Non Newf help needed

[Emmy985837]

My friend has a female Golden Retriever (Lily) who is 1 1/2 years old. Since Feb of this year she has been feeding her Merrick dry food with a bit of wet food added to each meal because Lily is a very picky eater. In the Spring time she started having loose stool that is sometimes covered in mucous. At the the time vet thought it was a dog flu that was going around and gave her an antibiotic (Metronidazole) to help clear it up, also did a fecal test that was negative. The loose stool clears up but within a few weeks it returns. Next the vet did blood work which was normal, and negative for pancreatitis, so he gave her a longer dose of antibiotics that lasted about 8 weeks with a tapering down of the medicine. But again the problem has returned and now Lily is back on antibiotics and now is on a Rx diet. The vet is now thinking maybe a food allergy of some kind but Lily's mom would really like to get her off the RX diet eventually.

I am hoping someone has some ideas about what she could try or do for Lily or even what might be causing this.

As I proof read this Lily is looking at the computer screen to make sure I did not leave anything out of her story.

 

[R Taft]

Annabelle has a wheat allergy and when we got her we thought she had some sort of bug, because mucous covered stools. We had her allergy tested, because she also had some skin/ear issues. wheat was stopped, stools became good again.
Some pro-biotics might also help, after she had dad all those antibiotics and i would also add some slippery elm. neither of those would ever do any harm

 

[Newfs Forever]

Sounds to me as if it is a food allergy. Trying to figure it out is not so easy.

I agree with Ronnie on the probiotics. All of my dogs have been on probiotics since I got them. It helps immensely with the good gut flora, because it helps with the absorption of nutrients.

 

[jane]

I had to switch one of my dogs to a limited ingredient diet due to inflammatory bowel disease. His stools used to be the same as your friends golden. I put him on Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Venison and Sweet Potato. He is also on Fagyl, so I do give him a probiotic every day. You might want to suggest to your friend to try one of the limited ingredient diets. I went with the venison because he had never had venison before. You might have her try one with a meat she has never had before. I'm an avid raw feeder, and the rest of my dogs get raw. Roger did very well on raw until his intestinal problem.

 

[Erika]

I had to switch one of my dogs to a limited ingredient diet due to inflammatory bowel disease. His stools used to be the same as your friends golden. I put him on Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Venison and Sweet Potato. He is also on Fagyl, so I do give him a probiotic every day. You might want to suggest to your friend to try one of the limited ingredient diets. I went with the venison because he had never had venison before. You might have her try one with a meat she has never had before. I'm an avid raw feeder, and the rest of my dogs get raw. Roger did very well on raw until his intestinal problem.

Our Gandolph had poopy issues.......natural balance soved it all......sweet potatoe and venison did the trick here too

 

[victoria1140]

Beau and Merlin have both had stomach issues. Beau is now on a mix of Orijen with raw food as an alternative meal. Merlin has yoghurt and slippery elm added to his food.

 

[Emmy985837]

Thanks everyone I know Lily is getting a probiotic now & I will pass along the info about slippery elm and the venison sweet potato NB I know she has feed her other dog NB in the past so she is familiar with the brand.

 

[ardeagold]

NB has many limited ingredient formulas. Tell her to go to the Natural Balance website and look at the "Allergy" formulas.

Hope it works for her pup!