I need veterinary advice on what to do about my dog and his diarrhea...

This one is over my head, wait for Syz or pm her, she will know what to do.

Have you tried rice? Have you tried immodium?

I have tried rice and immodium…but can I give him immodium forever?

Nope. Wait for @syz.

You can offer gatorade in the meantime. Won’t hurt and replaces electrolytes lost through the diarrhea, also prevents dehydration.

It’s strange that the diarrhea goes away during the course of antibiotics and then returns immediately. Wonder if the recurrence is due to his gut being upset by the meds???

That is a wild sounding combination, I am having trouble picturing it. Which does he resemble and what kind of coat does he have?

Most problems like this are caused by diet. Switch to a Lamb & rice dry dog food and nothing else. Immodium will help curtail the problem, but is not a permanent solution.

This sounds sort of similar to what my Min Pin had when we got him. Except, he had bloody diarrhea, and would be treated with four different antibiotics, for months at a time…I kept taking him from one vet to another trying to find a cause. Eventually they just said it was Colitis.
He had a strict plain chicken and rice dinner for quite a while, and still needs special foods. He gets an upset stomach quite easily (but wants to eat everything).
He had major abdominal surgery and multiple other tests, it was quite expensive but we wanted to make sure we weren’t missing anything.

I’ll try to stay off of my soap box about getting a puppy (especially paying for one of the “designer” non-breeds) and not having planned ahead for unseen expenses.

If you haven’t already, I would recommend placing the puppy on an adult food. Small breeds mature more quickly than large ones, and at 9 months he will do fine on an adult diet. The reduced fat and calories may help. Make sure that it’s a high quality diet, and you may even want to look for something labeled for “sensitive stomach”. (Be careful about bouncing around among the various proteins [beef, chicken, lamb, kangaroo, etc] – if he develops a food allergy, you’ll have a hell of a time finding a novel protein [one that he’s never been exposed to] that his body will not react to.) Any diet change should be gradual, mixing the new diet into the old in increasing increments.

Make sure that his monthly heartworm prevention includes a broad spectrum dewormer. Dogs can be re-exposed to intestinal parasites every day if they are coming in contact with contaminated soil. Unfortunately, none of the prevention on the market will prevent giardia, but you certainly don’t want to miss something easy like worms.

Has the vet retested his stool sample for giardia? It can be difficult to see on a slide preparation – in many cases, giardia is diagnosed through the process of elimination. If the test is negative for worms, and flagyl makes it better, it was probably giardia. (There is a snap test for giardia, but I’m not very familiar with it – it may just test for exposure). Ask your vet about an extended course of flagyl (21 days rather than 7), but make an informed decision – ask your vet about the possible side effect of metronidazole (flagyl).

The probiotic is not a bad idea to continue. Some people think it helps, some don’t, but it doesn’t hurt anything to try.

Be very strict about his diet. No people food, no liver treats, no cow hooves (it’s not unusual for dog treats to have bacterial contamination). If you get everything cleared up, you can gradually add treats back into his diet, and if his diarrhea reoccurs, you may have a good hint as to what caused it.

You need to keep in mind that medicine is not math – there are no hard and fast rules. Your vet has to act more like a detective trying to solve a mystery, often through the process of elimination or even hunches based on years of experience. The number of things that can go wrong with a living being are literally endless, and it’s possible that you may never have an answer.

We saw a cat this week in our Internal Medicine specialty that has had diarrhea for 10 years. After bloodwork, x-rays, endoscopy and biopsies, the best answer that we got with was IBD, irritable bowl disease, which gives us an idea of how to manage the disease. There is no cure.

see? I always wait for @syz

Thanks to everyone. Just thought I’d give you guys the final diagnosis. My dog had coccidia. He is much better now. Thanks for your support. And just an FYI although he is a “designer” breed, I did rescue him.

I had a pup once who had that. She was raised in a chicken coup and the vet said she probably got it from the chicken manure! As I recall, it took quite a while to get it under control. Glad your pup is better now.