Ahhhh no. Raw ham bone.. bad idea... Update.. add turkey necks to that list too.

[Lyn]

I gave both Bubba and Lola each a raw ham bone on Sunday. Well Lola is fine... but Bubba has had diarrhea since yesterday. Luckily no weight loss that I can notice but I caught it right away. I've been giving him Pepto.. but now he's having cow patty poops. I guess that's better than liquid ones though. UGH.... Stupid, stupid, stupid me!

I'm really beginning to suspect IBS/IBD now. Fatty foods are known to trigger it and that ham bone had quite a bit of fat on it.

The only thing that confuses me is that he's still eating Canidae and it's 14% fat I believe. If he had IBS/IBD how the heck can he eat that and be fine? 

I'm suppose to wait until Jan then bring him back in to be weighed. But if the diarrhea doesn't stop in a few days I guess we are going in sooner.

This whole loose stool, underweight stuff is making me crazy. 

By the way.. the vet thinks Bubba is approx. 15 pounds underweight! 

[Anakalia]

Awww poor Bubba!  It's so hard, I know, I try to give Koby yummies and then all heck breaks loose and booty blow outs everywhere!!  The only yummy Koby can have is Evo treats that's IT.  It's a bit frustrating and a little sad, because Koby will literally eat anything you give him, he LOVES food and I do like to spoil him sometimes, but I later regret it. lol  Although he has stolen a couple of candy corns from my daughter lately and we haven't had any problems!! lol  Koby was about 15lbs underweight at the begining of summer and we eventually found a food that worked for him so he's filling out nicely now, and he'll be 3 in Feb. so it's been a long frustrating process.  If the Canidae works stick with it, he'll gain weight slowly so you probably won't see a sudden change.  Good luck and hopefully his booty blowouts will end soon!!

[bluskygirl]

Oh, I'm sorry to hear about Bubba. I hope he recovers soon. I know that since Bubba is underweight there must be something going on, but my dogs have always had a a difficult time digesting bones.  I've always chosen to stay away from them becuase I just thought that was normal behavior after eating one! 

I will hope for good BM's.  Now, where else could you EVER say that but here??? 

[Kirsti]

Oh Poor Bubba! Hope all go's well soon.

~K

[PennyK]

Poor Bubba!  Poor Lyn!

Hope he feels better soon!

[Lyn]

Hahaha Yeah.. All I seem to talk about lately is poop, I'm sure people think I'm odd. At least here it's normal conversation.

I'm pretty sure the weight loss/slow weight gain is from his chronic diarrhea. Once I finally got the diarrhea under control he started to gain weight slowly. He was much thinner than he is now. I could see his spine/ribs and hip bones before.

So I was doing something right and then screwed it all up with a ham bone. UGH

Anakalia, The Canidae is working ok.. his stools are formed, but still soft-ish. He has the odd firm one but he's still 'going' quite often which from what I've read points to large intestine issues.

Arg.. I'm getting cut short.. hubby needs the phone.. darn 56k.

Thanks all.. I'm positive we will get this figured out soon. Hopefully before I go into debt with all these vet bills. 

[Winslow 151]

Hi,

Hope he feels better soon. One thing for the blowouts is Pumpkin. Right now is "Pumpkin O Plenty" time.

They are real easy to cook, and much better than the canned stuff!! and Bubba will love the treat and it will help fiber up the Patty's. Here is a link on how to cook a pumpkin, then you can freeze it for a year round treat.

http://www.tonytantillo.com/vegetables/pumpkin.html

[Lyn]

Awesome! Thank you! Perfect time to stock up on pumpkin too. 

[shangrila]

Hope bubba feels better soon!

By the way, I highly recommend investing in an extra ice cube tray and using it for pumpkin cubes. That's what I do for zoey - i scoop it into the trays and voila - single servings. I give it to her frozen in the summer for a treat if her tummy hurts, or melt it for 20 seconds year round when she is too loose

[Lyn]

I agree ideas a plenty here. Thanks shangrila, The ice cube tray idea is great. We have an ice-maker now but I know I have some ice cube trays around here somewhere. I'll fill up the trays and bag and freeze the rest.

I know the farmer that grows all the pumpkins here for the pumpkinfest. So as long as they are not rotten now I'll be able to get as many free pumpkins as I need since he just plows the remaining ones under. I'll have to give him a call.

Liz, I know he did suspect IBD/IBS at one time and he did want me to put Bubba on one of the vet prescription diets but I refuse to feed Bubba that junk if I can help it. He suspected alot of things.. plus I had a list of possible causes that was suggested from everyone here. We checked for quite a few things.. and honestly I've lost track since this all spans from the time Bubba was 9 weeks old to now and he's 20 months old tomorrow.

IBS/IBD is checked by biopsy right? We have done blood tests.. a full panel for sure but there might have been other tests included in that too. All I know is that they were all 'fine'. I didn't get the details since he was in a rush and I have no idea what they mean anyway. LOL Plus the gazillion fecals and nothing was found in those, oh wait..one tapeworm was found once, we treated him for those and I haven't seen any since. Then we took x-rays to looks for anything out of the ordinary and nothing in those either.

We ruled out food.. and since he's eating the Canidae without too much trouble. And it can't be a protein allergy since Canidae has 4 different meats.

I've pretty much just given in to the fact that I may just need to add more fiber to his food for the rest of his life. I can live with that.. it's his weight that truly frustrates me to no end.

Sorry I'm in a rambling mood apparently... but if anyone sees anything that I've missed testing wise feel free to mention it.

Edit because I can't speeeel. LOL

[Lyn]

Add raw turkey necks to the no no list. Yup we have cow patty poops again.  Thank god for pumpkin and oatmeal!