My senior dog stopped vomiting, but diarrhea continues. What's next?

It is hard to say if the diarrhea is related to Summer’s respiratory issues or not. If it was parasites causing the problem, they certainly could be related. Also, sometimes certain antibiotics can upset the gut flora (the normal bacteria in the gut) and can cause diarrhea. Regardless of the cause of the diarrhea, starting Summer on metronidazole and a probiotic is a good idea. This is the typical treatment for diarrhea. I can understand that having your dog on two different antibiotics can be concerning but sometimes it is necessary. Metronidazole is great for diarrhea because it specifically targets the type of bacteria that overgrows causing the diarrhea. At this point I would recommend continuing the current therapy your vet prescribed. The diarrhea should start to resolve in 3-5 days. If this is not the case you may want to have a recheck at your vet. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

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.

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.

Continue the treatment and feed him boiled chicken and rice for a few days, this should resolve the problem. if it doesn't you will need to take him back to the vet in order to get it checked and treated.

That is very concerning that she is not eating, vomiting, and losing weight. If blood work is normal than your vet could do x-rays and/or an abdominal ultrasound to look for abnormalities. Your vet could also do an ACTH stim test to make sure she is on the correct dose of vetoryl. Your vet could also treat with an anti-nausea medication called Cerenia and an antibiotic called Metronidazole to see if that helps with the vomiting and diarrha. Hope she feels better soon.

I hate to hear that Jersey is not feeling well. I do think the continuing diarrhea and regurgitation do indicate that she did not respond like she should have to the antibiotic. No knowing her full history, its hard to say what could be causing it but in puppies, parasites including Giardia are very common. You can also see infections in the GI tract, chronic foreign in bodies, organ dysfunction and food allergy as other causes. If Jersey is acting normal, has a good energy level and normal pink gums, I would recommend to make an appointment with her normal veterinarian to discuss next steps. The doctor may recommend a special diet, bloodwork and/or radiographs to start trying to figure out what is going on. She or he may also recommend special parasite testing depending on where you live. Feed Jersey small amounts of boiled white breast chicken meat and white rice. Make sure she is drinking water and keep her in a cool, comfortable area. If Jersey seems to be uncomfortable, has pale gums, seems weak or in distress, then you should go to the emergency clinic. Use your best judgement. I hope she starts feeling better asap!

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Remi. In the bloodwork that was run, did it include GI specific testing such as cobalamin, folate, PLI and TLI levels. These are values that will give information such as the location of GI disease (small intestine vs pancreas) and treatment options. I typically do this planel in conjunction with an abdominal ultrasound. This information with the ultrasound can give insight into conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatitis, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, food sensitivities or as you mentioned cancer. The anti-inflammatory properties of the antibiotic she was on could help even with a tumor in GI tract, but there are so many other causes of diarrhea that would respond as well. I think it is worth pursuing further bloodwork and the ultrasound. If you can get a diagnosis, then a treatment plan can be developed. I hope this information helps!