Hello, I am new to being a puppy-parent, and new to this forum... I found it as I desperately need to get help and advice for my girl.

We got Arya when she was 8 weeks old, she is now almost 14 weeks old.
When we brought her home, it was a long journey and she had some diarrhea in the car, and a little the following day which we put down to stress of the move and car sickness. She had been getting James Wellbeloved dry puppy food and Pedigree wet puppy pouches before we got her. We decided to move her onto Wainwrights puppy wet and dry, as the ingredients/composition were almost the same as James Wellbeloved, but a little cheaper to buy in the shops - and pedigree is so full of crap we just didnt want her on that at all. We changed her over to the new food over the course of a week, and she loved it. She was doing really well and growing and being a great, mischievious puppy.

There were a couple days here and there where she had diarrhea again, or where she had looser stools (formed coming out, but like thick pudding when it hit the ground...) and we put this down to giving her too many training treats that day and the next day she seemed good again...

The weekend of 20th Nov, we went away to family for the weekend. She was sick several times on the drive there, but no sickness while away. A little slushier stool but nothing serious, and she was happy and healthy the whole time we were there. She was sick again on the journey home. We thought, she is car sick and not used to the car. That night she was sick in her crate during the night, and we thought perhaps she was feeling stressed from the travelling and excitment of new people and new places. She was very lethargic that day and seemed off her food. The next day we took her to the vet as she hadn't perked up. They kept her in overnight on an IV of fluids, gave her some antibiotics and took samples from diarrhea she had while in there. She came home later the next day and we were told to give her just chicken and rice, and to add a little pro-biotic they gave us and see how she did over the next few days. The diarrhea continued over this time with varying frequencies and consistencies... so we went back to the vets. They took blood, and we got another stool sample. Both stool samples came back normal.

The vet put her on some steroids (predisonone?) and put her on a "soothing GI diet" Hills Prescription I/D... a week later, no improvement. The bloods indicated she might have IBD as her red blood count was low, her protein levels were low, and the vet said she had malabsorption... He put her on a low allergy hydrolyzed food, Hills Prescription Z/D, kept her on Preds tablets and just started her on Metrazole (sp?) tablets. She had another shot of antibiotics, and a b12 shot and continues having pro biotics in her food.

She has been stuck at 6.8kg weight since that first visit to the vets. She is up to date on fleas, worms and shots. She seems happy in herself, though not as energetic as she could be. She is always hungry, and we are feeding her every 3-4 hours on average until bed time, but no idea if we are feeding too much or too little in the portions, so advise there would be hugely appreciated!

We are at a loss with what to do. Diarrhea is constant, pudding texture for most part. In the UK it is harder to get certain products I see people raving about, so I'm struggling. I don't know what to do or what to try to get the diarrhea to stop or at least improve, and to get her to gain weight. All her siblings from the litter are happy and healthy, growing big and strong, but Arya just doesn't seem to be and I feel like I'm letting her down... I don't know whether to keep following the vets advice or to try something else... She has an ultrasound booked for 21st Dec to check her tummy and see if anything conclusive can be found...

Please, any help or advice would be hugely appreciated! I just want my puppy to get better x

Holi, Hi and welcome to the forum. I think one of the first questions you're going to be asked besides how often you feed her, is how much you're feeding at any one time. Beautiful pup, btw.

A request of you, since most of our members are in the US, it would help us if you'd update your profile to show that you're in the UK - you've mentioned it (which is why i feel safe to ask). In other threads we, especially we older fussbudgets, might not remember that you're on that side of the pond.

Hi Aljones,I have tried to add that I'm from UK in my profile, not sure if it saved it yet though, so I will go back and check once back at computer.

With the canned foods, vet said 2 cans a day, so at first we tried half a can 4x a day... she didnt gain weight on this and it seemed like a lot in one go for her (though she polished the lot in seconds!)...

So with the newer vet food (wet and dry) we did 1/3 a can, with a handful of dry (average handful, enough to close fingers around it), and did this 5-6 times a day.. so trying to give a good ammount of food to help her gain weight, but also in smaller portions so her tummy wasn't overoaded all at once.

I just don't know whether she is getting too much or not enough per portion, or if portions are too often or too little if that makes sense?

We also decided today that we are going to try just dry food, as we have a feelingg wet food is just too rich and too soluable and just runs straight through her; and see if anything begins firming up over next couple days or not - is this a good idea to try?

Any other advice on the whole situation would be amazing. As said in original, just want to do everything we can to make her feel better and be healthy and happy x

Hi Holi...what a pretty puppy.....sorry you are having such issues. It seems to me that Wainwrights has too many carbs, and this may be the issue, huskies lack the amylase enzyme to properly break down starches, and the Wainwrights has rice and potatoes. I know Eden is a better quality food and I believe sticks to potatoes only. I would for now skip the wet food, and try Eden, I would start at a 1/2 cup 4 times a day, so a total of 2 cups, and see how she does on that. The other brand I recommend is Akela, both need to say grain free, and potatoes and sweet potatoes will be the starch and NOT corn, soy, wheat or rice. I would also give probiotics 2 hours away from antibiotics, antibiotics will kill the pro when taken at the same time and ends up not helping. Lastly if the vet thought IBD I would ask to run tests on SIBO or EPI especially since there is no weight gain, believe those tests are specific and ran through a blood test, so mention this, an ultra sound will not tell you if your pup has EPI or SIBO. The dogs digestive system, 70-80% of their immune system lies in their gut, if the gut is off problems pile up. I am pretty sure chewys on line is not available to you, but I was wondering if The honest Kitchen is, I would look for this product https://www.chewy.com/honest-kitchen-pro-bloom-instant/dp/113352 if you can't then try and locate plain goat milk, it has some natural anti tummy trouble properties in it and can help with getting the stomach better and add weight. I wish you luck and if you have more questions please ask.

Holi also forgot to ask, what proteins have been fed? There is a possibility of an allergy, so I would go with a protein that you have not fed when choosing the Eden or Akela. My gsd pup is allergic to chicken, and once I found a food with 0 chicken (look some add eggs which is chicken) no more runny poos.

Thank you for the reply,
The original food she was having was Turkey & Rice/ Salmon & Potato. I believe the main protein source for the Hills Prescription food is Chicken though. We are definitely going to stop with the wet food and see if that makes any difference for her, I hope it will!

Thank you for the advice on the pro-biotic and antibiotic timings, will definitely make sure to do this.

I did have a look at Akela and Eden before we got her, so will go back and take another look at those.

I believe the ultrasound is to make sure nothing serious or visually abnormal is going on, as the vet seems quite surprised that Arya is not responding the way he had imagined on both medicines and gentle foods, so is more precautionary I think... but not sure. Biopsy would be only sure fire way to confirm IBD from my knowledge but its still quite risky at her age and weight so trying to avoid that for now if possible.

She is due for a check up on Wednesday back at vets so I will ask if he tested for those things and if not see if they will run those tests for her.

Thanks again for your advice x

No problem Holi and let us know how Arya is doing, what changes you made, etc. This helps people for the future when they have troubles for their pups, so it is helpful to keep us posted on what you try and how she is doing.