Sick dog - Ideas Please

[Canuck]

I got a phone call tonight from my ex indicating that her dog (8 yr old female lab) was sick and was wondering if I had any ideas on what she should do. My first sugguestion was to call her vet. This dog had diarrhea for a couple of days and she changed the food and it cleared up for a day but it has come back the last 3 days, and the dog is very lazy. She indicated the dog has not got into anything (???????) that she knows about and she tried cooking up some hamburg and cooked rice but that hasn't helped either. I have quite often home treated my animals for minor items using old medicines and cures and I have used the hamburg and rice before and it cured the dog. I was wondering if anybody has any ideas for possible cures. This dog apparently is slightly overweight and does drink water so I imagine she has a day or two at the most but said I would check and see if I could come up with some ideas.

I have seen some GREAT advice in the past on this board concerning dogs so thought one of U might have some ideas.

ps: good luck on Tuesday.

[CornPirateKiller]

A lethargic dog with the runs could be many things. Could she have eaten something bad? Your best bet is to take her to the vet, they know best. I'd also suspect Lymes. Has the dog been in the woods or grass lately? This is prime time for deer ticks and just one can transmit the disease.

Good Luck.

[LABS4ME]

I'd get in to the vet if the home remedies haven't worked. I've had 2 older (10 & 12) labs that both had bad diaherrea (tried the boiled burger/rice/toast combo and it didn't touch it) only to find it was caused by severe illness. One had cancer, the other had failing kidneys. I ended up getting some diaherea medicine and a special food from Hills to control the runs and it helped. As they continued downhill it came back and was not controllable.

On the flip side, my dogs have gotten into some tainted water when hunting, and they have very loose stools for up to a week. I usually will with hold feeding for 24 hours, then do the rice/burger/toast deal and slowly re-introduce their regular food. Don't change dog foods now if they are having problems, that can/will usually compound the problem. But as stated earlier, if it's been going on more than 3 days, a trip to the vet is in order.

Good Luck!

Ken

[bigdog]

Since it has gone for awhile it would be good to consult the vet. Otherwise you can use pepto for dogs.