# 8 month old Golden with chronic diarrhea!!! Help!!



## hardejl (Jul 11, 2012)

My 8 month old Golden, Camp, has had skin rashes and diarrhea since he was about 3 months old - we have done several rounds of Cephalexin and various skin tests and fecal tests and none have shown what was wrong with him. Each time we are taking the Cephalexin, everything clears up but as soon as we finish it the diarrhea and rash comes back! Help!! What could be wrong?? We are thinking maybe a food allergy, but really don't know! Our vet is stumped also!


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

What are you feeding him?


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## hardejl (Jul 11, 2012)

Well right now he is on Science Diet puppy food, but we have tried several different things - for about a month and a half we were on the Prescription Diet I/D food, which is for gastrintestinal issues and that helped a little but not completely. I am open to anything at this point!


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## slap (Aug 12, 2011)

Ugh, I feel for you. Our previous dog, a yellow lab, suffered her entire life with those symptoms. Not to scare you, but it took years before a definitive diagnosis was made - colitis. (Colitis merely means inflammation of the colon, so I use the term definitive lightly.)

Does he strain for a long time when he goes? Is there ever any slime or mucus?

You should get him an allergy test ASAP just to rule food allergy out as a cause, though in our case we were told she was allergic to a bunch of things, and in the end those allergies had nothing to do with the colitis.

We found that temaril-p (trimeprazine with prednisolone) kept the skin allergy symtoms at bay, and antibiotics helped with the colitis. Our vet had us administer antibiotics for only 3 days with each occurrence of diarrhea. Of course, our dog was 8 before we came up with this recipe, and by age 11 the long term use of steroids over the years caused her kidneys to fail and we had to put her down. :-(

Anyway, my advice:

- Get a second and third opinion before accepting a diagnosis and treatment plan
- Get allergy testing done (yes, it is expensive)
- Use caution with steroid treatments if prescribed - find the smallest effective dose by trial and error (break pills in half, give every other day, etc.)
- Ask about colitis as a possible cause of diarrhea

Switching food (except to I/D or W/D by prescription) will cause diarrhea in any dog if done too abruptly. That said, you should consider a higher quality food, and a non-puppy (all life stages) one at that. Fromm and Orijen come to mind. With our new golden, we feed Fromm four star (grain free) and he sh*ts bricks. ;-)

Good luck!


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

Put him on a bland diet of boiled hamburger and rice,1 cup hamburger - 2 cups cooked rice, you can even add plain pureed (canned) pumpkin to add fibre. Also give him a tablespoon or so of yogurt once a day to help balance the digestive tract. Nothing else nor other foods for at least a week. Try feeding him smaller portions but feed 3 times a day to meet his daily amount. His digestive tract needs time to heal and settle down. Then find a food that does not have any of the ingredients of the foods he has eaten. Science Diet generally has corn and chicken as two of it 'main' ingredients.While keeping on the rice and hamburger, slowly add the kibble you want to try him on, just a few pieces to start for a few days, and gradually increase the amount of dog food and reduce the bland diet. There is also a supplement called 'Pro-gut' it is a high protein paste that you can give to your dog, once or twice a day (I think) that will nourish him without taxing his digestive tract.


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

hardejl said:


> Well right now he is on Science Diet puppy food, but we have tried several different things - for about a month and a half we were on the Prescription Diet I/D food, which is for gastrintestinal issues and that helped a little but not completely. I am open to anything at this point!


 
I adopted my boy a little over a year ago from my County H.S., he was a stray, needed a little TLC, and needed to gain 15-20 lbs. He had stomach issues from the day I adopted him. I made several trips to the Vet, he was on various antibiotics, de-wormed two more times, was given tablets for his stomach to be taken before he ate. His stools improved some but weren't like they should be and he wasn't gaining any weight, basically everything he was eating was going through him. He didn't have diarrhea, but his stools were not as firm as they should be plus he just wasn't gaining weight. I was giving him 3 cups of food a day. I previously had him on BB, even tried their Sensitive Stomach formula.

I saw a thread about a dog with before and after pictures posted. One of the members had suggested to this member to feed her dog Purina Pro Plan for Sensitive Skin and Stomach.

I decided I might as well give it a try, at this point I didn't feel I had anything to loose. I started doing a gradual transistion of the PPP SS, mixing it with the BB, increasing the PPP SS slowly until he was totally on the PPP SS. Within three days, I noticed a difference in my boy's stools and his coat. His stomach issues cleared up once he was completely on the PPP SS, his coat started growing and he gained enough weigh, 5-10 lbs. that was needed to get him neutered. 

When I adopted him he weighed 59 lbs., at his yearly check up, he weighed 73 lbs. Vet was very pleased with his weight gain and progress.

You might want to consider trying the Purina Pro Plan for Sensitive Skin and Stomach. Both of my goldens are eating this now, both doing very well on it and look great.


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## hardejl (Jul 11, 2012)

Our vet said that the best way to do allergy testing is by trial and error since they are only testing one strand of everything per prick and the animal can be allergic to another strand of something and it may never pick it up. I am ready to get another opinion though.

To answer your question - yes sometimes the diarrhea is slimy and mucous-y, and sometimes the slime is even green, sorry I know that's gross! But he doesn't ever really strain to go.

This scares me to death - he is our baby and it absolutely breaks my heart to see him suffering. The most logical thing seems that it would be a food allergy because he doesn't seem to feel bad at all and this is the only side effect. He doesn't even scratch the rash that comes up. The only thing about it being an allergy is that it cleared up when he was on the Cephalexin. Would that make sense?


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

_*Slap*_ has given you some great advice. I agree, you might want to consider getting another opinion, doing allergy testing along with checking to see if your dog has Colitis.

Are you giving him any type of treats? This could be causing a problem too.


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## slap (Aug 12, 2011)

hardejl said:


> To answer your question - yes sometimes the diarrhea is slimy and mucous-y, and sometimes the slime is even green, sorry I know that's gross! But he doesn't ever really strain to go.


Mucus is an indicator of colitis. Cephalexin is an antibiotic, and antibiotics are the best medicine for a colitis flare up.

Well, if I were you I would ditch Science Diet, like, today. Do what the other poster suggested and feed a homemade bland diet and gradually introduce your new food. Boiled beef or boiled (skinless) chicken breast mixed with rice is usually easy to digest. (I always feel better about brown rice as it's more nutritious.) For filler, you can add boiled green beans or pumpkin. (Even pumpkin in a can is good.) Making food can be a PITA, so I suggest making it in big batches and serving cold. Most dogs won't complain. 

FWIW I am very impressed with Fromm. Search this forum and you'll see lots of people recommend it. I get it from petfooddirect.com and use their autoship feature to get 15% off. I like to buy the 4lb. bags of their grain-free varieties and feed a different one for each meal - all Fromm foods are interchangeable, so no digestive stress doing that. (I still haven't figured out the right autoship schedule, but it's super easy to postpone or expedite your shipment.)


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## MikaTallulah (Jul 19, 2006)

My friend swears by Plain Greek Yogurt 1-2 tablespoons a day.


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## Willow52 (Aug 14, 2009)

slap said:


> Mucus is an indicator of colitis. Cephalexin is an antibiotic, and antibiotics are the best medicine for a colitis flare up.
> 
> Well, if I were you I would ditch Science Diet, like, today. Do what the other poster suggested and feed a homemade bland diet and gradually introduce your new food. Boiled beef or boiled (skinless) chicken breast mixed with rice is usually easy to digest. (I always feel better about brown rice as it's more nutritious.) For filler, you can add boiled green beans or pumpkin. (Even pumpkin in a can is good.) Making food can be a PITA, so I suggest making it in big batches and serving cold. Most dogs won't complain.
> 
> FWIW I am very impressed with Fromm. Search this forum and you'll see lots of people recommend it. I get it from petfooddirect.com and use their autoship feature to get 15% off. I like to buy the 4lb. bags of their grain-free varieties and feed a different one for each meal - all Fromm foods are interchangeable, so no digestive stress doing that. (I still haven't figured out the right autoship schedule, but it's super easy to postpone or expedite your shipment.)



I agree with Slap about ditching the Scince Diet and trying a bland homemade diet for awhile. I don't feed Fromm so not familiar with the ingredients, but I'd try slowing switching to something with limited ingredients so you can identify what he's sensitive to.


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## Wagners Mom2 (Mar 20, 2012)

I agree with ditching the Science Diet, now. Go to the bland diet of hamburger/rice for a few days...then I would try Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach as well. I am pleased with it so far for my 3.

I like Fromm in general, but for a sensitive dog, it has way too many ingredients for my taste. If you don't really have a clue what the dog is sensitive too, it could be a real pain figuring it out on such a busy list of ingredients. 

My golden didn't do well on Fromm because he has chicken and potato intolerances--and Fromm is loaded with both. Not saying all dogs are, but the PP SSS is fish based and quite different from SD. Worth a shot, IMO. 

Best of luck to you both.


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