[bella1]

i have 3 dogs who are unrelated (an 8 month old havanese, a 3 year old havanese-bichon mix and a 12 year old yorkshire terrier). they all have been sick with chronic diarrhea for the past 4 months. no one can seem to diagnose them. all tests and cultures come back negative. they've been on 3 different medications, none of which have cured them. flagel and tylan both suppressed the disease while they were on the medicine, but once they stopped they all got sick again 3 days later. most recently, we've tried panacur c, and that did not work at all. what could be wrong with them? are there any other medication options? i don't want to have to keep them on tylan the rest of their lives (which is what one vet is suggesting), i want a cure and no one can seem to offer that! help!

 

[spotted nikes]

My first thought is Giardia, which is hard to test for, and I'm not sure which med cures it.

Environmental issues come to mind next. Yard fertilizer? Plants that they chew?

Did anything change 4 months ago? New carpet? New paint? Plants/sod? Carpet freshener? Food? Do you have well water? Have you ever tested your house for a Carbon Monoxide leak in the furnace/water heater if gas/fireplace. Do you have neighbors that are throwing scraps to them?

 

[bella1]

Thanks! We were thinking Giardia, too, which is why all the medicine, but nothing is curing it! The other factor that I forgot to mention is that one of the dogs doesn't live with the other two. One (the 3 year old) is mine, and the other 2 are my parents dogs. This has been so frustrating!

 

[Pawzk9]

What do you feed, and have you tried other diets? I'd also suspect coccidia or giardia, which may test negative if they aren't shedding spores when the fecal is done. It's one of those things it doesn't hurt to treat for and then see if you have improvement. Coccidia lives in the environment and giardia is frequently in contaminated water sources. So, if your animals have access to a pond, etc. they might keep reinfecting themselves.

 

[bella1]

They've all been eating EN since they've gotten sick. I've never heard of Coccidia, that's an interesting tip. They've all been treated several times for Giardia, so if it is that then it's an anti-biotic resistant strain, which would be upsetting!

 

[Yvonne]

All four of my dogs were ill at one time it was a bad protein source in the food I was feeding. Have you changed food source in the time they have been ill to see if it might be bad food?

 

[bella1]

after they first got sick we switched them all to EN and they've been on it ever since. but, i definitely think it would be worth it to try something else! i'm up for trying anything to make them better!

 

[5 s corral]

have they given you albon for the runs