Sick Pup - Page 3

My last German Shepherd was diagnosed with presumptive IBD at age 1 and 1/2 years. He was admitted twice with hemorrhagic gastroenteritis and treated with IV fluid, Carafate, Metronidazole and Augmentin. He was scoped but a colon biopsy was not done. My Veterinarian did say that if his symptoms recurred he would do the biopsy to determine if putting him on Prednisone long term was justified. He was started on a Royal Canin limited ingredient diet (Venison and Potato dry and canned) which he remained on for his entire life. His symptoms resolved and all medications were eventually discontinued and he remained asymptomatic for the rest of his life until euthanized at age 12 because of DM. I'm not recommending any particular brand or type of limited ingredient diet, but it would be easier and less time consuming than an elimination or homemade diet and may be helpful.

 

Edited to add that he was extremely thin early on. He was tested around 10 months for pancreatic insufficiency and was negative. He continued to be very thin on his limited ingredient diet until he broke a toe a year later and was limping after his cast was removed. He was treated with Prednisone for a few days and he strarted to gain weight (coincidence?). He was always on the thin side, but people stopped asking me if I was sure I was feeding him enough. 

Bevsb...probably not a coincidence...prednisone will cause an increase in appetite and almost always a weight gain. Sorry that you lost him to DM.

 

Zeus is feeling better on the B12 injections and some other therapies.He has gained ten pounds and looks much better. Stools are much improved too! I appreciate the advice and input a lot! It’s been a combination of things that helped!

Now for some pictures of him strutting his stuff

Really good news, Cornsilk. So glad he's getting better. Did you actually figure out what the main cause of the problem was, in all that ?

Yeah, as WR says, photos please !

We’ve been giving him neck bones and probiotics, plus the B12 shots. I had made him an appt for a second opinion with an internal specialist when he just turned the corner, started gaining weight and feeling better. I’m guessing those 3 things have helped, and keeping my fingers crossed LOL. TEN pounds! Oh, also a small amount of natural vinegar once daily on his food. The smell of it gags me but he doesn’t mind it and it’s just a little. Video soon!

Unless he starts going backwards, I will just keep doing what we’re doing and pass on the further diagnostic tests, since he’s gaining weight and his coat looks great. We can always run the tests . Meanwhile we will call
It “sensitive tummy”

I just purchased a 10 wk old puppy and I appear to be having the same issues. We have only had him a week. We are experienced german shepherd owners but never had an issue like this.
May I ask where you purchased him and from what breeder?

Croddis, he is from a kennel in North Carolina. I don’t want to cast any shadows on them, since this can happen from any bloodlines. I hope the issues with your new puppy will pass! What have you tried so far?

Hi Cornsilk--

There may be absolutely nothing wrong with your puppy!

Before you laugh... here is the thread where I was really concerned about my Czech working line GSD http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/american_staffordshire_terrier/community.read?post=893012-small-gsd

How skeletal? My puppy was so thin people used to yell and make mean remarks that I wasn't feeding my dog. ALL of her ribs showed! As a Czech working line dog, she matured slowly and it took a long time, but she is healthy and happy... Czech working line dogs can take 3 years and even a little longer to mature and fill out. DDR working line can take 2 to 2 1/2 years to mature and fill out. Better to be skinny than overweight because of stress on the hips. 1/3 of HD can be traced to overweight at any time during a dog's lifetime. GSD are supposed to be lean.  Most people in the U.S. think a properly weighted GSD is too thin due to cultural norms and ignorance.

I could only feed so much food to my puppy because otherwise she would get diarrhea. It was her body's way of telling me how much she needed and how much her body would tolerate.

You say you're feeding Fromm Large Breed Puppy... both the Gold and Heartland are only 26 percent protein and there's grain in the Gold (many GSD have problems with grain). Your puppy may need more protein and tries to eat enough food to get it, but then gets too many calories or the other stuff in the food and so gets diarrhea. And then there is protein in the poo, so the puppy eats what it craves. Puppies sometimes just eat poo because they are puppies, too :-(

IMHO, I'd switch to a much higher protein food for large breed puppies, like Orijen Puppy Large (38 percent protein). This is what I feed and will continue until my puppy is 3 years old. Here are the analyses for Orijen Large Breed Puppy and the two Fromm Large Breed Puppy:

https://www.orijen.ca/foods/dog-food/dry-dog-food/puppy-large/

https://frommfamily.com/products/dog/gold/dry/#large-breed-puppy-gold

https://frommfamily.com/products/dog/gold/dry/#heartland-gold-large-breed-puppy

You don't have to feed as much Orijen as other food... at 2 plus years old, my puppy still only gets 2 1/4 cups a day total and she's (finally) filling out nicely. Any more food than that and she gets diarrhea. Do the change over 1-2 weeks and take care not to over-feed. Better to under-feed a few days until you figure out how much to feed because otherwise the diarrhea will/may persist and you won't know if you're going in the right direction. Forget what the bag says... you need to feed for your puppy's needs, not follow some general guideline that may not be right for your puppy.

IMHO, I'd also give probiotics, maybe at double dose. I use Gut Sense https://www.amazon.com/GutSense-Certified-organic-probiotic-months-supply/dp/B017DXFYKW

I feed once a day and put 2 capsules (opened and dumped on top of the food). If I could, I'd divide the food and probiotics in half and feed twice a day, but it's not an option for us due to weird schedules and trying to keep her from peeing/pooping in the house (set the puppy up for success).

I also do not give any treats or use treats for training because almost all of them have bad stuff in them and can cause diarrhea. I use part of my dog's daily measure of Orijen Puppy Large for treats and any food-based training so she doesn't get overfed and get diarrhea. I tried the Orijen freeze-dried treats, but she got diarrhea, probably because of the added/extra calories. My puppy absolutely adores her food :-)

My puppy gets Red Barn plain cow hooves http://www.redbarninc.com/dog-treat/hooves for dental health because all of the dental chews have bad stuff and can cause diarrhea and I'm terrified of rawhide and bones... once the poo-eating stops, the cow hooves are enough to clean the teeth and keep them clean.

Finally, if your puppy is drinking water with chlorine and/or fluoride, this could be causing/contributing to the problem. We all drink Dasani because the tap water caused diarrhea in all my GSD (figured out by trial and error).

As far as adding something to a puppy's diet to make the poo taste bad, I have no experience doing this, but I wouldn't do anything until you get the diarrhea issue fixed.  Then if you add something you'll know if it causes diarrhea. At least some of the products on the market for this purpose have ingredients I would never give my puppy.  BTW, if you teach your puppy to only pee/poo in one place and it is fenced like with an exercise pen and the door closed when the puppy isn't peeing/pooing, it's easier to stop the poo-eating even if you pick up religiously :-)

Hope this helps so you can get out of (and stay out of) the vet's office, except for shots/check-ups :-)