diarrhea in cocker

[grunty]

hi we tried everything from eggs to rice to settle our pups tummy but we took him to the vets and he was given pro-kolin a sort of paste and tablets(zitec). for the tidy sum of 40 quid ,for 5 tablets and a bit of paste in a tube .... rip off or what . i know what u going to say but surely there must be a cheaper way.thebest thing about it is that the vet said if this dont cure it come back and well put him on anti biotics..... i dread to think how much that will cost.

[Sheepscheeks]

You can get pro kolin paste online much cheaper than from the vet.

How old is your pup? Does he have mucousy stools or is he passing any blood? I assume you have tried changing his food? I have posted several times about Freddie's tummy so won't repeat it all here but just say that he has never been brilliant in the poo department (he is 5 months now), has been on chicken and rice several times, weaned back onto kibble only for his problem to re-appear. His sister has had things much worse and has been seen by the vet lots of times - hundreds of pounds spent on samples - Royal Canin sensitive wet food sorted her out overnight, apparently, but it is very expensive and stinks. Her owner is trying to get her onto Royal Canin kibble instead - seeing her next Thursday to see how things are going. Her diagnosis was purely very sensitive tummy. I have just got some Natural Instinct raw food because I am sure Freddie can't tolerate the processed nature of kibble...

[bluegirl]

I'm not sure what you are saying here, but if a dog is ill and you have tried simple measures to help the situation then the only sensible thing is to take them to the vet. Vet treatments can be expensive but its all part of dog ownership and if your dogs problem doesn't settle then you will unfortunately have to go back. Vomiting and diarrhoea can quickly lead to serious problems particularly in young, ill or older dogs so they need medical attention and thats the bottom line.

When my dogs have diarrhoea other than fasting them, I will use slippery elm bought from a health shop and it clears it up usually.

[mark1]

Some advice we got on here was to try a spoon of natural bio yoghurt on the food each day. We went for the goats milk one just to be on the safe side and I'd swear by it. Poppy's tummy has been really good since we started using it and we had real problems with her from when we first got her. We have kept her diet very simple and kept an eye on the treats we were buying and definitely no pigs ears as our breeder recommended 

[Helen]

I'm assuming you mean Zantac? That is ranitidine which helps with stomach acid and indigestion. Yes you can buy a human version but unless there is something seriously wrong they never prescribe it long term.

Although expensive I would rather have my dog looked at by a vet and prescribed easy measures than risking he has something majorly wrong like pancreatitus by self-diagnosis 

Eggs don't settle my dog's stomach, some dogs can have a food sensitivity to rice, chicken can be a difficult protein to absorb for them - if I were you I would be feeding my dog white fish and potato diet in the meantime 

Have they tested his stools for anything like giardia or campylobacter?

[Sue E]

Definitely worth going to the vet!  Ozzy had problems like this when he first came to us and it continued right up to him being 8 months old.  He had lots of tests and was diagnosed with campylobacter.  It was touch and go for a while cos he was losing so much weight and he will always be a small dog now.  Anyway, six months ago after antibiotics it was finally cleared up and he was great - right up until six weeks ago.  And now we're back on antibiotics.  Unfortunately chicken doesn't do him any good whatsoever! 

If it doesn't clear up with this set of medicine then I would defintely ask your vet to do some stool samples.  Its not a great experience collecting them though.   

[bracken]

We had problms with Rosie's tummy when she was about 6 months  We used just white fish and live yogurt to start with then introduced a tiny bit of brown rice, she was also on Pro kolin (got it online so much cheaper) always worth keeping some just incase.
hope your pup is better soon