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I have a question. If someone would be so kind to leave me some input. I have 7 dogs. The first dog that got sick had yellowish water diarrhea and acted like she could not move her hind quarters although she still ate and drank water the whole time she was sick however she didnt want to play or run around. 24 hours laters she was fine. This sickness is going through every one of my dogs one by one. Has anyone ever heard of this happening? ALL of my dogs are up to date on all of their vaccines and there has been no change in the diet. Is there any such thing as the 24 hour flu in dogs. My dogs act the same way as people do when they get a 24 hour flu.
Optional Information: Age: 2; Female; Breed: chihuahuas/german shepherds Already Tried: Every time one of my dogs have gotten sick I have mixed pumkin and nutri cal together and it seems to work
Hi Condor, Many things can cause diarrhea in dogs including parasites, unusual treats, and protozoan infections such as coccidia or giardia. In your case, I would suspect a protozoan infection or other gastrointestinal infection. In many cases, dogs will contract the infection and become slightly sick for a couple of days until their system fights the infection off on its own. If the dog is unable to fight the infection off, then a vet can prescribe antibiotics to help unti the immune system fights it off. These infections are spread through feces. In a lot of cases, rain washes over feces and the cysts that spread the infections washes into puddles where other dogs drink and become infected. Of course, normal dog licking behavior can also spread the infection among a group of dogs. You can read about protozoan infections here: http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1622&articleid=727 http://www.petplace.com/dogs/giardia-in-dogs/page1.aspx http://www.beaglesunlimited.com/beaglehealth_giardiasis.htm Herpes virus in dogs can also cause a yellowish diarrhea with little other symptoms in adult dogs. You can read about this here: http://www.2ndchance.info/herpesvirusdog.htm Herpes usually affects breeding dogs more than adults so if you are not breeding then it shouldn't be much of a problem if this is the cause. I hope this information is helpful to you.
Experience: Former vol Vet Assistant.Breeder 16+ years Dog trainer / behaviorist
Thank You for your response. I didnt think my dogs had hookworms because i keep them on heartgard which is supposed to treat hookworms monthly. However because of your response i took stool samples in to my vet this morning and sure enough they are full of hookworms!! The reason may be i have changed my regular heartgard to the generic heartz brand (from Canada) and now i am really questioning if this generic really has what it claims in each dose. I will go back to my regular heartgard which i have never had a problem with. My german shepherd is 10 years old and has never had hookworms until i switched. If you know anything about the generic please let me know. Thanks
Condor, What I have found is that when purchasing heartgard and other such medications online that sometimes these are not the real thing. Usually supply companies do have the actual drug, but other smaller sites and private individuals may have counterfeit products. You might also have been using heartgard plus for your dogs which does protect against hookworms, but if the generic was for heartgard only, that isn't a protection against hookworms. I'm glad that the problem has been identified and they should be recovering.