My 6-year-old Siberian has intermittent loose stool. What's next?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! How frustrating! I think that Nova is allergic to the dog food. I would change brands or meat protein. Animals can develop GI or skin allergies to their food at anytime. Be sure that you have had a fecal tested for parasites and he has been dewormed well. Since he is young parasites are high on the list and I still deworm them even if the stool sample is negative. I hope this helps!

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

Unfortunately we have. I would highly recommend placing Echo on probiotics (i.e. Advita, Fortiflora, or Proviable) for roughly 2-4 weeks, adding 1-2 tsp of canned pumpkin (not the Pie filling) in his food daily, Purina EN Gastrointestinal food can be tried, and then consider having the stool rechecked through your veterinarian. Oftentimes if a pet has many worms they need multiple dewormings to get things to return to normal. I would try those suggestions first and see how Echo responds. If the stools still have not resolved after 2-4 weeks, then consider treating Echo with a long term antibiotic (i.e. Tylan powder) to treat for suspected inflammatory bowel disease. I hope that things resolve soon for Echo. Take care http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=598

The ingredients in the diet you are currently feeding are fine and quinoa would not be more beneficial than potatoes or carrots unless there was a known issue with them. I see Luca's stool in the pictures and they are definitely loose. It also appears that he is straining to defecate. Without knowing more, I'm suspicious that there is a problem in the colon causing him to have diarrhea. This could be an infection, or an inflammatory bowel disease. Infection is a common cause of diarrhea in younger dogs. Either way, it's best to have him evaluated by your vet, because I'm not sure that a diet change will help his current condition. A vet can test his stool ( make sure to take a fresh sample with you) and possibly do other testing to help identify the cause. Once the cause of this is identified, the correct treatment and diet can be advised. You can help him get through this by feeding bland food (boneless chicken and rice is good). Feed small portions (1/2 cup or less) three times a day. You can also add probiotics to the food (can get this at the pet store), which has demonstrated some efficacy for improving diarrhea. Ensure fresh, clean water is always available. I hope this helps and Luca gets better soon.

I am sorry to hear about Lady! The next steps in diagnostics would include abdominal ultrasound and surgical biopsy to look for possible inflammatory bowel disease or cancer. This is likely why your vet has started steroids (these diseases will sometimes respond to steroids). If this is inflammatory bowel disease a trial of a hydrolyzed protein diet may also be of benefit.

Chronic diarrhea can be a frustrating issue! In a young German Shepherd, my main concerns for Charlie are that he may have intestinal parasites, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, or inflammatory bowel disease. If he has not recently had a stool sample checked for parasites, this is a good starting point. If no parasites are seen, consider discussing blood work (CBC, chemistry, B12, TLI, folate) and an abdominal ultrasound to try to get to the bottom of this situation. Probiotics (Fortiflora and Proviable are two brands) may be beneficial. I hope that all goes well!

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Flash. If you are interested in an over-the-counter diet for gastrointestinal issues, I would recommend trying Purina ProPlan Sensitive Skin and Stomach. I have had a clients who have had good results on this food. As with any diet change, you will want to transition gradually over 7-10 days. This will help to limit any GI upset. Good luck!