I knew as soon as he woke up that he was going to have an 'episode'.
From the breeder he was on Eukanuba. One week of having TJ (4 months old and 1.8 lbs) he started to have diarrhea, with a little mucus and a little drop of blood here and there. Going into week 3 and for the next approx. 8 months, TJ would have horrible episodes.
After 3 weeks of having him and finding YT for advice, I changed his food to Innova, but the Innova seemed to be too rich - very stinky poops. So that only lasted 1 bag long.
The episodes that TJ would have would be at least every 3 days. When he woke up, I could hear those noises coming from his little body. He would just sit there in his bed. No food and No water, just sitting there sick. I think I started to try boiled chicken and white rice now, he would eat a piece and then 5 minutes later he would poop it out whole Literally, the food went right through him, it was bizarre. But that only happened a couple of times, b/c for the most part during the episodes he didn't eat.
Anyway, sometimes, only 1 hour would go by (other times 10 hours) and he would poop a normal 1 inch poop and then just pure orange/yellow mucus - globs of it. Once he got this out, he was a new man, he would run to eat and drink and everything was just fine.
Of course I was at the Vet at least 2-3 times a week. They would give him a shot, we did the flagyl (2x) - but nothing really stopped it. The Vet said, he might have a food allergy, he might be eating things from around the house that is upsetting him, or there is an intestinal problem.
Well, TJ was certainly eating things from around the house. #1 poop, which could have been causing the episodes, #2 he would chew on the wood mouldings and the wood doors, pretty much anything he could put in his mouth, he did. I tried to 'puppy' proof as much as I could, but I just couldn't stop the poop eating completely.
So, than we tried a restricted diet from the Vet. I chose IVD - Duck and Potato, and that was the ONLY thing he ate. We went through 2 BIG bags of this food. The episodes didn't really get better, they happened less, but now he was starting to vomit really, really bad too!
I am not thrilled at all with Vet food. I didn't want to feed my dogs anything with corn and def. nothing with By-products. So I stopped the IVD and bought Natural Balance Duck and Potato. But like I said the episodes were not stopping.
So, now the Vet did a blood test. Everything was good, except his folate levels were really really high. They told me he has some form of IBD - an over growth of bacteria some where in his intestines. The Vet said lets try Tylan Powder, it may or may not work. I had to give TJ a very tiny pinch of the Tylan Powder everyday in a small 'meat ball' of wet food so I knew he ate it. Well, what a miracle the Tylan Powder was. Weeks started to just roll by and the episodes got less and less and less.
So, I started to wean TJ off the Tylan. I went to every other day for the next month. Then every 3 days and so on, month by month. I got down to giving it to him every 6 day. By that time, the Vet said that I could stop, b/c the Tylan had worked. TJ was episode free! He could eat anything, no more restricted diet.
The Vet did say though that TJ will always have IBD and he may have to back on the Tylan Powder, but at least we know it works. Tylan Powder is very safe, hardly no long term side effects for dogs, so even if TJ had to be on it his whole life, there's no worries.
Well, sorry this was so long. I have tried to remember everything, but like I said you can do a search here on YT and you'll find my past posts of desperation and my TJ story.
Do a google search for: Tylan for Dogs
You'll find lots of info
