Hello,

What is the best way to put weight on my dog? She had a minor surgery and has had little bouts of diarrhea on and off over the past 4 weeks. I believe this started with the stress of being at the vet and perhaps the anesthesia medication.

She has been to the vet twice and is on metronidazole but has lost over 10 pounds in the last month. I don't want to overwhelm her belly because she has had the diarrhea but she is looking very thin!

I am currently feeding cooked chicken and rice with a little bit of yogurt or probiotic to be easy on her stomach while she overcomes the diarrhea again. Normally I am feeding an all raw diet with a daily probiotic, salmon oil, super C from Leerburg, Alfalfa, Kelp and an occasional raw egg.

After the first bout of diarrhea 4 weeks ago (from the initial stress I would guess) I was able to get her to recover without antibiotics, feeding a gentle diet and probiotics. Because she was already looking very thin, after her recovery from the diarrhea, I increased her food intake, still feeding a raw diet.

A week or two later she had the second bout of diarrhea. I don't know if this is because of the food increase or because she never recovered from the first bout of diarrhea. The diarrhea got really bad, eventually turning to pure blood after a day, so the vet gave metronidazole.

Everything was fine until about 5 days after finishing the metronidazole. The diarrhea began again and quickly turned to blood within hours. The vet gave a stronger dose of metronidazole because they did not think the first dose was strong enough.

Really I am at a loss as to what to do for the diarrhea. I am hoping the metronidazole works this time but I feel like I am killing my dog. She is so thin. I worry about her. She is a 62 pound Doberman that should be 70-72 pounds. You can see lots of ribs and hip bones. Any thoughts on what would be good to add weight but not stress her belly out?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Amanda

How old is she?

What was the procedure? When?

Was there any diarrhea pre-surgery?

What is the present dose of metronidazole ?

Is she eating well (eagerly)?

Is she well hydrated?

The ONLY thing I know to recommend, and other folks far more experienced than I will chime in - is pumpkin. NOT pumpkin pie filling - just the plain variety in a can with no additives.

Has your vet offered any advice? Does he/she agree that this is stress induced?

She is 28 months old

The procedure was removing a bump of cartilage from her ear and scar tissue from her tail. They also did her hip and elbow x-rays while she was under.

No diarrhea pre surgery. The surgery was done June 8. The last time she had diarrhea was when I switched her to raw back at the beginning of February of this year (which I pretty much expected). She has been healthy since the switch to raw. No diarrhea since then until now.

Present dose of Metronidazole is 500 MG twice a day. Previous dose was 400 MG twice a day.

She is well hydrated.

She is eating well. She wants to eat and would eat anything I give her. I just don't want to overdo it because the diarrhea keeps coming back and I did increase her food after she recovered the first time.

She also has had plenty of energy at all times when she had the diarrhea this past month.

Edited by Amanda Albretsen (07/14/2009 08:29 PM)
Edit reason: left some stuff out

I have tried pumpkin and actually I think it made the situation a little bit worse.

Actually, I don't really generally like vets and think that usually they just try random things to see if they work. My vet is 100% against raw unfortunately. Suggestions are the normal - feed a low residue diet now and switch to science diet later...

Last visit to the vet with the fecal swab was a bacteria which sometimes can be caused by stress.

What bacteria was found in the swab?

At this point, what is the diarrhea like? Is it every day? Water or pudding? Any blood?

What is the current med dose?

I want to say the bacteria name started with a "c." Perhaps Clostridium? The vet said it is common with stress. We had another Dobe that had the same thing a few years ago from the stress of flying from Europe.

Her stool right now is formed. A bit soft but definitely formed. I would not consider it to be diarrhea.

Current dose is 625 mg twice a day.

Edited by Amanda Albretsen (07/14/2009 08:46 PM)
Edit reason: updated dose

Had a bout with my female a few weeks ago & when the overcooked rice & cooked chicken (with & without pumpkin) didn't work (vet said the fiber in the pumpkin was not too harsh of a fiber in this case)the vet suggested coooked oatmeal, 2 tablespoons of Kayopectate,(dog is 63 lbs & this is the lower end dose for her weight) probiotics, & cooked chicken or turkey. Feed only 1/8th cup total food, 3 x a day until formed stools (took a day or 2) then continue to feed as above adding a little more meat, then start to add a bit of the raw meat, then increase raw meat until all raw....then add organ meat (I cooked this a bit at first) still keeping meals very small & then lastly adding small amounts of bone & then increasing this. It took about a week to get her back on her regular diet, but smaller abounts. I feed 2x a day normally, but continued to feed her 3x a day for another 1/2 week. She is now back on her regular meals & sizes but it took about 3 weeks to get her to the point that I can start to add a bit more food to put the weight back on her that she lost. Don't rush the process. My vet knows that I feed raw & is onboard with it.

Don't forget not to use antacids with raw meat.

How many meals per day does she get? How much longer is the course of metronidazole? (a potential side effect of the metro is diarrhea )

I wonder if you could add an extra meal or portion of a meal in there to increase calories...

I would keep up or even increase the probiotic, since the metronidazole may be wiping out all her good bacteria...