# Help! Stella has watery diarrhea...



## katdog5911 (Sep 24, 2011)

Not sure what caused this. She started having very loose poop yesterday morning but still ate and acted normal. Last night she woke me up every hour from 1AM to 7AM to go out. I couldn't see anything as it was the middle of the night. This morning I took her out and saw that her poop shoots out like water! You don't even see it in the grass. She seems to be acting normal and has has a bit of water every now and then. Should I wait and see how she does or do I call the vet on a Sunday afternoon????


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## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

How old is she? Does she have any medical problems? How was it when she had diarrhea before?

If she isn't a young pup, I would fast her for 24 hours. Give her access to fresh water. You can try giving gatorade or pedialyte to replenish electrolytes that she loses with watery stools. After 24 hours, I would give her small amounts of boiled chicken, rice and pumpkin to see how she tolerates it. Slowly reintroduce normal amounts of chicken/rice and then replace with kibble over a couple of days. If she continues to have diarrhea for several days, has a lot of blood in her stools, is lethargic, gets a fever or has any severe reaction, take her to the vet. But if it's just diarrhea in an otherwise healthy dog, withholding food and then reintroducing bland food slowly will be enough to get rid of the diarrhea.


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## GSDAlphaMom (Jul 20, 2010)

Get her tested for coccidia and giardia (note giarida is a different test than coccidia).


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## katdog5911 (Sep 24, 2011)

She is 9 months and we are in the process of sorting out if she has food allergies as she is very itchy and scratchy. I just switched her to Nature's Variety Chicken Grain free. I figured there might be some change in her poop but this is extreme. She is acting ok otherwise. I did notice her eating grass but I haven't seen her vomit at all. (she does this every now and then.) I will try withholding food today and do the rice/chicken/pumpkin after. What kind of pumpkin do I need?


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## katdog5911 (Sep 24, 2011)

GSDAlphaMom said:


> Get her tested for coccidia and giardia (note giarida is a different test than coccidia).


Where would she pick these up? She has been doing some swimming in the lakes and rivers..... Is this where she might get them?


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## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

Yes it's common to pick up parasites, bacteria and the like from water/dirt. 

I would do half cup cooked rice, half cup cooked chicken with no bones and a tablespoon or so of pureed pumpkin. Use the kind that is unflavored and contains only pure pumpkin. Be careful not to get the flavored kind made for pies.

How did you make the switch to her new food? Over a period of 10 days or immediately?


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## katdog5911 (Sep 24, 2011)

I did it too quickly I know. I ran out of her old food after just a few days. She seemed to be fine though. Would it take that long to develop the diarrhea from the food switch? 
Anyway, she is acting fine otherwise. She is hungry and wants to eat. I boiled up some chicken breast and rice and gave her some. She managed to pick out the chicken and leave a lot of the rice. So I shredded the chicken even more and gave it to her with the left behind rice. She wants more but I will see how she does. And I will go to the store for the pumpkin. 
I am always thinking she ate something non edible and it is stuck in her gut somewhere. She gets into all kinds of nonsense. But as I said, she is acting ok for now.....


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## GSDAlphaMom (Jul 20, 2010)

Yes giardia comes from contaminated water. Ask for a snap test.


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## katdog5911 (Sep 24, 2011)

Thanks for all the advice. I was freaking out and thinking I should rush her to the vet. I am sure my vet would have been so happy to see us on a nice Sunday afternoon!!!! 
I don't think I ever had a dog with this kind of diarrhea before. And I have always had dogs. A lot of them were mutts and maybe they just have less sensitive digestive systems? 
As to the giardia from the water.... my newfie/lab swam in the same water and seems just fine. Would that be possible?


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## katdog5911 (Sep 24, 2011)

How do I know she didn't eat some non edible thing and that it is causing a problem? Just wondering. I tend to think of the worst. Would it take all that time for her to develop diarrhea when switching food?


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## Zoeys mom (Jan 23, 2010)

Diarrhea that shoots out like actual water is seriously dangerous and can cause dehydration pretty fast. I hope it's just food related but if she's like this by the evening I would have her seen


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## katdog5911 (Sep 24, 2011)

she is still drinking....i am watching her to make sure she pees at some point tonight. she just ate a small amount of chicken/rice. she is basically acting pretty normal. maybe a little more tired than usual but hard to say. it is fairly warm today and she did not get a good sleep last night! and we did go for a fairly long walk today so i am not surprised she is tired. i tried to call my vet but sunday evening they are not available. i was referred to an emergency office. i called them and of course they can't say anything without seeing stella. but they are there if things go really bad tonight for some reason. i did think about the dehydration danger but she is 9 months old and somewhere between 75-80 lbs so i think it would take a bit more time to dehydrate. and like i said she is drinking water. but i am no expert for sure. 
i think right now i will see how she does tonight and call my vet in the morning. at least i know there is an emergency vet not too far away....40ish minutes....


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## katdog5911 (Sep 24, 2011)

Stella seems to be feeling better. One poop this morning....still not close to solid but what I consider "normal diarrhea". Gave her rice/chicken/pumpkin a couple of times today.....She is soooooo hungry. Hasn't brought on any more poop yet. We'll see how the evening goes.


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## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

Looks like she is returning to normal. Reintroduce kibble very slowly. Maybe over a 10 day period since she had issues last time.


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## katdog5911 (Sep 24, 2011)

Part of me feels like keeping her on rice and chicken forever! This is sort of interesting as far as her allergies go too. Since she is not eating anything else at the moment we can see if her itching etc lessens. I am not in a rush to do the kibble thing although I know she cant just eat chicken and rice forever. I will see how her poop goes. Haven't seen any more today but I was at work and my hubby doesn't notice these things.


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## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

You could try putting her on some really simple single ingredient allergy formulas that Natural Balance makes. My rescue has terrible allergies and she did well on their single protein formulas.


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## katdog5911 (Sep 24, 2011)

SOLID POOP!!!! I am starting to add a bit of kibble with her chicken/rice/pumpkin combo. I have Nature's Variety Chicken with limited ingredients. It is hard to not feed her anything else now that her appetite is back in full force! What kind of bones can she gnaw on other than pork and beef? She was crazy for bully sticks but since we are on the chicken/rice diet at the moment, not sure how to solve her need to chew.....


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## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

Try nylabones puppy chews and kongs filled with frozen rice/chicken. You can also soak a rag in sodium free chicken broth, put a bunch of knots in the rag and then freeze it. Dogs enjoy playing and chewing the rag


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## katdog5911 (Sep 24, 2011)

I have stuffed kongs for her before..... she finishes them fairly quickly. She doesn't care for the nylabones. I like the rag idea though.....I bet she will too. Thanks for the idea.


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## Barb E (Jun 6, 2004)

Edited to Add: For future reference, don't want to rock the poop boat!!!

This is one of Dante's Kongs:


















I fill the Kong with canned food, then place a treat at the opening (These fit that opening perfectly Wet Noses Organic Dog Treats ) and then put the whole thing in the freezer for at least 4 hours.

Takes Dante WAY longer to finish it this way


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## katdog5911 (Sep 24, 2011)

Stella went back to having diarrhea last Friday....so vet took stool sample. Turns out she has giardia. So she is on flagyl since Saturday. Now my other dog is getting on the diarrhea bandwagon... so he is on flagyl too starting today. Stella seems to be settling down poop-wise. Haven't actually seen one yesterday or today so far. Vet said I can slowly start adding back her kibble to the bland diet. Hoping for the best.....nice logs.


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## jprice103 (Feb 16, 2011)

Poor Stella! Hope now that she's on the meds, it clears up fast...for BOTH dogs! Giardia is not something I want to experience with one of my dogs again...not fun! At least you know the cause now and can treat it!


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