Diarrhea, regurgitation, and loss of appetite

[CptJSparrow]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to provide as much detail as possible in case anyone can help. I haven't found the answers I'm searching for while looking at the posts.

My adopted Yorkie boy (around 13 yo) is sick for the third time in a little over a year. He did great until January of 2019 when he started having diarrhea. We were able to get that under control after the vet tested him and found no health issues. We've been giving him Blue Buffalo products over the years and most recently after that episode, we switched from Wilderness Senior to Life Protection Small Breed. The vet wanted to put him on prescription Purina EN but this new dog food seemed to work, at least for a year.

He got diarrhea again in March of 2020 and that was again gotten under control rather quickly with the home remedies of rice, chicken and broth. He got diarrhea again about 6 days ago. This time is different in that he won't eat. He refuses to eat anything that has even one grain of rice in it so I started giving him potatoes. He loved that but he wasn't always drinking enough. He also had some off and on bile and regurgitation. His stool was almost getting better as it was starting to get firm albeit lightish in color and still mushy. Last night he regurgitated probably everything he'd eaten in the prior two meals and then refused to eat anything further. He didn't eat this morning either. He then had bile and then a huge bout of liquid diarrhea mixed with blood. Otherwise he acts completely normal most of the time wagging his tail and being all excited and wanting to be with us.

I took him to the vet and they gave him some fluids and vitamin injections along with medicine to take home and going to do a fecal exam. He's still not eating. I was only able to give him a little potato and chicken. I even cooked new rice in chicken broth to add flavor to it. But he doesn't want it. He sniffs everything but doesn't want anything. He's also had diarrhea and vomited after sniffing the bland foods this past round of 6 days.

I'm going to change his food once his diarrhea is under control. The vet said not to feed him Blue Buffalo as they're not truthful about what's in the food. I researched it and found what they were talking about so I will not be giving him Blue Buffalo anymore. I'm considering Halo Adult Holistic Chicken and Chicken Liver Dry food and Merrick Classic Healthy Grains Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe. They wanted me to try Purina One, Science Diet, or Royal Canin but the reviews were not so hot. Does anyone have any suggestions? How do you give a sensitive stomach diet along with something that is nutritionally rich and tasty? I also read about Imodium in another post as well as using probiotics in addition to the food. Is the Imodium the human kind? How much, how often, and when do you give him that? Any other thoughts?

As far as getting him interested in food, I don't know what to do. How can he just not eat? He's so little as it is and can't be losing any more weight. Does anyone have any ideas? How can I get the food to smell like something he might want to eat? I was thinking of spraying or sprinkling it with something but what? He does separate what he doesn't want out of the food. He's never been like this. He always ate so fast and so happily.

Thank you in advance for your attention!

[nanajoy]

I am so sorry for you, and your little guy! I know the struggle of trying to get a dog to eat when they are in the midst of a bout with colitis, but we have always followed our vet's advice of patiently waiting for their stomachs to settle before expecting them to eat. Has your vet given him any probiotics? We have had success with them when Tyrone has an attack. He gets a daily probiotic treat at lunchtime, but we always keep nutramax proviable supplement (a paste) and diagel available (both approved by our vet) to be able to nip a bout of colitis in the bud.

Good luck...I hope your boy is soon back to feeling well!

[sahnikraj]

Vet is the best chance here however probiotics do help in order to improve the gut health.
If your vet has prescribes antibiotics then they should be given in full course.
In covid days vet might not be available so if you cant reach out to vet then consult online on:
https://Petcoach.co
https://drwaggers.com

[matese]

Originally Posted by CptJSparrow

How can I get the food to smell like something he might want to eat? I was thinking of spraying or sprinkling it with something but what? He does separate what he doesn't want out of the food. He's never been like this. He always ate so fast and so happily.

Thank you in advance for your attention!

Welcome to Yorkie Talk, sorry it is under these circumstances.
Have you tried sprinkling some grated Parmesan cheese over his food, the smell usually perks up their desire to eat.
And yes...stay away from Blue Buffalo, they have had many, many recalls and law suites against them.

[CptJSparrow]

Hi nanajoy,

Thanks for your reply, prayers and suggestions.

Our vet did give us some probiotics and we do plan to buy some to add to his food once we put him back on regular food. We decided to forgo it last time because the Life Protection formula had pre and probiotics. But we will now include it.

I found Proviable-KP when I searched for Nutramax paste. Is that what you are referring to? It doesn't appear to need a prescription. Is that correct? Is that used for an occasional help to fix soft stool issue? DiaGel also looks to do the same. Do you use both or have you had success with different product under different circumstances?

Any thoughts on food? Have you used Halo or Merrick?

Thanks again!

[CptJSparrow]

Hi matese,

Thank you for your reply and suggestion. I will try that if we have an issue in the future.

Thankfully he has started eating the rice and chicken since this morning. I guess his stomach needed to calm down before he was interested in the rice again. The smell or lack there of must have been a problem for him while he had an upset stomach.

Do you have any suggestions on the food? Have you use Halo or Merrick?

Thanks again!

[matese]

Originally Posted by CptJSparrow

Hi matese,

Thank you for your reply and suggestion. I will try that if we have an issue in the future.

Thankfully he has started eating the rice and chicken since this morning. I guess his stomach needed to calm down before he was interested in the rice again. The smell or lack there of must have been a problem for him while he had an upset stomach.

Do you have any suggestions on the food? Have you use Halo or Merrick?

Thanks again!

Happy to hear your lil guy is back to eating. I have not used Halo or Merrick. My guy is a bigger boy weighing in at 12 pounds, I need a bigger kibble. I feed him Annamaet....Salmon and Brown rice formula. Lucky for me he is not a picky eater. I do hope you find a brand that works well for him. Finding the right food and one they like and will eat can be an endless battle.

[nanajoy]

Originally Posted by CptJSparrow

Hi nanajoy,

Thanks for your reply, prayers and suggestions.

Our vet did give us some probiotics and we do plan to buy some to add to his food once we put him back on regular food. We decided to forgo it last time because the Life Protection formula had pre and probiotics. But we will now include it.

I found Proviable-KP when I searched for Nutramax paste. Is that what you are referring to? It doesn't appear to need a prescription. Is that correct? Is that used for an occasional help to fix soft stool issue? DiaGel also looks to do the same. Do you use both or have you had success with different product under different circumstances?

Any thoughts on food? Have you used Halo or Merrick?

Thanks again!

We have a vet at our home in Florida, and one in upstate NY when we visit all of our kids. Unfortunately, for the first two years of his life our parti, Tyrone, had seemingly endless bouts of colitis, and the road trips triggered his problems. Our home vet always administered diagel along with any other prescription meds he deemed necessary, and he approved it for our first aid kit...cheaper on Amazon, btw. Tyrone does not like it, but it turns around an attack and settles his tummy fast. We have not had to use it for nearly two years now, but always have it on hand.

When he had an attack in NY, the vet there did not use diagel, but gave us the Proviable paste, which also comes with powdered capsules as a followup. When she gave them to us, he used the paste for several days, then had the capsules sprinkled over his food until he finished the packet. Now that he has stopped having as many incidents, we give him one or two days of the measured paste doses if his stool gets soft. (He still tends to have a sensitive stomach, especially when we have guests or his routine is interrupted. He enjoyed the taste, doesn't fight licking it from a spoon, and it works to firm his stool within a day or two. We also get it on Amazon, and when we checked whether or not our home vet approved it on a preventative basis once we saw a softening of his stools, he was fine with it.

[nanajoy]

...BTW, Welcome to Yorkie Talk!

[GBC]

Hi everyone,
I am new to Yorkie Talk and love your forum. Husband and I live in Dothan Al with our 9 yorkies. I felt the need to reply to this thread about Buffalo Blue dog food. Like you in the past we too used this dog food for awhile but after a digestive issue with one of our dogs that resulted in pancreatitis that snowballed into diabetes etc., I had a frank discussion with our vet about the food and when I pressed him to tell me the truth about Buffalo Blue he admitted to me off the record because he didn’t want to be held liable for anything that I was the third client he had seen in his office that particular day for digestive issues with their dog and all the clients fed their dogs this food! He also admitted that while that company put their money into advertising other more reputable companies put their money into nutrition research. Needless to say after I heard this from the vet we promptly changed over to Science Diet and have never looked back. Right now I have a 10 1/2
year old on their sensitive stomach version and she is doing well. Thank God. From personal experience I would not choose Buffalo Blue when I have other choices.

[CptJSparrow]

Hi sahnikraj,

Thanks for your reply. Our vet did prescribe antibiotics but it's been a lot of issues trying to make him eat food or anything else. He's only been getting parts of it. He did give us some probiotics too but our little man won't eat those either. They just advised to try to give him yogurt. He loved that and ate it.

For now we keep the battle going.

[CptJSparrow]

Hi matese,

Thanks for the come back.

We received one of the two new foods. It's in quarantine for now as we can't feed him any regular food anyway. We'll try one of the two and keep our fingers crossed and wait and see how he does. If he has issues, we'll try the other one!

[CptJSparrow]

Hi nanajoy,

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

I'll pose the question to our vet's office tomorrow when they call to check on him. I'll look to get at least one of the two items and keep it on hand.

Thanks again!

[CptJSparrow]

Hi GBC,

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm sorry to hear about your little one's issues.

I wish I'd heard about this about Blue Buffalo sooner and our old vet had said something a year ago. We took our little old man back to the new vet yesterday as he started having diarrhea again and all liquid twice in a row and the second time was mostly blood. He also had a lot of pain from what we could see from the way he walked. He has been at the vet since yesterday morning and they diagnosed him with pancreatitis after they did blood work.

He's hospitalized there and from what I heard this morning, he's not eating again although he ate yesterday. He's hooked to IV's. Poor little man is probably scared to death. We're keeping our fingers crossed. I plan to visit him today to spend some time with him to maybe relieve some stress from not seeing us on top of his pain and suffering.

[nanajoy]

I am sorry to hear that your little one is so sick! It is always scary when our babies have to be left with the vet, but it is important that they are under observation and professional care so that they can have the best chance of a complete recovery.

My thoughts are with you both, and hoping for a rapid recovery and treatment plan so that he is soon feeling well. Make sure to take care of yourself during this challenging time! (((hugs)))