Happy Thursday everyone! After two weeks in the blogosphere we are totally feeling the love! Thank you for helping us with Havi's anxiety when she needs to be in the crate for a long period of time. We always leave her with a kong and treats, but maybe she needs more of a challenging toy! Now that we have the attention of some amazing fur parents, Dental Student and I thought it was time to tell you the saga of her tummy. Havi was on the streets for 8 months in the south before being bounced from shelter to fosters for the following 6 months, and then we rescued her. Havi is now a beautiful pit/lab/boxer mix who has stolen our heart. However, little was known about Havi's health before she came to us. During her first few days with us she had awful diarrhea. It led to me picking up the 50lb pup and running two avenues to a vet we have never met before. Havi was and is fully house trained. However, since we rescued her, almost every other week, she will wake up in the middle of the night and have a loose bowel movement on the floor, and proceed to cry indicating she is in pain. In addition, her poop has never been of normal consistency. We have done three Giardia tests, three fecal flotations for parasites, one blood test, and seen the vet a total of 15 times in four months. She is the happiest pup and shows no signs of being sick, never has a fever, watery eyes, or wheezing (more than normal pitbullness). She has been on Natural Balance food, Hill's Science w/d, and Hill's Science z/d. We have tried no treats, then all treats. She has been on four courses of metronidazol/flagyll and that is the only time her bowels are solid. We were hoping that someone has some new, great idea we have not though of before. Because parasites, Giardia, cancer, and allergies are all ruled out, what should we do next? We are going to go to a new vet to see if he has any ideas. Our current vet said the next step is a sonogram or anal exploratory surgery. We do not want to spend money or time if anyone can think of anything new besides having to probe her some more. Havi especially appreciates any ideas!
Lastly, here are CraigsList postings for before the big move (3 days!!). We are selling 2 desk lamps, a Crate & Barrel rug, 1 wicker bookshelf, 1 cabinet, and 1 night stand. Take a look!
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/fuo/2282234352.html (furniture - by owner)
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/fuo/2282244714.html (furniture - by owner)
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/fuo/2282248636.html (furniture - by owner)
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/fuo/2282253073.html (furniture - by owner)
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/fuo/2282264781.html (furniture - by owner)
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/fuo/2282238141.html (furniture - by owner)
Billy was never that bad but getting his stomach settled has definitely been an ongoing battle. He's doing great on Bravo Raw diet at the moment though I realize that's not for everyone. Home-cooked is another option to think about. Bilbo was on Hill's Science Diet Gastrointestinal for a while but I've finally phased it out - read the first four ingredients and you'll see why. The crazy thing is that the Bravo raw is no more expensive than the trashy Science Diet!
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I just "found" your blog, but I hope you find some answers. Poor Havi. Maybe the new vet will have an idea to try before surgery. We had a food issue with our youngest Chessie and she had loose stools and accidents. We changed her to a salmon based kibble and added a bit of fiber to her food and that seemed to take care of it. (We tried a lot of different foods because we wanted only one kind of food for the two dogs.) Now she just gets the kibble and she is fine. Also, have you tried adding plain yogurt? I have heard that helping too.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...I'll be very interested to hear what a different vet thinks. To me, it sounds like food allergies. Did the last vet have you try an elimination diet? What Natural Balance formula was Havi on? We used to feed Gus homemade until he became allergic...since we couldn't isolate which ingredient was causing him problems, we switched over to Natural Balance Potato and Duck and ALL his issues went away.
ReplyDeleteI know how very frustrating it is...we've been through the flagyll routine before, too. Is Havi's stool covered in mucous?
Poor, sweet Havi. We sure hope that the new vet will be able to figure out the problem and it will be easily solved. Hugs and nose kisses
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