Re:
Northern Husky
approx 4-6 years.
He pees normal.
He drinks water normal
Climate is around 70's where I live. He has not gotten into anything that may of caused the diarrhea.
He has had the diarrhea for 3.5 weeks now.
He poops 3 times a day (depending on day it might be 4 times) Diarrhea of course.
He is not on any meds

I foster for a rescue group and pulled a husky (northern breed) from a pound who was set for euth as his owner gave him up. I had him fully vetted. Unfortunately he was HW +. You can't adopt a dog out without him being treated, so I paid out of pocket to have him treated with 2 injections of immiticide. The vet said he is only a stage 1 and preferred to do the 24 hour method of the second shot, rather than waiting a month. He was also fully vetted and neutered. The vet said he was very skinny as he refused to eat at the pound and was on the verge of starving to death. (prob one of the reasons he was set to be put down as nobody had the time or funds to deal with that there).

He will not eat kibble ( I have tried wetting it, mixing it in with canned food, he will NOT eat it). I have tried high quality kibble such as Taste of the Wild, Grain free kibble, etc. and he still will not eat it.

I tried canned food. he ate that the first two days, than stopped. He would not eat canned food or kibble...so I couldn't let him get any skinnier so he had to eat something. I gave him hotdogs, he ate those, no refuses to eat them.

He will not eat the food items that are recommended for the dog to gain weight..like satin balls, cottage cheese, peanut butter, he hates all of it. I am giving him "nutri cal" calorie supplement by mouth.

He will ONLY eat raw meat. He wont eat hamburger, but will ONLY eat raw steaks and pork (bone free of course) This is too expensive to feed him every day. He is a larger dog..should weigh 80 pounds but weighs 65.

On top of that he has had diarrhea since the day I got him. (it has been 4 weeks now.) I tried the diarrhea medicine Pet pectillin, it doesn't help. I have stopped the Pet pectillin 5 days ago, and he still has diarrhea.

He keeps having accidents in house and my husband is at his wits end with him. He goes at night. We crate him at night and he will still go IN the crate. Even though we take him out every 3 hours to go to the bathroom. Seems he is outside for 5 hours during the day and does NOT poop during the day , only AT Night. (we have 8foot high fences with concrete layed around the fence). I am up all day with him, and my husband is up all night with him as we work from home. He has had accidents diarrhea all over the carpet, and of course the worst possible spot that is so hard to clean. I feel bad for the neighbor as he goes at the end of our backyard which sits right beside the neighbors living room in a quiet neighborhood after 9pm and all you hear is loud and I mean LOUD farts and diarrhea and of course the smell. He shuts his slider all mad prob thinking do something about this problem!

My main question is how can I stop this diarrhea and him going at night in the house and crate.? He is so picky of an eater, and will starve if I do not feed him probably the food what makes him have the diarrhea..so I am stuck on what to do next. Please don't tell me to ask the vet as I took him to the Vet last week, and the vet said he was fine, no underlying medical issue and NOT the flu. Vet will not put him on any meds as he was treated for hw, and doesn't feel comfortable. He does not have Guardia either. She recommended the pet pectillin that is not working.

I have tried mixing pumpkin and rice etc in , but he will NOT eat it. Again he only eats raw steaks and pork, and maybe some hotdogs and chicken livers (if I hand feed the chicken livers eat them. If I leave them in a bowl he wont). He will NOT eat chicken or hamburger meat.

I have fostered rescue dogs before, all huskies, but they eventually pull out what ever issue they have the first week...this one isn't and I cant afford to feed him Raw steaks everyday. I have already spent over and above with the HW treatment. He will go up for adoption soon as I am currently fostering during his recovery period. I need to resolve this as future person who adopts this dog is isn't going to take the time to deal with all this. My husband is at his wits end, and wants the problem out of here. This is a rescue dog whom I am fostering and cannot give this problem to the next person and I am determined to help/fix this issue. I expected to adopt him out very fast, but due to the HW treatment that is not possible until his treatment is over.

He is not the type of dog where he will "eventually get hungry enough and eat". He will not eat any type of dog "treats/snacks" either.

Foods he will NOT eat refuses no matter what trick I use to mix in the food:
Eggs (raw or boiled) or egg (scrambled or hard boiled.
Cottage cheese
Peanut butter
Chicken
hotdogs
kibble - reg kibble, grain free Taste of the Wild and NOWFresh free Dog Grain free, grain free bison, salmon, chicken, duck, venison and turkey
Pumpkin Puree
Rice
canned food (tried Natures variety instinct canned food, tried blue buffalo wilderness, and even tried some of the generic no nutritional value canned food)
pretty much any food thats recommended for him to gain weight.
Green Beans , carrots /veggies
Fish
Sardines

FOODS HE WILL EAT:
boneless Steak
bonless pork
(only raw, NOT cooked)

Tried mixing the raw with some of the other foods listed above in the will not eat section. As soon as something is mixed he will try to cover it with his nose, scoot it away and flip the dish over,as if to say don't try and trick me!"

Help!

First, if he's eating boneless raw then the lack of bone alone could be giving him diarrhea. He really needs to be eating bone and organs if you're feeding raw. If he refuses to eat bone then give him a calcium or bone meal supplement and see if that helps any. Also try to incorporate some organ into his diet, I know he's extremely selective but maybe he'll eat freeze-dried liver or something if he won't take it raw.

Second, have you had the vet test him for IBS or IBD? I would get him tested asap if you haven't already. One of my dogs has irritable bowel and it took 11 months of constant diarrhea for us to figure out what the problem was. So I definitely know what you're going through, I went through it for 11 months and tried so many different foods, remedies, and products. Yep, I spent many nights for months on end cleaning up a crate full of diarrhea and giving the dog a bath at 2 in the morning. I totally sympathize with your predicament and I wish I'd have had someone to suggest testing for irritable bowel when I was dealing with it. Anyway, the only thing that works for her is a digestive aid supplement called Perfect Form made by The Honest Kitchen. She literally cannot live without it or she goes back to diarrhea so she's on it for life. It's a natural supplement so I have no worries about her being on it long term. I know Perfect Form doesn't work for every dog but it's the only thing that works for my dog who has IBS.

If I were you, I would first try adding a bone meal supplement such as KAL Bone Meal Powder to the raw steak and pork and see if that helps any.

If the bone meal or calcium doesn't help at all I'd have the vet test for irritable bowel. Maybe you could try Perfect Form and see if that doesn't help as well.

Hi Huskyluv

I brought up IBS testing to the vet, and she said its rare and "difficult to test".
He also doesn't chew on regular bones like most dogs do, he has no interest. I hoped he would as his teeth are not in great shape.
As for the bone in the meat, I always bought boneless as i worry the bone could do damage if he doesn't chew it right. he seems to "inhale his food" His teeth are pretty big about an Inch long..but the smaller teeth seem to be worn down.

I like the idea of the kal bone meal powder, I will try that and hopefully he will eat it on the meat and not refuse it. The perfect form I will try too.

I guess its difficult to change the schedule of a dog with diarrhea..but he goes at the oddest most inconvenient times. 11pm-6am. Do you have any suggestions with that? I have tried feeding him in the AM and still no change. I am so afraid to walk him in the neighborhood as he might just have diarrhea all over someones lawn, and I can just picture the look I will get.

Sorry, diarrhea comes when it comes. With my girl who has IBS she would have diarrhea all day AND all night every single day no matter what I fed her, no matter what time I fed her, and no matter how much or little I fed her. Believe me, I know how exhausting it is and I had to clean up diarrhea accidents multiple times every day AND night. Irritable bowel is NOT fun but once you know what the problem is, it's easier to work towards a solution.

Now sometimes, infrequently, I would give my girl Immodium before bed just to give her (and to an extent myself too) a break from the constant diarrhea. Immodium almost always gave her relief for the night but it's not something that should be given on a regular basis.

I wish I could be of more help, but for now I'd try the bone meal and Perfect Form and go from there. Maybe someone else will have other ideas or suggestions you could try. I hope you'll stick around and keep us updated as I'd like to know how this all pans out for you.

Thanks Huskyluv. I'm sure others reading my original post probably hit the back button fast when they see how long/complicated it is! I wanted to include every detail I could think of to address the issue properly

I will stick around and update you. I really appreciate your advice and I'm glad someone else out there gets me on this. Its so frustrating reading the remedies for diarrhea, having to buy it, cook it, mix it, and then you have a dog that will not eat it.

I don't have any more advice, but wanted to offer support. I can imagine how difficult and frustrating it is to deal with. Especially after all the work your putting in. One thing I just thought of, is have you had a recent stool test for worms? Another forum member was having difficulty getting her dog to eat, she wouldn't eat anything,, and she was very under weight and she had tired food after food after food and nothing helped. She had gotten a worm test done a few weeks prior and it was negative. She ended up doing another test and it came back positive. After treatment her dog is eating pretty well.

Hi wpskier222

I do not see worms in his stool, but I do understand this is not always the case if a dog has worms. The vet said to hold off as I don't want to over treat him and she didnt think he had worms. But that does make sense what your saying. I wonder if I can buy a test online. It so expensive for a vet visit and fecal and this isn't even my dog.
I have some of the medication here for the treatment of worms from a previous rescue dog called Strongid. Since he has already had treatment for heartworm..I don't want to just give him it as it may be too hard on his system.

To add: He was given Trifexis 1 week ago. Wouldn't that kill the worms intestinal as well if had them?

Yes, Trifexis kills hooks, rounds, and whipworm but doesn't kill tapeworm. But if your dog had tapeworm you'd likely see them or at least segments in the stool I would think.

Im following up with the recommendations from Huskyluv. Thank You so much! It worked. I added the Perfect Form made by The Honest Kitchen and the powdered bone meal. Today was his first solid poop!

I really appreciate your recommendation and it worked!

Leah

Huskyluv wrote:

First, if he's eating boneless raw then the lack of bone alone could be giving him diarrhea. He really needs to be eating bone and organs if you're feeding raw. If he refuses to eat bone then give him a calcium or bone meal supplement and see if that helps any. Also try to incorporate some organ into his diet, I know he's extremely selective but maybe he'll eat freeze-dried liver or something if he won't take it raw.

Second, have you had the vet test him for IBS or IBD? I would get him tested asap if you haven't already. One of my dogs has irritable bowel and it took 11 months of constant diarrhea for us to figure out what the problem was. So I definitely know what you're going through, I went through it for 11 months and tried so many different foods, remedies, and products. Yep, I spent many nights for months on end cleaning up a crate full of diarrhea and giving the dog a bath at 2 in the morning. I totally sympathize with your predicament and I wish I'd have had someone to suggest testing for irritable bowel when I was dealing with it. Anyway, the only thing that works for her is a digestive aid supplement called Perfect Form made by The Honest Kitchen. She literally cannot live without it or she goes back to diarrhea so she's on it for life. It's a natural supplement so I have no worries about her being on it long term. I know Perfect Form doesn't work for every dog but it's the only thing that works for my dog who has IBS.

If I were you, I would first try adding a bone meal supplement such as KAL Bone Meal Powder to the raw steak and pork and see if that helps any.

If the bone meal or calcium doesn't help at all I'd have the vet test for irritable bowel. Maybe you could try Perfect Form and see if that doesn't help as well.

It could also be giardia.

I'm going to be honest, I didn't read every single post. My apologies if I miss something.

If you have tried all of these things, i would be testing for a blockage. Partial blockages do occur more often that you realize and this could be a culprit.

I'm glad Val suggested the KAL, just tonight I put a couple sprinkles of it on my dogs chicken gizzards because I gave them a very muscle meat dense meal.


Good luck!

I'm so glad that helped! Let's hope you have continued success.