Today I gave my GSD her Iverhart Plus, heartworm medication and now she has an onset of diarrhea!
As some of you know from my other posts recently, I have been going through a lot with Kaia and her itching from possible allergies etc.

I was wondering should I fast her tonight or just give the boiled chicken and rice or rice water tonight?
Diarrhea is a possible side effect from the medication, and I know that she doesn't have heartworms because I just got her blood work back from our vet and results were normal.
She has never reacted this way before on this medication.
Also, she had giardia a few months back and now wondering if it could be a relapse.
The diarrhea just started, so I know we have to see what happens in the next 24 hours to see if she gets worse or if it will subside.
Just looking for what to do about tonight's dinner.
Also, just need some support, as I have been going through so much, I want to scream because we just can't seem to catch a break for nothing!

Pudding or liquid?

First a somewhat formed stool with pudding and now just pudding.

I'd probably fast the dog for tonight and give very soupy overcooked rice in the morning.

Then I would see how the next poop looked.

Ok, again, Thanks Connie, I will do that. Now I suppose it will derail the progress that we have been having with her allergies.
But first things first, gotta stop the runs!
I could just cry, I am so frustrated and been working my arse off trying to get her healthy!

I know how you feel! We have been going through the same thing with Kasey for so long now. I've been giving him the desensitization shots for 7 months now, and still no improvement on the itching. And now that it's spring, it's gotten worse. He's back on an antibiotic, constant antihistimines, and an occassional prednisone when I can't stand to watch it anymore!! You just think you're making some headway, and wham, something else!

We are doing all this under the care of a derma vet. And that in itself has relieved some of the stress because she knows what she's doing! The regular vet just tries to relieve symptoms without addressing the underlying cause, so you're always trying to figure out what is causing what. At least now we know it's not food, and we do know it's 45 different allergens from the skin testing. She said you have to give the shots a good year to work, so she gave us the pep talk and told us to please keep hanging in with them. Too many people give up after 6 months I guess, and so the dog never has a chance for them to work.

If you really get frustrated you might want to just go get a consult at least. As soon as she walked in the room and looked at his skin she knew it was environmental. It just helps to have someone being the director! It ends up costing less in the long run, I think. Our prior dog also had allergies and we spent soooo much money at the regular vet and never did get her better. So this time I went straight to the derma vet.

Wow, Lori, you have been through a lot.

You know what is just crazy? About over 18 years ago, I had my first GSD and she never had these kinds of issues and I fed her Eukanuba lamb and rice.
Now I am feeding this great, fresh diet and I think my girl should be so healthy and she's not. But, my first dog, did not have allergies. Plus I didn't have her beyond 4 years. I had to move into an apartment and when I did, I made sure she had a great home on a farm because I wanted her to have a better life than I could provide at the time.(That in itself was gut wrenching, but I just put the dog first and did what I thought was the best thing for her) Who knows with feeding her the bag food that has lots of junk, over time, what would have happened?

I know that both dogs are better off with what I am doing now, but I just want and need to feel like what I am doing is helping and working. Which I think it is or was until this new bout of diarrhea. God, I pray it is not giardia again!
I hope it is a minor reaction to the heartworm meds and that's it. The giardia is really a big pain in the you know where.
Up in the middle of the night and trying to clean it up is near impossible.

Hey, I thank you so much for your support, it helps a lot when you start to feel discouraged, really, thanks so much.
Also a BIG THANKS to Ms Connie, whom is just so awesome!
Thank you Connie, Thank you Lori!

Hi Joyce,

I am in Dallas, too =)

I know what you mean, I had a GSD when I was growing up, and I knew nothing about dog health then, fed him kibbles and gave him all the vaccinations, and he was healthy as can be.

My current 3 yo GSD is a different story. Bunch of allergy problems. I've been through the steroid shots and desensitization shots. I stopped the desensitization shots after about 8 months, could not comment on if they were helpful or not.

Maybe you can talk to your vet about Atopica? It is an oral cyclosporine. I started my GSD on it last August, it has worked really well for her. I put her on it daily for a 2-3 months, then started tapering it. My friend has a Chihuahua that went on it a few years ago, now he takes Atopica 1-2 times per month and has not had any allergy issues. Of course, frequent bathing, rinsing of paws after each walk, and wiping her down with a damp cloth twice a day probably helped as well.

You may want to call you vet to see if he/she recommends anything for the diarrhea. My Westie had a case of diarrhea a couple of months, he was alert and didn't seem sick. I spoke to my vet over the phone and he recommended me to give him some Imodium to stop the diarrhea before I could bring him in a couple of days later.

Melissa,
How nice to hear from you, a fellow Dallas dweller!
Thanks for the ideas. I will look into the things you recommend.
I don't know anything about Atopica, what is cyclosporine exactly?
I assume it is specifically for allergies? It sounds familiar, but I just can't seem to place it right now.
Just tried to feed my other one, Kodi and he is not even having much of an appetite tonight, and ate some of it and walked away from it.

I did just give Kaia some homeopathy Heel brand diarrhea that I had left over from the last time she had giardia.
I hope it helps her. I have some very low sodium chicken broth coming and I suppose I will go get some pedialyte so she doesn't get dehydrated.
I will call vet if I can't get control of her diarrhea in the next two days.
Thanks for the thoughtful post and I will check out Atopica.

On a side note, can you believe the temp right now?
It is absolutely freezing outside right now! I guess that is a good thing, incase this ends up being giardia again, hopefully,
it will freeze the nasty stuff!

BTW, the picture of your two are just gorgeous!

Joyce,

Cyclosporine is a type of immunosuppresant, it is not without side-effects, but for me, it is a much better choice than steroids. She used to lick her paws until they became raw and had chronic ear infections. She is doing much better now. Especially when there is a good chance that I can taper her to a lower dosage over time (she was on it for a few months, to a point where she was getting Atopica 2-3x/week. She was spayed in Dec 09, I didn't want her to be on any med at the time, so I took her off of it for 6-8 weeks). She is now back on it daily, and I am going to taper her again in a month or so.

Although I still have to be very careful, when the pollen count is high outdoor, I skip her walks and exercise her indoor.

Go to Atopica's website and you can find out about it: http://www.atopica.com

Dallas is bad for allergy sufferers. Sigh.

It is cold right now, and I just put away my winter clothes!

I hope Kaia will get over her diarrhea soon.