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My puppy has chronic diarrhea. Is a food allergy the problem?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 6 months and 16 days old | 7.2 lbs

My puppy has been suffering from diarrhea for a few weeks now. had to take her to emergency once she started screaming in pain from going so much. They took tests/X-rays all were clear. Metronidazole works on her she acts completely fine apart from diarrhea. Our regular vet agrees that she doesn't think it's worms because she's been dewormed/fecal tested etc. she said it could be a food allergy causing the upset & prescribed us royal canin food for a few weeks to see if it clears up?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Rodrigo Roca, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on August 17th, 2017

Hello, sorry to hear about Snowball. Certain food proteins can definitely cause inflammation of the bowel and thus diarrhea. There are 3 main categories that we consider when we talk about diarrhea that has been going on for a long time.

Food Responsive diarrhea is one which responds to a different type of protein or more fiber or gluten free food. A diet trial should be performed for a period of 6-8 weeks with each food change Snowball sees as it takes that long to have a response.

Antibiotic Responsive diarrhea is that which responds to long term use of antibiotics such as metronidazole or tylosin powder.

Steroid responsive diarrhea is that which is typically caused by an inflammatory process such as autoimmune disease and thus the steroids work by suppressing the immune system.

Managing these problems can definitely be stressful for the owner, pet, and veterinarian but with some patience you will hopefully get to the bottom of it. Best of luck and hope this helps.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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