# Metronidazole~How long to work to fix poops?



## JenniferH

Tanis has had runny poops since he came home. I know he had coccidia before he came home but was treated for it and had normal poops by the time he got to come home. So yesterday he had his vet visit. I told them to retest for coccidia cause I thought stress of a new home may have made it come back. They said he had no coccidia, no worms but he did have lots of bacteria in his belly which was causing the poop problems. Vet gave us metronidazole and said to give some yogurt with probiotics in it and he should be better in no time. He had his first dose last night, second dose this morning. Still runny poops. Like water almost. Am I wishing for this to change too quickly?


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## GSD4LIFE21

Metronidazole, isnt that given for giardia? Albon is what is given for coccidia....


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## Freddy

I've been trying to get nice solid firm poop for 2 months. About the same story as you minus the coccidia. He's better now but still not much fun to pick up. You might try pumpkin. Oatmeal works for some but didn't work for me. 

The first night was every 45 minutes, and then projectile like a hose. I took him out about every 20 minutes since he cried so much, and if i hadn't had a DVR I might have hung him from a ceiling fan!

Good luck.


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## JenniferH

> Originally Posted By: GSD4LIFE21Metronidazole, isnt that given for giardia? Albon is what is given for coccidia....


I think your right but he tested negative for coccidia. I only wanted him rechecked to rule it out. He came back squeaky clean except for bacteria in his belly.


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## JenniferH

Fred, I have heard pumpkin works. Luckily we dont have it as bad as you did. If the meds dont clear it up I would then suspect the food...

Its very hard to work on house training with an 8 week old when he has water poops...poor guy


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## BowWowMeow

When I gave Chama and Massie metro it worked right away. Chama had slimy poops again after I stopped the Metro so I started it again and it did nothing the second time. Next thing I tried was slippery elm and that worked like a charm. 

Usually yogurt doesn't have enough probiotics in it to really help. I would use an actual probiotic instead.


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## GSD4LIFE21

Well I am not an expert but Ive read that giving yogurt really doesnt help much for probiotics because you would need to feed a







of a lot to give any real benefits. Maybe try the pill form? Its highly concentrated.


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## JenniferH

Thanks. LOL I feel like a complete fool...once ya'll mentioned using actual probiotics I remembered that I have a whole jug of it at home. Cant remember the name but I know its green! I'll check it out when I get home and give him some of that!


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## marksteven

Metro is usually given for a 30 day cycle.


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## BowWowMeow

> Originally Posted By: markstevenMetro is usually given for a 30 day cycle.


Actually that would be for something like SIBO. In normal use it's given on a 10 day course.


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## marksteven

> Originally Posted By: BowWowMeow
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted By: markstevenMetro is usually given for a 30 day cycle.
> 
> 
> 
> Actually that would be for something like SIBO. In normal use it's given on a 10 day course.
Click to expand...

Your right, thats the only exp. i have with Metro, suspected SIBO which turned out to be EPI


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## kshort

I've used it for 3 days with no problems. It's always worked really quickly on my dogs - by the second dose poops are firmed up considerably.


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## allieg

All cases are different.It may take a couple of days.Luckily it has been months since I had to deal with it so I can't remember how quickly it worked.I would get some FortiFlora and use that for a month or so to get the good bacteria back.We were dealing with a bacteria but it wasn't SIBO.I do believe that now since it hasn't come back.


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## Doc

You need to test for giardia. I would use Panacur if you have giardia and Albon for Coccidia. I hate the Metro drug - it has wicked side effects with some dogs.


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## JenniferH

Well we still have runny poops and he has had 4 doses...I hope it gets better soon.


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## MaggieRoseLee

Whenever my dogs have diahrrea, as important at the drugs are when I start to 'fix' it, it the food.

Rather the LACK of food to give my pup's system a break and a chance to rest up and HEAL.

So I always was told to STOP ALL FOOD for 24 hours when starting up the drugs. At most I would give some VERY watery chicken broth (no solids at all) and as much water in general as the pup will eat.

Only after the 24 hours (and hopefully there is now NO diahrrea cause the pups system should be absolutely empty of food and the drugs are working) do I start up with small meals of ONLY white rice and boiled chicken. If I'm not up to cooking, canned chicken and rice soup works. Add the water! 

Dehydration is the normal issue with diahrrea, so keeping the amount of fluids going in is important ALONG with stopping the diahrrea. 

So the canned soup (1/4 cup with water) every 4 hours and see if that stays down and STILL no diahrrea is the goal.

My understanding is if our pups are *sick* and have diahrrea pumpkin is BAD BAD BAD!!!!!! Cause it's full of FIBER making their gut have to work really really hard to digest it, and THAT's what can start our dogs onto the wonderful way to colitis (inflamation of the bowel) which makes things much worse. 

Pumpkin is used if they just are having food issues and to make the poo solid. Not having stomach/gut/illnesses issues. 

So if they are sick you want NO fiber and tiny easily digestible meals like the boiled chicken and rice.


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## Liesje

The metro usually works on my dogs within hours. If the poo is still really runny I'd try a double dose of Panacur. That is what we use for possible giardia.


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## Freddy

Jen,

We've been on the pumpkin for almost 2 months and we are about 75% solid. Kury's mom gave me some probiotics and pancreatic enzymes (very kind of her I might add) so currently we are on those as well as a spoon of pumpkin. The poops always start out hard and finish soft. Very frustrating. 

I think once the meds run out, if we are not solid I am going to switch from Canidae to grain free. My other GSD loves the Canidae and is doing very well on it so I was hoping it would be something he would out grow but with no treats, raw steak for tracking, and 1 raisin bran flake at my breakfast, I'm running out of excuses.


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## BlackGSD

> Originally Posted By: FredJen,
> 
> The poops always start out hard and finish soft. Very frustrating.


When they are like, often all that is needed is a reduction in the amount they are fed. Overfeeding is the leading cause of "pudding poops."


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## Freddy

Tracy,

He acts like he's starving now!! He's a little over 5 mos and about 50ish pounds. We are feeding 4 cups Canidae all life stages over 3 meals now. Do you think that's too much?


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## BlackGSD

Acting like the are starving is NOT an indiation that they need more food! Some dogs (I have one, my 16 month old has been that way all her life.) would eat until they explode if you let them.

Unless he is WAY skinny, I would try cutting him down by 1/4 to 1/2 a cup a DAY, (Not per meal.), and see if that makes a difference.

My pup was on Canidae ALS at that age too. At 6 months she got the "poops" exactly like you are talking about. I cut her food back a little and she "firmed up" immediately. (She too was eating about 4 cups a day, and she weighed 50lbs at exactly 5 months. So she was about the same size.)

It might help and is free and easy to try.


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## Freddy

Thanks, I'll try it. If nothing else it will help with his tracking!

Weight is a funny thing--everyone at my Sch club thinks his weight is fine but the vet thinks I should get a few more pounds on him.


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## angelaw

vets are used to seeing fat dogs.


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## Freddy

Just like a lot of their owners!


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## JenniferH

Tanis had runny poop this morning and at lunch time he had better formed poop that i could shovel up without a mess. Not quite firm like Bella but much better than what it has been. So, its getting better. Lets hope it stays that way!


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## onyx'girl

> Originally Posted By: Angela_Wvets are used to seeing fat dogs.


 Karlo is barely 5 months and 50#...my vet told me last week he could gain a few!? I think the vets like em fat, they will see them more often because of the illness associated with obesity. Then, they can prescribe Hills to get them to loose the weight.


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## sunfluer

I think you might want to have the feces vet checked again. Also, pumpkin is considered very good for tightening up the stool. Good luck - hope your pup will be better soon.


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## JenniferH

Thanks. I am going to drop of more poop when I leave for lunch and have it checked again for everything. Its worse now. Had one poop that showed some promise but not any more. This stinks...


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## LisaT

Metro can have side effects and cause a more "nervous" stomach. 

How did they determine that he had "bacteria in his belly"? And what kind of bacteria? 

MRL gave some very good advice. 

I believe that the reason that cutting back on the food works is because the digestive system has less to deal with at one time. If the smaller meals work, and the dog is still underweight, sounds like it's time for more frequent feeding.


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## JenniferH

Okay. I just dropped off another stool sample and asked them to run a full fecal float to rule out anything in the poop. They did this on tuesday supposedly but I didnt go. Dh took him in for me so I could pick up the girls. I do not know if they did a full float or only checked for what I asked them to check which was coccidia and worms. He came back clear on both. 

Held off on food since last night and am going to start with rice and chicken for dinner to hopefully get things under control. At lunch time he had more firm poops so that was good but I was fooled by that the other day and then the water poop came back.

If he is clear again today that I would have to assume its the food.


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## LisaT

Sounds like a plan.

Again, though, how did they determine bacteria in the belly? Where they assuming?


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## marksteven

> Originally Posted By: FredJust like a lot of their owners!


Thats funny! my vet. and i just talked about the same thing.


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## Jessica H

I had the same issue with Dozer, he never had solid poops then he got giardia which started the cow patties. He tested negative for giardia after a few weeks but still had the runs.

I spoke with a woman that owns and all natural pet food store and this is what she told me:

He had diarrhea which irritated his intestines which causes the diarrhea, the diarrhea cause the irritated intestines so the cycle has to be broken or it will not stop.
-fast him for 4 days 
-give him Slippery Elm bark 3 times a day to soothe his belly
-give him boiled rice and chicken but mostly rice b/c chicken can cause the runs, for 3-4 days
-give him Slippery Elm bark between meals
-slowly add food back in but switch to a different food.
-if it continues try it all over again with a different type of food

Fish based foods seem to be easier o the belly, I ended up with FROMM Whitefish and Sweet Potato

It was the ONLY thing that worked and he has had solid poops since. He never had a "normal" poop since I had gotten him. They key was to breaking the cycle. I still give him the slipper Elm.

I was given Metronidazole for my dogs when they had giardia but my breeder told me it is used for diarrhea.


As far as the vet, we had the same fat pet conversation. I told him people tell me Dozer is skinny and he said that is b/c their dogs are fat. He made a great point, go to Europe, most people are good weight and so are their pets. He also told me that he had a woman that was VERY over weight and so is her dog. My vet told her the dog was 15-20lbs overweight and she asked how that happened, my vet wanted to ask "well how did it happen to you?" I was laughing so hard!!! I was at the vet with my Cairns and they said it was nice to pick a small dog that wasn't like a "coffee table"


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## JenniferH

> Originally Posted By: LisaTSounds like a plan.
> 
> Again, though, how did they determine bacteria in the belly? Where they assuming?


I'm not sure how that was determined. Since I didnt go to the appt I got my info second hand. I would imagine that it was an assumption based off of the fact that his poop was clear.

As for the sample I dropped off today...it too was clear. So I think the food I had him on was too rich. He is now on chicken and rice and we are stillkeeping with the meds. I hope it gets better soon.


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