[Natalie C]

Hey all,
I have a 2 year old Chihuahua/Pug mix named Charlie. We’ve had him since he was about 9 weeks old and he’s always had a bit of a poo problem. At first we thought it was just terrible 2’s for the baby until he got older, and we moved him over to a crate. He kept having accidents in the crate and that’s when we thought, maybe it’s not potty training that’s the issue, maybe it’s the food. So we took him to the vet, around this time last year, and they said he was perfectly healthy, nothing was wrong and expressed his anal glands. He was okay for 3-4 months and the same problem happened. Went back to the vet, and nothing. After that we decided to take control of things, and he’s gone through SO many dog food brands from Royal Canin, Wellness, Solid Gold, Acana, Orijen, Sojos and Honest Kitchen.. and even home cooked, nothings worked. We took away broccoli because we think that’s one of the main things that causes his diarrhea, but it hasn’t helped much. We just lost our cat to HCM 2 months ago, which raked up quite a bill and we can’t afford to go to the vet again. He had diarrhea in his cage last night and a little poop/diarrhea this morning. He’s only had SOME kibble, water and rice thus far. Is there anything I can do to help him? I feel so bad for Charlie but I don’t know what to do. I don’t want him to keep having an upset stomach. He’s always lifting his bum in the air and I live in an apartment where I can’t let him be out whenever he would like.

****Sorry, please no rude comments about how I should be taking him to the vet. I tried asking Facebook forums and that’s all I got.. I know I should, but I can’t. I tried so hard to save my cat it nearly cost us all our savings.*****

[anonymous]

I hope you find a solution and someone offers you some helpful advice, although, I don’t think a veterinary health care professional will respond.
I’m sorry that you interpret suggestions to go to the vet as “rude”.
Surely you take your pets for annual veterinary exams and diagnostic tests/lab work as recommended. I would bring up these issues at the next visit or sooner if symptoms continue.
Per this site: /disclaimer-and-disclosure/ excerpt below

“Please be advised that we not veterinarians. For this reason, this website was never meant to be used as a substitute for sound professional advice”.
“Because the health of your dog can be directly affected by what you read here, you should always consult with a licensed veterinary professional before taking any specific action”.

[Natalie C]

@anon101 I am not looking for a veterinary health care professional to respond, I am simply looking for alternative ways to help Charlie. We do bring him in for annual check ups, and as I have mentioned in my posts, it was always passed off as no big deal after getting an xray, anal glands expressed and switching food suggestions. Which is why I decided that we should take matters into our own hands because going to the vet is only raking up a bill and not providing us with solutions. I didn’t interpret anything, others were directly telling me that I am not a good owner for keeping him at home and not providing him with vet care. He’s not in a dire situation where blood comes out in his stool or urine. It’s just happening frequently which bothers him and also my family. It is concerning. Please read my post carefully before responding.

[anonymous]

I did read your post carefully. I don’t see a diagnosis? I would consider consulting a specialist (or getting another opinion from a different vet) if the symptoms continue and you have not gotten significant results from treatment prescribed by your regular vet.

The first step is to get an accurate diagnosis. You can’t treat a condition if you don’t know what it is.

[Amy W]

I am reluctantly replying because I sense you are really distressed and could use a few simple suggestions. I am making these purely non-professional suggestions going on these statements in the post: You annually take your pets to vet. Your vet has not found a reason for the dog’s accidents/soft stools. You spent all you had on a pet you loved who sadly, you lost. I am very sorry.

Assuming you will at least be going back for rabies this year, I would consider doing some investigation in the meantime. Keep notes. Does your dog get into stuff you don’t know about? Eat his own or other animals feces? Drink enough water? How much? How often? Does he gobble his food? How often does he poop? Particular times of day?

Perhaps gating him to an easy clean area, when you are not around, would be useful. Taking him for walks at times he seems to naturally need to go out. If he is not on a sensitive food diet, slowly get him on it and give him plenty of time to adjust. Is something causing him stress? Does he hate his crate?

When you schedule that annual, (you will obviously need a rabies at some point this year) take all of your findings with you and try to get a fecal exam done at that time. Probably about $30 or so extra dollars, but you will only have the 1 exam fee then. If there is another vet in that office, see if you can get a second opinion from that one. Or switch entirely. Of course, if things get worse, you will need to do something sooner. But you knew that.

Good luck. I know everyone here, including you, believes vet care is important. I’m sorry you are struggling right now.

[pitlove]

Hi Natalie-

I think that Amy W had a good suggestion with keeping notes. Get a journal and start documenting all of the times he has bad stool, good stool, anything and everything that is abnormal or even normal. I don’t know that we have been given enough information to help, but I can tell you that the one food that agrees with my dog who has stomach issues, food sensitivities etc is Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach Salmon (they also have a lamb, which we don’t use). Maybe this is a food that could help him? It’s hard to say.

[Susan]

Hi Natalie,
I think no matter how many different foods you try your going to need a course of Metronidazole (Flagyl)….also I think poor Charlie needs to see a different vet, not the vet he’s been seeing in the past that said he’s healthy, did this vet test Charlie for giardia, he may have a parasite living in the bowel, vet should of tested 2 separate poos to see if he has Giardia or he may have Small Bowel Intestinal Overgrowth (S.B.I.O) sloppy poos will be baby yellow in colour, SIBO needs Metronidazole for 28 days sometimes vet only gives a 14 day course of the Metro & don’t give enough of the Metro & the SIBO comes back again in a few months or Charlie may have food sensitivities but if he has gotten better while eating the same food & you haven’t change his food & he gets diarrhea again then it’s not the food, you can try & try different foods but you need to get to the root of the problem & do tests if after doing test & vet has no answers then ask to test for EPI… also he may need weekly vitamin B-12 injections he may be low in vitamin B-12 this can cause problems with the digestive system…
The Hills I/d Digestive Care has electrolytes & B vitamins to help him get better + give the Metronidazole, the Metronidazole is an antibiotic & has anti inflammatory properties that heal the bowel, some dogs & cats have to take a low dose & stay on the Metronidazole long term I prefer to give the Metronidazole on & off, Patch starts having side effects & starts acting paranoid & scared of his own shadow…..
The foods you have tried have they been a single novel protein, limited ingredient, low protein, low fat, low Kcal per cup kibble or wet tin food?? “Taste Of the Wild” Sierra Mountain, Roasted Lamb is really good for dogs with Intestinal stress or “Natural Balance” limited ingredient Sweet Potato Bison kibble these kibbles don’t have any chickpeas or lentils & are not real high in protein or fat, but a vet diet will be the best to start off with & let his stomach & bowel rest & heal, Patch stayed on Eukanuba Intestinal low residue vet diet for 9-12months while his bowel healed then I started introducing a new kibble that was low fat, low protein with limited ingredients introducing slowly over 15-30 days then if poos went sloppy I’d put him straight back onto the vet diet, my vet writes me out a repeat script of Metronidazole 200mg x 21 tablets that I can get from a chemist this works out cheaper when Patch starts doing sloppy poos, I wait 2 days & if poos don’t get firm again & are still sloppy, if poo is yellow it’s the small bowel if real dark brown/black cow pattie poo’s it’s the large Bowel, he gets put straight on the Metronidazole for 14 days every 12 hours with a meal before he gets worse & has a IBD flare then it’s not as easy to fix his sloppy poo’s they can go for months…. boiled rice irritates Patches bowel & gives him sloppy poo’s, took the vet a while to click that the cooked rice in a vet diet wet tin food was causing Patches poo’s to stay real sloppy…. best to cook a lean meat + boiled potato is better then boiled rice..
or can you ask a vet can he put him straight on the Metronidazole (Flagyl) a 21 day course & get a bag of the Hills I/d Digestive Care dry vet diet & see if diarrhea stops & he does firm poos & stay on the Hills I/d Digestive Care vet diet over 6 months, it might work out a bit cheaper without any test, around $100 that’s what first vet did with my Patch put him on Royal Canine Intestinal low fat vet diet & a course of Metronidazole & Electrolytes the problem was Patch has bad bacteria in the stomach & bowel + food intolerances.
When you say he puts his bum in the air this could be Pancreatitis pain or whatever he has eaten is causing wind/gas pain in the bowel… Keep a diary & write everything down, meds he’s taken, foods he ate & what happened…. I also live in a unit & I have Patch in a routine, we go on 3 daily walks for poo’s same time everyday 7.30am, 10am & 5pm & in between Patch goes down stairs & does his wee’s in the common garden area….it’s hard but you’ll work it out in the end..

[Erika D]

Have you tried a probiotic? There are tons of them out there at different price points made specifically for dogs.

[InkedMarie]

I don’t know if this will help but try a lower fiber food. I am using Earthborn Primitive natural which is 2.5% fiber. Can’t hurt to try.

You said “I live in an apartment where I can’t let him out whenever he would like”….l’m sorry but living in an apartment is no excuse. You either chose to have a dog while living in one or chose to live in one after getting a dog; either way, apartment dogs are no different than home dogs. They get taken out when they need to go, unless you have trained him to pottty on pads inside.

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