Diarrhea - puppy

Question
We have had our new puppy for over a week. He is very energetic and seems very healthy.  He has had loose stool from day one.  He has been to the vet (twice) and received antibiotic (metronidazole) which seem to have had no effect. He has been tested for Gardia and parasites (Ovo)We have been feeding him a (MediCal Gastro) formula canned food and nothing has changed.  The consistency of the stool is classified as "pudding".  We don't know what else we can do, test for????  Your help / suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you Megan

Answer
Sounds like your dog's digestive system is either out of whack or he cannot tolerate this food.

Pudding like stool can be a sign of malabsorption syndrome, when the intestines don't have what it takes to digest the food. Tests need to be done to determine this and if that is the problem, the dog will have to take powdered enzymes in his food for life. More often than not the stool has a mucous-like coating over it.


There are so many causes of diarrhea in dogs that the list is endless. Your vet is going for the most common first, parasites, protozaon infections, etc.

He could have colitis, IBD, protein-losing enteropathy, food intolerance, etc.
First thing you could do is get him on some dry, fiberous food such as W/D from the vet. Try that and feed him NOTHING else for about three weeks. That is how long it takes for the body to clear out the old food.

The higher fiber in W/D is made for dogs with colitis and for maintaining weight in dogs. My dog has been on it for 11 yrs and she is active, healthy and fit.
If that doesn't work, the next thing to try is a food elimination diet.
That is when you feed a novel source of protein and carbs and NOTHING else for three weeks and see if the condition improves.
Try Venison and Potato- not often eaten by dogs and so less likely for there to be a pre-existing intolerance to it. If the condition improves you can leave the dog on the food for life or re-introduce single foods one at a time to determine which food, (ie: chicken beef, wheat,etc) is the culprit.

If all else fails then blood panels to determine protein-losing enteropathy which also entails an intestinal biopsy.

Your vet now needs to look deeper. Start with the food trials and work your way up from there.

Let me know how it goes in a few weeks. I am curious to see what you find out.