My 1-year old dog was diagnosed with clostridium back in March, was treated with Metronidazole. A couple weeks later it returned and again was treated with Metronidazole but for a longer period of time. Five days off the meds and the clostridium returns. My vet is now treating him with Tylosin poweder for 23 days. We're treating my other dog with the tylosin powder as well. We also switched the puppy's food to a gluten free type in case that was causing an irritant in his stomach. Is clostridium normally this difficult to get rid of?
Optional Information: Type of Animal: Golden Retriever Gender: Male Age: 1 Name of Dog: Brodie Already Tried: Two rounds of metronidazole (first round 500mg 2x/day for ten days; second round 250 mg 2x/day for 14 days - the second time they found it there wasn't as much of an overgrowth as there was the first time).
Welcome to JustAnswer! I am a licensed veterinarian and would be glad to help!
Diagnosis aside...
What is the cause for the testing?
Vomiting? Diarrhea?
diarrhea, mucous covered stool
Was this a slide under the microscope diagosis?
PCR?
I'm not sure what PCR is. But yes, the diagnosis was determined after they examined the slide
Unfortunately, there's no evidence that fecal cytology has any diagnostic value in regards XX XXXXXXXXXXXClostridia are normal bacteria seen in the intestinal tract.All dogs have some clostridia and clostridium perfringens can be found in a majority of healthy dogs.
For this reason, when signs continue, you are likely missing the underlying cause.
we saw the vet on saturday and they suggested switching to gluten free diet to see if that helps. She also put him on Tylosin powder.
Are there ways to determine the underlying cause? Or is it hit or miss and see what helps?
Yes...
fecal PCR, bloodwork, ultrasound, etc.
What is PCR?
polymerase chain reaction
Is this something my regular veterinarian's office can do, or should I see a specialist?
Yes - they send it to the lab, although you always have the option to see a specialist.
Why is this so difficult to treat? He's had many other ailments (he's a runt and picks up everything), coccidia, giradia, campylobactar.
Again - the concern is that the signs are not clostridium related.
But the clostridium is overgrown due to another underlying pathology which has not been identified.
Could the same underlying problem be why he's been susceptible to the other issues as well? or are they unrelated?
It is possible.
If you wanted to see a specialist, a board certified veterinary internal medicine specialist would be recommended. Your veterinarian can refer you, or you can use this - LINK HEREWhen going to that link above, you can find an internist with the provided boxes. Under the 3rd box “Specialty”, choose “SAIM - Small Animal Internal Medicine” and then fill out the rest of your information for state, etc. These are veterinarians that went through veterinary school, and then did not only at least 1 year of an internship, but then did a 3 year residency ONLY focusing on this specialty to best diagnose and treat conditions such as this.
Ok, thank you for your explanation. Is gluten in the diet generally an underlying issue with these kinds of cases? Or, do you think that was just a shot in the dark to switch that? I ask because we've switched our dog's food several times based on our vet's recommendations. I dont want to keep switching foods as a treatment unless it actually is a treatment.
No - it is not a general issue I would make a blanket statement on.
Thank you. We will likely be seeing a specialist if it doesn't clear up with this round of medicine. Is there anything else I should know about this?
I would start with the information above.
Good luck
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