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Post by joseywales on May 21, 2006 7:43:16 GMT -5
Hi everybody,
Does anybody have any advice about dealing with gastro-intestinal problems in greyhounds?
We adopted Josey in September, and he has loose stool for about the first four or five months. Things seemed to calm down a bit for a while, and then in March he had a fairly severe episode of vomiting and diarhea with blood in his stool. The vet put him on Hill's i/d, until he got better, and then we gradually switched him over to t/d, the tooth food, because he had terrible teeth when we got him and then proceeded to make them worse by chewing on his crate. He did really well on the t/d, better than any of the other foods we tried, until about a week ago, when he started vomiting and got diarhea again. He's currently on the i/d again and taking Pepcid and metronidozole at the vet's intstructions, and things seem to be clearing up, but we're hoping to prevent this from reoccuring again.
Has anybody else had similar problems with their grey? Any suggestions?
Alana (Josey's mom)
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Post by stylishhound on May 21, 2006 10:56:28 GMT -5
Hi Alana...any chance he got into something last week? I have one dog with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and if she gets anything other than her prescription food, she has a flare up similar to what you describe. My other girl has Irritable Bowel (yep, lots of bowel issues at my house!) and she's on I/D for life and same thing, something scarfed up on a walk, or found on the floor in the kitchen and we're back to square one. You could keep him on the I/D which should eliminate any future episodes.
I hope he's ok now.
Jenn
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Post by multiplicity on May 21, 2006 16:36:50 GMT -5
Tex had diarrhea for over a year when we first brought him home. His problem was he had a nasty hookworm infestation! We would treat him and the post treatment stool exam would come back negative but he would be just full of worms again 3 months later! Apparently hookworm can be difficult to get rid off. The negative post treatment fecal exams were due to the nature of the medication and the life cycles of the worms. Has your grey had a fecal exam and culture done? If so perhaps another would not hurt... (not that I am a vet or anything ) Even after the worms were eliminated Tex had a very sensitive digestive system and we often had to feed him a home-made bland diet. Oh also, pig ears were very yummy to his taste buds but not so kind to his GI tract. I hope you find what works for Josey soon!
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Post by joseywales on May 21, 2006 16:47:33 GMT -5
Thanks a lot to everyone who responded. Josey seems to be feeling better today with his increased dosage of Pepcid. He did have worms shortly after we brought him home. I took a stool sample in yesterday, but the vet didn't think he needed to be tested again. If the problem continues, I will insist.
We may have to put him on the i/d diet forever. He was just doing so well on the t/d that, if we can make that work, given his tooth problems, I'd like to. His teeth are much better now, though, so we may just have to go with the more pressing issue.
Thanks again. Alana
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Post by ruthann on May 21, 2006 17:08:12 GMT -5
hello,
my Mister Greely just spent two days on iv at the emergency last weekend due to either gastroenteritis hemorrghagic or pancreatitis he is also on i/d for now and i have to try to decide what type of maintenance food to switch him to, and i would like it if Willow could have the same type of food. anyway i'm so sorry to hear about Josey i know exactly what you are going through we had a real rough mother's day weekend i was so worried about him but he is now doing quite well although i think he still looks a little thin but he is under stricked orders on what he can eat. Greely has also had rather loose stool on and off and on occation he would wake up in the morning with a very gurgley stomach, i was actually in the process of checking out some different foods hoping to find something good for them. i find it difficult because everybody says their brand is the best and it's difficult to know what to believe. i thought the food i chose for them was one of the best and was worried to start changing their diet. so for now i have to let Greely in the back yard with his muzzle on and when we go for our walks i have to watch him like a hawk to make sure he doesn't eat anything, you see the vet thinks perhaps he ate something in the back yard or on a walk. as far as i know we just have to make sure they don't eat anything they shouldn't and that's going to be hard my Greely loves treats and is my big hungry boy, i'm so worried that he'll get sick again.
i'd love to hear any suggestions as well as any recommendations on foods for greys with sensitive tummies
Greely and Willow's mom
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Post by sysmom on May 21, 2006 17:24:50 GMT -5
Alana -
Josey is a sweetheart. After meeting you, Brendan and Josey the first time we were talking about you guys for days.
We all hope that Josey feels better. Have you tried incorporating a bit of rice and boiled, unseasoned ground beef in his diet (the vet's recommendation for Sy)?
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Post by joseywales on May 22, 2006 8:04:15 GMT -5
I forgot to mention the gurgling stomach. Greely's mom reminded me. Josey's episodes always start with the crazy stomach noises in the middle of the night. He sleeps on our bed (after a certain amount of resistance, we eventually caved), and the stomach noises wake all of us up. If I can get him some Pepcid before he starts feeling so sick he doesn't want to eat, then things are usually okay.
Lisa, we talked about you guys for days too. Both about the dogs and about your experience with your house. Talking to you guys convinced us to keep looking in this area, even though we were thinking of abandoning ship to Riverdale. We bought a house a couple of weeks ago with a small, fully-fenced yard. We move in June 26, so maybe sometime after that, Sy can come over, and the two dogs can play.
Alana
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Post by sysmom on May 22, 2006 8:23:41 GMT -5
HI Alana- congratulations on the new home!!!! I know the market is nuts nowadays! You guys should come over as well - we're planning to put a gate up where the little alley is so that would make the whole backyard fenced in. It'd be fun to have a barbecue and have the boys play! Hope Josey fells better soon! lisa
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Post by jiffer on May 27, 2006 14:40:54 GMT -5
I went through a heckuva time to get my boys on a food they could tolerate. Diarrhea, vomiting, and gurgly tummies for about four months After trying many different foods, from cheap ones to expensive ones, we settled on Techni-cal Lamb Meal and Rice. It's gentle on their tummies, doesn't give them "D" and keeps their coats fabulous. Avoid Chicken based foods and those with grains as the first ingredient. For whatever reason, Chicken based foods and greyhounds DO NOT go very well. Avoid Corn as much as possible, it's just a cheap filler. I hope you can find a solution!
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Post by ontariogreys on May 27, 2006 14:51:55 GMT -5
The gurgly tummy is often related to what is called empty tummy syndrome, a couple slices of bread at bedtime often helps to cure. For the diarrhea could be related to food or intolerance to a certain ingredient that it contains, have you noticed any bouts come after a certain treat is given? With one of my own greys anything that contains corn will affect his stool and cause vomitting. Another possible cause can be tick diseases such as erlichia or babesia www.mirage-samoyeds.com/tick.htm#2. www.geocities.com/bo_freddy/tick_fever.htm even if the grey was treated it may have only lowered the number of organisms in the blood and can climb again and symptoms will start showing up again or a dog may be symptomless for several years before it starts to affect them. I have had both of mine tested Sunny is negative and Maya is low positive for babesia, I then had another test done that checked for babesia DNA to see if if the babesia was alive and active in her blood or whether she just had exposture as I needed to know whether her Lupus(because drugs used to treat can cause complications) or blood clotting problems where as a result of the babesia, the test showed it was inactive so there was no need to treat her for the disease. Maria
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Post by ruthann on May 28, 2006 22:12:13 GMT -5
Hello,
I tried to find the Techni-cal Lamb and rice but the stores in Chatham didn't carry that food. Any way since I've been reading about food, all the food labels and going crazy trying to find what's best, I felt I should take the Vet's advice for now for Greely and try the food that they recommended, I'ts the science diet for sensitive stomachs, and the Pet Value has it. The lady at another pet store also said if that didn't work she would order in the Techni-cal for me. I really hope that I've made a good choice he really seems to like it, I'm still mixing it with the i/d dry and the i/d canned so it will be a nice gradual change. I'm also giving him a little bit of the dry food with water just before bed so his tummy won't get too empty over night. Let me tell you he's loving that. So I'm not sure if there was one paticular treat that may have caused this problem? I have usually given only a few things as treats on a regular basis so I think I may have noticed that. Anyway I'm also going to ask the Vet about the Tick diseases and find out if she tested for that when she checked Greely's blood. Thank's so much for the advice, it's so nice to have support.
Greely and Willow's mom.
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Post by sysmom on May 30, 2006 18:43:48 GMT -5
Hi Alana,
Just wanted to get an update on Josey and you guys. How is everyone holding up?
Is everything better?
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Post by jiffer on Jun 13, 2006 13:24:29 GMT -5
Curious about Josey too.
I hope Greely is doing well too.
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Post by ruthann on Jun 13, 2006 20:17:24 GMT -5
hi.
Greely is doing much better, he's getting his weight back up to where it should be and is getting back to his silly self again, he's so funny when he run's around the back yard with a deflating soccer ball and growls at it as he tosses it around until it falls in the pond and then looks at me like well aren't you going to get that for me?
Greely and Willow's mom
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Post by joseywales on Aug 22, 2006 10:33:56 GMT -5
Hi everyone,
I haven't been on the forum for a while, because we've been away and busy, so I didn't see the requests for updates on Josey. Oops.
Eventually, after weeks of trouble and various other tests, Josey had exploratory surgery to see what was going on with his stomach. He had a stomach bacteria, which may or may not have been causing the problem, and the initial changes to suggest inflammatory bowel.
He came through the surgery just fine, and we treated him for the stomach bacteria, which seemed to clear up most of the problem. He will probably eventually have to go on a hypo-allergenic food for the inflammatory bowel, but for now, he's been doing well on his regular food (t/d).
He has gained back the weight he lost and seems absolutely thrilled to have a new house. We soon won't have grass in our tiny backyard because of all his tearing around.
Thanks for all of the advice and concern from everyone when we were having trouble. We were just sick with worry, and now it's wonderful to see him to healthy and happy again.
Alana
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