# Diarrhea only in the night



## hecallsmebama (Mar 31, 2016)

At about 4am yesterday morning and 4am this morning, Amos (6 months) woke up and had lots of diarrhea. During the day his stools were firm but a little mucousy. He has had no known changes in his diet (although he does eat random vegetation in the yard despite my fussing at him for it). The only change I can think of is he started a new monthly heart worm three days before the first incident. I switched to interceptor plus from sentinel because we battle tapeworms which sentinel does not cover. He had a tapeworm when we switched but he hasn't had these issues in the past with treatment. I've googled around of course. My only ideas are giardia, the new med, the tapeworm or possible his latest bag of food. He is about 3/4 of the way through this bag but he's had about three incidents of anal gland leaking since starting it. Oh and random yard vegetation....but that is harder to buy into since he's fine in the day and it's happened at the same time both mornings. Has anyone run into this before? And of course, we are suppose to leave town in a day and my in-laws are suppose to keep him!


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

Googling diarrhea from interceptor turned up a few hits. Sentinel and Interceptor use the same heartworm preventative but have different dewormers. If he was fine on sentinel, he could be reacting to the praziquantel in the interceptor. Give your vets a heads up now, but if it happens again after the next dose, I would look into switching preventatives. 

What food is he on and have you checked to see if there was a formula change?

For now I would fast him for the next meal and then give him boiled chicken and pumpkin (or rice if he's used to eating grains).


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

You could also run a stool sample by your vets. It may not give you the cause, but could rule out some of your concerns.


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## hecallsmebama (Mar 31, 2016)

Took him to the vet this morning. They gave us flagyl, which I was told was an anti-inflammatory for the gut and should help with symptoms. Haven't googled it yet. They sent the sample I brought in to the lab to look for parasites. He has slept most of the morning. Drank some water but has not eaten. I wondered about a formula change as well. Will have to look in to that. He's currently on earthborn holistic meadow feast. It is grain free and lamb based. Also has a higher fiber count those most so he shouldn't be loose but if they switched it up, maybe he has an allergy to a new ingredient. Not sure allergies would cause mucous in his stool though. Thanks for tip about the praziquantel. Will look into that as well. The vet's gut said parasite, but we'll just have to see what the lab results say. We've already battled tapeworms and ticks. This poor guy can't catch a break. We will likely have to delay our departure till this is all ironed out. Can't leave a sick baby!!! :'(


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## hecallsmebama (Mar 31, 2016)

Just googled the flagyl and it is for inflammation of the gut but it's also an antibiotic. Interesting that the vet didn't mention that part.  

what do yall do for probiotics? I know his food has some in it but I doubt it's that much or that it is very shelf stable. How do you replace good bacteria in a dog? Do I just crack open a capsule of ours? We use a dairy free gluten free product. We also brew kombucha and make some fermented foods. Just not sure how safe any of that would be for him. The kombucha is decaf though. I will ask the vet when they call with lab results but wondering what folks here do.


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

That's annoying. For Scout's recent round of antibiotics I asked the vet how he would administer it and if he had any additional recommendations, fully expecting that he'd suggest giving probiotics. He did not which surprised me. 

But yeah one of your capsules, opened and sprinkled over his food with a little water mixed in would be fine. 

I do plain yogurt or kefir. I guess goatsmilk yogurt would be preferable as dogs generally digest it better, but I've never had any issues with the regular variety. The holistic vet I took Scout to when her UTI saga first began sold us a refrigerated, powdered probiotic for dogs called FastTrack. She's been getting that daily for the last 8 weeks with no issue. Worth checking out anyway. 

Hope he feels better soon!


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## hecallsmebama (Mar 31, 2016)

I will see if I can find some of the fastrack stuff. Wish our vet was a little more holistic in mindset. Thanks for the info.


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