What can I feed my dog to get rid of his diarrhea?

January 8, 2008 10:57 AM

My little dog has had diarrhea for three days...all over the house. What can I make for him that will settle his stomach and bulk up his poop?

He's a two-year old daschund with no history of health problems.

My carpet and I thank you for your suggestions.

posted by oldlies to pets & animals (21 answers total)

Stop feeding him and give him Immodium - half a tablet should do it.
posted by ferociouskitty at 10:58 AM on January 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

Oh, and, um... 3 days of diarrhea definitely means a call to the vet, too. That's just something to try in the meantime.
posted by ferociouskitty at 10:59 AM on January 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

Boil some white rice and mix in some plain yogurt. Continue on the rice/yogurt diet for a couple of days. You can also try mixing a little bit of gatoraide into his water. Those things alway help when our dog has stomach issues.
posted by adustum at 11:00 AM on January 8, 2008 [2 favorites]

he needs to go to a vet, because you don't know what is causing the diarrhea. It could be something minor, but it could also be a serious problem. Get him to a vet right away.
posted by bolognius maximus at 11:00 AM on January 8, 2008

Generally when our dog gets the unpleasants we restrict his food for 12-24 hours and make sure he drinks water. When we start putting him on the food again it's usually canned ID which we've been told is very bland eventually after a day or two worked in with dry food until he's back on dry food for good. That length of time you may want to consider taking a stool sample in to the vet to make sure there's no bugs in it causing the digestion problems (or the dog itself).

Make sure the dog isn't eating anything or drinking out of somewhere they shouldn't be, our dog will drink from anything that holds a substance that may have once been water, he has 3 bowls of fresh water all around, loves the stagnant mud puddle water at the dog park.
posted by iamabot at 11:02 AM on January 8, 2008

thirding the vet and rice.

also boiled white meat chicken helps as well.
posted by modernsquid at 11:02 AM on January 8, 2008

nthing a trip to the vet. A million things could be causing this, and the cause will determine the fix. I've suffered through ten days of cleaning up after our beagle during a nasty bout of colitis, and that was with meds, prescription food, etc. So you might not want to wait.
posted by somanyamys at 11:33 AM on January 8, 2008

Also make sure he's getting plenty of water. Because he's only little this is extra important.
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 11:37 AM on January 8, 2008

Yogurt and vet. Give plain lowfat yogurt from the grocery store, unless you have easy access to "real" (SE Asian/Mediterranean/Bulgarian style) yogurt which will have more fat and beneficial flora, less preservatives and gums and chemicals to make it shiny.

The vet will probably want a stool sample, which you should obtain shortly before the appointment.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:41 AM on January 8, 2008

Oh, also, if he doesn't have any 'appetite' for water, you can try giving him low-sodium chicken broth or making ice cubes out of broth.
posted by ferociouskitty at 12:03 PM on January 8, 2008

Agree with the vet recommendation, but aside from that -- I usually see canned pumpkin (plain pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling) recommended for both when the dog has this problem, and when the dog isn't going at all (and it has worked in both instances for my pup).
posted by inigo2 at 12:20 PM on January 8, 2008

Mix cooked white rice and cooked lean ground beef (like 90/10 lean beef) in a 50/50 ratio and you can feed him that for a couple days, it's nice and bland (no seasonings!) and should help him out. My wife makes up a big batch and portions it into meal sized packages with plastic wrap and freezes whatever we dont use for the next time - should keep for a month or few frozen. You can always use some with regular food so it won't go to waste later. Our dogs like it and our vet recommended it when ours had the runs.

Call the vet and get their recommendation too though. They may suggest a 24 hour food restriction before the bland stuff also.
posted by clanger at 12:31 PM on January 8, 2008

When we first adopted our greyhound years ago, he went through periods where he had the trots for a few days, then he'd be fine for a week or so, then it would start again. White rice worked the best for firming things up. And rather than taking the time to cook it myself, I found it easier to just buy a quart or two of steamed rice from the local Chinese restaurant.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:50 PM on January 8, 2008

Nthing the rice, gatorade, pumpkin, and especially the vet, ASAP. As for Imodium, dosages should correspond with the size of the animal, and in this case I wouldn't administer it without the okay of the vet.
posted by terrapin at 1:16 PM on January 8, 2008

I'm definitely not a vet, but it's my understanding that after three days he can get quite dehydrated and the vet will want to inject some water into his shoulder (from experience).
posted by imaswinger at 1:21 PM on January 8, 2008

A bowl that's 3/4 rice and 1/4 boiled chicken + Imodium (with vet direction) usually works for my pup.
posted by rinosaur at 2:40 PM on January 8, 2008

I give mine pepto bismal and unlimited water. All other foods and treats are withheld. Even bones, rawhide, and nylabones because of the drool factor. I've never had to deal with it beyond one or two dosings, maybe 12 hours max. Since it's been so long for yours, though, I'd just take him to the vet. What have you tried so far?
posted by ick at 7:23 PM on January 8, 2008

2nding I-D, they make a very bland food especially for this. Alternatively, if you can't find that, ask at the pet store for sensitive stomach dog foods.
and go to the vet.
posted by alkupe at 7:24 PM on January 8, 2008

The Immodium will work, BUT you need to clear it with your vet. You don't know whether or not your dog has ingested something and has something serious going on. As somebody mentioned up thread, you will probably have to take him in for subcutaneous fluids for dehydration (they put a big bolus of saline in between his shoulder blades. He'll look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame for about 45 minutes, but then will go back to normal - no worries, it doesn't hurt.) In the mean time a 24hr fast, then:

Small quantities of plain canned pumpkin, white rice and boiled ground beef or chicken. Start with 1/2c. at a time. He's going to snarf it down. But only do the 1/2c the first 30 minutes, then progressively go a little more. You want to slowly increase it so that he 1) doesn't barf it up or 2) irritate his stomach even more.

The vet will probably have you keep up with the rice/meat for several days. If the dog seems like he's STARVING, you can slowly add in canned green beans for bulk. I know, sounds weird but it works and it doesn't wreak their stomachs, either. Have no idea why, since it seems counter intuitive, but it's worked for several sick dogs over (I use to be a placement coordinator for French Bulldog Rescue, have dealt with wayyyyy too many icky dog bellies).

Please! NO Gatorade (too much sugar - it will make the diarrhea worse). You can try putting 1tsp of salt into 2 liters of boiled water (it's the same ratio of Pedialyte but without the sugar).

Also, you don't want to give the dog Pepto Bismol without your vet's consent. The short reason is, it has an aspirin derivative in it.

Good luck and I hope you have invested in some major quantities of Nature's Miracle for your carpeting.
posted by dancinglamb at 8:44 PM on January 8, 2008

Just wanted to clarify about the barfing food up - he's going to be so hungry and excited about food, he'll forget he's a dog and pretend he's a goldfish - trying to eat everything in sight. So then he'll barf, and you'll REALLY have to run around cleaning stuff up. Good luck ! :)
posted by dancinglamb at 8:45 PM on January 8, 2008

Nthing the vet trip. In the meantime, with the white rice you could give him cottage cheese instead of the yogurt (our Shih Tzu loved this!)
posted by radioamy at 9:31 AM on January 9, 2008