Any idea what is wrong?

[critters]

Could she have Giardia? The SNAP is better at finding it than a poop test, in our experience; poops can have plenty of false negs.

[Blackrose]

Just got back from the vet visit. I didn't get the results for her fecal, but her heartworm blood test came back negative for everything. She is physically in great shape. I got some meds for her that she will be on for the next week to clean out her system. With just what I was telling him, he said it could really be anything, especially since there isn't anything abnormal about her stool and vomit (no blood, mucus, or anything like that). The meds will treat her for all of the intestinal problems that it could be, and if she's still having problems, Dr. Griese said to bring her back and they'd do further tests.

I did finally break down and buy her some canned food to mix in with her dry and she is downstairs happily chowing down. *shakes head* We'll see how long that lasts though. Let me tell you, trying to find a good canned food that wasn't expensive was hard. I bought this Natural Life Adult Lamaderm (Lamb and Rice formula) for a buck twenty per 13 oz can. The ingredients are Lamb broth, Lamb, Lamb liver, Brown Rice, Rice Flour, Peas, Carrots, Flaxseed Meal, etc., etc.

Even when she isn't feeling well (she had a bacterial infection along with a case of worms when she was spayed) she would eat her food when I mixed canned in with it, so at the very least this will keep her from starving.

She weighs 42 pounds, which is what she weighed a couple of months ago when I had her in for a bath. So while she hasn't lost any weight, she hasn't gained any either, which she should have done as she's matured a bit.

[Catty1]

The good canned food can be a bit more expensive - but if it turns out to save you a few trips to the vet, it might wind up paying for itself.

I hope Chloe is ok...and gains some more weight.

[Giselle]

Could she have Giardia? The SNAP is better at finding it than a poop test, in our experience; poops can have plenty of false negs.

I'm confused. At our clinic, we swab the poo with a cotton swab (which then break and mixes with a solution) and then drop a couple droplets into the Snap test window. The poop test IS the snap test. Right..?

[critters]

The Giardia SNAP came out after I quit working for the vets, so I honestly don't know how it works. I know it's physically a little different than, say, the HW SNAP, but that's about all.

The poop tests I was thinking about the SNAP being better for Giardia than were floats and smears.

[IRescue452]

Good luck. To be honest, if they just did a heartworm test and a fecal, they aren't doing enough. I really wouldn't trust the opinion of a vet who gives me a generic medicine "to clear up all intestinal problems" while I wait. I think with this vet you are going to be running in circles of treatment-recovery-recurrence until something major happens. You don't test for pancreatitis with a fecal test, you don't test for megacolon with a fecal test, you just don't get much from a fecal test besides parasites.

[Blackrose]

Good luck. To be honest, if they just did a heartworm test and a fecal, they aren't doing enough. I really wouldn't trust the opinion of a vet who gives me a generic medicine "to clear up all intestinal problems" while I wait. I think with this vet you are going to be running in circles of treatment-recovery-recurrence until something major happens. You don't test for pancreatitis with a fecal test, you don't test for megacolon with a fecal test, you just don't get much from a fecal test besides parasites.

I suppose he didn't feel worried enough to think a blood panel was neccessary at the time. He wanted to rule out anything basic before we did the blood test. Perhaps we should have done that the other way around, but too late now, and I couldn't have afforded the blood panel in the same vet visit. They COULD have taken the cost out of my next paycheck, but I'd really like for that option to be for a worst case scenario.

And now that I think about it I still get a shot of dread form my head to my toes when I think of going through with Chloe what we went through with Rush. The way I'm feeling now, five days won't hurt her one way or another and it will give me time to wrap my head around the fact that something is/could be wrong. I thought I was "over" Rush's passing, but coming to find out that Chloe could also have an on going medical problem just brought everything back up and it's hard. It's psycological and stupid, but its still how I feel.

She's had loose poo again this morning and it was firm all day yesterday...*sigh* I don't know if it was because of the vaccs she got, or what. On the bright side, she is eating now.

Speaking of eating, my mom accidentally purchased the wrong food for her...it is still Lamb and Rice with the same ingredients, but it is a low fat version (more rice than lamb). Same protien content, just half the fat. (Not exactly what the doctor ordered, but I think Chloe'll live.)
I'm feeding her a cup more than what she used to get (three cups a day + a little bit of canned) per the guide on the back of the bag, but should I be worried about anything else?

[Karen]

I would just keep track of everything she ingests, to rule out food allergies. So no treats unless you know what is in them, and keep a list of what she eats when, to see if there's any pattern.

As a person with food allergies, I can also tell you that after a bad reaction (vomiting and "loose stool") I do NOT want to eat, and am honestly not even feeling hungry for a couple days. Thankfully I haven't had any change in my allergies lately!

[Blackrose]

I would just keep track of everything she ingests, to rule out food allergies. So no treats unless you know what is in them, and keep a list of what she eats when, to see if there's any pattern.

As a person with food allergies, I can also tell you that after a bad reaction (vomiting and "loose stool") I do NOT want to eat, and am honestly not even feeling hungry for a couple days. Thankfully I haven't had any change in my allergies lately!

I've thought about allergies before, so I've been trying to keep an eye on what she eats treat wise. Regular milk bones don't seem to cause any problems, nor does the begg'n strips she eats which are both pretty generic has-everything-in-them kind of treats.
However, this lamb and rice food really seem to be helping with her normal poo, so she may have a mild case of some type of allergy. Maybe chicken is the problem, but the Chicken Soup food had everything from Chicken, to turkey, to herring, so who knows.