I rescued a husky from the shelter who had tons of parasites that really messed up his bowels even after a fecal came back clean. First I would have blood work done if it hasn't been done already to rule out the following:

Metabolic or Organ Disease: The various systems in the body are very much inter-related, and diarrhea is often the most obvious symptom of other diseases such as liver disease, pancreatitis, kidney disease, and hormone imbalances. We become especially suspicious of such diseases in middle age and older pets. In many situations, your vet will recommend blood work to rule out such diseases.

Second and what I had to use for 3 to 4 months on my husky was Tylan to help return his bowels to normal. It took almost nine months total to get him normal. He still has an occassional bout of dirreha when I rotate his food source but it usually levels out in a week or so. Here's the link to more about Tylan.

http://www.vetinfo.com/canine-diarrhea-tylan.html

I do have a vet appointment scheduled for next week Tuesday. She seems a little lathargic this morning, and if she still is lathargic tomorrow morning, I'll take her in for blood work tomorrow instead of waiting until next Tuesday.

Thanks for the info on Tylan! I'll discuss it with my vet.

oh man, poor ginger, i hope she is better soon. wonder if she should come to the meet up or not?

she's usually really mellow, and just yesterday afternoon, she barked at me because she wanted to play outside, and when I thought she was done and brought her in, she pawed me because she wanted to go for a walk!

if she doesn't seem herself tomorrow, she'll go to the vet and get blood work done and she'll stay home and miss the meet up i'll still be there to support Polaris Rescuse (I'm a volunteer) but JD can stay home with Ginger...

I think you're right to be so concerned, but I'm surprised that you switched her to beef and rice, especially the rice. I think you are so eager to help her, that you're doing a little more harm than good. Why did you switch her to the beef? Did I miss that?

I agree that at some point she needs to go to the vet, but I would cut her down to just scrambled eggs. Let her get a day of good BMs on scrambled eggs THEN introduce a new ingredient (beef or the salmon). Rice is a grain and most huskies do not process grains well.

ETA: I don't have issue with THK either and think it's probably the best food to put her on once she is regular. You could try it now, but I really and truly think that the less ingredients the better until you can get her to consistently succeed on something.

I first tried salmon and scrambled eggs and when that didn't seem to help, and was suggested to fast her and give her 1 ingredient like beef, I thought I'd try beef in small amounts since salmon and eggs 'didn't' seem to be working.

With the small amount of beef, she really didn't produce much of a BM and thought rice might help since I've half and half opinions on rice...BUT now I know she absolutely does not do well with rice.

I'll try scrambled eggs for dinner tonight and see how she does over the next couple of days with that...should I give her 2 or 3 eggs?

Two or three... it doesn't matter.

I say this only because now you've introduced two new foods cold turkey: beef and rice. Before the salmon and eggs seemed to be working and then we said that the bones might have been contributing to the diarrhea. Then you switched to beef and rice before we knew for sure.

These things take time. Start with eggs. She'll be okay. Get her to have some firm stools. Once she does, reintroduce EITHER beef or salmon with the eggs. After a few days of being okay, switch from eggs and beef to eggs and salmon (or vice versa).

I think you're likely okay to wait until Tuesday for the appointment, but you really want to restrict her diet....which is the same thing that everyone has been saying. Patience! I promise she'll get better and you'll figure it out. But the constant switching isn't giving you any time to figure out what the problem is.

Ok. (*deep breath*)

Eggs tonight. And only eggs. I'll give it a few days. And I'll try not to worry...

I thought she seemed a little lethargic this morning but I just got back from a walk and she pulled me into the bushes going after a squirrel...!!

Thank you all for your help in getting our Ginger regulated. I must admit, I woke up at 3am this morning and took her on a long 1 hour walk hoping she would have a BM. Then I hear she later gets sick......pshessh....I know deep breath. Thanks again for all your responses.

Heatherlee wrote:

I would probably say Verve is the one that I've seen sibes have less success on. :\ I would look more into their turkey-based formulas.

Ditto on that, my sibe doesn't do that hot on Verve either. Force may be our best formula for my guys but Keen is also pretty good, it's turkey based and does contain grain in the form of oats but my lot does well on it. Oats are actually soothing to the stomach which is probably why my two sensitive dogs do well on this food even though it is not grain free. And THK does have a satisfaction guarantee so you can buy with confidence that if it does not work for Ginger then you can return it for a full refund.


I do think that ruling out health or parasite issues with a vet is important but I also know how quick many conventional vets are to give out horrible food or prescriptions to "fix" the problem. I went through this with our conventional vet before we switched to a holistic vet and the prescription medications from the conventional vets did more harm than good. Never again!

I also think the plain cooked eggs is a good idea to settle her stomach since the beef isn't cutting it. I'd highly recommend picking up a small box of Force or Embark (Honest Kitchen) and giving that a try at least. Force has chicken so you may not want that, but Embark has turkey so that might be something you'd feel more comfortable with. Either way, Force and Embark are both excellent grain free dehydrated raw foods that contain few ingredients which is really good for sensitive dogs. I've recommended trying Force or Embark for either clearing up diarrhea and/or for sensitive dogs to so many people and I'd say it's a success for probably 95% of the people that actually try it. It doesn't hurt to try it and you can always get your money back if it doesn't work out. Also, I highly recommend Perfect Form digestive supplement (also made by THK), we cannot live without Perfect Form in our house with our sensitive dogs!

THK has these 'travel' size packets of Embark, Force, and Thrive and it shipped today. They're 4oz packets so I'll start off with scrambled eggs for the next few days and see how she does and by then the sample packets will have arrived. If scrambled eggs don't work, I'll try her on Force.

Can you have them on Perfect Form long term?

I think maybe we need to find a holistic vet as well, as I've now heard a few opinions that are positive and have done wonders for their pack and have been healthier than ever!

cmanding wrote:

Can you have them on Perfect Form long term?

Yes, that's one of the reasons I love it. It has all natural ingredients that are safe for long term use. I am extremely picky about what I feed my pets and I wouldn't use or recommend it if it wasn't completely safe for long term use.

cmanding wrote:

I think maybe we need to find a holistic vet as well, as I've now heard a few opinions that are positive and have done wonders for their pack and have been healthier than ever!

Switching to holistic vets was one of the best things I ever did for my pets. No more over-vaccinating, no more chemical prescription medications, and best of all my holistic vets recommend raw feeding and premium foods. I have 3 guinea pigs also who have to see a different vet than my dogs, but even my guinea pigs go to a holistic vet. Holistic vets are worlds different and IMHO so much better. Never again will I go to conventional vets.

4 oz sample packets of Force, Embark and Thrive have been shipped!
But I promise to keep her on scrambled eggs for a few days first before I go adding something else in her diet.

Has she had a BM since being in the eggs yet?

I started her on eggs last night, and overnight she snuck out of our room and had a BM which was diarreha. Half of it was 'normal brown-ish color' and the other half was 'dark chocolate brown' color and it had a weird consistency as if it was a little 'gel-like'. I figured because she threw up her breakfast yesterday morning, she didn't have anything in her tummy, and that maybe her 3-scram egg dinner wasn't quite enough...?

She ate her egg breakfast this morning without hesitation and even asked for more (I gave her 2 small pieces and pretended they were treats).

She's acting normal, she doesn't seem to be lethargic, and she even barked once at me to let her out to pee in the back yard.

So I don't *think* she's sick, but the dark color and consistency of her BM overnight is a little concerning....

When you say gel-like, is there mucous in her stool? We had a lot of that with our really sensitive girl Faith especially when new things were introduced to her diet. As for color changes that can be normal when switching from one food to another, such as ground beef to eggs in which case you might get stool that is two different colors and consistencies. I'm not saying that is the case here but just that it is a possibility.

Sorry to hear you've still got diarrhea going on. Reminds me of the days when I had to clean up diarrhea every night around 3 AM with Faith. *shudders*

It was kind of slimy...so I guess it could be mucous in her stool. I figured because we switched from beef to eggs is why her BMs are like that. Since she's only started on eggs since last night, I'll give it a couple of days and see if it changes. If it doesn't, not sure what to do next except maybe try boiled salmon or chicken? Or THK?

She has an appointment for Tuesday so I think we'll just keep that to get blood work done to rule out IBS or anything else.

You do what you feel most comfortable doing, there's no right or wrong answer here so go with your gut. I will say that once you decide on something to try stick with it for a little while, at least a few days. It is very normal to experience stomach upset when switching foods and Ginger may be more sensitive than average...kinda like my girl, Faith.

Since I know how successful THK has been for me in the past that's what I would try first but that's just me going off of my own personal success with it. Do you know what proteins Ginger does well on? I'd try to stick her on a limited ingredient diet to start ruling things out once you get her stomach settled a bit. Venison has always been a major hit in our house, all three of my dogs do fantastic on venison based diets. Duck is another novel protein that is a major hit for my dogs too. One of the few kibbles that my most sensitive girl did well on was Natural Balance L.I.D. Sweet Potato & Venison. While she did well on it I didn't like that it was more potato than meat but I see there is a new grain free California Natural formula that is venison based. If I were to try a venison based kibble again that's the one I'd be most likely to try. My mother in law has a dog who has always had chronic stomach problems and I recommended the NB Venison formula to her and it was a success for her...THK Force was also a success for her sensitive dog too. Ziwipeak is excellent but extremely expensive and generally is not an option for most people, but if you can afford it then I highly recommend it. Addiction also has venison based dehydrated or freeze dried formulas similar to THK. Sorry, now I'm just rambling but venison is a great novel protein.

When we first got her, I used to flake in salmon in her kibble, and then we eventually got her TOTW Salmon formula which she did pretty good on. And then the chicken biscuit incident. Prior to TOTW, she was breifly on Science Diet which has chicken fat, but not sure what other proteins it had.

I already have the travel size packets of THK enroute and so I figured I'll keep her on scrambled eggs for the next couple of days so I'm not switching her food again after only a couple of days. And if her BM still isn't improving, by then it'll be her appointment at the vet to get blood work, and then I'll slowly start her on another protein...maybe go back to salmon (and salmon only). I also have 3 sample bags of Natural Balance sweet potato and fish, Orijin fish formula.

I have all these great samples of good kibble, but can't give it to her yet until I get her BMs more regular

Man, if I'd realized that she did well on fish based foods I would have suggested trying Zeal too. Zeal is THK's newest grain free formula and is fish based with limited ingredients. I just got some samples of Zeal to give out to people yesterday. Too bad you're so far away. Did you actually order THK sample sizes or did you request free samples? I would ask if THK can send you some free samples of Zeal since Ginger does so well on fish. Orijen Six fish is an excellent food. Wellness Core also has a fish based grain free kibble as well.

The local store didn't have Wellness Core (I *think*). I'll have to go back and ask, but since I have a trial bag of Orijin, I stick to that when I get to that point.

I bough the travel size packets from THK. They didn't have Zeal, otherwise, I would have bought that. I'll ask if I can get some samples of Zeal sent since they don't have that one in a 4oz travel packet or the 1oz taste test packets.

Huskyluv wrote:

You do what you feel most comfortable doing, there's no right or wrong answer here so go with your gut. I will say that once you decide on something to try stick with it for a little while, at least a few days. It is very normal to experience stomach upset when switching foods and Ginger may be more sensitive than average...kinda like my girl, Faith.

Since I know how successful THK has been for me in the past that's what I would try first but that's just me going off of my own personal success with it. Do you know what proteins Ginger does well on? I'd try to stick her on a limited ingredient diet to start ruling things out once you get her stomach settled a bit. Venison has always been a major hit in our house, all three of my dogs do fantastic on venison based diets. Duck is another novel protein that is a major hit for my dogs too. One of the few kibbles that my most sensitive girl did well on was Natural Balance L.I.D. Sweet Potato & Venison. While she did well on it I didn't like that it was more potato than meat but I see there is a new grain free California Natural formula that is venison based. If I were to try a venison based kibble again that's the one I'd be most likely to try. My mother in law has a dog who has always had chronic stomach problems and I recommended the NB Venison formula to her and it was a success for her...THK Force was also a success for her sensitive dog too. Ziwipeak is excellent but extremely expensive and generally is not an option for most people, but if you can afford it then I highly recommend it. Addiction also has venison based dehydrated or freeze dried formulas similar to THK. Sorry, now I'm just rambling but venison is a great novel protein.

I really don't feel that Ziwipeak is a huge different between Zeal though. Isn't Zeal about $110? I get my Ziwipeak for $115 and it lasts Koda 4-6 weeks just as THK does. I wanted to try Addiction but it has potatoes in it, I looked into that too since Koda isn't good with potatoes.

Heatherlee wrote:

I really don't feel that Ziwipeak is a huge different between Zeal though. Isn't Zeal about $110? I get my Ziwipeak for $115 and it lasts Koda 4-6 weeks just as THK does. I wanted to try Addiction but it has potatoes in it, I looked into that too since Koda isn't good with potatoes.

You're right, Zeal is right up there in price with ZP and truthfully I consider ZP to be way better a food, but for a grain free fish based formula with limited ingredients Zeal is up there. Addiction looks good but I've priced it out at multiple places and everywhere I've looked you get less food for more money so with that being the case I'll just stick with THK since I get more food for less money.

I'm so glad you two are here!

Ginger has been on eggs (scrambled or boiled) since Tuesday night, and she still has mucousy-slimy like diarreha (small BMs)....How long should I keep her on eggs before I try a different kind of protein (such as salmon since she's done pretty well on salmon before)?