem to be treating the symptom rather than looking into a cause. I don't actually care whether my vet thinks I'm making a mountain out of a molehill as long as my dogs not suffering.
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Nettle
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Re: Is this Serious?

Post by Nettle »

Back to the vet and see another one.

My vet says that it is extraordinarily difficult to treat runny bot (why should I try to spell diarrhoea? :lol: ) with antibiotics, and uses a homeopathic remedy calles Proteus, but it would be illegal for me to recommend it so I am just mentioning what he says. It cured my so-called IBS as well.

If my dogs get runny bot, I feed plain live bio yoghurt with pulp of apple or pear, and pumpkin is good as well. You can do all the above in conjunction with the antibiotics. Ask if doggie can have an anaerobic antibiotic rather than a broad-spectrum one.

Did your vet give him his regular shots at 5 weeks and when he had runny bot? :? Really a pup should be completely healthy before the vaccine challenge - and 5 weeks is way too young, so I hope s/he didn't. How old is puppy now?
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

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Nettle
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Re: Is this Serious?

Post by Nettle »

Sorry, just re-read post and found his age. :) EMMS WE NEED AN EDIT FUNCTION :evil:
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

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josie1918
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Re: Is this Serious?

Post by josie1918 »

Ben09, did your vet do any stool diagnostics on this dog? Did they check for possible blockage of the intestines? I know it isn't right that you should have to, but sometimes you do need to stand up for yourself and your pet. If the vet gets his/her feelings hurt that is just too bad. I would go back, tell them this is NOT satisfactory, and that you would appreciate very much a complete diagnosis, and treatment plan for your dog. Sometimes antibiotics can cause diarreah in dogs, so the cure for the kidney infection may have triggered the diarreah. Please don't worry so much about upsetting the original vet, the good vets understand.
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