Hi, my Girlfriends GSD has a perplexing issue that has re-occurred every winter over the past 3 years (Jenny is a 4 year old Rescue)
She is on a raw food diet and all summer and fall she had "perfect Poo" healthy and energetic. This past week she had a really bad diarrhea in the house and still continues to have soft stools even though we have switched her to a basic cooked chicken and Rice with a little pumpkin. I should also note that she has little red bumps in her ears and she is scratching her neck and ears more than usual.
This explosive diarrhea has occurred every winter for the past 3 years regardless of diet. The Vet has ruled out fleas and mange in the past so we are confident that this is not the culprit again this year because the same events have re-occurred this fall again.
looking for any input as to what direction to take with this.
Thanks for your time
Thanks for the quick reply Connie please See below.
A couple of other things to note is that in year 1 Jenny had Gooey eyes and runny nose, and she has always had really bad breath and tarter teeth even at 1.5years old
How long did the diarrhea last the other years? Year 1 a few weeks with it off and on Jenny was still on ?Kibble at that time, No clear reason was ever found, Jenny was switched to Natural Balance kibble back then and things seemed to clear up,
Year 2 when it re-occurred ()still on natural balance) she was fed The chicken and rice and the problems lasted 6 weeks on and off and we were never able to get good results going back to Kibble so this is when the Raw food diet was introduced and this seemed to be successful.
Now Year 3 the symptoms have re-occurred on the raw food diet and we are currently on the Chicken and Rice.
Is it odd in color? Does it have an especially foul odor? Any mucus? Yes the poo is yellowy Orange ( perhaps the pumpkin ) bit of mucus but not too stinky now, the first 2 years it was really stinky
Has the vet done a scraping of the ear (basically lifting skin cells and looking under a 'scope)? Yes last February when this occurred there was a minuscule amount of mites found but she said it wasn't enough to worry her.
"Ruling out" fleas, BTW, is not a permanent thing. ;\)
We will do another combing to make sure
However, because you are seeing heavy ear involvement, I'd be looking to rule out ear mites.
Is the dog rubbing her face against carpets and furniture?
Nope
Any redness between the toes? Licking at paws?
No licking any more than usual, no redness.
How bad is the scratching? Sleep-disruptive? Skin-breaking? Frantic?
The scratching is just random not crzy just more than say in the summer when things were normal
How do her ears look farther inside? Any inflammation or debris or smell? They look OK inside, the red spots are on the open flat area near the outer part ( where they are sort of bare
Connie Sutherland Moderator Reg: 07-13-2005
Posts: 31571
Loc: North-Central coast of California
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OK, now remember that not only am I not a health professional, but I have not even seen the dog or the poop.
BUT ... not considering giardia (the vet, I mean) with recurring yellow diarrhea sounds odd to me. Maybe you changed vets or the vet is/was unaware of the color and the recurring nature? Soft light-colored stools in recurring episodes are classic symptoms.
Unfortunately, it's not a quick and easy diagnosis.
QUOTE: In most cases, a veterinarian will request three different stool samples, taken at two-day intervals. Though the Giardia cysts are not visible to the naked eye, they are usually able to be clearly identified under a microscope. A fecal sample will be thoroughly examined for Giardia cysts, which are usually detected 90% of the time after three samples (50-70% of the time from one examination). END QUOTE
This relies heavily on the samples being fresh, BTW.
There are other soft-yellow-poop causes, but I think that the one the vet would look at first is this one.
As far as ear mites go, they're a pretty common trigger for ear secondary ear infections in dogs, too .... bacteria and/or yeast.
All JMO.
ETA
Welcome to the board!
Edited by Connie Sutherland (11/08/2009 03:41 PM)
Edit reason: e.t.a.
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Change in Weather = Itchy ears and Watery Poops
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