Diaharea in 10 year old female

15 years ago

The vet told us our 10 year old sheppard needed to lose weight both to lose weight and to relieve the ear problem she's suffered from for years (fungus or brown discharge, her ear hurts to be cleaned). We've tried a couple recipes from the BalanceIt site but Misty wouldn't eat it (she is table-fed-spoiled). Then we got dry/can food from the vet and gave only that but after a week she developed diaharea with some blood in it. Then the vet gave a recipe of beef/oatmeal/2 green veggies and she's still suffering from diaharea. Mom switches to just meat to calm the diaharea but Misty still has it for a day or two after the change. Misty also seems to strain but not go much, which makes me wonder if she's got cramps or if that's normal for diaharea (I assumed it was just lots of loose stool, not lots of straining with little water).

The vet has suggested Mom give Misty Kaopeptate but I'd like to hear from people here regarding the situation. Is this still a result of sudden switching? Should mom go back to her old table fed ways and switch slowly from that to a new diet? Is it possibly the cabbage in the meal (50% meat, 25% oatmeal, 25% of 2 green veggies). Misty's ear is so painful Mom can't clean it. Any ideas of how we should proceed?

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Comments (4)

joepyeweed
15 years ago
Table fed - can be good or it can be bad, depending upon what's coming off the table.

I would probably give Misty a couple tablespoons of canned pumpkin (not pie filling, just pumpkin) it can help with diarrhea and calms the digestive tract.

Did your vet give Misty some ear drops? I couple drops of the magic yellow stuff (what is that?) rubbed in twice a day, until it gets to a point where its comfortable enough to clean...

Other things, straining? Assuming they've checked her anal glands?

Blood, parasites?

I'd probably not feed cabbage as a green vegetable, I would do beans and broccoli - something more firm, more fiber, less gassy... cabbage kills my gut too.
annzgw
15 years ago
IMO, she's gone thru a lot of diet changes and that can cause digestive upset, but I'd be concerned since she's had the diarrhea for so long.

I'd have the vet check the ear again if its that painful since your description sounds like Misty needs more than an ear cleaning. A badly infected ear would be enough to cause her to be ill.

Did the vet say to add cabbage? Some dogs can have digestive problems with cabbage so I'd eliminate it from her diet and add green snap beans instead. You may also try adding a small amount of pumpkin to help calm her stomach.
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trinigemini
15 years ago
If the dog has fungus in the ear they should have given you something to clean it with. We use Maleseb, but there are other medications as well. The meds need to be applied everyday and the ears need to be cleaned everyday. Bulldogs also get the ear fungus and the best thing to do is use the meds consistently otherwise the fungus comes back and irritates the fur babies.
home_nw
15 years ago
Having recently experienced some of those symptoms with our female shepherd, I'm extra-sensitive when anyone says they have a shepherd with diarrhea that won't clear up. That's a hallmark sign of Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI). Although any breed (even mixed breeds) can get it, at least 50% of the dogs that get it are German Shepherds (or closely related breeds like Shiloh Shepherds). EPI symptoms are listed on the attached link. You might want to see if they sound familiar. If so, you'll want to ask your vet for the cTLI test, since normal blood tests can't detect EPI.

The ear trouble isn't necessarily indicative of EPI, although some EPI dogs seem prone to yeast infections in their ears.

Hope you find a solution soon.

Here is a link that might be useful: EPI symptoms