3 and a half month old white German Shepherd

desiking911

Hello everyone,

I have a 3 and a half month old white German shepherd named Moti. I had gotten Moti from Pennsylvania and I'm from New york city.when I got my puppy Moti, the breeder was feeding him Taste of the wild, a high prairie canine formula with roasted bison & roasted venison. I had tried all the pet stores in my area and none of them had (taste of the wild). The breeder had given me a bag of Taste of the wild, to feed him for a few days, she said when you start feeding him the new food, just slowly mix the old food with the new. I did as she suggested, the new food I fed Moti was Canidae. when Moti was eating taste of the wild, his stomach was fine. But I do remember him having a upset stomach twice a week, the veterinarian had said that was due to the fact that Moti was in new environment. when I started to feed him Canidae, his stomach really became upset. Moti had diarrhea almost every day. I had taken Moti to the vet and the vet give him Metron 250g twice a day for five days. The vet said that the new food Canidae and Moti eating dirt , things like that etc... may have caused his diarrhea. The vet suggest that I change Moti's food. The new food I got him was Natural Balance (Lamb meal & Brown rice formula). plus I had called the breeder and she suggested that I give Moti white rice, Greek yogurt and some of his new food Natural Balance. I fed that mixture for one day and it helped his diarrhea a little bit, his stool became a little solid. But it caused his urination to become more frequent. Moti became more thirsty and he would not stop drinking water. It became such a problem that when we did not give him water, he would go and drink my cat Mano's water.The medicine Metron 250g did not help at all, it just made things worse. Now Moti has been having diarrhea every 3 hour and frequent urination, and this has been going on for four days now. when I called the vet and told him about the problem, he told me to bring Moti in. The vet told me to leave Moti for four hours at the clinic, in that time Moti would sedated, and he would have a blood test, x-rays done. And the vet requested a stool sample to be tested for parasites.I do not think it is appropriate, nor necessary that Moti should sedated for the tests, because I think it is unhealthy for him and he is too young for it. I think I should tell the vet that I do not want him sedated but he can run all the test without the sedation. Can you all please give your opinions on what I should do.

It would be a great deal of help to Moti and me and we would really appreciate it! Thankyou for your time and help.

Cracker

Why does he want to sedate him? Ask for his reasoning here.
Blood tests and xrays can be done without sedation and yes a fecal flotation will be helpful to determine if he has parasites.

I know the white shepherd I work with has a very sensitive stomach so finding the right food can take a while..the biggest risk with a baby pup is dehydration so yes, getting the tests is important.

Thracian

Some X-rays are best done with sedation. There's certainly no harm in asking why the sedation is necessary. Then you can make decisions from there.

I'm hoping you find out what's wrong with Moti quickly!

MoosMom

When you changed food, did you do it slow or all at once? That can really cause a HUGE tummy problem. It would be best to pick one food and stick with it for about 6-8 weeks before even thinking of switching again. Def take a stool sample to the vet. But let his tummy settle

desiking911

Thank you all for your quick respond he wants to sedate him to take X-rays but like Cracker said he can do it without it in my mind sedation should be the last option am i wrong ?


I changed it over a week and half i have decided i am not going to change it again unless we know for sure its the food Btw what do you all think about the Natural Balance (Lamb meal & Brown rice formula) good or not ?

agility collie mom

If they are doing x-rays sometimes it is less stressful for the pup/dog if they are sedated. You cannot explain to a pup that he/she needs to hold still for the x-ray. Holding a pup down can be very stressful so some vets prefer to sedate.

Labsnothers

I usually don't second guess the vet. You need to get to the bottom of the problem. This does sound like it is more severe than the typical sensitive stomach.

I have seen a lot of people going from one food to another before finding one that worked. I don't see any one premium brand being better than another.

Funny, the dozen puppies that came to me on Pro Plan all did just fine on it.

TxRider

My GSD Hope had the same issues with Canidae, she got runny stools pretty bad. I fed her Barking a the moon for a while, she did ok but I was afraid of the very high protein content of over 40%. She was needing to put on a little weight though, and she did.

You may want to pass on the pet stores and look for a agricultural feed store instead, the one around here carries all the brands the pet stores do not.

I tried a locally produced food of good quality and it's been really good on Hope's stomach, but seems like it may have some allergens, so I'll be trying yet another food as soon as I research more about allergens and start running low on her current food.

lovemygreys

I forget the name of the drug they use for sedating for xrays, but it's not like surgery anesthesia. It's very short acting and reversable. Should be very safe and allows the vet to get the necessary shots on the xray, rather than trying to wrastle with a puppy and keep them still. I wouldnt' worry too much about that part.

What I would do: de-worm with a good, general de-wormer from your vet. I wouldn't mess with a stool sample because those are so hit or miss anyway. I'd want an xray just to rule out a partial obstruction. I'd continue the metronidizole and pick a food and stick with it. Sometimes, once a tummy is upset it can take a while for things to calm down. Switching foods during this time will only make things worse.

Natural Balance is a good food, but I've found lamb varieties are too rich for many of our dogs and they have loose stool on them. I'm talking about adult dogs so YMMV with a puppy. When we fed NB in the past, we fed the regular (I think it's called Ultra Premium). We now feed a blend of TOTW and a raw diet to our adults. The puppy is eating Castor and Pollux Puppy + raw meat and/or raw ground chicken necks.

We recently had a bout of gastroenteritis with the pup as we tried to re-introduce kibble from a totally raw diet. A night at the vet on fluids and metronidizole has her feeling much better.

Have you tried the TOTW dealer locator? http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/dealer_locator/ If he was doing well on the High Prairie, I'd try to switch back to that.

desiking911

Thank you all for all the replies, and help. We went to the vet today early in the morning and that is why I did not get to read rest of the replies. The vet has done all the tests but the X-rays. The vet did all the test without the use of sedation, he told me that if necessary later, he will do the x-Rays. The vet gave Moti a medication and said that hopefully this medication should help him get better. Here is the list of test performed and medications that were given to him today, Super-chem CBC , T4 Hormone RIA Lab , Fecal Analysis , Penicillin Injection , Ditrim 480 Mg , Albon . With the help of the link that lovemygreys posted, I found Moti old Taste of the wild. Thank you very much for the link . I will be getting Moti ‘s test results on Monday and I am praying that everything fine . I will keep you all up-to-date regarding Moti’s condition. Once again Moti and I really appreciated all the help.

agility collie mom

How is Monti?

desiking911

Hello everyone

Once again thank you all very much for your help. Moti is doing well now, all of the tests results came back normal. He does not have diarrhea any more, his stool is starting to get harder. Moti is back to himself again, energetic as ever.Going around the house trying to find something new to tear up, going after my cat Mano's tail.Yeah, these are sure indications that Moti is back to himself!!

agility collie mom

Yeah Moti!