Two months ago my 10 year old GSD suffered a torsion of his intestines. I was near him when he became ill and was able to get him to an emergency hospital in about 30 minutes. The staff at the clinic knew immediately what was wrong with him and got him ready for surgery, stat. Post surgery, the doctor said that the blood supply to his gut was good and the prognosis was very positive. They did, however, have to remove his speen as it was crushed from the torsion.

Since then he has recovered his appetite and good spirits, but he pants all the time, seems stressed and tires easily. Also he now has frequent, liquid, bowel movements. Given all these symptoms I have to wonder if he is left with a compromised digestive system. I have seen the vet and have not gotten any help in this matter. Once they hear raw diet they latch on to that and wont't let go. I have used a human grade anti diarrheal medicine and that does help, but how long can I use this treatment? Connie, I know you're out there and are really savvy on dog health and diet, so between you and all the GSD lovers on this web site perhaps my Bear can get some help.
Naida Simpson

Do you have access to a holistic vet or any vet with a nutrition specialty?

What is the anti-diarrheal? What is the active ingredient?

Exactly what are you feeding?

Do you know how the spleen works? The loss of the spleen would make me want a nutrition-educated vet to work with me on the dog's diet.

But let's start with what you are feeding and what the med is.

PS

Also, how frequent and how bad is the diarrhea? Water or thick pudding? How long?

Baron's diet consists of: beef heart, chicken drumsticks, yoghurt, sometimes a bit of cottage cheese. Also he gets, daily, a multi-vitamin pill, glucosamine-chondritin and a fish oil capsule. The vet recommended a pepsid pill (antiacid) and the antidiarrheal, Loperamide. Prior to his surgery, Bear was doing great on the above diet.
Naida Simpson

Sorry, Connie. I answered only part of your questions. His stool is almost completely liquid. They are not like an infecton when you have more frequent movements, but there is a lot of it. I have gone the bland diet route to no avail. The OTC meds do help, but he will stop eating after three days of this treatment.

About the homeopathic practicioner. I know of no one in this area offering this type of treatment. San Luis Obispo is not on the cutting edge of veterinary medicine, so that could be why.

Naida Simpson

 Quote: Mike Armstrong

I can't give you any real solid advice, only some thoughts as a GSD raw feeder for many years. . .

I meant to add at the end that my suggestions are not in lieu of consulting with a good regular or homeopathic vet, just some interim ideas for fine tuning your diet.

Mike

Mike, thanks for the advice. I'm so glad to find that there are some Bravo suppliers in my area. I'll get right on it and better Bear's diet.
Naida Simpson

Went thru a bout of liquid stool with my female a couple of weeks ago. My dogs have always been raw fed. I tried pumpkin first with lighter means..this usually works.. didn't this time. Switched to the overcooked white rice & cooked turkey ....still no luck. Called my vet(who knows that I raw feed & in board knowing that my dogs get a balanced appropriate diet) She said to switch he to 2 tablespoons of Kayopoectate (she is 63 lbs) cooked oatmeal, Probiotidcs(which I feed regularly) & cooked turkey or chicken. She said to give her 3 meals a day (I usualloy feed 2 x) but to only give her 1/8 th cup of food total for each meal. To do this for until I start to see formed stool for a couple of days. Then to go back adding her regular diet back over the next 4-5 days. To first add back raw muscle meat a little at a time (I started by adding a little raw to cooked meat) still adding oatmeal & probiotics & Kayopectate. I then added back organ meat (cooked this a little at first)& eventually bone a little bone at a time. I used chicken necks because the bone is small & softer. I kept the meals very small increasing size very slowly. She is just now back on a normal diet of normal size. It is better to go slowly rather then to have your dog relapse. I think that she mentioned that the pumpkin can sometimes to too much of the wrong kind of fiber to feed. It has always worked in the past, but then again this time she had been very liquid for 2+ days before I could slow the process & turn it around. That had never happened before. I did also keep her well hydrated by adding a bit more water to her food than I usually did. Baiting with water that the meat is cooked in a good idea if you don't have a good drinker. Don't really know what caused the episode. Don't know if you would need to do anything different for a dog that has just suffered torsion. This is just what my vet suggested I do. ALso I kept her on a drop of the kayopectate until I had her almost back to a normal diet.

My GSD recovered from torsion surgery in March, so I understand what you've been through exactly.

Although in my dog Luca's case, he did not lose the spleen so I imagine that has been a big difference in post-op recovery.

A few random thoughts after reading the thread:

--I'm always hinky about antacids for a raw-fed dog. They need stomach acid to dissolve bone in the diet, etc. Luca was also prescribed Pepcid after surgery, but I quickly transitioned him off it.

--After Luca's bloat, our holistic vet recommended grinding his RMBs as a way to further reduce any stress on his digestive system. We followed the advice and have had good luck with it. I'm not convinced it is necessary, but it certainly can't hurt.

--In my experience, beef (or any) heart meat can be feed like any other muscle meat. It's not counted as an "organ meat" in the same way as liver/kidney etc. I feed heart meat a lot with no issues.