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My adopted dog has diarrhea that won't stop. What tests are needed?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Male | unneutered | 15 lbs

So my dogs breed is lab/basenji. I adopted him from a shelter on februaury 10th he’s had diaherra every since we brought him home. Took him to the vet last month they did fecal examine and gave me diaherra pills. I used pumpkin sauce for a while it stopped working and now the diaherra pills don’t help. He is known to eating non food items. I Have a palm tree in my back yard that produces orange seeds and he’ll eat them but I believe they usually pas Been giving him rice and chicken for two days.

4 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Ana M, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on April 16th, 2019

Thank you for submitting your question regarding your dog. Ongoing diarrhea can be very frustrating. I would recommend a diarrhea panel submitted to a reference laboratory to look for evidence an intestinal infection. This will be more detailed than testing performed at your local veterinary clinic. Next, I would recommend blood work and a urine sample to look for an underlying disease contributing to his symptoms. If no abnormalities are found on all of these tests, then I will usually implement a diet change. I hope this information helps!

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

Related Answers from Veterinarians

Answered By Dr. Elizabeth
Veterinarian
Published on October 16th, 2019
I hate to hear this is happening to Doug. It sounds like your veterinarian is working hard to figure out whats wrong. Since I don't know what tests have been run other than a barium study, you may want to discuss the following tests with your vet:
Giardia
Fecal Culture
Pancreatic Lipase Insufficiency
Food trial with 100% hydrolyzed Protein diet
Food trial with high fiber food (Like Royal Canin Fiber Response or similar diet)
Blood work to look at liver or kidney values
5 day trial of Panacur
6 week trial of Tylosin
Referral to specialist

I hope this helps an please feel free to post any additional questions.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Answered By Jennifer Summerfield, DVM CPDT-KA
Veterinarian, Certified Dog Trainer
Published on November 20th, 2016
I'm sorry to hear that Daisy is having so much trouble! Chronic diarrhea can be a very frustrating problem. It sounds like she doesn't have a specific diagnosis yet, so I would be interested to know exactly what testing has been done and what treatments have been tried so far - feel free to request a consultation if you want to discuss things in more detail.

In general, some tests that may be helpful in diagnosing the cause of chronic diarrhea like this would include a fecal analysis for parasites (including less common ones like Giardia and cryprosporidium), general blood work to check for a systemic illness that may be causing the diarrhea, a GI blood panel to look at whether or not nutrients are being absorbed appropriately, and even endoscopy or exploratory surgery with biopsies in some cases to check for things like IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) or GI lymphoma.

If a full diagnostic work-up is not an option financially, then some treatment options that could be tried would include a diet trial with a prescription hypoallergenic or GI diet, metronidazole, an oral steroid like prednisone, and vitamin B12 supplementation.

I would recommend taking Daisy back to one of the vets who has seen her before to discuss options for where to go from here, or asking for referral to an internal medicine specialist if you prefer.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Answered By Megan, DVM, CVA
Veterinarian
Published on April 13th, 2018
Poor Lola. There are so additional things that your vet could look into. I would have her poop tested for campylobacter and giardia. These are common parasites/bacteria that cause diarrhea but can be difficult to diagnose on a regular fecal test done in house. I would also try her on a prescription hypoallergenic food. If she has an allergy to something in the food, this could also cause on/off diarrhea. Finally, I would talk to your vet about running a GI panel. This tests for Vitamin B12, folate, and 2 pancreatic enzymes. I would also start her on a probiotic. I like Purina fortiflora, propectalin, or vetriscience brands. It is NOT normal for them to have diarrhea especially with blood this often. It could be stressed but I would want to rule everything else out. I hope this helps!
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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My dog has recurring diarrhea. What other vet tests are there?

With a normal stool sample and blood panel, the next steps are experimenting with diet - specifically a hypoallergenic prescription diet (such as Royal Canin Ultamino, which is definitely the most expensive option, but also the one that seems to work best in diagnosing food allergies. It takes eating ONLY the prescription food for about a month to see if it helps, and then if it does help you can certainly experiment with less expensive foods. If you she would having signs of food allergy you'd need to do a full 3 months, but for intestinal issues, you should see a response in just a couple weeks) OR a high fiber/easily digestible diet (such as Hills Fiber Response EN). Some dogs need continual probiotics to keep normal stool. Treating any underlying anxiety (if present) can also help. Finally, a gut biopsy, which is much more invasive and costly can be done. Since she isn't yet spayed, I would consider doing a gut biopsy when/if she is spayed because that would be minimal additional expense or trauma for her while she's already have an abdominal surgery. I hope that helps! Wishing you the best with this difficult issue - It can take a long long time to get to the bottom of things

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My dog has chronic diarrhea with yellow droplets. What tests should I ask for?

Has he had fecal testing run at a laboratory? Sometimes if the vet looks at it themselves they can miss something (human error happens). You can actually send the test in yourself to the lab and then if there are any positive results you can consult with your vet about treatment. This is the same lab they would likely use. ( https://www.idexx.com/en/veterinary/fecalchek/ ) Chronic diarrhea can be due to many different things. It may take a lot of testing to figure this out. ( https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/diarrhea-in-dogs ) If it is not intestinal parasites the next most likely thing would be inflammatory bowel disease. To get a definitive diagnosis intestinal biopsies would be needed. That being said, if owners cannot afford that, often times we do a trial of medication (I use Tylosin) to treat it and see what happens. In the meantime, I suggest you try using Fortiflora probiotic (if you have not already done so). One packet on food daily - one box will do a 30 day treatment. ( 1800petmeds.com/Purina+FortiFlora-prod10376.html ) Also, give him only his food and nothing else. The more different things you give him the more chance of diarrhea and then you won't know what is helping or not helping. Keeping things consistent makes it easier to get a diagnosis. Hope this helps. If you have more questions you can always opt for a private consultation where we can chat back and forth. That way you can ask as many questions as you'd like. Best wishes.

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