Opinions please

[Kasianni]

So Theo will be ok for a week or 10 days, then boom we are back to having diarrhea or mucus/with a bit of blood. The vet just called me and we spoke for about an hour on the phone. She really wants me to give Theo a dewormer. Told me that even if we did an endoscopy on him any specialist would first ask with all his symptoms that he has, if he was dewormed. She said we should do this next. If that doesn't work, she will try metronidazole again, and then would like to try Theo on a home cooked recipe to see if he is allergic to the food he is eating. Said something about starting with one protein and one carbohydrate. Not sure how that works but anyways..Just wondering what you all think? The vet said the worst thing that would happen is that the dewormer would cause loose stools. I was really against it but after talking with her for all this time I am thinking she is right and that I should give him a dewormer, even if its tests came back negative for parasites. She said that Giardia only shows up 60% of the time and that tests can be negative and the dog does actually have Giardia. Just wondering what you all think about this next step?

[LexieLuvr]

My opinion is after all you've gone through and all you know, I think I would follow the vet's advice. It doesn't seem like you have a lot to lose. Just my opinion. I certainly have no medical expertise. I'm so sorry you've had such a tough time getting to the bottom of this problem and hope you get it resolved soon!

[Lisa]

Follow the vets advice! One protein = chicken OR turkey OR ground beef. One carb = Rice OR oatmeal '

Doing this we found out Pogo is allergic to chicken and corn and flax. So his diet is oatmeal and ground beef (primarily), knowing that I now add other stuff. His best blend for optimum energy / weight is:

Ground beef, oatmeal, eggs, coconut oil, purple cabbage, carrot, apple, blueberries, cranberries (all veggies and fruit are pureed), eggshells, brewers yeast (de-bittered), diatomaceous earth (human grade),. But sometimes I will use spinach and pumpkin instead of cabbage and carrot. Meaning the core protein and carb rarely change. Once in a blue moon I will add turkey but since he is doing great on the oatmeal and beef I generally keep it the same. But Theo might need chicken and rice as his primary diet, it depends on what his needs are. When you are doing the elimination diet, that includes ALL treats.

[Ivan]

Food-grade Diatomaceous Earth is very good for deworming, without chemicals:
http://www.americanbluelacyassociati...6#awp::?p=1036

Try a 1 month diet of raw meat:

Buy a Costco whole boneless pork loin ($1.69/lb), and cut the raw meat into 1" cubes, and simply hand it to Theo. Do that for 3 weeks.
Nothing else, no kibble, no nothing. Just raw meat.
Here's what the pork loin looks like (both inside and outside): http://www.momcanihavethat.com/how-t...ole-pork-loin/
Then you can maybe switch to boneless raw chicken breasts for the next 3 weeks (if cheaper), if you want? Or cut a whole chicken?

Everything fresh from grocery store, not cooked, not ground up. Just raw meat chunks. No bones for first few months.
Chicken breast bones are small, so would be OK when starting out. Eventually, start adding a tblsp of raw liver per week.
You should notice Theo's improvement in about a month.

[Kasianni]

Follow the vets advice! One protein = chicken OR turkey OR ground beef. One carb = Rice OR oatmeal '

Doing this we found out Pogo is allergic to chicken and corn and flax. So his diet is oatmeal and ground beef (primarily), knowing that I now add other stuff. His best blend for optimum energy / weight is:

Ground beef, oatmeal, eggs, coconut oil, purple cabbage, carrot, apple, blueberries, cranberries (all veggies and fruit are pureed), eggshells, brewers yeast (de-bittered), diatomaceous earth (human grade),. But sometimes I will use spinach and pumpkin instead of cabbage and carrot. Meaning the core protein and carb rarely change. Once in a blue moon I will add turkey but since he is doing great on the oatmeal and beef I generally keep it the same. But Theo might need chicken and rice as his primary diet, it depends on what his needs are. When you are doing the elimination diet, that includes ALL treats.

Yes, I am going to do the dewormer and then the elimination diet. Thanks for all the info. I asked if I could do chicken/beef and she said no. Said he needed a meat he's never been introduced to before..she mentioned, Deer, Salmon, Rabbit even Horse meat. Told her sorry not feeding him Horse meat, ewww.

[lotsadox]

I agree. Horsemeat would definitely be a no. It's very interesting that she wanted him on a meat he's never had before. Please keep us posted how he's doing. I'll be very interesting to see how this works out for him.

[lotsadox]

I just read an email I got from Whole Dog Journal. They have a series of downloadable articles (books, maybe?) on making dog food at home. If you're interested, you might look them up. Or pm me and I can send you the link from the email.

[areese]

Is Giardia something that responds to a wormer? it's a bacteria, isn't it?

[Kasianni]

Is Giardia something that responds to a wormer? it's a bacteria, isn't it?

I asked the same thing. Vet said sometimes a combination of Metronidazole and Pancur will get rid of Giardia. He's had Metronidazole twice since March, but she said that we will try that after again after the Panacur, but for more then 10 days which is the length of time he was on it before.

[Alex's Mom]

Did you ask him about colitis, Kasia? ITA with the elimination diet, but be aware that it takes quite a while (as in weeks) for a true determination to be seen, cuz it takes a while to remove stuff from the gut (according to Laura). I found turkey worked best with Alex. I also know that you can get "other" meats too; Laura is carrying a kangaroo-based diet which she's had quite a bit of success with, but it's insanely pricey. Make sure that the meat you end up with is from a good source too. I found a HUGE difference with Alex once once I stopped buying the turkey in the grocery store and started buying it from my farmer/meat supplier. Free range and as organic as she could make it. Salmon is another good choice, but stinky!!! My understanding of giardia is a) it's hard to detect and b) hard to get rid of. This could all relate back to the prednisone too, cuz I seem to remember (it was a very very long time ago!) that that's why we had to take Maxe off it, and put her on medicam instead.

Will be curious to hear how this goes!