# long-lasting loose yellowy stool?



## Coldbrew (Jun 17, 2015)

Warning: mentions of puke and poop! avoid this topic if you're squeamish.

*Long Version:* Tuesday morning (around 3 am) Jasper woke me up to take him outside. This never happens - he has slept through the night since he was 4 months old. I took him out and he threw up bile and then had veryyyy runny stool. I don't want to call it diarrhea since he did manage to hold it, but it was basically liquid and had a very distinct yellow caste to it. We came back inside, he slept fine till their usual morning out time around 6, and then he had the same loose stool and throwing up bile. 

I offered him breakfast to see if his appetite was off, but he ate it all (and the tablespoon of pumpkin I gave him directly after). Since then his appetite hasn't changed at all, he's drinking plenty of water, and he's behaving totally as normal. The throwing up bile hasn't happened since Tuesday, but he continues to have very loose stools that are much more frequent than usual (he's usually like clockwork - 6am and 6pm). This evening he barked to let me know he needed to go out, but by the time I was able to get away from cooking he was looking very ashamed of the first poop accident he's ever had in the house 

To my knowledge he's not gotten into anything that might have caused this. I've been adding a tbs of pumpkin to every meal but with none of the expected help with firming up. I did give them their new heartworm and flea/tick preventatives, but that was almost two weeks ago so I doubt it's that.

I'm not incredibly worried, but wanted to see if any of you have any experience with something like this? Almost everything I've found says that yellow mucus-y loose stool is a sign of digestive upset, but I've been watching him like a hawk for three days and he's eaten nothing but kibble and pumpkin so I don't think it's that. I'm going to take him to the vet on Saturday if he's still having loose stools with the yellow tint, but wanted to get an idea of what might be going on. 

*Short Version: *Dog hasn't gotten into anything that I know of but has been having loose yellows stools since Tuesday AM. He also threw up bile Tuesday, but nothing since. Eating, drinking and behavior are otherwise normal.

Thanks in advance


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

I have never had any luck with pumpkin firming things up. It seems to work better with constipation than loose stools. Rice and yogurt has helped with the latter problem. It's probably nothing serious and will resolve in a day or so. I'll bet Jasper was mortified, poor guy.


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## FireStorm (Nov 9, 2013)

I was going to suggest yogurt as well. I've actually mixed rice, yogurt, and a bit of pumpkin for Hans when he's had a minor upset tummy.


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

White rice, and I always keep metronidazole in the house - I find that one dose after the second loose stool will almost always cure them, maybe two doses. But if I wait 2-3 days before starting it, then they need five-7 days of two doses a day to clear it up. Go to the Zvet and get some and ask for extra to keep on hand!


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## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

So sorry to hear poor Jasper is sick. I too do not use pumpkin for loose stools. I give pumpkin to Phoenix to alleviate her constipation. It never helped Neeka who had loss stools a lot.

You might consider taking a stool sample to your vet. Tell them if the stool indicates parasites, you will bring your dog in for a visit. Or if you do take Jasper to the vets take a fresh stool sample. If it is not fresh, you sadly need to refrigerate it till you take it to the vet.

I got some chewable pills from the vet called Propectin. It has probiotics and pectin to counter the loose stools.

Tiny Poodles suggestion of having something on hand is a good one.

I hope he feels better soon.


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

MiniPoo said:


> So sorry to hear poor Jasper is sick. I too do not use pumpkin for loose stools. I give pumpkin to Phoenix to alleviate her constipation. It never helped Neeka who had loss stools a lot.
> 
> You might consider taking a stool sample to your vet. Tell them if the stool indicates parasites, you will bring your dog in for a visit. Or if you do take Jasper to the vets take a fresh stool sample. If it is not fresh, you sadly need to refrigerate it till you take it to the vet.
> 
> ...



Oh, that reminds me - one time after taking an antibiotic metronidazole did not do the trick for Tangee, but Prostora, a probiotic from the Vet worked wonders. I keep that on hand now too!


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## seminolewind (Mar 11, 2016)

If he is throwing up bile and has runny stool I would say it sounds like a blockage. And yes you can get runny stool that bypasses the blockage. I would call the vet. I hope it's something easy.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Poor Jasper  If it were me, I would take him in to the vet to rule out a blockage, as Seminolewind suggested. I hope he's okay!


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## TrixieTreasure (May 24, 2015)

seminolewind said:


> If he is throwing up bile and has runny stool I would say it sounds like a blockage. And yes you can get runny stool that bypasses the blockage. I would call the vet. I hope it's something easy.


First of all, poor Jasper.

I agree with seminolewind, it sounds like it could be a blockage. Maybe at least call the vet to see what they say.


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## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

How is Jasper today?


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## Coldbrew (Jun 17, 2015)

Thank you all for your feedback!

The bile hasn't occurred since early Tuesday morning, and the amount that he's passing is equivalent to what he's eating, so I don't think it's a blockage. I'll phone the vet to see what they think though, just to be safe. 

I must have mis-learned the use of pumpkin - I assumed it was for both constipation AND loose stool. I added a bit of greek yogurt (what we had on hand) to his dinner last night as well as his breakfast. This morning he went and while it wasn't yet solid, it was much firmer than I've seen in days! :whoo:

Fingers crossed that now that i've actually added something helpful to his diet that will fix him up. It's also occurred to me that the yellow tint i've been seeing in his stool is a result of the additional pumpkin in his diet :doh:


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## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

Pumpkin does not color Phoenix's stool and I give her a spoonful with every meal. I think of yellow stool as inadequately digested food. Sometimes it is because the food passes too quickly to be broken down by the bile. There are other reasons too.

If he is feeling better, maybe he just picked up a bug somewhere. I am glad he is doing better.


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## sophie anne (Feb 17, 2015)

MiniPoo said:


> Pumpkin does not color Phoenix's stool and I give her a spoonful with every meal. I think of yellow stool as inadequately digested food. Sometimes it is because the food passes too quickly to be broken down by the bile.


Yeah, if it was mustard-y yellow and soft I would guess that it was bile acid diarrhea that resulted from everything traveling through the pipes just a little too quick.

Famotidine (an antacid for the stomach) helps with both acute and chronic bile acid issues and I've used it instead of metronidazole in both Ari and Sophie with success. The trick is to pull out the Famotidine when it's an acid issue, and the metronidazole when it's a bacterial issue, which requires knowing your dog and their symptoms of bacterial diarrhea vs. acid diarrhea. And then sometimes there's an underlying bacterial reason for the bile problem.

The routine I've gotten into with Ari now and it seems to be working miraculously is a dose of famotidine + probiotics as soon as I see any problem (ie, yellow-y poops with no dietary cause or bile vomiting), then if the problem continues or escalates I add metronidazole. With this strategy I've found that I run less risk of messing up Ari's intestinal flora with frequent, short-term antibiotic use than when I was just going straight for the metronidazole.

I've got to give credit for this amazing scheme to Ari's vet. He's da best.

For the famotidine, Sophie is 47 lbs and gets 10 mg twice daily because she seems to have chronic reflux (10 mg is one Pepcid tablet, so it's quite easy). The dose for a dog her size without chronic reflux is the same, 10 mg as needed. Ari gets 2.5 mg if needed.


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## seminolewind (Mar 11, 2016)

I am so glad the problem seems to be resolving itself!


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## Coldbrew (Jun 17, 2015)

we had another equally runny stool last night, so I called the vet and brought in a sample this morning. We got a call back that it wasn't anything like giardia, and I'm going to go pick up some metronidazole and hope that clears it up by Monday. If not, I scheduled an appointment for Monday afternoon. I'm hoping I'll get to cancel it and he'll get back on track with the metronidazole.


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## seminolewind (Mar 11, 2016)

I hope so too. Sometimes it's better to go and get a diagnosis rather than wait wait wait while you try to figure out what's wrong.


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Coldbrew said:


> we had another equally runny stool last night, so I called the vet and brought in a sample this morning. We got a call back that it wasn't anything like giardia, and I'm going to go pick up some metronidazole and hope that clears it up by Monday. If not, I scheduled an appointment for Monday afternoon. I'm hoping I'll get to cancel it and he'll get back on track with the metronidazole.



I find that once it has gone on this long it can take longer for the meds to kick in. If you can, also ask your vet if they have Prostora, it is also very helpful in these cases.


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## Coldbrew (Jun 17, 2015)

seminolewind said:


> Sometimes it's better to go and get a diagnosis rather than wait wait wait while you try to figure out what's wrong.


I very much agree, and if there'd been an opening today I would definitely have taken him in so the vet could put her hands on him. There wasn't though, and I provided them his temperature over the last few days, his capillary refill time, what he'd eaten, and that I couldn't palmitate anything abnormal in his belly and nor does he show any sensitivity. Given all of that info, the smell and lack of findings on his fecal, the vet felt it was probably a case of gastroenteritis. 

If it's not and something happens we've got an excellent emergency vet that has up to date info on him, and I've got insurance to cover hit. Obviously i'd prefer to never have to see the e-vet, but given th conversation I had with the vet this morning I think we should be fine


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## TrixieTreasure (May 24, 2015)

Coldbrew said:


> we had another equally runny stool last night, so I called the vet and brought in a sample this morning. We got a call back that it wasn't anything like giardia, and I'm going to go pick up some metronidazole and hope that clears it up by Monday. If not, I scheduled an appointment for Monday afternoon. I'm hoping I'll get to cancel it and he'll get back on track with the metronidazole.



Oh poor Jasper! Sure hope you get this figured out soon. :-(


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## Streetcar (Apr 13, 2014)

I hope you all get through this soon and Jasper is all better. Gastric issues are just awful.


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