My dog's diarrhea worsened on meds. Can I give Loperamide or Flagyl?

If Lexi is still playful and eating, and her stools are improving (even if they're not normal yet), then it sounds like you're on the right track. I would continue with her course of flagyl as your vet prescribed. If her stools don't continue to get firmer, you might want to ask your vet about adding a probiotic, or even consider the Hills Biome prescription food, which has been shown to be very effective for diarrhea issues. If the diarrhea worsens again, reach back out to your vet. We often start by treating diarrhea fairly symptomatically and supportively, but there are many other potential causes of diarrhea including Addisons disease, intestinal parasites, inflammatory bowel, food sensitivities, etc - so depending on the diagnostics your vet ran on Lexi initially, they may recommend further workup if this issue becomes recurrent. Hope this helps! Feel free to reach out if you have any follow-up questions.

Poor Paloma! I would recommend a vet visit for her because she has had diarrhea for over a week and the bland diet has not worked. No, do not give her the metronidazole. Drugs prescribed for another dog should never be given, as it may be the wrong drug for the cause of her diarrhea and the wrong dose. It has reached the point where veterinary care is needed for this issues, and I would call your vet today to set up an appointment for her as soon as possible. Best of luck.

Some dogs that have an underlying disease like inflammatory bowel disease do need long term antibiotic use, but it is best to have a diagnosis before continuing medications long term for two reasons: one is that antibiotic usage can sometimes mask the underlying problem, and the other is that there can be effects on the gastrointestinal flora. There are many diseases that could cause chronic diarrhea including a food intolerance, pancreatitis, or inflammatory bowel disease as stated above. I would recommend talking to your veterinarian to see if other tests or treatments are recommended at this point to try to diagnose the problem - some additional tests might include a pancreatic lipase test, cobalamin/folate, abdominal ultrasound or even obtaining intestinal biopsy samples to try to determine what might be causing chronic diarrhea. You might also want to talk to your veterinarian about a hypoallergenic food trial.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Indy. No, diarrhea is not a common side effects from these medications. Metronidazole, in particular, is used to treat diarrhea. I recommend contacting his veterinarian with the update on his new symptoms. If he is otherwise doing well, it may be recommended to fast him for a period of time to allow his GI tract to rest. I hope this information helps!

There are several things I try for diarrhea that is not responding to typical treatments - sometimes I give the medications for a longer duration, sometimes I'll try a different antibiotic, and sometimes I'll try a different diet (which it sounds like your vet is attempting with the EN). Your vet might also want to retest a stool sample - sometimes with diarrhea there just isn't enough actual feces to get a positive results. Chronic diarrhea can also be caused by inflammatory bowel disease which is a more severe form of IBS and ultrasound and special blood testing can help diagnose this. Corticosteroid medications and B12 injections are often the recommended treatments for IBD.

Hi there. In my experience, it often takes 48 hours or so to see improvement in diarrhea after starting metronidazole. Full resolution of the problem may take another 2-3 days from there. So if Jake's diarrhea seems to be improving and his appetite is better, this is a good sign. I would continue with the current treatment plan prescribed by your veterinarian. If his diarrhea has not resolved in another 2-3 days, then I would recommend taking him back in for a recheck to see if some other type of treatment is needed.

It could be that the diarrhea worsening is independent of the metronidazole as this drug does not help all cases of diarrhea, dependent on the cause. But since it is new it would be best to stop until you can speak with your vet. Has your kitty had a work up for these symptoms? Chronic vomiting and diarrhea are common symptoms of several things, but most notably GI disease. It would be abnormal for a cat to need chronic medication for vomiting unless there is a disease process there. Just to help a little, a work up for an older kitty with these signs could include bloodwork with thyroid testing, an abdominal ultrasound, and sampling if needed (dependent on ultrasound). If there is an underlying disease that can be treated your kitty may feel better and need less medications eventually. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!