Hi all, I'd really appreciate some advice from you more experienced lab owners please as I'm a little worried! Ziggy - now 6 months - currently has horrible diarrhea. It started on Thursday morning when he also vomited and I took him to the vet that morning. The vet said there are a lot of upset tummies around at the moment and yes, of course, he's a lab so he could have eaten something nasty that's set this off. The vet prescribed a probiotic twice daily, an omeprozole tablet once a day and a bland diet of chicken and white rice for a week. I fed Zig the bland diet for a couple of days with no change and then decided to change from chicken to turkey as I have a feeling he doesn't stomach chicken very well. When he was younger we had to change his kibble from chicken to lamb because of lots of very loose poo. Although he's not vomited again since Thursday morning, he still has very bad diarrhea and reading on the internet I saw that it could help to give him some mashed up pumpkin or sweet potato so I started to incorporate a spoonful of sweet potato in with his turkey and rice meals yesterday lunch-time. This morning again he's got really bad runs - no improvement at all. I'm just wondering how long it might take for things to improve. I know he's not really, badly ill. The vet took his temperature, felt all around his abdomen and didn't find anything of concern. Also, he's eating and drinking well, bouncy and happy as always. I just really want to know how long it might take for the poo to start firming up again and if there's anything else I should try him with that might help? Thanks so much for any advice. Lorraine
I think most people recommend sloppy rice and boiled chicken as it's very bland and helps to hydrate. When Ella was sick like this, we got some electrolyte powder to add to her water, as well as some canned wet food designed for sensitive tummies. These were given by the vet and really seemed to help. It's been a few days now so I'd probably think about heading back to the vet if you're not seeing any improvement. Hope he's on the mend soon
Hi Lorraine, sorry you're going through such a bad time with Ziggy. I'd be taking him back to the vet with no improvement after such a long time. Take a stool sample for the vet to test in case it's something more than a simple bug.
Yes I think back to the vets if there's no improvement, you could try no food for the rest of the day, just lots of water. Monty had a bad bout of gastritis earlier in the year which took 10 days to clear up, and we tried the bland chicken, rice, and special wet food, but in the end removed food for a day to give the inflammation in his stomach time to calm down a bit. He had lots of tuna and chicken flavoured water to keep him hydrated. Like Ziggy, he wasn't really ill, but it still needed 3 vet visits to get it sorted out. Hope he's on the mend soon.
I normally try and starve Stanley for a while usually after his breakfast until the next day. That usually resets his tummy. Then just go back to small meals of chicken & rice
All is well now and poo is solid once more - hurrah!! Thank you for all the advice guys, it really helped!
