My labradoodle puppy has diarrhea, vet's unsure. What can I do?

With a normal stool sample and blood panel, the next steps are experimenting with diet - specifically a hypoallergenic prescription diet (such as Royal Canin Ultamino, which is definitely the most expensive option, but also the one that seems to work best in diagnosing food allergies. It takes eating ONLY the prescription food for about a month to see if it helps, and then if it does help you can certainly experiment with less expensive foods. If you she would having signs of food allergy you'd need to do a full 3 months, but for intestinal issues, you should see a response in just a couple weeks) OR a high fiber/easily digestible diet (such as Hills Fiber Response EN). Some dogs need continual probiotics to keep normal stool. Treating any underlying anxiety (if present) can also help. Finally, a gut biopsy, which is much more invasive and costly can be done. Since she isn't yet spayed, I would consider doing a gut biopsy when/if she is spayed because that would be minimal additional expense or trauma for her while she's already have an abdominal surgery. I hope that helps! Wishing you the best with this difficult issue - It can take a long long time to get to the bottom of things

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.

Poor guy. Steroids can cause abnormal stools, so this is likely the culprit. Also his body is stressed, so loose stool is commonly seen. You can try giving him a bland diet of boiled plain chicken and rice or cottage cheese for a few days, then slowly transition him back to his normal diet once his stools do return to normal. 1-2 tsp of canned pumpkin (not the pie filling) can also be added to his food daily to help solidify his stools. If he still has loose stools after 48 hrs, then a repeat vet visit is likely needed to get him on something stronger. You should continue to give the Benadryl as instructed by your vet. I hope that your puppy feels better soon and that his stools return to normal on a consistent basis. Best wishes and take care.

That sounds like a very difficult situation. If the steroids are not helping Abby within about 72 hours, I would call your veterinarian to let me know, so they can decide what to do next based on the results they have so far. It sounds like your next option would be to do intestinal biopsies to try to figure out exactly what is going on in Abby's gut. Other options would be a consultation with a veterinary internal medicine specialist if one is available in your area.

I hate to hear Chicken Noodle is not feeling well! Yes, this can be a side effect of the medication but other causes are also possible. I recommend to start by calling your veterinarian. They will ask you several questions and help to determine if the medication should be continued or if additional care is needed. There are a couple things you can do at home that may also help. A bland diet for 48 hours can help. A bland diet can consist of 25% boiled white meat chicken and 75% boiled white rice. This should all be plain. A probiotic may also be beneficial. Purina carries a nice one called FortiFlora if you can find it. Your vet will also have a nice one as well. You can add additional water to her food to help prevent dehydration. At home, your pup should rest today so no walks or playtime. I hope Chicken Noodle starts feeling better quickly! Please feel free to post any additional questions.

I suggest you put Gus on a probiotic for a month to see if it helps. I strongly recommend you use Fortiflora (no human probiotics). Fortiflora comes as a box of 30 packets - one packet on food daily so this will give you one month to see if it helps. If it does, great, you can keep him on it indefinitely. If it doesn't help then you need to go to more testing like for inflammatory bowel disease or food allergies. ( https://www.allivet.com/p-1130-purina-pro-plan-veterinary-diets-fortiflora-dog-supplement-box-of-30.aspx?SearchTerm=fortiflo+Auto )

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.