HELP! Rescued 5 month old won't grow or gain weight, and has random diarrhea.

[Mr. Riggs]

A little over a month ago, I rescued what was supposed to be a 5 month old, not neutered black lab. A little back story: one woman paid for this guy, had him for what I assume to be a few months and decided she couldn't handle a puppy. The next owner had him for about a week, said that he had constant diarrhea and was tired of trying to figure out what was wrong since she had a newborn baby as well. She said whenever she gave him chicken and rice or pepto bismal that everything went back to normal. A friend of the last owner got me in contact with the woman and we decided to rescue him.

The day we got him, we took him to get his first round of DHPP and also Rabies vaccinations because the previous owner had no idea what kind of shots or care he had received. We were not provided with any of his previous food so we started him on Blue Buffalo puppy breed, the blue bag. He had no issues of diarrhea for the three weeks we had him on it. I ran out and decided to buy the Blue Buffalo large breed puppy food thinking it would be the same formula and wouldn't cause any problems. He started having diarrhea about 4 days later with what looked like mucus in it. I put him on a strictly steamed rice diet for 32 hours and his stool went back to normal. I slowly started to add the puppy food to the rice and it was okay for a day or so. I believe my boyfriend didn't finish cooking a batch of rice all the way and added too much dog food and he started getting diarrhea again. At that point I decided to take him to the vet. He got his second round of DHPP and Bordetella. We gave the vet all of the back story and they had no clue as to what could be wrong. She suggested we try a bland dog food or do expensive tests on him for intestinal issues or parasites. We decided against both of those and instead just bought another bag of the Blue Buffalo puppy breed, the blue bag again. His stool went back to normal, other than going about 4 times a day and it was full of sticks as well (he's obsessed with finding sticks and eating them.) A day or two ago we gave him Trifexis and he just started having diarrhea again.

He has been 33 lbs since the day we got him. He is skin and bone and hasn't gained weight or lost weight, and as far as I can tell, he hasn't grown any. He doesn't seem to be lethargic, although he doesn't run as much as my 1 year old Lab mix, he does run and does not excessively sleep. He is always hungry, although he does inhale his food. We got him a slow-feeder bowl but it still doesn't seem to slow him down.

He seems to be very happy, always wanting to cuddle and looks healthy if he was supposed to be this size, but I know that he's not. Does anyone have any clue as to what could possibly be wrong or what we can do to try to figure out what is wrong and cure it? I believe in having dogs vaccinated but don't like the way vets try to charge us outrageous amounts for playing guessing games with my babies so I prefer to try to do home remedies.

[Meeps83]

Did you take in a stool sample?

[Tanya]

did you deworm him? Have you taken a stool sample? the diareah may be due to worms/parasites. This isn't really something you can do "home remedies" on. You need to have a stool sample tested for worms and parasites and see if there is something in there then treat it.

how much were you feeding him?

If you don't like your vet find another one.

[SCDoug]

A full parasite panel can be pretty pricy, but the vet should run some basic tests for common stuff like Giardia. Also, some dogs don't do well on Trifexis, so maybe a Frontline + heartworm combo might be better.

You might try a different food brand and/or protein. People seem to have really good luck with Pro Plan.

[SunDance]

His symptoms sound identical to those of a dog I used to know with Insufficient Pancreatic Enzymes....I'd talk to the vet about that.

[Snowshoe]

He really should not have been vaccinated while he is sick and his rabies should be separated from his other vacs. That probably didn't help. You didn't know but for next time he is due.

Many folks here have seen loose stool on the BB foods.

I agree the parasite testing is in order and probably a blood draw as well. You say you gave him Trifexis but you don't mention doing a heartworm test first. I hope he had the test and that would have been a small blood draw.

My own boy seems to be slowly getting over inflammatory bowel disease and some of what you say is awfully familiar. I hope all you have is long lasting diarrhoea but, at risk of presenting even more confusing and contradictory options, I will tell you that traditional western medicine did not help and we are now seeing a holistic Vet who of course is more expensive. One pretty cheap thing you could consider is that the rice and ground chicken and rice and ground beef didn't do a thing for our boy. Ground turkey and sweet potato (or pumpkin but the sp tastes better) is helping, along with pricey herb concoctions. I really think at this point you need to find a Vet who can give you a protocol you agree with and stick with it. A little bit of one person's advice/experience, a little bit of another's all mixed up is just going to cloud the issue. Oh, and the Vet bland diet didn't help us either but it has before and it has helped many. Again, I think you need to find one set of Vet directions and stick with them. It won't be cheap. Sorry, really hope you can get this fixed. And speaking of, please don't get him neutered till this is resolved.

[Tanya]

the OP is answering some questions in their other thread in the puppy health section:
HELP! Rescued 5 month old won't grow or gain weight, and has random diarrhea.

[Snowco Labradors]

I agree to check for worms or parasites. coccidia and giardia, round worm, tape,. etc. I also agree this pup should not be vaccinated again until he is 100% healthy. Vet should have known that before giving the other vaccinations. Praying you find the problem and get him on the road to good health and he is 100% soon.

[Mr. Riggs]

Sorry I haven't gotten back to any of you with your helpful tips! I forgot I posted this in two different threads.

did you deworm him? Have you taken a stool sample? the diareah may be due to worms/parasites. This isn't really something you can do "home remedies" on. You need to have a stool sample tested for worms and parasites and see if there is something in there then treat it.

how much were you feeding him?

If you don't like your vet find another one.

We assumed that he had been dewormed before we had received him, but we could be very wrong. We didn't see any worms in his stool like we were used to seeing in previous dogs, we also just gave him Trifexis. We were feeding him the recommended amount of 3 cups a day, so we fed him 1 1/2 cups twice a day. Someone suggested that sounded a little high for him being 33 lbs so we cut him back to 3/4 of a cup and he stopped having diarrhea. Could it still be parasites if he doesn't regularly have diarrhea?

His symptoms sound identical to those of a dog I used to know with Insufficient Pancreatic Enzymes....I'd talk to the vet about that.

Someone else had mentioned this to me. Could this be an issue if he isn't drastically losing weight and he doesn't have constant diarrhea?

[SunDance]

Someone else had mentioned this to me. Could this be an issue if he isn't drastically losing weight and he doesn't have constant diarrhea?

The yellow boy I knew wasn't losing weight...he just wasn't gaining as he should have been....and his output wasn't always diarrhea (I ran into him in the park and witnessed decent poops....easy for his Dad to pick up).