german shepherd digestive problems - Page 1

Some immediate questions......

Have you tested and tested again for intestinal parasites? Have you treated the dog with metronidazole? How much fiber content and how much fat content is the food you feed?

How much food in one feeding do you give the dog? Is his coat dry? Did he always have loose stools like this even when he was a very young pup? If not, when did this begin?

What antibiotics has he been on? I have some suggestions, but would like to know a lot more about this situation. Have you ever tried putting pancreatic enzymes in his food?

Has anything, treatment or food, or amount of food or frequency of feeding ever made the situation better?

What you are describing is clearly digestive in nature, but just exactly what the problem is remains to be seen. What does your vet call this problem?

This may sound strange, but try giving him oatmeal in his food, he may need the fiber, I have switched to a completely raw diet for my dogs, and they can't wait to be fed, and they are going normal.

The food you're feeding is probably expensive, you should try & switch to the raw diet, you can even buy cuts of meats that say manager special and are marked down in price, still human grade food, and you can get suppliments and put them in with the meats or chicken or turkey.

Just seems that kibble is not as nutritional as raw........This guy can give you an idea of how to feed raw, ends up costing you less in vet bills!

http://leerburg.com/diet2.htm 

Sounds like E.P.I. to me.
Has the dog had a T.L.I. test done yet?

I have to agree I would feed raw.  There is no comparison and digestion changes for the better in almost all cases.  Leerburg is great information for raw to start and then develop your own menu.  Best of luck Nan

Try giving him digestive enzymes, such as Prozyme and a good multistrain probiotic, which is something that can be purchased at a healthfood store. These two products are very good for overall health in any dog.  Also Tylan powder (can be purchased online)may be worth a try. It is given to dogs to treat colitis and chronic  diarrhea. Add these products slowly,  one at a time. Raw may be worth a try too, but do a good bit of research before venturing there and as others mentioned, Leerburg is a good source. It is real important to feed the proper ratio of muscle meat, organ meat and bone. Just don't go trying a lot of things at once because it won't be clear as to what has helped your dog when the loose stools stop (I'm thinking postive! ). Good luck!  

Test for giardia and cocciddia. Do more than the vet's fecal float, send it out to Antec no matter what your vet says. If it comes back negative, feed a raw diet and your problem will go away.

I would probably just give him a panacur treatment 3-5 days.  If you have tested for the above plus parasites, I would go ahead and just do it.  In the past I had a dog with whip which was undetected for 2 years;  man was that a mess and the poor dog.  FINALLY, my vet found a whipworm which i treated him twice;  end of problems.  But the damage it did was unrepairable.  So do not wait;  I would do it now even if the tests come up negative.  Best of luck Nan

I agree completely with Nan and Dog1.

It sounds like and I will bet it looks like and smells like, GIARDIA!!!!!  It really is epidemic.

A five day course of Panacur C, wait a week and repeat.  Giardia has a life cycle and you have to kill it at two points for the best and quickes resolve. 

Raw feeding is what I recommend based on my learning the hard way.

The quickest way to a diagnosis sometimes, is to treat with Panacur C.  Not much of a downside there.

Michele  (been there-done that)

PS,  Metronidazole (Flagyll) is the listed treament but many, many vets have switced to Panacur C.  Fllagyll seems to give symptom relief by does not give a lasting cure.

One vet told me Flagyl is something like only 80% good at killing off giardia.  It is also dangerous.