# Hello from Florida



## Bellasmommy (May 6, 2012)

Hello, my name is Erika.

I am in desperate need of help...with my newest family member.

Her name is Bella, she is full GSD, and she is est 18 months old. By looking at her I can tell she was bred for show. Im not interested in that though.

I got her from a rescue in Georgia recently, because the rescue could not take her, and the lady knew I was looking for a GSD to accompany me to training demos, and as a family dog.

This poor girl was so neglected that I truly believe she was not far from death. she is skinny to the point that you can see with your naked eye, just about every bone she has.

The lady at rescue says she had a neg HW test, and no parasites. I dont believe it as i have seen no actual proof yet, although she said the people were supposed to fax the records this weekend. I also dewormed her and she doesnt seem to have any parasites.

Im heavily concerned because she refuses to eat dog food, and any other foods that I give her including raw diet, go right through her, and I dont think she is absorbing very much from the foods. She has had bad diarreah from the gitgo, and I have been giving her doses of immodium ad, hoping to help her. I have also tried every other trick I know to stop loose stools and nothing is working.

I went today and got natural balance food and she hates it lol.

I dont mind raw diet but it gets expensive and difficult when you have multiple
dogs, like I do. 

Please, If you know something that will help, please post a reply. I am intent on saving bellas life and bringing her back to health if possible.

any suggestions of healthy (not rich, shes intollerant I think) foods that she will not refuse, will be a great help, as she is more alert now, and doing ok...but not even close to out of the water in my book. 

other than bella being severely underweight, shes a pure joy, and has taken right to training. She seems to be housebroken although somewhat unable to hold her bowels for obvious reasons. She does well with the kids and other dogs as well...all of which makes me more furious that she is in the shape she is in....I cannot phathom why someone would do this to her.

Any ideas why she wont eat, and why she continues to have such an issue with diarreah??


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## TrickyShepherd (Aug 15, 2011)

Welcome from Central FL! Congrats on the new pup and thanks for giving her a home! =)

Have they tested her for SIBO or EPI or any other digestive disorders? Sounds like you may be dealing with that.

I have a SIBO dog and that sounds like how she was as a pup.... It was rough.


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## 1sttimeforgsd (Jul 29, 2010)

You may have to take her to your own vet, sometimes rescues will tell you what they think that you want to hear. She may not have been checked out as good as she should be. Pumpkin in the can, pure with no spices added to it may help with the loose stools, but she really should see your vet in case it is a more serious issue.

Thank you so much for giving her a forever and loving home.


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## Bellasmommy (May 6, 2012)

Thank you for the welcome. 

Im kind of frustrated, but Im sure I will get past it.

Im an army veteran that has just started her own training business, and Im sort of off to a good start, but the word isnt quite out yet, its a work in progress lol.

i love Bella, Im just waiting on money to take her to my veterinarian...its trickling in, but hopefully by the end of the week I can get her checked out. 

I think I would lose it if she didnt make it...shes only been here 4 days...hahaha im such a sap.


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## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

A digestive issue sure sounds *very* likely, although parasites could certainly be a big player here as well. 

Let me just brainstorm with you a minute! 

How is her poop? What color? You say diahrrea -- where would you say it ranks on this chart? Is it always this consistency from start to end of the elimination? Does it have an overwhelming smell, worse than the normal bad poop smell? 










She may not have been neglected, she could have EPI that was left undiagnosed and untreated. 

Can you feed her whatever she was eating before you got her? If not, or you don't know what it was, aim for something low in fat and fiber. Grain free is recommended for EPI dogs. I know you're probably feeling very desperate to find something she'll eat, but be very careful not to introduce a bunch of different things. If it is EPI, it'll make it worse. 

I highly recommend to go buy some of these: Herbsmith Introduces Microflora Plus For Digestion

They are not a long term solution and especially not for an EPI dog, (too weak) but if you try them and see some improvement, you can at least zero in a little on the fact it is likely a digestive issue. At least double the dose recommended. It's a twenty dollar investment and it has saved my sanity and my dog *finally* poops normal poop.

I'm getting my boy tested soon, but this stop-gap measure has made an enormous difference.

A couple of resources:

Enzyme Diane -
EPI in Dogs
Overview - EPI * Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency -- especially the forum here.
http://wellvet.com/diarrheadog.html


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## Dooney's Mom (May 10, 2011)

Never had a dog with digestive issues- so definitely let someone else advise you on this, but maybe rice with some chicken? or yogurt? I was going to say pumpkin as well. Either way get to the vet as soon as you possibly can- sounds like this girl has suffered long enough


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## TrickyShepherd (Aug 15, 2011)

With Zira we use pumpkin and yogurt (plain, regular, no flavor). When things were really rough we used strong pro and pre biotics from the vets. Fortaflora (probiotic) works great, but it's a pain to work with if the dog isn't eating 100% (can't put it on their food if they do that... I used a syringe with water and the powder mixed.) We also used some wet food in her kibble to get her a bit more excited about the food.... didn't work great, but it DID get her to eat.

Also, maybe check for an allergy? To make things worse for Z as a pup... she not only had SIBO, but was also very allergic to a lot of different meats and grains. That caused a lot of diarrhea and other issues for us too. She can only be on Fish now and grain free.

Definitely sounds like a digestive system problem to me....


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