BTW, he experienced no formed log poops after the Flagyl protocol? And you're sure it was just three days?

I hope Betty will comment on that too. I can't find a three-day protocol in the handbooks or vet sites I looked in. Everything so far says five to seven days for giardiasis.

I'm not a health professional, though.

"There are five spots out there."

Of course, I don't know how big the spots are, but this suggests too large of a meal. No matter what the food is, a dog with a gut as inflamed as this guy's is by now will react to a lot of intake at once with diarrhea. I'm sorry I didn't mention this earlier.

He doesn't seem to be drinking as much water as usual but I think the soupy rice doesn't elicit thirst the way his kibble does even though I wet it.

I just read an article on dehydration in dogs and was attempting to check the condition of his gums when my hands were covered with wet slobber. I hope this is an indication. Maybe I should turn off the gas fireplace that he is currently hogging.

I normally wet his dog food with low sodium chicken broth that has zero fat content. Should I stay away from this? He doesn't seem to be very enthusiastic about the watery rice.

Is the slobber sticky? Are his gums sticky? Did you do this gum check? http://www.ehow.com/how_2061064_check-pet-dehydration.html




Here is a good way to encourage drinking: poach a piece of meat (chicken, beef, whatever) for a while to flavor the poaching liquid. (Then you could save the meat in the freezer for later, maybe for dicing up and making training treats.)

If it was very low in fat, just cool the water to tepid. If it was fatty, refrigerate it until you can peel off the skim of fat that will rise and harden. (Fat will usually exacerbate diarrhea.) Then warm it back to tepid.

This is called baited water.


You can make that watery rice with no-salt-added chicken broth, by the way.

Kim,

What is in the limited ingredient kibble you are feeding? I ask because several years ago I adopted a GSD who had very similar symptoms to what you describe. He repeatedly tested negative for everything: giardia,worms, coccidiosis etc. It resolved after I transitioned him to a raw diet, but for the rest of his life any processed kibble would cause the sporadic yellowish mucousy diarrhea to reappear. I think he was intolerant of grain - any grain.

Just a thought if you still have this problem after all possibility of parasites has been eliminated.

Thank you Sarah. He has been on two kinds of kibble--Summit Holistic chicken for lg. breeds and, up until recently, Acana for lg. breeds (both high quality judging from the price!). We went with two kinds thinking that, if one or the other was unavailable, we had a fallback. We were sold Acana puppy food the last time because the lg. breed food was unavailable and the salesperson told us that the ingredients were identical except for 2% more fat in the puppy food. There was only 1/3 of the bag left when he got diarrhoea two weeks ago. Since then, I bought Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Diet with only chicken and sweet potato but have introduced tiny amounts given his present status.

I will certainly bear the grain allergy possibility in mind although I might have to get another job
to pay for a raw diet for this big dog.

I want to thank everybody who has weighed in on my problem. The advice is invaluable and I only hope I can someday return the favours.

P.S. Have been giving him the soupy rice in chicken broth today--so far he hasn't pooped at all...thank goodness. The yard cleanup was stomach turning.... and I'm an O.R. nurse--I thought that nothing could make me cringe :0)

I reviewed the Flagyl protocol we were given and you are right Connie--it was five days not three.

 Quote: Kim Winsor

Have been giving him the soupy rice in chicken broth today--so far he hasn't pooped at all...thank goodness.

In tiny frequent meals?

So, if by some chance you didn't give all those Flagyls the last time, sometimes folks don't do the whole thing for whatever reason, the dog seems better, or maybe the pills were hard to give or they made the dog sick, then you might consider starting again.

Kim, how's the dog?