Merry Christmas/ Puppy Diarrhea question?

Bellaboo

New member
Dec 25, 2011
6
0
Bulldog(s) Names
Bella
Hello all, and Merry Christmas.

I have been viewing this forum for quite sometime and now finally have decided to register and post in hopes of getting some advice/feedback for some more veteran English Bulldog owners. I purchase a female bulldog, Bella on November 3rd from a breeder in Florida, and had her shipped through the Pets Fly Safe program with Continental Airlines. I did a TON of research and really felt this was reputable/legitimate breeder. The day I picked her up from the airport, I contacted the breeder and told him everything went great!At that time the breeder asked if I got medicine with her, to which I told him no. The package that he was referring to had been ripped open by I am assuming airport security and confiscated. Long story short he then explained Bella's litter mate tested positive for coccidia, but that neither dog showed signs and Bellas fecal was negative however she was on Albon as a preventative. No big deal right he said Ill just ship you so more and just follow the directions till its done. Well in the mean time I went to the vet for Bellas first checkup, the vet confirmed she was a healthy girl and found no reason to put her on albon and instead suggested we run a de-wormer and then check for worms. In the mean time she was put on simplicef for a mild case of puppy acne and we went on our way. However by the end of that week her stool which was previous formed, became diarrhea. I also have a black pug who is 1.5 years old named Milo. Milo has never had diarrhea since I have had him from 3 months old. At first we blamed the diarrhea on the Simplicef and discontinued it, however the diarrhea didn't get better and instead Milo had diarrhea as well. Flash forward and we have tried 6 different antibiotics, and she is no finally having solid stool however, from here I am wondering what to do for food. Bella was eating Eukanuba Puppy which in my opinion is a low grade dog food, with her breeder, so I mixed Eukanuba her canine caviar when she came here as that was what Milo was eating and it was an all life stages food.

She was fine for the first week before the diarrhea, then was switched to a bland turkey and rice, or hamburg and rice diet, as chicken was tried but it did not sit well with her and seemed to make the diarrhea worse. I had reserves of keeping her on this bland diet, for her growth and development, but when I tried to bring in a small amount of Blue Buffalo puppy the vet insisted I do not do this and instead stick to a bland diet only or mix in Hill ID canned food. I did this for a short time however Bella did not enjoy the wet food. She was still gaining weight but the vet wasn't and I was worried, so we stopped all homemade food and started her on Hills ID dry food which she is currently on. She appears to be growing and developing well, she is just under 4 months and last weighed in at the vet at 21 pounds. My problem is were do I go from here with the food. She is currently on Bactrim as an antibiotic as well as Clavamox which is another antibiotic being used for the UTI she had from having such severe diarrhea. The vet said when these are done she will need to continue the ID dog food for 3 to 4 months until her intestines have fully recovered. So I am wondering, if (and I pray it does) the bactrim works and Bellas stool stays formed would it be a crazy idea to try and work a new more high quality food such as this FROMM 4 star I keep reading about in? Or is that really playing with fire like the vet says? She also gets once daily a package of Fortflora probiotic mixed in with the Hills Diet ID.

I apologize in advance for the long read and I am SO hoping someone can help me as I just want my baby to grow healthy and strong, but don't feel like the the vet necessarily has my babies best interest in mind when I read all of these articles about vets receiving funding from Science Diet. HELP PLEASE!!!
 

Bella'sMom

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Community Veteran
Jun 23, 2010
3,256
168
Eau Claire WI
Bulldog(s) Names
Abby 13 (RIP), Bella (6), Betsy( RIP), Frenchie: Oliver
Are you switching foods slowly? If not, you may just be adding to the problem. You have to switch very slowly, like changing out 1/4 of it every couple of days.

So I take it that the vet has confirmed she is fine Worm and intestinal correct? He feels it is just food now? Just keep a close watch on her, diarrhea will dehydrate and can get serious. Please keep us updated, it can be something even more serious.
 
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Bellaboo

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Dec 25, 2011
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0
Bulldog(s) Names
Bella
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Thanks for the response, no food was not switched slowly, she was on a mix of Eukanuba that she was on originally with the breeder as well as the Canine Caviar, from there she went on a bland rice and boiled turkey/hamburger diet. I tried to slowly add in blue buffalo puppy with the bland diet, however the vet said not to do that. From there we were on a bland diet with some Hills Diet ID wet food, Bella did not like the wet food so we went to a dry Hills ID and she is eating that now fine and her stool is formed. She has not been cleared of the parasite, as she never tested positive for Coccidia, we treated for it because the breeder had her on Albon initially but it was not present in the stool samples we had done, or on a lab sample we had done of Milos stool for Giardia. She hasn't finished the Bactrim antibiotic she was given by the vet and now Milo my pug has loose stool again. This is an absolute nightmare!
 

Davidh

Head Pooper Scooper
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Mar 21, 2011
13,407
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Katy, Texas
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Bulldog(s) Names
BeBe, Hazel, Lucy Lu, JLO, Hillary, Henri, & Katie
If she goes a week or so with good firm poops, I don't see why you could start mixing in her good food, just do it slowly, over about a 7 to 9 day period. If at any time her stool gets runny, stop mixing the new in until she gets better again.
 
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Bellaboo

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Dec 25, 2011
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Bella
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David, thank you for the response, that is what I was thinking and what I will most likely do, I can't stand to feed her this Science Diet junk but I don't want her to have loose stool either. Any reccomendation's for food? I have read about FROMM 4 Star however it seems the puppy version Gold gets less positive reviews? Thanks in advance!
 

BruceP

..........
Aug 12, 2010
0
505
Milwaukee, WI
Bulldog(s) Names
HRH Princess Gracie, aka: HRH; Princess Amelia Pond, aka: Amy
:welcome to EBN!!.... Sounds like you are getting some good advice so I won't add anything at this point other than Fromm 4 Star food is an all stages food so transitioning from the Fromm puppy to their 4 star would be easy.
Im glad you joined and I look forward to seeing pix of your new baby. Enjoy EBN and feel free to join right in. :)
 

2BullyMama

I'm not OCD....now who moved my bulldog?
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Jul 28, 2011
48,581
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Gilbertsville, PA
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Chelios (Frenchie), Nitschke (2004-2011) Banks (2005-2014) and Lambeau (2014-2024)
Welcome --- follow what [MENTION=2071]Davidh[/MENTION] has suggested. Science Diet is a food meant for a short period to correct an issue, but that is it... this is how our vet feels about them and we agree. It serves a purpose, but pups should not be on them for life.
 

Vicaroo1000

"Slug Assassin" and PBS Gardening Dweeb
Jun 23, 2011
5,775
389
Mukilteo, Washington State
Bulldog(s) Names
Beefeater's Buxom Beatrice and Lord Harrington's Bodacious Beauregaard
Welcome [MENTION=3940]Bellaboo[/MENTION] ! Soupy poops IS INDEED a nightmare! I've never experienced this as a chronic issue - so I'm not going to be a whole lot of help. And there are so many great foods to choose from - and we haven't even tapped into ALLERGIES yet. Medications can certainly cause diarrhea and your baby's been on a boatload of them. If diarrhea is the only issue, I'd wait to switch foods until she's off all medications and then slowly introduce - maybe super slowly for her? - a new, high quality, limited ingredient food. Perhaps introducing canned pumpkin can help? (Not pie filling - canned pumpkin)

Good luck and keep us posted!
 
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Bellaboo

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Dec 25, 2011
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Bella
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Thank you all for the welcome! We were adding in pure pumpkin, and it was helping solidify her stool before, however the vet asked we stop, as she was afraid the pumpkin would be adding mass to the stool and make it harder to form the stool, also she wanted to limit what we were giving her to eliminate any food sources as the issue. So it looks like we will go with Fromm, after she is done with the antibiotics this week, and we had continual solid stool we will begin slowly adding it in. Now I'm still slightly confused, is everyone recommending the FROMM 4 star for all life stages with a puppy or should I usethe gold? Also what does every one use for treats?

Thanks in advance!
 

kazzy220

..........
Jul 31, 2010
8,556
441
Grafton, OHIO
Country
England
Bulldog(s) Names
Maggie (My Angel Baby 5/31/2012). Daddy (2 years). Linus (1year). Bella (4 years)
First of all I do need to point out to you that Giarida can often test as a false negative ... believe me I am an expert on this as when we got Daddy as a rescue from an amish puppy mill he had giardia. We didn't know it at the time until I caught it off him .. the most disgusting and painful thing I have ever had. I said and will continue to say with 100% certainty that I would rather go through childbirth again with no pain killers than get that again. Anyway, just wanted to point that out as you may or may not want to get Milo retested for it. Just a thought .....

Do make any food switches slowly as has been previously mentioned .. I take a full 10 days to do any switch because I'd rather be over cautious about these things.

The Fromm 4* range is rated higher than the Fromm gold range. You can give Fromm 4* to a puppy as it is considered to be an all-life stages food as [MENTION=1034]BruceP[/MENTION] said. I am not sure if the gold range is the same or not. We have had huge success wit Maggie on the Fromm 4* so when we got Daddy home we made a slow transition to the same food for him purely because it was easier. If I were you and had to ultimately choose between the two I would go with the 4* in the long run even if you get him on the Fromm puppy for the first few months. It really is your choice because in my eyes Fromm is just the greatest food I ever bought.

I in no way want to take away from the veterinary profession as they are fantastic (and my daughter intends to go to college to become a vet), but they are not trained in nutrition and their knowledge is based on what they find out for themselves and what sales reps tell them. Science does an excellent job at selling their product to vets offices, and who can blame a vet for believing them. In my opinion, Science is no better than the bag it's sold in ... just my opinion. As for the pumpkin, this is like the wonder drug in a can. It makes stools firm AND makes stools soft. So for diarrhea it firms up, and for constipation it softens. Don't ask me how ... for us bully owners it is the 8th wonder of the world! It has the added bonus of being healthy for our babies, and if yours are anything like mine you would think I was giving them caviar on top of their food.

I do wish you well with your baby .... food choices are the nightmare for all of us with our bullies and their sensitive stomachs. BUT if you can get the food right ... everything else just seems to fall in to place!!

Good luck!!! BTW if you have difficulty getting Fromm in your area don't forget to check out petflow.com who have a wonderful online shopping and free delivery service. I just LOVE it!! :up:
 
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Bellaboo

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Dec 25, 2011
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Bulldog(s) Names
Bella
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Kazzy, thanks for the information, I really appreciate it, my goal is to get her on a food early that she can continue for years to come. I am aware of the difficulty in testing for giardia which is why after Milo and Bella tested negative and the lab sample tested negative, the vet recommended treating any ways as it was the most likely scenario. As far as your sentiments for Science food I feel the same, although Bella is now having solid stool, I am anxiously waiting to start her on a new food, higher quality food. At this point I am pretty sure it was/is coccidia that she had and not giardia as we ran panacur for 6 days and so no relief from the diarrhea however the bacterim she is on now seems to be doing the trick. I have read that giardi can be spread to humans and my girlfriend and I have both gotten nervous anytime we have had a stomach ache these past few weeks. Petflow will be were I order the Fromm from as the stores around me only have the typical higher end food like blue, taste of the wild, wellness. At this point with the issues she has had I am just going to go straight to the four star line I think as this sounds like it is the safest bet and we really don't want to see her go anywhere but up from here nutrition wise. Thanks again for all the help and advice!
 

cowsmom

..........
Apr 27, 2011
6,996
384
Virginia
Country
usa
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Sarah aka cow
i wont add to what others have said as you have gotten excellent advice i just want to welcome you to the forum. :D
 

anatess

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Jul 26, 2011
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Bullie (RIP) & Angus (RIP)
You're getting good info already.

My only suggestion is to do the switch in 3-4 week time instead of the 10 day time. This is how I switch my dogs to a different food: replace 1/4 of their old food with the new food and keep this for 1 full week. If she starts to get loose stools then I'd keep the 1/4 proportion for another week. By the end of the 2nd week, she should firm up.
If not, then there can be something in the food that is not working for her. I'd stop the new food at this point and find another one and start over. If she's doing great at the end of 1 or 2 weeks, I'd increase the proportion to 1/2 old, 1/2 new and keep that for a week. Then do 3/4 for the next week. And then fully switch.

For treats, I usually just give the dogs their kibble for treats as well. My bully loves ice cubes - I give her that for treats a lot. Then they get their dental chews and that's really all I give them for treats. I sometimes use plain sliced bread for training treats (they're more responsive when they get something out of the ordinary). But then my dogs are not allergic to grain - a lot of bullys are, so sliced bread doesn't work for everybody.

Hope this helps.
 

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