Around mid October of 2007, I noticed my dog was not eating and had dropped some
weight. I was not too alarmed at this point, but then a few days later she threw up bile
with pieces of blanket and yellow water hose in it. Then a few days later she had no
appetite at all and I noticed a bloody stool, very watery.
My regular vet is an hour away and it was late on a Friday afternoon. The only vet
available was one close to home so I took her in. He immediately said you could tell she
was sick by her eyes and her smell. (Her mouth odor). He thought she had perhaps had
eaten something that was stuck in her stomach. He took x-rays but like he said cloth
would not show up in an x-ray. Nothing showed up so he sent her home on Science Diet,
a diarrhea medication and something for nausea.
He called on Saturday to check on her and she was eating the food. But by Sunday she
stopped eating it and by Monday she was again not eating, no vomiting but still had
diarrhea.
Her diarrhea was very watery, like water at times. Like it went right through her. Then
once or twice it was like pudding consistency. Then back to water.
On Monday I took her to another vet who admitted her into the hospital. She stayed there
for 10 days. He did put a scope down her throat and nothing showed up. He did say
however she had something, and I cannot recall the name of it, that made her stomach
lining very thick and inflamed. Again, she was sent home, medication and food and
nothing helped. She continued to go down hill.
She was a 56 pound dog and down to skin and bones. Her weigh at the second vet was
now 32 pounds. She had gone from 56 to 32 pounds in two months time. She would eat
one day, skip a day, eat, skip, on and on.
I took her to another vet one day when she had green snotty discharge coming from her
nose. He kept her 10 days and put her on IV fluids, and antibiotics , steroids for
inflammation and other meds for diarrhea and nausea. He called after 10 days and said
come get her, he had exhausted all means to treat her. One day normal stool, the next
day explosive diarrhea.
When I got her home on this second vet stay she was now 28 pounds. Then one day in
Feb, she started to gain weigh, she got up to 34 pounds, had energy, would run, bark and
even bit the vet when he came over to do a house call. Then like turning on a light
switch.....diarrhea, not eating, listless...all over again. Then she dropped to her worst
weigh of 23 pounds. Then two months ago....she started eating like a pig, she wiped out
her dish daily was even standing up on her hind legs to beg for food. It was like she was
making a statement she was back and she was starving.........then here we are again.
She is now 29 pounds, explosive diarrhea, some vomiting, coughing and listless. Two
days with no food, then she ate today.....still diarrhea, but ate and drank
We have tried so many things, it is hard to list.
Here are some foods we have tried.
Science Diet (did nothing, very expensive)
Instinct (this is a Holistic grain free food) again very expensive and she did not eat it
Blue Buffalo, Holistic food. Likes it and eats it, but not all the time
Royal Cain, hates it
Boiled sweet potato, boiled white potato and chicken breast. LOVED IT, but soon
stopped eating it. This was suppose to make her stool firm up. It never did.
NO matter what we tried she has diarrhea.
She has been tested for worms and parasites. Nothing shows up.
We have wormed her with Panacure, Strongid and Drontal. She is on HeartGuard for
heartworm preventative.
Medications she has taken: Clavamox antibiotic, Prednisone, Tagament for upset
stomach, Immodium for diarrhea, Albon.
The diarrhea is the main thing. If she has it chronic then nothing is absorbing in her
system for her to gain and stay nourished. Her diarrhea goes from bloody water, to
pudding texture. Some times it is like a light caramel color, sometimes darker,
sometimes it looks like melted chocolate ice cream. Sometimes it stinks so bad you gag
and sometimes no odor.
She has it so bad, she will poop in her sleep. She can be sleeping and when she gets up
you will see a small pool of cocoa colored water beneath her butt. One time she got up to
be put outside and she was dripping liquid it was so bad.
We put her in an outdoor kennel to see just what she was doing each day and some days
you saw nothing because it was so much like liquid it had nothing there on the ground.
She was an inside dog, but because of the diarrhea we cannot keep her inside any more.
She is not stressed. She was happy always running with the other dogs, barking at cars
that passed, keeping strangers out the yard, greeting people at the gate. She ate well,
drank, liked toys and was a normal dog until this hit her last year.
Our yard has no other animals but our own. Nothing can come into the yard, it is all
fenced. We live in the country on a small farm with two horses and she cannot get near
the horses. With the other dogs nothing will come onto our land.
We live in Texas in hot humid summers and cold wet winters. But she came down with
this in the fall, when it was normal weather. She is a chewer, but x-rays showed nothing
in her system. Her coat has remained soft. When I go outside she comes to see me and
liked to get in her wading pool and lay down to cool off and lap the cool water. She
drinks, but eats very slowly and picks at her food.
She will growl at times if other dogs come near her food with spunk, but then she won’t
eat it.
Today, I let her out the kennel. She was happy to come inside and came in a nice soft
cage. I gave her two cups of water and about a cup of dry with wet food. She ate it all,
wiped the bowl clean. When I put her out three hours later she had a spot of poop
beneath her. She went out, liquid poop and peed and came in. I gave her more food, she
picked two pieces and left the rest and has not touched it in about two hours or more.
Age is two years old. She is a border collie/springer mix. Adopted at young age. All her
siblings are fine.
Test show nothing.
If I left anything out, ask me.
