Hookworms and Giardia can be easily missed in a single stool sample. I had to test multiple samples to finally get a diagnosis. Some symptoms are blood in the stool, dark, runny stool, mucous in the stool, gas and/or bloating, increased appetite, weight loss or no weight gain, pale mucous membranes, a dry coat, and smelly stools. Not all these symptoms need be present.
One way to check is to collect stool samples from 4 consecutive days (refrigerate between days), and collect a really fresh sample, and submit them to be tested by flotation and Direct smear. Or if this is too yucky, take a sample of stool in to be checked every other day (more expensive this way) until something if found. A normal, healthy dog does not have recurring/chronic abnormal stools (JMHO). |