Bless her widdle heart, and yours of course!! Poor pumpkin!! We will keep you in our prayers and hope that they figure this out!!

This sounds like a job for Wylie's mom!

Ok little missy, when you graduate and start your practice you better not forget about us....you know we would never bombard you with medical questions! :p

LOL I still have a lot to learn. I'm sure I'll still be around YT as I'm addicted to this place and of course I'll be happy to share any knowledge I have.

To the OP - I'm glad your vet is considering a food allergy. Hopefully trying a new food will eliminate all these problems

The results for the bile test came back high. The doctor said the normal range is in the 20's and hers came back in the 70's. She said liver shunt is usually in the 100's though. She has a call into a specialist to give them the history of what has been going on with Sassafras.

We are changing her to the hypoallergenic diet today. They don't have any at the hospital, so we are going to pick it up this morning and go visit her at the hospital. Keep your fingers crossed she is able to keep it down and starts to feel better soon.

I'm so sorry that you're going through all this angst and that your poor pup is feeling sick.
On the + side though, it sounds like at least the vets are starting to take the problem more seriously... hopefully they'll learn more information while she's at the clinic and something can be done to resolve the problem.

Sorry your having such issues with your baby.

My Murphy had bloody diarraha when I got him and he used to vomit and didnt seem to get better. The Vet had to run serveral Stool samples to confrim Coccidia. He was put on Meds for his tummy and Meds for the Coccidia. He was eating at that time, Royal Canine Dry Puppy food, but didnt seem to be good with it. His tummy made Noises like it was churning or grinding. The Vet had him on I/D for awhile and then we switched to one ingredient soft food like Rabbit. He ate this for awhile till his tummy calmed down and when he was well enough we switched it over to Wellness Just for Puppy Dry, and he loves it. No more running poop, No more Tummy Grinding, he runs and plays and is such alittle terror he is 8 months old 4 lbs :o)

Please have your vet do stool samples to look for these problems if they havnt done it yet. Good luck, keep me posted.

thank you for the update. Continuing to pray for Sassafrass -poor girl

Oh, this poor baby! Boy do I have "mucousy/mushy/bloody stool" experience, for FOUR months with my Marcel! He had giardia twice - which messed up everything; giardia, btw, is notorious for hiding under the microscope - so sometimes they can have giardia, but never test positive for it. If they do have it, meds are needed, reinfection can be very probable - and giardia can be very damaging to a puppy's intestines, it can actually start to digest the tissue.....and then...you've got months of mystery mushy/bloody/mucousy stools. This if often diagnosed as ibs/ibd/colitis and/or food allergies - and it is often a combo of the entire clinical scenario. So, has she been tested for giardia more than once?

If all tests are negative, then a food allergy is very likely. I'd get her off of Science Diet (and never go back) asap. My next question is - do you want to stick to kibble or are you willing to home cook? If you want kibble, get her on something like Orijen 6-fish, Natures Variety, Innova EVO, Canidae, Evangers -or- one of the "allergy kibbles" like Wellness, Natural Balance etcetera; I'm not the biggest fan of allergy kibbles bc they are always lower in protein, so they aren't the best long term solution.

IF you want to homecook (which would truly be the best solution to let her system rest), I'd recommend what Marcel's nutritionist did for him: a whitefish diet w/ pureed green beans and mashed white potatoes. This is a hypoallergenic diet - the "cleanest" protein source (meaning, least allergenic). Marcel had FOUR months of bad stools - his stools firmed up after 1.5 days, yes DAYS, on his new diet. It was a miracle, I tell you! And this was after a gazillion tests, a gazillion vet trips, and lots of vet bills, and agony for Marcel and myself! This isn't a long term diet - but it should give her system a chance to rest, AND to heal - bc as it's resting, you can give supplements intended to heal any damage done to the intestines.

I probably gave too much info here - hope I didn't overwhelm - please feel free to PM me as I understand exactly what you're going through. I cannot recommend Marcel's nutritonist highly enough - so please let me know if you'd like her info (she does phone consults). He has now progressed to raw, and she confirmed how great this is for him. BEST of luck and I hope for a solution for your baby! :)

Our fingers are crossed.

I'm eager to hear how your little girl did, or is doing, at the vets. Would be SO happy for you if you were able to find what the problem is.
I agree with Marcel's mom. Some dogs just can't tolerate the chemicals and preservatives etc. in commercial foods.
For anyone with the time and desire, I strongly recommend a good homecooked diet... or, if you have LOTS of time and a meatgrinder, make your own raw.
I basically feed homecooked, but try to feed commercial every 3rd meal or so in case I'm missing any vitamins, minerals etc. Once a week or so, I'll put a batch of chicken thighs, wings, backs, etc. throught the grinder and feed that. It's not a balanced raw diet, but it's great as a treat or to feed anybody with any digestive issues. I find raw food is wonderful for idiopathic diarrhea.

RAW does not take alot of time at all, barely any, certainly alot quicker than home cooking. There is no need for you to grind RMB's, its much more beneficial for them to have them whole and crunch on the bones :)

Sorry - guess I should have been more specific. I grind because my guys won't touch it any other way... and the time factor was referring to finding and adding the proper minerals, vitamins etc.
Am I misinformed to think that a diet of just raw meat wouldn't be nutritionally complete?:confused: I know the commercial raw diets add a certain amount of organ meat, veggies and mineral/vitamin supplementation so I just assumed if you were going to feed raw exclusively it meant more than just grinding the meat and feeding. However, I'm very happy to be educated if I'm wrong... especially if it means less work;)

All they need is raw meaty bones, raw muscle meat and raw organ meat. Other things can be given if you like such raw eggs or live yogurt. Dogs do not need grains or veggies, they are carnivores.

Sassafras came home from the hospital last night. She was so happy to see us and come home. She has kept down all of her food since she has been home and has been drinking her water good too.

They put her on Hill Prescription diet w/d.
If she is able to keep her food down they are going to wait and see what happens and do the bile test again in two weeks.

Please keep your fingers crossed she keeps her food down and the bile test is better next time they test.