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Pet's info: Dog | Boxer | Male | neutered | 5 months and 12 days old | 60 lbs
My puppy has been on and off metronidazole for awhile to try and firm up his poop. He finished his last bottle earlier this week. Because of the possible long term effects, I’d like to stay away from it now. I feed him royal canin gastrointestinal puppy food and put a packet of forti flora over his food every morning. He has firm poops but a couple stands of soft poop at the end. What can I do for this?
2 Answers

Answered By Dr. Elizabeth
Veterinarian
Published on February 8th, 2019
Answered By Rodrigo Roca, DVM
Veterinarian
Hello, sorry to hear about Bentley. Managing chronic GI issues can be difficult and take multiple approaches. A long timeline or even lifelong management for GI signs is often necessary. I am unsure how much work up Bentley has undergone and what diagnostics he has had, but in puppies, the cause of loose stools is often associated with a parasite infection or food hypersensitivity. You may need to discuss with your veterinarian about attempting a food trial for Bentley as well as other ingredients such as fiber before continuing long term antibiotics.
In general, chronic GI diseases are separated into food responsive, antibiotic responsive, or steroid responsive. These require longterm medications and life or diet changes, however we tend to see these in middle aged dogs not puppies.
I would then recommend having his stools tested for any parasites prior to pursuing more invasive diagnostics or lifelong medical intervention. Hope this helps and best of luck.
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