Collie sick,vet says no more rabbit!plz help as great dog..

[cameroncharles 2]

hi folks, me faithful dog pepper,a huge eared collie mix has had 3 recent episodes of bad guts and off all food. ended up on antibotics 3 times from vets. vet reckons he has a low immune system due to malnutriation ( i was the 4 owner at 9 months old ) and need to do 4 small meals a day. prior to this recent bout pep was 100 percent energy, good at work and play..

I found him about the same time he started getting ill,licking some bunny brains whilst out shooting and wondered if he can picked up some parasitic infection..the vet thinks he might have a para infection and he didnt know pep had been munching raw blood brain as the missus hadn't been told that bit!!

any advice would be great..

pep is on well beloved with pilchards..no scraps of food are given if containing additives..

pep lives for frizbee,sheep and rabbits and i miss him out shooting and ANY advice would be most welcome..

regards

Cameron

[DottyDoo 500]

my dogs eat bunny brains, an every other part of the bunny.......

 

its mare than likely the clever dog has noo got a taste for meat an is telling ye tae ram yer wellbeloved or whatever its called

[Guest chook]

Has your vets done tests ?

 

if your vet hasnt done any tests,then i would question what hes saying,

your vet thinks it could be a parasite problem, but gives you AB's for it?

if its just gut problems then i would get them to test for things like garda and do a blood count,

to make sure theres no underlying infection anywere.

 

There are a few bugs doing the rounds at the moment - and a secerious case of Parvo

is going round Coventry and Warwickshire areas

 

I would get a second opinion, and if it was one of my dogs, get it on to some slippery elm bark,

and yoghut to help its guts as well as giving fish and rice - as that will help the guts move easer.

[skycat 6,174]

As above: the dog needs to be thoroughly tested: blood and faeces to test for parasites or undiagnosed disease. I've taken on dogs whose digestive systems have been damaged through heavy worm burdens: such as untreated for round worm as a pup, which can leave the intestines badly damaged and prone to infection/viruses etc.

 

You can get Tree Barks Powder from Dorwest Herbs, made especially for dogs with malabsorption problems and dodgy guts: just google Dorwest Herbs for their website. Personally I'd avoid any complete foods and stick with a more natural diet: cooked chicken, white fish etc. Small amounts of well cooked liver, and the juice it has been cooked in, cooked rice, scrambled eggs, not raw: keep to easily digested foods like this to begin with until you see an improvement. Avoid all cereals as these can irritate the canine gut: rice is the only vegetable matter I'd use at the moment.

 

Also, make sure that the dog gets a multi vitamin/mineral supplement made for dogs: Intervet do SA50, I think it is called, which replaced SA37 which I used for years.

 

Natural live yoghurt will help to regenerate the good bacteria in his gut and should be well tolerated even in a dog which has a delicate gut.

 

The problem with even good quality complete foods is that they contain a lot of cereals, plus all the ingredients have been so highly processed that their chemical composition has changed. Not only cereals are used as fillers/bulk, but stuff like sugar beet, soya, which sometimes adds too much bulk to the dog's diet which can aggravate a delicate gut as it tries to process a large amount of fibre. Dogs aren't designed to process large quantities of vegetable fibre unlike humans.

[sandymere 8,263]

If the vet thinks parvo and the pup has not been inoculated then it is likely and there can be ongoing problems for life. Was the rabbit fresh? Is there a possibility it may have been poisoned? Give the vet all the info or they can’t do their job and so you are paying for nothing!

If not Parvo or poisoned and it was just a reasonable fresh carcase then its likely at most a catalyst rather than the underlying cause or just coincidence.

For general ongoing gastric symptoms ie if there has been some inflammation of the lower intestinal track, often termed gastritis, then it may flare up again weeks or even months later at the slightest upset. Your vet can advise on different diets that are usually based on cereal and a unique protein source, chicken and rice being the old favourite, these can be bought as completes or you can make it up at home. If the pup has an ongoing “sensitive stomach†then there may be a need for a very restrictive diet but many settle as there mature and variety can be slowly added. As the uniqueness of the protein seems to be key then stick with one for a while rather than chop and change. Clean bowls, clean water and bland diet, if further problems then back to vet.

All the best sandymere.

[Ashover rabbit dogs 76]

PROBIOTICS will help the pups guts. I have a lurcher that is allergic to all raw meat she will crap that much she craps blood goes off her food and generaly looks unwell if she eats just abit. Probiotics work by replacing the good bacteria in the gut. I use PRO-KOLIN+ "contains benifical microorganisms which are naturally found in the microflora of the healthy gut. Also contains kaolin and pectin - natural binding agents which coat the lining of the gut. Added Pre-biotics, a selective source of food for benificial microorganisms within the gut" they really do work stops my lurcher craping blood and firms her up within 24 hours. you get the stuff from the vets and dont need a prescription to get it. atb mrs A.R.D