Effective dog diarrhoea treatments, please

[Odyssey]

My greyhound has had the runs for 3 days. I starved him for the first 24 hours. I've been giving him porridge made with water and scrambled eggs, which normally helps. I don't want to give him the often suggested chicken and rice as he's intolerant to chicken, and porridge is less faff to cook than rice. Rice isn't very filling, either. I'm giving him two Immodium a day, which vets say are ok to give to dogs.

I normally give him YuDigest Plus sachets when he has diarrhoea, and they seem to help a bit. I buy the boxes of 30. Unfortunately only boxes of 6 sachets (which aren't nearly enough for a big dog), or 60 sachets at around £58 are available anywhere online, and I don't want to spend that much as I'm on a small budget. I was wondering if there are any other dog diarrhoea treatments that people have used and found helpful. There are some bottles of diarrhoea remedies on Amazon with glowing reviews, but I very much doubt most of them are genuine, as they're quite long and look too similar! Any ideas please?

 

[CorvusCorax]

I starve and then give small amounts of tinned original Chappie for V and/or D. Fluid is more important IMO.
Three days of it would worry me TBH.

 

[Umbongo]

Tinned chappie or a prescription food such as hills biome, hills i/d or royal canin gastrointestinal.
A binder such as promax or prokolin. If you have already changed his diet to something that normally works for him, and he has had D+ for 3 days now, I would be thinking about a vet consult.

 

[druid]

Three days is a vet visit. Promax or Canigest work well but I'd want to be seeing improvement by now.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

I used to first start with giving my bitches only water rice had boiled in, then go over to rice, and add some Prokolin/Probiotic, until several years ago when my veterinarian suggested to simply give some Hills W/D to stop diarrhea. Ever since then I try to always have a small bag of W/D dry food at home.
As a preventive measure I feed them with it around New Years Eve, when I basically let them eat as many gnaw bones as they want to help make them too tired to care about fireworks. They eat so many gnaw bones, that Beata still manages to get a bit of diarrhea, but I just continue with the W/D, and the diarrhea is gone within one or two days.

 

[Odyssey]

I starve and then give small amounts of tinned original Chappie for V and/or D. Fluid is more important IMO.
Three days of it would worry me TBH.[/QUOT

Unfortunately, when greyhounds get the runs it tends to last a lot longer than in other breeds. They have very sensitive digestion, and it's one of the ways in which they're different from other breeds. I've had greyhounds for about 20 years, so have experienced quite a few bouts of it in them. It usually takes a good ten days from it starting till their poo gets back to normal, and they're hopefully fully back on kibble.

He's bright as a button, so he must be feeling ok. There's lots of water in the porridge, so he's well hydrated and weeing as normal. Thanks for the suggestion of tinned Chappie, that's a good idea which I'll try.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Arrowroot biscuits usually help to firm up the stools. If you can't feed chicken, I would feed white fish instead.

 

[Odyssey]

Tinned chappie or a prescription food such as hills biome, hills i/d or royal canin gastrointestinal.
A binder such as promax or prokolin. If you have already changed his diet to something that normally works for him, and he has had D+ for 3 days now, I would be thinking about a vet consult.

Thanks, but when greyhounds get diarrhoea it lasts for much longer than in other breeds. I've had greyhounds for about 20 years and it's always the case that it lasts for over a week. He's absolutely fine in himself.

The last time I took him to the vets for diarrhoea, it cost me £270 for a few blood tests, tablets and a tube of Pro-kolin. He had worse diarrhoea that time, as he had mild pancreatitis due to getting hold of some butter. ? He hasn't eaten anything like that this time, though he might have grabbed a little bit of something that had gone off, on a walk. It couldn't have been much if he did, as he's kept on lead and I watch him like a hawk as he's a terrible scavenger.

 

[Odyssey]

Three days is a vet visit. Promax or Canigest work well but I'd want to be seeing improvement by now.

Thanks, but as explained above, diarrhoea in greyhounds usually lasts about 10 days till it's fully cleared up. Three days is nothing, their digestion is very tricky. I've had greyhounds for 20 years, so know that's normal for them. I appreciate that people with other breeds find three days concerning. I will of course take him to the vet if I'm worried. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have a look at those. I haven't come across them before.

 

[Books'n'dogs]

When I have a dog with diarrhea I give them cottage cheese for every meal for 24-48 hours, it always works for me. I know some people are concerned about giving dairy to dogs but my vet said cottage cheese was fine as long as I didn't give it for more than 3-4 days. I also use it to help stop bouts of vomiting.

 

[Odyssey]

I used to first start with giving my bitches only water rice had boiled in, then go over to rice, and add some Prokolin/Probiotic, until several years ago when my veterinarian suggested to simply give some Hills W/D to stop diarrhea. Ever since then I try to always have a small bag of W/D dry food at home.
As a preventive measure I feed them with it around New Years Eve, when I basically let them eat as many gnaw bones as they want to help make them too tired to care about fireworks. They eat so many gnaw bones, that Beata still manages to get a bit of diarrhea, but I just continue with the W/D, and the diarrhea is gone within one or two days.

I haven't heard of giving them rice water before. I'll try that next time. I didn't know Hills did that as a dry food, I know they do it in tins. I was given a few, but threw them out because they put out a recall for them. It was a slightly different batch number but I was too worried to feed them just in case, as they had far too much vitamin d and had made some dogs ill. It's rather put me off the brand.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

I haven't heard of giving them rice water before. I'll try that next time. I didn't know Hills did that as a dry food, I know they do it in tins. I was given a few, but threw them out because they put out a recall for them. It was a slightly different batch number but I was too worried to feed them just in case, as they had far too much vitamin d and had made some dogs ill. It's rather put me off the brand.

Besides me giving them basically free access to my gnaw bones storage at New Years Eve (better an upset stomach than dead of fright is my motto), I've also had/have bitches who for some reason can react with having a bit upset stomachs in Autumn when season changes from warm to colder, and then in Spring, when she/they decides it has changed from cold to warm again. And I can only say that I think the W/D is great.

Best of all, is that the veterinarian who recommended it said that with this food, no 24 hours starvation is needed, I could just start giving this food straight away.
ETA I'm also lazy, and think it's easier than having to boil rice in a bit too much water, use a sieve, and serve water looking like very watery but still a bit of white glue recemblance. It have worked to help with diarrhea, but still, I feel it's more faff than just give another type of dry food for a few days.

 

[Sandstone1]

Its not generally recommended to starve for 24hrs anymore, 3 or 4 small meals are better. Chappie may help or natural yoghurt. Make sure they drink. Arrowroot biscuits? I wouldnt let it continue much longer before going to the vets.

 

[Equi]

Pepto bismol apparently.

 

[Lipglosspukka]

I called the vet recently for the same reason. We were on day three.

They didn't want to see her. Said they were only seeing emergencies and as the dog was fine in herself, she was not an emergency and they were not concerned.

I was simply told to continue feeding a bland diet. Call back if no better in a week.

 

[SmartieBean09]

We've had great results with Dorwest Tree Bark/Slippery Elm.

https://www.dorwest.com/product/tree-barks-powder-for-dogs-and-cats/

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

Kaolin from any pharmacy. Scrambled egg, white rice. Works every time on my lot.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Forgot to say that I hope that whatever you decide to try @Odyssey , that it helps your dog.

 

[Odyssey]

Thanks very much for your help, everyone. A while ago he did a pool in the living room, up until now he's been able to hold it, only going in the garden or on walks, 2 or 3 times a day. He's also a bit subdued today for the first time, so I think he needs to see a vet and we have an appointment in half an hour.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Fingers crossed, I hope the veterinary visit went well.

 

[Odyssey]

Thanks FL. The vet didn't find anything amiss, so that's good. He was perky again soon after the pool on the carpet, me not so much! ? He's been given antibiotics, though it seems that they're not usually given for diarrhoea and can actually cause it, and Pro-kolin, though that only seems to improve it slightly and temporarily when I've given it to my greyhounds in the past.

Their guts really are a law unto themselves, and my heart sinks every time they get the runs, as I know it's going to be over a week till they settle down again. They're big dogs so the volume they produce is vast too. My ideal dog would be a whippet sized greyhound!

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Hope the medication + Prokolin helps. It has happened more than once during my dog owning years that I've thought about that even though dog books mentions housebreaking, and indoor accidents happening with puppies, they do seem to usually skip the part about that even adult housebroken dogs can have accident indoors when sick, and that as a dog owner you're going to have to clean up those things, too.

 

[paisley]

Have found ProMax better than ProKolin for the whippet- you could ask your vet if you could just give a 10 day course of that? (Obvs not great on expenses!)
Have tried the 'Tummy tastic/slippery elm ' and Yudigest powder and didnt think it did much. Not really helped by the pointy nosed beast declining to touch any food it had it in.
His digestion improved once he was on Yumove and a spoon of natural yoghurt- assume if he had any occasional mild tummy inflammation the Yumove could have helped.
Dunno about the yoghut, but he is genuinely mad for it so who cares ?

 

[Moobli]

I always keep a tube of Prokolin in and feed boiled chicken or tinned Chappie for a few days. Hope he improves soon.

 

[SusieT]

Go to the vets.
Don't buy random 'diarrhoea remedies' off amazon. Ask the professionals. Greyhounds are no different to other dogs...

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Go to the vets.
Don't buy random 'diarrhoea remedies' off amazon. Ask the professionals. Greyhounds are no different to other dogs...

Reply #19 said they had an appointment at the vets in half an hour, reply #21 mentions the veterinarian didn't find anything amiss.

 

[millikins]

My poodle suffered bouts of colitis throughout his life, he had a pretty grim start to life with untreated worms and was lucky to survive. I spent a small fortune on vet visits, steroids, boiled rice, fancy diets, none of which helped. Then I bought a bottle of kaolin and morphine, usually 1 or 2 doses of 10 mls worked, occasionally he needed a 3rd.