No water for diarrhea?
Background: Last night before I went to bed he was his usual, happy, active self. We played, petted, rested, etc, etc. This morning my husband said he had to get up twice to clean up vomit and diarrhea, Finney vomited early this morning when I got up (around 545) and didn't eat his food or drink water. I read some older posts and decided to try chicken and rice which he ate up like a wolf. I gave him 1/2 c. but stopped there b/c I didnt want him to vomit again. I've gotten him to drink water, eat ice, and he's gone to the water bowl twice on his own. He just went outside and pooped, but it was pure liquid. Not runny poo, it was all liquid. Problem: I just called the vet, explained the story. Besides being completely rude and making me want to reach through the phone and smack her, she told me that I should not give him food or water for 12 hours to settle his stomach. I agree that this makes sense in theory, but isn't no water for a puppy with diarrhea a bad choice considering dehydration and the weather? Is it probably because he ate something that I don't know about? Could it be from licking cats (I'm very paranoid about him licking the cats, he tends to focus on the southern hemisphere)? |
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| The water restriction is for the vomiting.
After 12 hours goes by, you can give water again, and hopefully he'll keep it down. If not, you'll need to get some water injected under the skin to keep him hydrated. Good luck, and keep in touch with a vet. |
| That's right, no food or water for 12 hours. I assume the puppy will be indoors in a cool environment. You must let the stomach and instestines be completely empty to quell the convulsions. Think of it as "nap time." Feeding and watering too soon only furthers the time required to settle down
When you start back up, try some pedialyte (spelling? the water with electrolytes for babies with the same problem) . If you can't get any, go with ice cubes. Licking supplies moisture to the mouth without burdening the stomach. Puppy will not starve going w/o food for 24 hours. |
After a couple of days of the runs and vomiting and water injections, when he could hold something down I made some ice cubes of Gatorade because he was not drinking. Getting him to drink more is a challenge even when he's well but he loves to chew ice cubes 
On the other hand, ice cubes can cause vomiting, but haven't so far in THIS dog. So we had a dilemma, but decided to give the cubes to get some salts and sugars into his body. |
| I guess maybe that's my dilemma with not giving him water right now. He's drinking, eating ice, and keeping it down. He hasn't vomited since this morning. He ate the chicken and rice, wanted more, and has kept it down. Should I still deny him food and water? He tends to upset himself quite a bit and I've got to go leave for class in an hour, I don't want to make it worse. |
| No, don't feed him anymore. Let's see how this passes........... |
Yes, no more right now.  |
| OK. Thanks for your advice. And thanks for remaining calm about it. I was reading on another site for dogowners and almost all of the replies contained something like, "YOUR DOG WILL DIE IF YOU DON'T...." Those sites didn't help. This one did. =) |
| Please don't be mad at your vet. Realize diarrhea is the most common malady they see.......rather like a human doctor and the common cold.
Many things cause diarrhea, just a few are: change in water change in routine change in food, excitement unexpected exercise too much exercise extreme heat eating spoiled food inappropriate food (that covers a bunch) too much food parasites viruses and bacteria, and other microscopic creatures and more, this is all I could come up with right away....... With the food/water/exercise induced problems the cure is pulling back and letting the dog's system cure itsself. The bland diet, rice water, etc is probably more a nonirritant than a cure. With pups you have to be a bit more careful as they don't have the reserves a bigger dog has....so you are entitled to be a bit more concerned. But this won't be the last time you experience this.......it's part of owning a dog. Get yourself a gallon of stain remover from the petshop, you'll need it. Speaking of which, I saw something suspicious in the front hall ......I'd better go check. (sometimes the "gifts" are tiny) s. |
| Ron, you meant IV fluids, right, not just injecting water under the skin? |
| Nope. They stick the water in right under the skin between the shoulders, giving the dog a big "hunchback-like" bulge. The water is absorbed over the course of a couple of hours, give or take. |
| We had a lab who had the subcutaneous fluids - it worked great!
It's the regular IV fluids, tubing, etc. But you put the needle in like you are giving a subcut injection, and let the fliud run in. It makes a fluid filled pocket under the skin, but quickly gets absorbed into their circulatory system. It looks scary, but it works great! |
| Walter had to get the under skin injection after a bad reaction to one of his puppy shots...they are indeed weird looking, but it seemed to help him - he wasn't drinking, and after a few hours of lying around with this sac between his shoulders, he was much better. |
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