# Need Advice PLEASE for my sick Scarlett



## ScarlettAPBT (Aug 22, 2011)

Hi there. My name is Amanda, and my boyfriend recently took in an APBT, Scarlett, though I am the one who takes care of her. Financially, we were not prepared for a sick dog, but my boyfriend's father's friend had her up until she was 11 months old, and asked us to then take her because he said his other pit was going after her so he'd have to keep her locked up. Something didn't sound right, and as soon as we got her (mid-July), she had diarrhea. He claimed it was from switching her foods so we tried giving her boiled chicken and white rice, and over a week the diarrhea became bloody. We brought her to the vet (the guy we got her from had no papers to supply us with, although he promised them at first) where she was tested for all kinds of parasites and put on metrazonidale- however you spell it- with no results. back to the vet twice after and still nothing. Just an expensive RX food for gstroentretic care and no answers. The only success we've had was when she was on Tylosin and her poop was more soft serve like and yellow, with little bits of blood. Sometimes she'll bend down to poop, and just little bits of blood will come out. Tylosin helped the most out of everything, but we still never saw a solid poop from her. Her blood tests only showed a high white blood cell count. She ran out of Tylosin 4 days ago and now has uncontrollable, explosive diarrhea. She never went in the house but now she'll just look at me and out it comes. She has gas where bits of poop come out, and she's gotten sick all over the bedding in her crate, which was never a problem before either. I'll take her out at 11pm and then at 6am when we wake up there's diarrhea all over her crate. We've spent so much at the vet and are trying to now fix this on our own. I recently ordered from petco, In Clover Fresh Digest Daily Intestinal Aid for Dogs and NaturVet Naturals All-in-One Dog & Cat Daily Supplement. they will be here today and I'm hoping they'll help, but I just don't know what else to do. She's such a happy dog, never any vomitting, and from my research, I believe she has IBS but I know I'm not a vet. My boyfriend is threatening to get rid of her and I am so scared. She is a beautiful, sweet natured dog but being so sick I'm afraid she'll just end up being put down. I know we need to go to the vet and I'm saving up for a trip to another one, believe me I feel like a real ******* for not being able to take her, but please share any advice anyone has or similar situations you've experienced. Thanks for your time


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

what food are you feeding? lets start there


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## ScarlettAPBT (Aug 22, 2011)

Thank you for reading. The vet gave me Purina EN Gastroenteric about a month ago, and the condition hasn't changed so I talked to someone at a feeds store who recommended EVO Turkey and Chicken no whole grains. She gave me a small bag on the house so I'm trying to mix it in little by little with the vet food. I also give her some white rice before a meal, and as treats I mix plain yogurt with water and freeze into cubes.


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

I sent a message to a friend who is very good trying to figure out things like this. She is currently still a vet tech and has a great amount of knowledge. She should be chiming in soon. I do want to comment on the food change though. Your dog could be intolerant of grain and it sounds like you have been giving grain. In this case you might want to stop giving rice and anything with grain in it. Look at the Evo and see if it is grain free if so you can try that and maybe a dog like your a raw diet might be best. I have had plenty of students had dogs who never had hard poop and it sounds just like your case. Switching over to a raw diet was the only thing that put the dog back in balance. Since nothing real medical could be found I would lean more to this. Her user name is geisthexe
and she should be along to help soon and give some things to try. You might get a lot of advice with this being on the open forum but if I were you do not try too many things at once. Try what geisthexe suggests and go from there. I would stop all grains though immediately.


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## ScarlettAPBT (Aug 22, 2011)

THANK YOU so much for your help! I'll stop the grains right away


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

I think the food your vet was giving is most likely a grain food try just switching to Evo for now but I am guess you will have to go raw.


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## Chevys And Pitties (Jul 24, 2011)

Did the vets check for Parvo?


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## ScarlettAPBT (Aug 22, 2011)

When I asked about the possibility of Parvo he said she'd be dead by now if it were.


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## Eagle (Jun 6, 2011)

I had a dog with "bloody diahrea" once, and it was due to kidney damage...
He had eaten chocolate...

But make sure to keep plenty of water around, as dehydration is related to diahrea.

But since the issue has been so long, if kidney failure were likely, 
it'd probably happened by now.


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## Xiahko (Feb 24, 2010)

I would also suggest pedialyte in the water to keep her hydrated.

Poor thing. Bruno had something similar to this when I got him from the shelter. It took a month to clear it all up. I had to give him these giant horse pills and a liquid medicing via saringe everyday for that month.
I sure hope your girl recovers!


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## Sadie (Jun 18, 2008)

Have you ever had your dog checked for Crohn's disease ?

Crohn's Disease in Dogs - VetInfo


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## BullyDoc (Jun 11, 2011)

Hey, Scarlett. Sorry to hear about your puppy. But why don't we try getting back to "nature". Dogs need bacteria to digest their food (good bacteria). Since she somewhat responded to Tylosin, which increases a bacteria called enterobacter, it sounds like she may be suffering from bacterial imbalance (too much bad, not enough good). Just a thought, without seeing her. Yogurt is good, but a dog would have to eat like 10-20 cartons to get enough live culture to make a difference. There is a great new product made by Iams Co. called Prostora that is fantastic at regulating the G.I. tract.

Here's a link to one online place that has it.

Iams Veterinary Formula Prostora Max (15 Tabs)

Otherwise, you would have to have more tests done (bloodwork, x-rays, biopsy) but it would be easy to try the probiotics (Prostora) first.

Hope that helps!


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## Sadie (Jun 18, 2008)

I would have the vet do some inflammation tests to check if their is any inflammation going on in the bowel tract. I am assuming they ruled out parasite infections by now?


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## BullyDoc (Jun 11, 2011)

To diagnose inflammatory conditions, the dog would need an endoscopy with a biopsy or an exploratory with a biopsy.


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## pitbullmamanatl (Jun 1, 2010)

BullyDoc said:


> Hey, Scarlett. Sorry to hear about your puppy. But why don't we try getting back to "nature". Dogs need bacteria to digest their food (good bacteria). Since she somewhat responded to Tylosin, which increases a bacteria called enterobacter, it sounds like she may be suffering from bacterial imbalance (too much bad, not enough good). Just a thought, without seeing her. Yogurt is good, but a dog would have to eat like 10-20 cartons to get enough live culture to make a difference. There is a great new product made by Iams Co. called Prostora that is fantastic at regulating the G.I. tract.
> 
> Here's a link to one online place that has it.
> 
> ...


This is why you rock! Thanks, BD!


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## Sadie (Jun 18, 2008)

BullyDoc said:


> To diagnose inflammatory conditions, the dog would need an endoscopy with a biopsy or an exploratory with a biopsy.


Yes this is correct I have a nephew who has it but they also do blood panel work to check inflammation levels c-reacive protein as well. If their is inflammation in the digestive track they can prescribe steroids to bring down the swelling which causes the bleeding and explosive diarrhea. There is no cure for Crohn's it's controlled by diet and medication. But I would be looking in this direction at this point.


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## pitbullmamanatl (Jun 1, 2010)

Sadie said:


> I would have the vet do some inflammation tests to check if their is any inflammation going on in the bowel tract. I am assuming they ruled out parasite infections by now?


Yes it was negative she said.


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## BullyDoc (Jun 11, 2011)

Oops, I just realized I called you by your dog's name...sorry Amanda!


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

BullyDoc said:


> Hey, Scarlett. Sorry to hear about your puppy. But why don't we try getting back to "nature". Dogs need bacteria to digest their food (good bacteria). Since she somewhat responded to Tylosin, which increases a bacteria called enterobacter, it sounds like she may be suffering from bacterial imbalance (too much bad, not enough good). Just a thought, without seeing her. Yogurt is good, but a dog would have to eat like 10-20 cartons to get enough live culture to make a difference. There is a great new product made by Iams Co. called Prostora that is fantastic at regulating the G.I. tract.
> 
> Here's a link to one online place that has it.
> 
> ...


:goodpost: Awesome post, BTW she is a vet 

Bullydoc, how is this different from going to a store like wholefoods (or any health food store) and getting Acidophilus Bifidus for a fraction of the cost and you can pick it up at any health food store. Just curious if there is a big difference between the two.

http://www.exava.com/shop?q=live+acidophilus+cultures&pid=650021881&bskuid=1156518182


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## BullyDoc (Jun 11, 2011)

I'm not convinced that Crohn's is a true condition in dogs as it is in people. We have some enteritis conditions that may act like Crohn's, but is not necessarily identical. I don't know if many DVM's are testing for C-reactive other than for research or at universities, but there may be some. More likely to test for TLI. But CRP would corroborate a diagnosis of IBD.


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

we posted at the same time I have a question above that I added. I am interested to know the difference. Thanks


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## Sadie (Jun 18, 2008)

BullyDoc said:


> I'm not convinced that Crohn's is a true condition in dogs as it is in people. We have some enteritis conditions that may act like Crohn's, but is not necessarily identical. I don't know if many DVM's are testing for C-reactive other than for research or at universities, but there may be some. More likely to test for TLI. But CRP would corroborate a diagnosis of IBD.


:goodpost:I suspect it could be inflammation within the digestive tract wether it be inflammatory bowel disease or Crohn's or something that mimics it. Because of everything that her dog has gone through at this point IMO it's time to start looking outside the box. I am not a vet so I will not argue with you but I do know that through exp you have to sometimes take control of your health and your pet's health if your spending lot's of time at the vet and the problem is not getting solved it's time to start looking deeper into more rarer conditions that most vet's would not think to look for.


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## BullyDoc (Jun 11, 2011)

Sadie, I was just saying I don't think Crohn's is a recognized disease in veterinary medicine.

About the Prostora. The bacteria in there are canine-specific bacteria, and they have an actual amount (I think 15 billion) that are in each tablet. It is just supposed to work better, but you can used Acidophilus/bifidus from a health food store.


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

ahh ok thanks! Yeah not to be cheap.... but I am! lol I would try the stuff you can get at the health food store first but that is JMO. I try to save where I can and save for the big stuff that is totally necessary.


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## pitbullmamanatl (Jun 1, 2010)

performanceknls said:


> ahh ok thanks! Yeah not to be cheap.... but I am! lol I would try the stuff you can get at the health food store first but that is JMO. I try to save where I can and save for the big stuff that is totally necessary.


lol because you have 9490yuotu408i dogs! I would too girl!!


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## Sadie (Jun 18, 2008)

Here is one more good read on IBD in canine's

ACVC 2001 - Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Dogs


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

pitbullmamanatl said:


> lol because you have 9490yuotu408i dogs! I would too girl!!


The sad thing is I have no clue how many dogs I have right now.... I try not to count! lol


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## pitbullmamanatl (Jun 1, 2010)

performanceknls said:


> The sad thing is I have no clue how many dogs I have right now.... I try not to count! lol


You should take Justin out there with you and practice counting! That's what I did with Brayden when he was that age... We could only get up to 5 at the time since I had 5 dogs so we'd start counting the fish. Anyway, he loved to count and now he can count to 40 all by himself


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

I'll get depressed if I know how many I have! lol JK


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## ScarlettAPBT (Aug 22, 2011)

Hey thanks everyone for your advice! I ended up bringing Scarlett to a different vet on Friday because she threw up, and that never happened before. The vet was awesome, she came in and sat down on the floor with Scarlett and pet her and let Scarlett lick her face and everything! She stayed on the floor for an hour and answered a lot of my questions. She suspects it's an allergy, and the blood was a result of colitis. Since Scarlett's still happy and healthy-looking she doesn't think she's suffering any deficiencies and prescribed a simple diet. Her poop is starting to look better and the bleeding happened only once yesterday after straining, so I'm feeling much more hopeful.


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## ScarlettAPBT (Aug 22, 2011)

And Lauren i think you were right about the protein amount in the EVO kicking her *butt, I got her the Taste of the Wild right away and noticed a difference in her stool color.


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## pitbullmamanatl (Jun 1, 2010)

ScarlettAPBT said:


> Hey thanks everyone for your advice! I ended up bringing Scarlett to a different vet on Friday because she threw up, and that never happened before. The vet was awesome, she came in and sat down on the floor with Scarlett and pet her and let Scarlett lick her face and everything! She stayed on the floor for an hour and answered a lot of my questions. She suspects it's an allergy, and the blood was a result of colitis. Since Scarlett's still happy and healthy-looking she doesn't think she's suffering any deficiencies and prescribed a simple diet. Her poop is starting to look better and the bleeding happened only once yesterday after straining, so I'm feeling much more hopeful.


Good to hear! Meant to text you yesterday and see how she was doing. Hopefully she gets better soon!


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## performanceknls (Apr 4, 2009)

YAY good to hear it is better


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