My 23 week old puppy has had on and off diarrhea for the past couple weeks. It started randomly one day two weeks ago and went on for a couple days before we took him to the vet. We didn’t notice him eat anything out of the ordinary. He was acting 100 percent normal other than having runny stool. The vet didn’t seem to concerned about it when we took him in. He just gave us metronidazole pills and checked him for worms. He said he would get back to us if something came up not normal. He hasn’t contacted us. We gave our pup the pills for a couple days and they worked and his poop seemed normal again, so we went back to his normal feeding routine. But then the runny stool came back a few days later. We gave the pills for a day and he was fine again poop wise. But this time we restricted cheese since we thought that’s what might have been what caused it. It still came back just yesterday. I don’t want to go him the pills again. But I am so confused as to what this is. We feed him royal canon puppy kibble and he has had this since he was 8 weeks and has been perfectly fine. We feed him three times and day and a total of about 3 - 3.5 cups total with training. He gets bully sticks, teething rings, and little milk bone biscuits, and the kong stuffer creamy texture stuff. Absolutely no table food. We are now just going to restrict him to just the kibble to see if that could be the problem.... we would like to avoid another vet trip because they charged us 100 bucks the last time for a short visit. Any suggestions or someone that has dealt with this?? Like I said, he’s acting normal, but he just can’t hold his poops and they are really runny. Thanks
Test results were negative. I just called the vet. He said we should have kept giving him the rest of the pills until they were done and that we may need to change his food. Is it normal for dogs to all of a sudden have a bad reaction to kibble they have had since 8 weeks old?
I would not say normal. But it can happen. Over time they can develop reactions to certain foods. Equally, the chemical composition of the kibble may have changed. Who knows what the manufacturers are doing? Every second week seems to bring news of some issue with some kibble. I presume you are going to finish the medication. Don't change the food at the same time. Rapid changes in diet often result in upset stomachs and soft faeces.
I'm going to see how he does for another day or so....if it continues, I will finish off the medication, which has about 8 pills left (feed 1 pill every 12 hours)... I know the pills work, it's just a matter of the diarrhea coming back after he's not fed the pills, which happens a day or two later. I'm going to just feed him only kibble for the time being. No bully sticks, treats, puppy rings, kong stuffer's etc. If it still happens after all that, I guess it has to be the food. Idk, this is just beyond confusing to me. Irritating is the best way to describe it.
Oh goodness... Metronidazole is a powerful antibiotic and like every antibiotic, you should ALWAYS FINISH THE COURSE!!! Regardless of whether or not the symptoms stop. If you haven't done a full course of metronidazole (which would be at least 7-10 days worth - twice a day pills) uninterrupted, then you haven't enabled metronidazole to work. And in fact you are risking ending up with bacteria which is resistant to antibiotics and which then doesn't work when you do complete the course. Frankly, I would phone the vet up, tell the vet that you mistakenly stopped the course early, and get more metronidazole tablets from the vet to enable you to complete a full 7 day course of it. They will probably let you pick these up from reception without an appointment if you explain...
@Jo Laurens i gave the vet a call and we are starting the treatment over and I will make sure he completes it this time. I have a few other questions, if that’s ok. I’m assuming the pills will work with his stool, as they have been working when he was on them. Should I continue to feed Buddy his normal treats, cheese, etc along with his kibble while he’s on the metronidazole treatment? Or should I just stick to his kibble until the treatment is done with... Also, if the diarrhea happens to return a few days after the treatment is complete, would you recommend changing foods?? What would you recommend if the diarrhea returns after he’s off the treatment. The vet said he did not test positive for worms... Thanks so much for your help.
We are going through this with our Shih Tzu. The Vet examined her and determined no blockage but she did have a fever. We were prescribed the same medication for her and told to finish the whole bottle. We also got RX Pro Plan EN . She's feeling better already.
Thanks for the info. I'm hoping completing the treatment will work. If not, it would seem it's something in his regular diet and a changing of foods may be necessary.
Same here. Our Shih Tzu is doing better . When the bag of RX is nearly gone I'm going to gradually switch to her regular Pro Plan.
It's fine to feed whatever IMO, it doesn't make a difference. The cause isn't food related if he is better on metronidazole. In fact, whilst on metronidazole is a good time to try out other foods now. What you don't want is to feed only kibble now, then the metronidazole stops and at some point you start to feed treats - and then he gets a runny poops again. Because then you don't know if that was caused by the treats or by the bug coming back again. Whereas if you have trialled foods whilst on the metronidazole, you know if he is ok eating those foods now - and if you happen to get a runny bum again later, you know it won't be due to the food because he was ok on it now... If he has been fine on the food whilst on the metronidazole, I don't think changing his food will help at all because I don't think the problem is caused by the food. I had this discussion with my vet and basically: Metronidazole is an AB so it works by nuking bacteria but it is also an anti-inflammatory. That means that if a dog has a condition like inflammatory bowel disease/IBD, then metronidazole can help by preventing that inflammation and so preventing the results of it... But obviously a dog can't stay on metronidazole forever. So you'd be looking at a bowel biopsy to diagnose IBD... I would highly recommend throwing everything you can at creating a healthy microbiome now and certainly as soon as the ABs stop. That means: Starting powdered pumpkin (2 tablespoons in each meal). (this is a prebiotic which feeds good bacteria and a source of fibre and bulk for stools) Starting Slippery Elm Powder (coats the lining of the intestine naturally to help reduce inflammation and also a prebiotic) Canine probiotics - I like the Dr Mercola probiotics You can get all that on Amazon. If you do all that after stopping this course and it still comes back again, then I think you're probably looking at a bowel biopsy to rule out IBD....
Thank you so much for all this. We are feeding him everything we have been before his diarrhea, aside from the bully stick (he likes to swallow those when they are a bit to long). He's fine so far. I'm hoping it was just a bug and the medicine took care of it. We are almost through his treatment. I will try your suggestions and if it still comes back I will definitely take him back to the vet. Thanks again
@Jo Laurens just thought I would give you a little update on how Buddy is going. He finished his course of Metronidazole treatment and we started him on the organic Pumpkin powder you recommended in previous posts. He likes the powder in his food and it even makes him eat his food slower lol Everything is well so far and he hasn't had Diarrhea since he started his course of AB's. Crossing my fingers it will stay that way! If for some reason the Diarrhea happens to start up again, I will have a better idea what is the cause and how to prevent it. The main thing I learned is to never stop the course of AB's, even if symptoms stop. Thanks for all of your advice!
