Epi4Dogs

Hi all!

Pancake had been stable on her current diet/treatments until a couple of weeks ago. Two weeks ago she had a terrible bout of diarrhea- the poor thing had liquid coming out of her. We went to the vet and the doctor said to put her on metronidazole for 5 days and increase her probiotics. She did 5 days of meds, 3 days without and then we had another bout of diarrhea. This time it was super mucusy and had some traces of blood. I dropped a sample off for a fecal panel and there were no parasites or anything (I didn't think that was the culprit but the vet wanted to rule that out.)

I started her on another round of metronidazole again and her poop firmed up right away BUT according to the poop charts (https://epi4dogs.com/poop-chart/) it looks like it could be constipation poos and it's pretty dark. I've been paying attention a bit more and she doesn't seem to go as often or as much (quantity) and it does seem to be a little more effortful for her. This morning she had a small quantity of the hard pellets, but then later had another poo that was more like score #4 (more brown but stinky too) and then at the end of the walk it was more like score #5 (but back to a more black color.) 

It seems like we're swinging between constipation and diarrhea and maybe something needs to be adjusted? She eats Purina Beyond wet food which has been approved by her doctor as a good fit (which I guess doesn't necessarily mean it is BUT Pancake is VERY picky and she eats this happily!) She also has FortiFlora and takes Creon for her enzymes. She is diabetic so we have to maintain a balance with that disease too.

Any ideas or help appreciated!

How is her water consumption? Sometimes too little water in the diet can contribute to constipation, even if all the animal is eating is wet food. You could try adding water to her wet food, encouraging her to drink more by giving her a larger water dish, perhaps with some ice cubes in it, or a water fountain (they make them for dogs, too). Some dogs will take ice cubes as treats, which is safe for an EPI dog as they aren't actually food...

From what you are describing,

Pellet like looking poo can be (like V mentioned) could be from possible dehydration. And the fact that she appears to be straining can also make this a possibility. See if giving her more water improves this.

Black looking stool can suggest possible internal bleed..... is she on any other meds (sometimes too much meds can cause a stomach bleed) or could she have gotten into something that may have triggered this? This is something you would want the vet to check her out for .

Also... the blood that you found with her stool.... if it was bright red... then she probably has some sort of infection/inflammation that is easily taken care of....... and might be why the vet gave her metro .. which is what they usually do for something like this.
But if the blood was black.... then this is more likely an internal bleed.... and you will want the vet to look at her.

Not sure if any of this is helpful.... but hope so.