So far so good

The plan is working thus far. Laid some nice logs @ 11:00 PM Monday night on the way home from Gus and Glory’s house. Just keeping the fingers crossed that he can make a successful transition to the new Canidae formula.

Hoping to get some more recent pictures of the pooch posted.

Getting very close to completing the North Central Regional website. Not terribly happy with the gallery and the forums, but I think I’m ahead of the curve compared to most of the other regions sites.

The Plan of attack

Here is the plan of attack after fasting Isaac for 24 hours (H2O was allowed). He was back to his normal self this AM, not lethargic like yesterday.

Monday will consist of three meals containing:

1/2 cup Rice cooked in beef broth
1/4 cup softened Canidae mix 50% old 50% new
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/4 Cups total x 3

Tuesday will consist of three meals containing:

1 cup Rice cooked in beef broth
1/2 cup softened Canidae mix 50% old 50% new
1 heaping spoonful of canned pumpkin
1 1/2 Cups total x 3

Wednesday will consist of one meal containing:

1 cup Rice cooked in beef broth
1 cup softened Canidae mix 50% old 50% new
2 Cups total x 1

Wednesday will be finished with two meals containing:

1 cup softened Canidae mix 50% old 50% new
1 Cup total x 2

Could it be Canidae’s fault

So we went to the Wisconsin Dells Fri/Sat/Sun and left Marissa home with Isaac. 12:00 AM Saturday night/Sunday morning Isaac had diarrhea in the crate and then again at 7:00 AM. She called us at 8:00 AM to report there were problems. At about 1:00 she called her Grandma and Grandpa to check him out because he was lethargic. Bob reported he was playing with Stella and looked OK. I told them to pop an imodium down his gullet. He hasn’t had any stool loose or otherwise since I got home at 2:30 PM.

So what is it this time? Had his final round of shots on Wed. and then Thursday night started to transition him to Canidae’s new formula. There was a rawhide bone laying around and it looks like he ate a quarter of that on Friday.
He’s on a 24 hour fast (still gets water) and we’ll start him on rice tomorrow. Here are things that could have caused it.

• Canidae switched his formula
• Shots on Wed
• Half a raw hide Friday
• Teething
• Ate a foreign object
• To much time out in the heat (don’t think this was it)
• Missed Kerry, Noah, and me (stress related)

Will report on the stool consistency tomorrow. Just hope imodium didn’t plug him up too much. I’m leaning towards the fact that Canidae changed it’s formula, we’ve been mixing the old 50/50 with the new (didn’t have enough to transition slower).

Needless to say no training took place this weekend, though there was progress on the North Central Region USA website.

info on the canidae change (not sure how valid any of it is)

Canidae-All-Life-Stage-Dry-New-Formula-Healthy-Dog-Food-Pet-Food-Danger-Guage

Seefido.com dog discussion forum

consumeraffairs.com/pet/canidae

germanshepherds.com

Could it be Canidae's fault

So we went to the Wisconsin Dells Fri/Sat/Sun and left Marissa home with Isaac. 12:00 AM Saturday night/Sunday morning Isaac had diarrhea in the crate and then again at 7:00 AM. She called us at 8:00 AM to report there were problems. At about 1:00 she called her Grandma and Grandpa to check him out because he was lethargic. Bob reported he was playing with Stella and looked OK. I told them to pop an imodium down his gullet. He hasn’t had any stool loose or otherwise since I got home at 2:30 PM.

So what is it this time? Had his final round of shots on Wed. and then Thursday night started to transition him to Canidae’s new formula. There was a rawhide bone laying around and it looks like he ate a quarter of that on Friday.
He’s on a 24 hour fast (still gets water) and we’ll start him on rice tomorrow. Here are things that could have caused it.

• Canidae switched his formula
• Shots on Wed
• Half a raw hide Friday
• Teething
• Ate a foreign object
• To much time out in the heat (don’t think this was it)
• Missed Kerry, Noah, and me (stress related)

Will report on the stool consistency tomorrow. Just hope imodium didn’t plug him up too much. I’m leaning towards the fact that Canidae changed it’s formula, we’ve been mixing the old 50/50 with the new (didn’t have enough to transition slower).

Needless to say no training took place this weekend, though there was progress on the North Central Region USA website.

info on the canidae change (not sure how valid any of it is)

Canidae-All-Life-Stage-Dry-New-Formula-Healthy-Dog-Food-Pet-Food-Danger-Guage

Seefido.com dog discussion forum

consumeraffairs.com/pet/canidae

germanshepherds.com

Rice and Water

3 meals of Rice and beef broth (breakfast, dinner, late night snack); his coat looks good, he’s drinking enough water, urinating clear (dark yellow this AM), hasn’t lost weight (39 lbs), not lethargic, and he’s maintaining weight.

Isaac had a touch of loose stool still this AM (not horrible) so I’ve kept him on rice. Seems that everything I’ve read says to either fast him for 24 hours or put him on a bland diet. If I didn’t give him ANY food I think he’d eat Noah and/or Bethany. Since the stool is loose (not constant out of control liquid), he’s hydrated, not lethargic, and his fecal flotation came back clean I’m going to stick with bland over complete fast.

There will be no Schutzhund training Sunday morning and hope to have him on half rice half Canidae by lunch tomorrow (we’ll see). If he’s not cleaned up by Monday evening I suppose I need to go back to the Vet (though I think their diagnosis of Colitis is broad enough that they are guessing just like I am (other than the fecal float). OK maybe not guessing, but just like people doctors I this it’s a lot closer to voodoo than actual science. I mean we aren’t talking E=MC^2 or F=MA!

Here’s a pic of Isaac chowing some white rice cooked in beef broth. Oh and no exercise when he gets the rice…seems like with a heavy sticky substance sitting in his belly the last thing we need to deal with right now is bloat…..

Diarrhea ‘Part deux’

A 2:20 AM this morning in the county of Kane there was a substantial explosion. There were no injuries reported, but the dog room was evacuated due to contaminants in the atmosphere. Again at 7:20 there was an aftershock reported in the backyard of the Duffey residence.

Rescue workers prepared a breakfast of boiled hamburger and rice (there was enough left for dinner). After the initial aftershock there has been no activity. It appears the flow in the sewer has slowed to a crawl.

UPDATE: 24 hours since it last flowed at 10:15 AM on the Forth of July the sewer spewed forth a little waste. Brown gold rolled out in decent form and shape, not 14K but we’ll take what we can get.

Diarrhea 'Part deux'

A 2:20 AM this morning in the county of Kane there was a substantial explosion. There were no injuries reported, but the dog room was evacuated due to contaminants in the atmosphere. Again at 7:20 there was an aftershock reported in the backyard of the Duffey residence.

Rescue workers prepared a breakfast of boiled hamburger and rice (there was enough left for dinner). After the initial aftershock there has been no activity. It appears the flow in the sewer has slowed to a crawl.

UPDATE: 24 hours since it last flowed at 10:15 AM on the Forth of July the sewer spewed forth a little waste. Brown gold rolled out in decent form and shape, not 14K but we’ll take what we can get.

“Dad, he just had solid logs”

The phone at work rang at around 12:30 and Noah said, “dad, he just had solid logs”.

So in the AM, mid-day, and evening Isaac had some nice solid turds. I’ll just put a link to the picture this time in an effort to clean up the blog! To see what we were battling check this post.

"Dad, he just had solid logs"

The phone at work rang at around 12:30 and Noah said, “dad, he just had solid logs”.

So in the AM, mid-day, and evening Isaac had some nice solid turds. I’ll just put a link to the picture this time in an effort to clean up the blog! To see what we were battling check this post.

Visit to Animal House Veterinary Hospital

After having loose stool every hour on the hour last night Isaac made a trip to the vet.

They diagnosed him with Colitis which is a rather broad spectrum diagnosis. We might know more after they get the results from the fecal analysis (Fecal Flotation). For the Colitis the vet prescribed Metronidazole 250 mg tablets taken twice daily. He also got two cans of Hills WD Canine Canned which they claim will firm up his stool.

We’ve gone from diarrhea every hour on the hour to NO bowel movements since 6:00 AM (he’s had two meals).

14 Weeks Old today as well

Do rocks cause Diarrhea?

I just realized that the BLOG has turned from cute puppy pictures to complete SHIT!

So in an effort to be thorough in my analysis of Isaac’s stool I went in the yard and cleaned up the brown gold he produces. I know I claimed earlier that I thought I had stopped him from consuming rocks and wood chips, unless they are being added to the fecal matter after he poops I was wrong.

I went through the poo like a diver looking for pearls and found some wood chip fibers, he seems to chew those up fairly well. I found the occasional rock, those aren’t chewed as finely as the wood chips. I also found some red and white substance that looked like sprinkles on a chocolate ice cream cone (except the chocolate smelled bad).

So all in all today (starting at 6:00 AM) he had in this order

• Loose stool
• Breakfast (2 cups)
• Nice solid logs
• Dinner (2 cups)
• Soft logs (more like semi melted chocolate bars)
• Loose stool
• Little loose stool and a fuzz of clear mucus (which is always nice)

Don’t fear he’s going to the vet! He’s been consuming water and doesn’t seem lethargic so I’m sure he’ll make it through the night.

The Battle Rages On!

Puppy Diarrhea

Update 6-4-2009..I started feeding him Fromm and tracking his progress on this page. Here is a link to the Fromm I’m feeding him.

Last night at dinner everyone made fun of what they call my obsession, really it’s just a BLOG about my dog. Some called it a diary, but since it’s not pink and doesn’t have a key I’m confident in my endeavor. Though because of the ridicule I’m going to step it up a notch today by analyzing my dogs stool. Provide something worth reading…

Isaac has been to the vet and has had his stool professionally analyzed and it showed no signs of worms. He was given a ‘stronger’ worming medication just to be safe. Since that time Isaac has had a number of occurrences of diarrhea. He does need to go to the vet again to have his stool checked and receive a couple of shots. I’ve tried to isolate (where I can) what might be causing the digestive issues in the pooch.

He hasn’t switched off of the Canidae kibble so it doesn’t appear to be the food. I’ve slowed his habit of eating Rabbit Poop down so I don’t think that’s causing the issues. He isn’t getting any bones or chews toys that he’s digesting (put a halt to the pig ears). He also isn’t getting into the trash or anything strange like that. Unless he is sneaking rocks and wood chips when I’m not around (Kerry/Noah?) I don’t believe that’s the issue either.

All I can figure is it’s one of two things. My first thought is that it’s some type of parasite like Coccidia or Giardia, but it doesn’t seem to be consistent enough (only has it on occasion). I am now beginning to wonder if it might be exercise induced.

Yesterday Isaac had a long walk in the morning. It was cool out and he didn’t show any signs of being tired or overheated. Later in the day and most of the night he had brown pudding stool (not liquid and no blood), but it didn’t start until very late afternoon (the walk was at 7:00 AM). He didn’t have any strange food or get into anything else weird. Then this morning he laid some nice solid logs (about 45 minutes after eating 2 cups of Canidae). So though the exercise was far earlier in the day it seems to be the one common denominator in the equation (unless it’s Coccidia). It seems on days where he’s had longer or more frequent walks he’s more prone to have loose stool.

Here are some images for your viewing pleasure. The first one is of a dump he took last night, the second is from this mornings duker, and the third he just laid 5 minutes ago shortly after his evening meal. (click to enlarge)