[Meghann P]

We recently got a Red Labrador and was 4 months old. When the breeder dropped him off he had giardia from a lake on their was to California from Canada. We have treated his giardia and things were looking ok till it came back again so we treated again for it and completely tore up our backyard to make sure he wont get it again. Now he has diarrhea again and the vet gave him more antibiotics and some probiotics. We had also switched his food from Blue bufflao to Wellness Core. It has been about a week and a half since the food switch and he is now only on the probiotic. Again he has diarreaha and cant hold it through the night nor day. He is now 7 months old and is still having loose stools. does anyone have experience with this? and food recommendation? We have ruled out blockages and parasites yet no solid stools. He is also Cryptorchidism (only has one descended testicle) Would this cause his diarrhea? Again Please Advise we are looking for all options and trying not to spend more money at the vet (and yes we are currently switching vets).

[Kathy B]

What a horrible experience for you. We adopted a rescue in January and although her stools weren’t as loose as what you are describing they were pretty bad and every time she went! A member on here mentioned NutriSource dog food (dry) and we switched her a couple of months ago… end of problem. We believe it was just because of a sensitive stomach…. we are cautious about what we give her as treats, absolutely no rawhides….. I know you don’t want to keep switching foods because that is rough on them as well but it’s my only suggestion/experience. I assume you already tried cottage cheese/rice mixture and/or boiled chicken? Hope he gets feeling better!

[Meghann P]

Hello thank you for the advise. We did try the chicken pumpkin rice mixture and that helped a little but he was losing too much weight so we introduced kibble again. We did the rice mixture for a week then a week half and half now full kibble.

[anonymous]

Regarding the cryptorchidism, you may want to seriously consider neutering him.
The body temperature is too high for the testicles to be internal. Sometimes a tumor/cancer can develop a few years down the road, or not. Discuss with your vet. A late in life neuter is even harder on them.
Cryptorchidism is a hereditary condition and it is recommended not to breed these dogs.

I have heard giardia can be stubborn and take a long time to resolve. I also have heard that it can take two or three courses of treatment to get rid of it.
Ask your vet if he will always test positive for giardia? Even when asymptomatic? Can he give it to other dogs via urine and feces exposure?

[Judy G]

My boy (standard poodle) is a rescue and came to us with diarrhea, ear infections and was very skinny. After many vet visits and nothing was helping I started researching. Found he has many food allergies – chicken, beef, lamb, grains and the list goes on. He can eat salmon. Have had great results with Canidae Pure Sea. It is limited Ingredients, grain free, has antioxidants and probiotics, and is an all life stages dry food. I have found that Chewy.com is the cheapest and easiest place to purchase. Hope this helps.

[Meghann P]

The giardia is all gone he keeps testing Negative for it. And I believe our other dog would have it by now if he still had it. Our vet recommended that we Neuter him at a year or even year and a half (hence why we are switching vets) We will be neutering him ASAP. The breeder didn’t seem to care about the Cryptorchidism and said yeah it happens (I would never get a dog from them again) We will try the salmon food but we know its not chicken since he did ok with chicken and rice.

[anonymous]

Often the undescended testicle is in the inguinal canal and sometimes just needs a gentle nudge by the vet once he gets in there to drop or remove, your vet is probably hoping it will drop down on it’s own.
Sometimes it does by 9 months. Some vets like to wait till the dog is fully developed before neutering, if possible. Better for bone development.
If the undescended testicle is imbedded in the abdomen, the surgery is a little harder if they have to hunt for it and it will be a longer recovery.
You may find these articles helpful http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?s=neuter

My dogs do well on Zignature kibble as a base, I add something like a bit of cooked egg plus water to it.
So far we have tried the whitefish and the catfish.
PS: Sometimes the vet will manually try to manipulate the undescended testicle to drop, it depends on how high up it is.

[Susan]

Hi Meghann,
Stop feeding the Wellness Core, cause he has had Giardia his bowel would still be inflammed & needs to heal & rest & he needs a very easy to digest kibble, did the vet recommended feeding him “Hills I/d Digestive Care” dry kibble? it has everything he needs B-12 to heal his bowel & is very easy to digest, my boy had to stay on a Intestinal low fiber vet diet for 9-12months as soon as the 9 months was up & Patch had done firm poos every day, I started to introduce a new kibble that wasn’t too high in protein & not too high in fiber or fat around 25%-protein, 15%-fat & under 4% for fiber, & under 370 Kcals per cup, he needs to stay on the Metronidazole (Flagyl) for 21-28 days, the first 14 days he has to take Metronidazole twice a day every 12 hours with a meal then reduce to just one tablet a day at night with a meal for 10-14 days…..

Take back the Wellness Core it’s too rich, very dense kibble, high protein & probably high in fiber, no good for dogs when their stomach & bowel isn’t working properly & is inflammed, get refund & buy either “Taste Of The Wild”, Sierra Mountain Roasted Lamb or look at “4Health” Duck Meal & Potato, Pork Meal & Potato or the Turkey Meal & Potato read ingredient list & get the kibble with the least ingredients, I think the Pork formula has the least ingredients like the TOTW Lamb formula & has only 332Kcals per cup, look for kibbles with Sweet Potato & Potato, if you can get the TOTW Roasted Lamb formula try this formula first, within 2 days poos will be firm again… 4Health is sold at Tractor Supply

I don’t know if it’s the lower fiber, low Kcals per cup, or the probiotics they use or cause they use purified water ?? maybe all these things put together is what makes TOTW Sierra Mountain Roasted Lamb really work & help dogs with EPI, IBD, IBS, Diarrhea, after you change his food & he’s finished the course of the Metronidazole & he’s been doing really well for a while then all of a sudden you see him doing sloppy poos for 2 days straight put him back on the Metronidazole for 10-14 days give Metro twice a day every 12 hours with a meal then reduce to 1 Metronidazole at night with his dinner for another 10 days, my vet writes me a few repeat scripts & I can get out at the Chemist when I need it….but since feeding the TOTW I haven’t needed to give the Metroniazole only when I have rotated a kibble that didn’t agree with him & put his stomach/bowel bacteria out of wack again or he starts getting his bad acid reflux (Helicobacter-Pylori) he gets put back on the Metronidazole…
Then once your boy is doing really well for 9-12mths start rotating & change brand & look for a different protein source with a few different ingredients & slowly introduce the new kibble with his regular kibble over 1 month peroid, this way he’ll have 2 different brands that agree with him with a different protein source, I rotate between Lamb, Pork & Turkey, rotating between a few different brands is good to do just incase the brand your feeding has toxins or is not balanced properly your changing his kibble & he’s not eating the same brand formula 24/7 year after year… but you only start Rotating his kibbles when you get his bowel healthy again, I rotate between 3 different brands, I always feed TOTW Sierra Mountain Roasted Lamb formula Patch always has very firm poos on his TOTW Lamb & I rotate with a Australian brand MfM Turkey & I just started to try Hills pork meal formula cause I was given a Hills Voucher…
Rotating will strengthen his gut/bowel, just make sure when you pick a new kible you stay around the same fat, protein & fiber % & Kcals per cup as the brand of kibble he does really well on…
Wellness Core could be too rich & the protein % is probably way too high for him at this stage, “Wellness Core”, Ocean fish & “Wellness Complete Health” White Fish were both on the “Clean Label Project” bad list for kibble with high contaminates & toxins.. Which wellness Core formula are you feeding?
http://www.cleanlabelproject.org/product-ratings/pet-food/

My boy is a rescue & has IBD & Environment Allergies & every Spring Summer Patch gets bad itchy skin so the beginning of Spring his vet said try & feed him a fish kibble that’s salmon higher in Omega 3, so spring 2015 came & I rotated with a fish kibble I feed an Australian made MfM Salmon kibble Patch was fine no diarrhea no waking me up 1am 4am with diarrhea etc, the next year in Spring I feed a new fish kibble Earthborn Holistic Ocean Fussion then around 2 months later he got his diarrhea back same with the next fish brand Wellness Complete Health Whitefish & sweet potato, then I tried Holistic Select Salmon & Potato poos were excellent he was doing good then 2-3 month later he became very ill his vet kept shaking her head & couldn’t work out what was wrong, he was fine eating the Australian made Salmon MfM kibble & he had no diarrhea, we couldn’t work out why my boy was doing really well, no diarrhea no vomiting then he ate the different American fish brands & he was really unwell, then I saw Clean Label Project in May/June & the brands I was feeding him were on the worse contaminates & toxins list, “Earthborn Holistic” Ocean Fusion Whitefish-7th, “Holistic Select” Salmon -10th & “Wellness” Whitefish I don’t know where teh WellnessComplete HealthWhitefish came but Wellpet who makes Wellness has a lawsuit against them now cause of the finding from the Clean Label Project testings..
It’s best to stay away from any kibbles that have fish in them especially when they have a sensitive stomach/bowel. I rather add fresh human tin salmon as a topper & give the K-9 Natural freeze dried Mussels as treats now to up his Omega 3 in his diet for his skin…

Your boy will get better but it just takes time, even if you have to put him on a vet diet, the Hills I/D Digestive Care dry for 6 months it can be given to puppies, then rotate & feed a limited ingredient kibble, my vet said it takes a good 9-12 months for their bowel to heal & recover, Probiotics are best given inbetween meal when their Hydrochloric acids are low in the stomach & the live cutures in the probiotics make it past the stomach into the small bowel & make sure you change his water twice a day, as soon as Patch drinks out of his water bowl I change it, I see bits of food down the bottom of his water bowl..
keeps us up dated with what worked..

[anonymous]

Regarding the Clean Label Project, I assume you have seen this? https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/64mpty/we_are_the_clean_label_project_a_nonprofit_that/
Also, if you use the search engine here, you will see that this topic CLP has been discussed before. /forums/topic/cleanlabelproject-org/

[anonymous]

Every dog is different, but if your vet is recommending prescription food, I would go with that for now.
In my experience, dogs with sensitive stomachs have trouble digesting potato (cheap filler)
That is why I like Zignature, you can try the different formulas and that will be considered a rotation diet, I prefer to stay with one brand when dealing with a dog that has issues.
For a more reasonable option, I have heard good things about Pro Plan Focus Sensitive Skin and Stomach kibble.
I use no supplements except a daily fish oil capsule for my dogs.
Also, I would wait till he is stable (no more loose stools) before putting him through the neuter.

[Susan]

Anon101,
*Potatoes are not a filler, Potato & Sweet Potato is excellent for dogs who have intestinal stress, diarrhea, boiled peeled potato is excellent to feed a dog who has stomach & bowel stress…
*Potato, Sweet Potato & Pumkin is very soothing & easy to digest when a dog is really sick..
*Pumkin is higher in fiber & can make diarrhea worse if the dog needs a lower fiber diet, alot of dogs who have IBD & IBS & EPI need less fiber in their diets, while some dogs need more fiber…

*Fillers
Pea Protein
Pea Starch
Pea Fiber
Pea Flour
*this is called “ingredient spliting” so the peas don’t become 1st 2nd or 3rd ingredient on the ingredient list they split the peas up to spread the peas lower down the ingredient list.

*More Fillers
Canola Meal
Corn Meal
Corn Bran
Corn Gluten Meal
Cereal By product
Gluten Meal
Gluten Wheat Meal
Wheat Flour
Wheat Germ Meal
Wheat Mill Run
Feathers
Soy
Hulls
Soybean Hulls
Peanut Hulls
Cottenseed Hulls
Rice Hulls
Oat Hulls
Citrus Pulp
Beet Pulp
Powdered Cellulose

There’s proably a few more fillers that I’ve missed, just google Hills, Purina & Royal Canine foods & look thru their ingredient list, you’ll see some of these fillers still being used in their Pet foods…..

[anonymous]

@ Meghann P,
When you have a dog with a sensitive stomach, in my experience I have found it best to avoid potatoes (white and sweet)
Where your dog is under the care of a veterinarian it would probably be best to go by his recommendations for now. Keep the food bland, maybe stay with the boiled chicken and rice for a few days, then gradually introduce the kibble in with the mix, it might take a couple of weeks.
Some info on by-products:

More Nonsense from Holistic Vets about Commercial Therapeutic Diets

and:
https://www.mspca.org/angell_services/choosing-the-right-diet-for-your-pet/

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