[Jaimie K]

Patricia A – I was very confused too. I was a veterinary technician for many years but the vet I was seeing for this issue didn’t know that. I questioned the antibiotic when the results were negative and they kind of blew me off with a generic answer. I do have a better vet now, but we haven’t started tackling the GI issues since for the moment we’re ok.

I’m inclined to agree it was the kibble causing the issues. However the original incident came a day after she ate garlicky pizza crust, pasta, hot dogs, salami, and who knows what other human food, plus tons of dog treats, bones/chews, and a raw dog food she had never had before – all while staying with my dad and step-mom while I was out of town. I wondered if that bad weekend didn’t cause some pancreatitis.

She has been on the prescription diet (Hills i/d) for at least 4 months and we have not had any other issues. I’m not a fan of the prescription diets AT ALL, and don’t want her on it long term, but have resigned to leave her on this diet for 6 months as a “reset”. I have tried to wean her off a few times with no luck. I will definitely look into the Stella & Chewy’s – I’ve heard all positive things.

[Jaimie K]

UPDATE – We are on our third bout of diarrhea since January. I called our vet and he was able to refill her Metronidazole without a vet visit. He said to keep her on Hill’s i/d for ~2 months and then gradually switch to something OTHER than what she was on before (Blue Buffalo). He has not offered any specific advice on dog food, other than “something different” so thank you all for your suggestions, and keep them coming. 🙂

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by Jaimie K.

[Jaimie K]

She has been on boiled chicken and rice, or bland hamburger and rice for 7-10 days after every incident. She is fine after 2-3 days on antibiotics, and continues to be fine for about a month and then we have another spell. All tests have been negative/normal so far, so my vet is cleaning towards her food being the cause. I disagree, but am willing to try new foods.

I will look into Fromm, thank you for the suggestion!

[Jaimie K]

I will look into feeding less kibble, thanks for the suggestion! I have been researching probiotics as well, and will pick one of those up next time I’m at the pet store that carries them.

I agree, I don’t want her on antibiotics much longer, especially since all of her tests have been negative for bacteria. If there was any indication that there was unusual or a higher amount of bacteria present in her GI tract, I’d be fine with it until the tests were normal again, but thats not the case. I feel like we’re just putting her on meds for the heck of it.

She is not on monthly heartworm, we do the ProHeart injection instead (every 6 months).

[Jaimie K]

She has been prescribed Hills i/d, but we didn’t feed that due to their recent recalls. I did just pick some up though, so we are starting that now. Her feeding schedule and my work schedule are what they are, unfortunately. There’s no chance anyone can let her out in the middle of the day.

[Jaimie K]

Do you have any ideas what other diagnostic testing might be indicated in this case? (I can/will call the vet of course, just asking out of curiosity.) She has had a full fecal exam testing for parasites (including Giardia), and bacteria. She had a full blood workup (specifically looking for hemorrhagic gastroenteritis) and everything was within normal range so they didn’t feel any other testing was necessary. She also had an abdominal x-ray to check for a foreign body. We did not repeat the x-ray this time (just did one in January) but agreed to repeat it if vomiting persisted. It has not, so the vet has ruled out a foreign body (for now).

[Jaimie K]

I will look into doing an elimination diet.

She does not mouth lick, swallow, or gulp. She’s never had acid reflux issues. She has only vomited twice (once the first time this happened in January, and once this time). Both times it was yellow, and everything she had most recently eaten. Looked like it happened very soon after she ate, as the kibble looked almost normal. (It happened after I left for work. She is fed approx. 30 minutes before I leave in the morning.)

I work 9-5 so am unable to feed her at 12pm. She’s currently fed twice a day, but I will start feeding her 3 times a day. If it seems to help I can look into an automatic/timed feeder thing that will feed her at 12pm so she’s fed 4 times a day.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I’ll look into all of them. Her issues are more diarrhea than vomiting. She has had diarrhea for several days now but has only vomited once. (She did go to the vet that day though, and started the Metronidazole the next morning.)

[Jaimie K]

Our vet did prescribe Hill’s i/d, but with the Hill’s recalls currently I did not purchase any. She is currently doing well on boiled chicken and rice, but I can’t keep her on that for long. When this happened 2 months ago we did the same thing (also did hamburger and rice when we didn’t have chicken) and she recovered well. She’s also on antibiotics (Metronidazole) although she was negative for bacteria and Giardia, so I’m not sure if it’s the diet or the meds that are helping.

I’m looking into Canidae, as that seems like the best option that is easily accessible in our area. I’m also considering going back to Royal Canin large breed adult… if I’m remembering correctly she did well on that and the only reason we switched is it wasn’t easy for us to get when we lived in a rural area. That’s when we switched to Pro Plan.

I switched to Blue Buffalo to increase the fiber, but I’m wondering if I should have decreased it? Thoughts, anyone?

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