# Very Bad Diarrhea and Itchy Skin



## stephanie.jackson (Apr 7, 2011)

Okay I will try my best to keep this brief. I got Midas and he had Giardia & Roundworms. I treated it, then for some time he was on raw, then he went on Wellness for puppies. He had solid stools.

Well then he got Giardia again (my fault, didn't clean the yard good enough) and he gave it to my other dog as well. I treated both dogs, and my older dog is back to normal now for the past week. Midas though, he is still having diarrhea. In the middle of his giardia treatment, I switched him to Royal Canin Large Breed Puppy since I figured he already had diarrhea, might as well make the switch now. My other dog does extremely well on RC and I get a 50% discount on it, so I thought I'd see how Midas did on it. Well, the diarrhea never stopped, even after I ran out of medication. Then last night, I figured maybe he should go back on a mostly raw diet, so I gave him some chicken quarters and then this morning, I woke up to a humongous explosion of diarrhea on all sides of his kennel  Last time when I first put him on raw, he handled it very well.

He also has very itchy skin. He scratches ALL the time (think like every 5 minutes he's out of his kennel, he scratches for a couple seconds). I was told by my boss (aka the vet) that I shouldn't worry and that it's because his coat is changing into his adult coat. I'm thinking he may have a food allergy to chicken, maybe corn. I haven't seen a hard stool from him in about a month... I was thinking of switching him to Blue Buffalo Basic Salmon & Potato. But he's not even quite 4 months just yet, I've heard it's kind of hard on them as puppies... and can cause diarrhea. So I'm at a loss. Any help would be awesome as my coworkers/vet don't feel like helping and think I'm over reacting.


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## robinhuerta (Apr 21, 2007)

Thats a lot of changes for a young puppy, already having digestive issues because of a parasite.....I would not be changing his food, while he is fighting the parasite and bacteria.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I agree with Robin, alot of food changes, which could be upsetting his stomache/digest track.. I also agree with your vet, when I get a puppy, sometimes they get "itchy", I get paranoid, but it's usually their coat changing..


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

I'd put him back on the Wellness, since he had solid stools when he was on it.

As for the itching, when did it start? As the others said, it could just be his changing coat. It's rare to see allergic reactions in puppies that young. Is he on flea preventative?


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## vat (Jul 23, 2010)

I ditto. Did he have problems when on the raw? If the scratching just started it might be the Royal Canin or could be the coat. I think the best thing is to put him on a very bland diet but there are others more experienced than I with this. I think boiled chicken and rice is what they recommend. Once he is better then make a slow switch to whatever food you want to try.


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## stephanie.jackson (Apr 7, 2011)

Yeah, I am uncomfortable with the amount of food changes he's had too. I personally like Wellness a lot and planned on staying on it, but I was getting so much harassment from my coworkers because they all hate it. Especially the vet... whatever. So I changed his food to get them to shut up  It was extremely aggravating.

He did excellent on raw and wasn't itchy or having diarrhea. The only issue, none of my coworkers knew he was on raw (same reason as before) and I had to bring him with me to work all the time and it was hard sneaking him raw food into his kennel. Wellness, I remember he had firm stools, and I don't believe he was very itchy. Maybe a little but not like this. He's been really itchy for about 3 weeks now... Around the same time he's been on Royal Canin. So should I just buy another bag of Wellness and try that out? I quit my job this past Friday so I don't have to worry about the harassment I was getting from them about his diet. 

And yes, he is on flea prevention.


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## vat (Jul 23, 2010)

You could do the Wellness get him situated then feed him raw also. So say Wellness in the am when he is with you at work then feed him raw for dinner when your at home. I feed my boy this way for a long time and he did real well Of course we are now on totally raw.


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## stephanie.jackson (Apr 7, 2011)

I do not work there anymore, but yes that is what I would like to do. Raw and wellness, and eventually down the line, just raw. But I'm not 100% comfortable trusting myself with only doing raw right now lol.


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## vat (Jul 23, 2010)

Neither was I, that is why I did both. Now I feed a frozen raw because it is easier than making it myself. So find yourself a good frozen and start there, feed Wellness one meal then raw for the other. Then later you can switch your raw to making it yourself if you feel like it.


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

stephanie.jackson said:


> I personally like Wellness a lot and planned on staying on it, but I was getting so much harassment from my coworkers because they all hate it. Especially the vet... whatever. So I changed his food to get them to shut up  It was extremely aggravating.


Why is it any of their business what you feed your dog?  And why would you change foods just to please THEM? It's your dog!


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I would use what was working, for now I' think I'd give his gut a little rest, maybe try a bland bland diet for a couple/few days, then slowly start introducing what you decide to go with..


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## stephanie.jackson (Apr 7, 2011)

I worked with a lot of people who thought they knew everything and their way was the only option. They were extremely forceful and said a ton of mean things. It sounds absolutely ridiculous, I know, but it got extremely bad. The vet would harass me the most. They all think they are Gods over there. They are great outside of work, but the minute you do something they don't believe in, they turned into demons. God forbid they ever found out I fed him raw for a couple weeks.. omg. I had 2 coworkers who I could trust to know about it... thankfully since one had to watch him for a week while i vacationed, and fed him his raw diet.

Anything to get them to shut up. I figured my other dog did great on it, so why not just try him on it. But obviously he didn't do so well on it. WHATEVER. It is absolutely true when people say vets don't know too much about pet nutrition. They only recommended Iams, Eukanuba, Royal Canin, and Science Diet. Anything else to them is garbage. They say their biggest complaint against other brands are they have been recalled. Well I pulled up a recall list and found all 4 of their brands on there too, so yeah... Okay, end rant lol.


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## SamTheDog (Apr 4, 2011)

How did you diagnose the giardia besides a stool sample? Did he have anything other than diarrhea?


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## stephanie.jackson (Apr 7, 2011)

We did a Giardia snap test. And seeing that I worked at a vet, everything was always free. This dog has had like 4 giardia tests, 3 parvo tests, and lord knows how many fecals run lol. And a pancreatitis test as well. Anytime he has diarrhea, they always pull him outta his kennel and run a bunch of tests. Thankfully, I didn't have to pay for it cause he would be at around $500 in testing...


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