The canned dog food caused my dog to have diarrhea?

2015. Feb. 3

My dog, Big Steve, got pancreatitis last year, due to some unknown cause. Since then, we had to give him prescribed canned dog food. I wrote about it here. We are still giving him the prescribed canned dog food (GI low fat), but since his pancreatitis seemed to have improved, we decided to try some new food. We started to give him Trader Joe’s canned food. I wrote about it here.  He loved it, so we’ve been giving him a combination of Trader Joe’s canned dog food and prescribed canned food since then.

One day I found the place that I can order GI low fat canned dog food online. Since GI low fat is prescribed canned dog food, we needed to send them a doctor’s note.  One day, I ordered GI low fat online, but after they took my order, they told me that they ran out of GI and they don’t even know when they will have it again. I didn’t know what that means, but we had to give him only Trader Joe’s canned food (chunky beef dinner) for a while.

We noticed that he’s been gassy since then and seemed like his stomach was bothering him.  His stool became really soft like diarrhea. One night, he even needed to go out to poop in the middle of the night. He had explosive diarrhea. Despite all of these conditions, he still had his usual appetite and acted normal. He barked at another dog on the street and sometimes ran around happily.

We weren’t sure what was the cause of these conditions at that time. Big Steve had been in this condition for weeks. Poor Big Steve…

One day, I suddenly realized that my dog’s fart smelled like the Trader Joe’s canned food(chunky beef dinner). We’ve been giving him Trader Joe’s canned food for months, and he never had any problems, but I decided to stop giving him Trader Joe’s canned food completely.

The next day, his stool became much better, and the day after that, he is completely recovered from all these bad conditions. No fart, no diarrhea anymore.

I wonder why this happened to my dog? Is this because of Trader Joe’s canned dog food? Or it’s just Trader Joe’s canned dog food are not going to work for my dog? But why suddenly? Or did Trader Joe’s changed how to produce the canned dog food? It’s a mystery to me…

throw up and diarrhea

2014, June 2 ~ Now

After the bug bite, he threw up his food. The next day, I called the vet to see if this is an emergency situation I should take him to vet. Nurse just asked if I want to bring him to vet. I didn’t see anything that stands out, but I didn’t know what to do, so I said yes. My husband and I took him to the vet that day, but doctor couldn’t see anything that stands out just like I thought. He didn’t eat much that night.

The next day early in the morning, like 4:00am,  he threw up yellow bile and white form. He also had diarrhea. I called the vet 2nd time, and this time, Dr. told me to bring him to emergency center because Dr. though he may have pancreatitis again. This is the emergency center Big Steve had been seen before. They did ultra sound and found pancreatitis at that time. Anyway, I thought they could give him antibiotics or something for this kind of condition, but they didn’t want to do that.

Anyway, I had no choice but to call the emergency center. I explained the situation and my opinion. The nurse talked to the Dr. about it and that emergency Dr. called Big Steve’s primary Dr. to talk about Big Steve. At the end, the nurse from the emergency told me that Big Steve’s primary Dr. will take Big Steve’s blood to check his condition. I took Big Steve to his primary vet that day and they took his blood sample. They also gave him an injection for anti-nausea. Big Steve seemed like doing better after that.

On June 5th, the result of his blood came out normal. But since Big Steve still have his soft stool, Dr. decided to give him “Metronidazole 250 mg tablet,”  1/2 tablet twice a day for 10 days. Metronidazole is an antibacterial drug. I’m still quit not sure why they couldn’t give him antibiotics from the first. Is Metronidazole some special drag? Did I miss any explanations?

It’s been a week, and it looks like he’s been doing fine. Except he’s been gassy. So I don’t know and I can’t say that he is fine now.

 

 

 

 

He has gotten a lot better from Pancreatitis, but He has skin rash now.

4/28/2014

Because the vet found tiny amount of crystal in his urine, they gave us a sample of Urinary SO, the one it’s a moderate calorie from Royal Canin. They  wanted me to switch to Urinary SO slowly, so I’m adding a little bit of Urinary SO to his GI low fat canned food diet. Vet recommend us to give him a lot of water. 600mg is recommended for his size. However, he won’t drink water. So I’m giving him food with water I am measuring each time. He’s been getting a lot of water now!:)

5/5/2014

He liked the food, and now his urine color looks normal, and I can tell he is doing great just by looking at him. He had his blood test on May 5th, and result came out 100% normal and it looks great. So vet told me to stop the remaining medication that I have been giving to him, Denamarin andUrsodiol.

5/8 (Thursday)

Big Steve threw up this morning. I know he was licking himself from 2 to 3 am last night. I took him out to pee. After that he went to sleep. However, at 6:00 am this morning, he threw up. He was also scratching himself.

At around 4:00 pm, my husband found that Big Steve had some hives on his skin. So, we gave him ½ tablet of allergy pill(12.5mg) since we remembered in the past when Big Steve had allergy reaction, the vet told us to give him a ½ tablet of Benadryl. After that, I called the vet to tell about it. The nurse asked me if I could take him to the vet soon, so I took him to the vet immediately.

Big Steve’s vet was not at the office today, so the other DR. had to learn about him and examined him.

The vet was not sure the reason of all this or why he threw up, but he suspect food allergy, chicken? wheat? in Urinary SO… or other allergy?

The instruction I got was as followed.

1. Continue Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) non-cold formula 25mg 1 tablet every 8 hours until hives resolve
2. Give ½ Benadryl when I get home (since I already gave ½ tablet)
3. Give 5mg prednisolone tonight (We usually give him prednisolone 2.5mg on Mon. and Friday)

Anyway Big Steve’s vet is gonna be at office tomorrow and we’ll talk about Big Steve.

BTW, he is not scratching himself anymore and sleeping now. Also his hives has almost all gone already. Great!

 

Pancreatitis 2 and crystal in his urine

4/20/2014

Today vet called me about the result of his urine test. It looks like they found crystal(magnesium, ammonium, phosphate) in his urine. However, there are no drug I could give him at this point.

I asked him what should I do? The vet told me that Big Steve need to drink a lot of water so that crystal might come out with pee. The vet also told me that we can give him urinary health diet food for dog.

In terms of water, vet recommended me to give him just a pinch of lite salt in his food to make him thirsty or give ice cube. I tried ice cube, but he didn’t like it.  I have been using a syringe to give him water in his mouth, but it’s a tough job since he spills the water I just gave him from the side of his mouth.

At this point, I just need to be extra careful if he is straining when he is peeing.

 

Pancreatitis

It’s been a long time since the last post. Big Steve has been doing great and enjoy the weather in here and some social time at dog park every weekend. Today, I just want to update his medical history.

Feb. 17 2014

Big Steve had to take his teeth out. He took 10 teeth out! (>_<。)

 

Mar. 20th 2014

Big Steve throw up twice at night.

Mar. 21st 2014

He didn’t have much apatite. He also had a soft stool around that time, so we thought something must bothered his stomach.

Mar. 24th 2014

He was eating fine but looked a bit lethargic and his fart smelled bad.

Some time that week we noticed his pee color looked a bit darker yellow.

April 1st 2014

I took Big Steve to his vet. The vet said he has jaundice. His eyes and ear color got yellowish. After the exam and hearing my explanation about what is going on with Big Steve, he checked his blood and took X-Ray. The vet told me that vomiting, stinky fart, and loss of apatite may indicate liver damage.  However, the result of blood test and X-Ray didn’t show the damage of his liver. In order to find the problem, Big Steve needed to take ultrasound. Since the vet didn’t have the machine, I took him to another vet close by.

That day I got Clavamox 1/2 every 12 hours and Denamarin 1 tablet with empty stomach 1 hour before meal everyday. Clavamox is Antibiotic and used for Bacterial infections. Denamarin is for his liver.

April 4th 2014

Big Steve got ultrasound. The vet found out that Big Steve has pancreatitis that could cause liver damage or gallbladder problem. The vet told us to keep the medications we got from our primary vet and also added 2 more pills.

Ursodiol 1/2 every day and Cerenia 1 tablet for 4 days. Ursodiol is used to dissolve gallstones. Cerenia is used for antinausea.

I attached the part of the document I received from the vet.
*Prednisolone is a pill Big Steve has been taking since he has autoimmune hemolytic anemia.

We also got some sample of low fat canned food from the vet. It contains crude fat (min)1% ~ crude fat(max)2.5%. This is a very low fat content, but I also see by-products listed as an ingredient. So I tried to find a low fat canned food without by-product at pet food express which is known as a healthy pet food store. However, the best I could find was crude fat (min) 3%. I put photo of the canned food I got at the vet and the label. Hope you can see it.

BTW, Big Steve really loved it and got his apatite back!

 

April 6th 2014.

I could see his jaundice has gotten better.

April 7th 2014.

I went to the vet to get 4 more Cerenias.

April 16th 2014.

I still give him a low fat canned food the best I can find at pet food express. He loves it! I called the 2nd vet as I was directed to do so. The person I talked to told me that Big Steve need to be checked the chemistry, PCB. I had no idea what that means. She didn’t explained what that is, but she said the vet will know what that is… Since she told me that I can take him to his primary vet, I brought Big Steve to his primary vet to check his blood. The result showed his condition has gotten a lot better, but still not the normal level.

April 18th 2014.

Big Steve is not peeing enough as usual and my husband was so worried about him, so we took Big Steve to our primary vet today. They took his urine sample to check if there is any sand, crystal, blood… What they did was put the tube in his penis and if it doesn’t go through that means there are something piling up, but the tube went through which was a good news. They will call and let  us know the result and the course of treatment tomorrow.

I also bought more low fat canned food at this vet since the price was lower here than the other vet.

 

The First New Vet Visit

As I wrote yesterday, I took Big Steve to his new vet this morning.

https://pugpugpug.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/abdominal-pain/

They seem nice, and Big Steve and I both like his new vet.

I explained to the vet about his health records, his conditions, and the reason for today’s visit.

【Problems】

1. Big Steve looked a bit lethargic one night.

2. Big Steve stayed in the dark by himself and didn’t go to bed.

3. Big Steve seemed restless.

4. Big Steve kept doing downward-dog pose (play bow).

【Good news】

1. Big Steve hesitates eating, but still he eats his food.

2. Big Steve still plays.

3. Big Steve pees and poops fine.

Dr.K. examined his body and asked me some questions.

Q : Did he vomit?

A: No.

Q : Did you hear some strange noise from his stomach?

A : Not from his stomach, but he was making some noise as if like he is trying to tell me his stomach is bothering him.

Dr. K. checked his stomach area and explained that maybe Big Steve had abdominal pain at that time, but the pain was probably temporary. He couldn’t find any possible problems now. Dr. K. said Big Steve’s heart sounds good, his teeth are good, and he looks like a happy dog.

I’m so happy to hear that.

Dr. K. read Big Steve’s medical record and said he could reduce the dose of the medicines he is taking. Big Steve is on the medication to treat his Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia. However, he is not taking the full dose any more. Now, he is taking Azathioprine : 1/2 of 50mg tablet every T, Th, and S. He is also taking Prednisone : 5mg every M and F.

Vet took his blood to check how he is doing now. The vet will send the blood to the lab today, and possibly, they will call me with the result this afternoon.

I hope his blood is doing great!

Abdominal pain?

Hi, I’m Big Steve’s owner. My husband, Big Steve, and I moved to San Jose last month. We all love living here.

Well, actually, Big Steve needed some time to adjust himself. Whenever he moves, he gets stressed out. He threw up for a few days. I can understand how stressful it can be for dogs to move another place to live. If dogs don’t know the place, they can get nervous. They need to know the place. They need to put their smells to the place they live, so that they can make themselves comfortable and home. Big Steve is doing great now. 🙂

My boy, Big Steve, is 8 year’s old. I think he is in good shape. My husband and I take him a walk for long enough. We take him to the dog’s park once a week and give him an opportunity to meet other dogs.

Last night, he acted strangely. First, he seemed lethargic. He is usually happy whenever we take him out, but he was walking slowly and didn’t have good spirits.  I thought he was just tired, but he didn’t even go to bed. He appeared to be a bit restless and stayed in a dark room by himself. So I took him out few times in the middle of the night, but he didn’t need to. He also kept doing downward-dog pose (play bow).

I started to worried about him more. So, I Googled about his symptom and found someone was having the same problems my dog had.

This is the website : http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090613040254AAXjtrn

Anyway, this person said the dog’s stomach might be upset and the down pose was relieving some pain. I didn’t know what to do, so I put some tranquil music and started to rub his belly for about one hour. He seemed to like it and finally I could go to sleep. That was after 3:00 a.m. Before I went to bed, I wrote a note to my husband, so that he can pay attention to Big Steve in the morning.

Some noise woke me up at 6:50 a.m. and I could have a little talk with my husband. My husband told me that Big Steve went pee and poop this morning and his scat was firm and good. I was so happy to hear that and went back to sleep.

Since Big Steve doesn’t have his new vet yet, we looked into his new vet after my husband came home. We made a phone call and made a reservation for tomorrow.

I hope he is okay!!

Big Steve at the dog’s park. Big Steve is left.(black pug)