Hello - I am new to this board and would love some advice! I have a 5 month old husky. When we got her, we fed her Royal Canin Large Breed Puppy for a few days, since that was what the breeder was feeding her. We then begin gradually switching her to Solid Golf Wolf Cub, since we wanted her on a more holistic diet, which is when the diarrhea began. We weren't sure if it was the food or something else, so we brought her to the vet. The vet did a fecal test and determined that she had Giardia. She was given fiber pills, antibiotics and put on a bland diet for boiled chicken and rice. She stayed on the bland diet and antibiotics for 14 days. Her stool got slightly better for a few days, but then much worse. We took her back to the vet and she was put on the antibiotic for another 7 days, a de-wormer and prescription food for 3 days. During this time her stool got better, but now she is back to her regular food and the diarrhea is back.

I trust my vet, but I am also open to other ideas. I would prefer not to keep her solely on the prescription food. My biggest concern about length of time that she has had diarrhea is that she is so thin. At 5 months, she is only weight 22 pounds.

Has the vet retested her for giardia and said it was negative? A member of another board's dog took months (and a ridiculous amount of $$$) to get over it completely and finally be healthy, however he had the worst case of it with her, and when there was an outbreak at my work some dogs got over it in the medication time frame and others had it for 2-3 months plus.

Also on weight, I don't know how tall your girl is or anything, but my 4 month old is only 12lbs and she is thin but not to where it's a concern at all, she just need a few more lbs on her.

Yes, the vet did test her again before putting her on the second round of antibiotics and it was negative. She then gave her the de-wormer and the prescription food.

My only concern with her weight is that her hip bones and ribs protrude - she hasn't gained any weight in about 3 weeks.

Was the prescription food Science Diet? Many huskies have food allergies. I would start by comparing ingredients of every food you have given her. If she did not do really well on the bland chicken and rice, you might start by eventually introducing her to a food that does not contain rice and/or uses another protein source that chicken. It is more likely an allergy to grains than to meat (but I've heard of both). There are already a bunch of suggestions given in other threads by more knowledgable folks than I.

My first girl went through this with food allergies YEARS ago before we had support from great forums like this. It was just trial and error then clean up the messes and try again!

I think there is also a possibility that the antibiotics have messed up her system. And, just like is the case with humans, a little plain yogurt might add some much-needed probiotics back into her system.

Good luck!!

Thank you! Yes, the food was Hill's Prescription Diet - she did much better on this than the chicken and rice. I don't think its the chicken that's bothering her, since we were using small pieces of boiled chicken as treats while training her, before she had any problems. I will look for foods that don't contain rice/grains as well as read through other posts for suggestions. Thank you for your help!

We had similar issues with our pup having diarrhea when we first got her, and after a little trial and error have found great success with Blue Wilderness puppy formula. We haven't had any issues with her since switching, and it's fairly easy to find. Good luck!

Thanks! When we first switched her food, we were deciding between Blue Wilderness and Solid Gold. Maybe we will try that one next.

Go out and do a little research, and you'll be amazed at what you learn about dog food. When I first joined this forum a couple months ago, I knew so little about dog food I thought Purina One was good and Science Diet about the best you could buy. I had sworn by that for years, and figured I'd just feed Ghost that, but it turns out a. Science Diet is crap (kitties no longer eat it) and b. Ghost, like so many other huskies, can't tolerate grain. I looked at all of the really good grain free foods like Orijen, Taste of the Wild, and Blue Wilderness, and ultimately decided to try the Wilderness because we can get it at the Petsmart just up the road and the others are a bit harder to find in my part of the world. A great website that I stumbled upon thanks to this forum is www.dogfoodanalysis.com, and they have great info on food and ingredients. Best of luck, and I know you'll find something that works for your pup.

Thanks for all of your suggestions! We decided to change her to Orijen, which got really great reviews and is grain-free. She seems to be doing very well on it, even has a lot more energy, which I assume means she's getting more nutrients than before. My only concern is that she is now drinking excessively and peeing all the time, she has been peeing 3 or 4 times on every walk. Do you think it could be the food making her so thirsty?