Harley is now just over 7.5 months and I am still worried about her health Tomorrow I get test results for Harley's stool samples. She has been on chicken and rice for over 2 weeks now. Every time we reintroduce kibble it starts again (pooing blood) She is still sleeping a lot compared to what she used to - gets up around 7/7.30am has breakfast and wee, comes back to bed with me til about 8.30/9am. Play til 9.30/10am when I go to work. Goes in her crate for approx 3 hrs - has a kong then sleeps (videoed her), wakes up for the hour I'm home for lunch, back in crate for 2-3 hours (same routine as in morning), I come home and we go out for a walk (about 3.30-4pm) to park or woods for an hour ish, back home for a nap fir at least an hour, awake til after tea (7.30pm), then sleeps nearly all night til she comes to bed with us at 11pm. Is this normal? She started pulling on the lead about 3 weeks ago, prior to this was fab. She has started being more cuddly with my hubby, which previously was always me, she has started ignoring recall too What other questions should I be asking the vet? Am I being paranoid? Any other advice? Just feel like it's one thing after another with her. I love her so much and hate seeing her like this. She is such a character and so playful it's hard to see her so up and down ;(
Re: Still worried I'm so sorry you still have this hanging around The sleeping sounds fairly normal to me, Riley will chill in his bed unless something's happening in which case he's straight up to investigate and he always follows me into the kitchen. The training issues may just be a symptom of the stress and anxiety going on at the moment, try to stay calm and relaxed (easier said than done) and be consistent with her, it will come right again. I don't know what to suggest about the vet I'm afraid. Are you confident in your vet or would you consider a second opinion? Everything crossed for you here
Re: Still worried I'd want to know a bit more about the blood in the poo. Is it fresh and bright red or digested like coffee grounds? On the surface or streaked through? Is there any jelly-like mucous associated with it? Straining or pain when passing it? Sounds like she may have colitis responding to a low fat diet but the answers to the above questions help with diagnosis so I would have the answers to these questions well thought out and ready to present to your vet. If she does have colitis then in a young dog Campylobacter is a common cause and should come up on cultures. Otherwise a colonoscopy might well be helpful. Hope this helps.
Re: Still worried Hi Naya, I always read your posts because Harvey was born a few weeks after Harley and I figure we're probably going to be getting pretty similar experiences. The sleep pattern sounds similar to Harvey's; up at 6.15 for breakfast and some play time, crate/sleep around 8, morning walk and play around 10.30-11.00, crate/sleep around 12.00, lunch and play 1.30, crate/sleep 2.30, evening meal and play 5.45 and then walk at 6.45, crate/sleep around 8, up again at around 9.30 for a final hour or so chilling before bed. Harvey still pulls now and then but his recall is excellent. I have noticed though that he is starting to think about some commands around the house rather than automatically doing them - I think its the start of what our trainer calls the [rude word]hole stage! This is the dog equivalent of being a teenager and can last to around 18 months old Fingers crossed for you. By the way, do you soften the kibble with some warm water? We've only recently started doing this - primarily to enhance the smell but it must make it more palateable as well.
Re: Still worried The blood was dark, sometimes in clots, never bright red, it was always very mucosy, and streaked through, once she had gone she would walk off and just pass blood (mucosy) only elsewhere. She didn't appear to be in pain, but I can't be sure She has been on royal canin gastro since a few weeks after we got her. The vet said she thought maybe giardia, campylobacter or something similar. I'm writing down all of the changes we have seen to also take with me. Thanks Lochan x UncleBob - we used to soften her kibble, but after a while she didn't even want to eat it I do think she's going through a rebellious stage (god help us :)but her lack of energy is a concern (even hubby is concerned which is saying something!)
Re: Still worried Hi Anaya Sorry you're having problems with Harley, I've only just caught up as only been dipping in and out of here very briefly the last week or so. Royal Canin also do a gastrointestinal meat as well as the kibble so may be worth trying that to see if she's just fed up of the dry kibble. Hills science plan also do 'I/d' food which is exactly the same as royal canins gastro and sensitivity control - I've used all of these in the kennels. When you put water on her food before did you just put some in the bowl with the kibble and the give it to her? We used to use hot water and put a little in the dish, allow it to stand with the kibble in for about 15 mins so the biscuits soak up the warm water and then feed it. You could try this and see if it works? Has Harley had blood tests as well as stool samples? I don't know much but maybe she has a dietary intolerance, the gastro food sometimes isn't all it's cracked up to be and I'm pretty sure that stuff still has wheat and grains in so if she has a wheat allergy that won't be helping. What sort of meds has she had since she's been unwell? I'm surprised that, if the vet suspected giardia, they didn't whack her on some treatment whilst waiting for the stool sample results , especially as the results have take a while to come back. Fingers crossed you get some news today and you can start making your pup better!
Re: Still worried Hi Lauren, She has been on 3 lots of antibiotics since we've had her and 2 lots of paste. She has just finished a course of antibiotics yesterday and the paste a few days ago. We haven't had bloods taken yet - we were waiting on the stool sample tests first which I will get today. With her food in water I used boiling water and let it soak before she had it which she had for a while, then stopped as she had diarrhoea. I'm going to talk to the vet today about her food and come up with a plan hopefully. I've come up with a list of questions and what ifs so hopefully will get some answers
Re: Still worried I'll be looking out for your update when you get the stool test results Ternaya ,sending best wishes Angela x
Re: Still worried can't really help on this subject but hope that Harley is better soon. The only thing I would consider would to give her a home cooked diet. start with basic ingredients like chicken and rice but then slowly introduce other meats and vegetables and cooked potato and pasta, doing this will give you an idea if she is intolerant to anything as it will be very simple ingredients with only one new thing added at a time. There are several good books on the subject and your vet should also be able to help with this to make sure she is getting all the nutrients she needs. barley has environmental and some food allergies so we have to manage him on piriton and read food labels very carefully to make sure there is none of the ingredients in there that upset him, they give him soft poo's occasionally diarrhea depending on the levels in the food, but the prominent effect is his itching.
Re: Still worried Sorry to hear about Harley, hope you get some information soon, will look out for results. Jen
Re: Still worried Poor little Harley that is really miserable. When Charlie was ill a few months ago it went on for nearly 2 weeks, so I sympathise. I hope you get some answers soon Take care and keep us updated xxx
Re: Still worried I think I've mentioned before that Scott anScout had campylobacter from eating pigeon muck probably. To begin with it wasn't tested and treated as a regular upset tummy with a 7 day course of antibiotics. They improved then went worse again so I took in a sample. Campylobacter needs a 3 week course (if I've remembered right) of antibiotics a lot longer than normal anyway. That sorted it so hopefully Harleys tests will show something like that and it can be treated properly. My old lab had colitis all his life triggered by food and stress. If they decide it's colitis try a food with fish as the protein like fish 4 dogs. As soon as I put Murphy on that he improved dramatically unfortunately I didn't try it or know to try it for years. I also gave him a probiotic/prebiotic supplement. Anything with beef in set him off and as he got older even chicken !!!! Good luck I hope you get to the bottom of it this time. Don't leave the vets until you are satisfied they've covered everything. They need to sort this for you it's been going on long enough. Fingers crossed Jen
Re: Still worried Really hoping you can find out what's causing this, and then get it treated properly. Do let us know what the vet says.
Re: Still worried Back from the vets.......stool samples all came back fine, no problems clear for giardia, clear for campylobacter and all parasite based illnesses I sat down with the vet and we went through Harley's history of illness since we have had her and what's happened etc every time. After much discussion we feel she may be wheat intolerant. The vet has taken a urine sample and bloods today just to check and make sure nothing else is going on Harley has lost 0.5kilos this week Does anyone have any suggestions on rice based food? Or any other food which hasn't got wheat? I don't want to go down the route of raw at the minute. Thank you all for your kind thoughts xx
Re: Still worried Glad tests are ok so far. Lilly isn't wheat intolerant but I was sold on the whole grain-free issue a while back and have now tried all 3 main products all which have been absolutely fine. Probably the least expensive is Eden Dog food, then Simpsons (which we are currently using) then Orijin (most expensive but I think is really good). I was a little less happy with the Eden because I didn't like the smell of it, but really I could recommend all 3 of them for a bog standard non wheat intolerant pooch. I really hope a switch helps poor Harley
Re: Still worried Glad the test results were good! I don't know much about grain free foods....but could mention fish for dogs. I've tried samples of this, and was going to switch (before getting wrapped up in raw/home cooked ambitions : ). It's fish and rice, or fish and potato based (depending on the type you choose).
Re: Still worried A friend of mine who is a specialist gastroenterologist likes Purina HA for this sort of thing. It is a hydrolysed diet so ideal for food allergy and intolerance.
Re: Still worried There's a lot of foods that are marketed as being wheat free but you will need to do a lot of research and speak to vet to see if they can recommend anything. I know wainwrights have recently started making a grain free food, it's more expensive than regular wainwrights but less so than something like orijen. You could also look at a homemade diet, like raw foods, but I don't know much about that. I'm glad it looks like you might be getting some answers. 0.5kg loss isn't huge but you probably don't want her to lose a lot more. The weight loss has probably come from only having chicken and rice the last couple of weeks as it's not ideal for the long term. I hope you find something that agrees with Harley and everything gets straightened out!
Re: Still worried I feed CSJ command performance salmon and rice which is wheat free. They also do wheat free recipes in their cheaper range. If you contact them they will send samples. Their nutritionist is also very helpful and maybe able to advise you. I'm glad you are now getting somewhere with this problem. Hopefully it will get sorted very soon and Harley will be happy and bouncing about.
Re: Still worried My friend is a dog behaviourist and for dogs with allergies she recommends bob and lush and this is what she feeds her dogs on, I think she started because one of her dogs had a skin allergy. I only use them for their wet food to stuff Kongs and their treats are fabulous! (Not that I have tried them. ) If you are looking for grain free it might be one to consider. I know that if you phone them they are very helpful. http://www.bobandlush.com/our-story/ I hope Harley gets sorted out soon, must be so worrying for you..
