My dog has diarrhea for weeks, even on antibiotics. Underlying cause?

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.

When my patients have diarrhea after antibiotics I will usually prescribe a canine specific probiotic to help get the good bacteria loaded back up in the GI tract. My favorite is Proviable and it also comes with a paste to help firm up the stools. My second favorite is Fortiflora. I would encourage you to call your veterinarian and discuss the possibility of using one of these products. Best of luck and I hope he improves soon.

Some dogs that have an underlying disease like inflammatory bowel disease do need long term antibiotic use, but it is best to have a diagnosis before continuing medications long term for two reasons: one is that antibiotic usage can sometimes mask the underlying problem, and the other is that there can be effects on the gastrointestinal flora. There are many diseases that could cause chronic diarrhea including a food intolerance, pancreatitis, or inflammatory bowel disease as stated above. I would recommend talking to your veterinarian to see if other tests or treatments are recommended at this point to try to diagnose the problem - some additional tests might include a pancreatic lipase test, cobalamin/folate, abdominal ultrasound or even obtaining intestinal biopsy samples to try to determine what might be causing chronic diarrhea. You might also want to talk to your veterinarian about a hypoallergenic food trial.

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

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Diarrhea can be observed with conditions such as colitis, gastroenteritis, dietary indiscretion, intestinal parasites, among many other possibilities. I recommend that you have her evaluated by your veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. They may choose to check for parasites and to start medications for diarrhea depending on the results. Good luck! Hoping for a speedy recovery!

It takes 3-4weeks for the lining of the gut to fully repair and regenerate. If you have found a food which helped, I recommend you continue to feed this for a month to allow everything to settle down. I would also recommend continuing with a fibre/probiotic supplement such as fortiflora and in rare cases prescription medication may be required to regulate bowel motion also

Inflammatory bowel disease is not common in a puppy but it could be dietary intolerance from something in the diet. Other potential causes include Giardia, bacterial overgrowth, or pancreatic insufficiency. Your veterinarian likely has a ‘next step’ already planned. I recommend to discuss Mable!s diarrhea with your veterinarian. They may want to try an antibiotic and a probiotic along with a bland diet to see if that resolves the diarrhea. They may also recommend protozoa testing, a fecal culture and/or pancreatic enzyme testing. A diet trial with a hydrolyzed protein is another potential option. Since there are many causes of diarrhea, each one needs to be worked through. I hope this helps and best of luck.