and then the dog barfed, part 46

[rthstewart]

The two things I wanted when we got Komo were 1) healthy and 2) very good around other dogs.  We've got neither.

CW for gross dog functions and plea for crowdsourced advice if you get there




So, the vomiting and bloody diarrhea that have afflicted Komo for the last 14 days has returned.  Thousands of dollars later we have eliminated various chronic diseases (blood screen that went to Texas A&M) and abdominal instructions (3 x rays and one ultrasound).  He's been on antibiotics, probiotics, omeprazole, cerenia, B12 injections, and Zofran.  I've been making him boiled chicken and rice since July 1 or before. 

Everything seemed to be improving.  Last week, we tried introducing small bits of Hill's Science Diet w/d to try to firm things up.  But then diarhhea started again, so back to chicken and rice.  So about 4 days later, he improved again and I went to the vet yesterday and this time, we tried Hill's Science Diet i/d for intestinal issues which is supposed to be substitutable for homemade chicken and rice. 

Spoiler.  It's not.

We woke up this morning, again, to a swathe of bloody diarrhea on the basement carpet (and I'd returned the $200 carpet cleaner machine thinking I didn't need it anymore.  HA HA).

So, obviously back to the vet and chicken and rice.  Any of you have any experience with this?  Any advice?  Any alternative to boiling chicken and rice 3 days a week?  Anything for a dog that can't seem to tolerate a very high quality commercially prepared prescription food specially formulated for intestinal issues?

Comments

[brokenallbroken]

No advice, but please accept a gesture of emotional support of your choice.

[petra]

+1. What a mess. I'm so sorry.

[rthstewart]

Thanks so much. I'm hoping the canned pumpkin did the trick and another $$$ in meds.

[cofax7]

I'm so sorry. And I have to admit that the one thing I've heard of from dog people that generally helps with this sort of thing is a raw diet. Which is SO HARD and expensive! But all I have is anecdotal reports. I'm so sorry for you and Komo!

[rthstewart]

The meds and food chart for the week. I'm dreading the raw thing. I really don't want to feed anything that's not a commercial product from a reputable US company. I've done way too many pet food recalls and dealt with notices about novel ingredients being toxic to pets or that all they can figure is lots of certain breeds of dead dogs and a correlation with eating something -- over a period of YEARS. If I could get a raw product that's been irradiated... maybe? But quality control and nutritional adequacy are serious issues with so many of the fad diets. If the option is raw or making boiled rice and chicken and supplementing, I'll do that. The vet thinks it's "just" severe colitis but the fact that he couldn't tolerate the Hill's I/D is very odd. You know.... I think I should call the company. They have nutritional specialists and vets on staff and I'd trust them to give me good advice about which product and transitioning. The vet has prescribed Baytril -- I"m not a fan of that one but he's found some dogs have colitis that are responsive to it and canned pumpkin seems to be helping. We've not had any more episodes in the last 36 hours, so huzzah.

Thank you!

[autumnia]

Poor you and poor Komo! I do hope the vet will figure out what's wrong with him. Sending good thoughts your way!

[rthstewart]

Thank you!

[generalleia]

I once had a great dane that was this way. Ultimately we had to re-home him because our travel & deployment schedules were nuts (literally would be gone for 6-8 months at a time) and he was just too much for my mother to watch.

Ultimately what we ended up feeding him to combat the constant explosive diarrhea was zero grain high protein dry food + boiled plain white rice & eggs. This seemed to work and was the only thing made his poops solid AND kept weight on him (he was close to 200lbs, the tallest dog I've ever seen and had a freakishly high metabolism).

I'm so sorry this is continuing to happen.

[rthstewart]

Yikes. Do you remember which food was the zero grain, high protein? Mckinley was on the ultra allergen free for her whole life. He's getting skinny. He's lost 10 pounds since January but did gain a pound back over the last month. At least he's HUNGRY. He wasn't so hungry about 10 days ago and when a Lab stops eating, they are usually within a week of dying. I'm just never sure how much to feed him. Since the boys are home, he's getting 4 meals a day -- about 4 cups of chicken and rice. And lots of pumpkin. Thank you so much for the advice!

[generalleia]

Gah - it was Blue something I think? May have been just Blue or Blue Buffalo? I'm sorry I can't remember better -- it's been over a decade since we bought it.

I'm so glad he's hungry!

[metonomia]

:/ poor Komo and poor you! So these days my advice on dogs is almost always to screen for EPI (endocrine pancreatic insufficiency), but his symptoms don’t quite sound like it. One of my boys threw up a lot and one had a lot of bad diarrhea, but idk. It was a relatively cheap test though.

I hope you get an answer!!

[rthstewart]

Yes, we tested for that. All the diseases and conditions have been eliminated other than the B12 deficiency and he got injections on Saturday and had the bloody diarrhea Sunday morning. I had a long chat with a Hills rep. Super knowledgeable and asked excellent questions. The vet will follow up with them