[BlackShepherd]

Our puppy survived Parvo! He spent a week at the vet until he recovered, and then he came home around May 2nd (can't remember exact day). Since then he has been on Hill's Prescription diet I/D for gastrointestinal health. The vet said to keep him on this food for a month.

Even on this food however, he would have "mushy" stool (not quite diarrhea, but not normal... more like a cow patty) about 10% of the time, and normal stool 90% of the time. The vet did not seem concerned however. At one point we gave him some pro-biotic paste. Not sure that it did much though.

3 days ago, his month of I/D food was up, so we started gradually adding his old puppy food, Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy. We have only been giving him a handful of the Blue food with his 1.5 cups of I/D. He was fine for 2 days, but last night and this morning was having diarrhea.

Another thing, is before Parvo he was absolutely fine riding in the car. Since Parvo, he gets car sick all the time (we only put him in the car if we have to now because of this... we don't like him being sick ).

I am wondering if any of you guys have had puppies survive parvo that continued to have diarrhea and stomach sensitivity this LONG after. It's been 5 weeks since his return home from the vet.

Once again, our vet does not seem concerned... but I can't seem to get a good idea of what is going on with his poor belly and intestines...

 

[CalgaryDVM]

Our puppy survived Parvo! He spent a week at the vet until he recovered, and then he came home around May 2nd (can't remember exact day). Since then he has been on Hill's Prescription diet I/D for gastrointestinal health. The vet said to keep him on this food for a month.

Even on this food however, he would have "mushy" stool (not quite diarrhea, but not normal... more like a cow patty) about 10% of the time, and normal stool 90% of the time. The vet did not seem concerned however. At one point we gave him some pro-biotic paste. Not sure that it did much though.

3 days ago, his month of I/D food was up, so we started gradually adding his old puppy food, Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy. We have only been giving him a handful of the Blue food with his 1.5 cups of I/D. He was fine for 2 days, but last night and this morning was having diarrhea.

Another thing, is before Parvo he was absolutely fine riding in the car. Since Parvo, he gets car sick all the time (we only put him in the car if we have to now because of this... we don't like him being sick ).

I am wondering if any of you guys have had puppies survive parvo that continued to have diarrhea and stomach sensitivity this LONG after. It's been 5 weeks since his return home from the vet.

Once again, our vet does not seem concerned... but I can't seem to get a good idea of what is going on with his poor belly and intestines...

Parvovirus causes destruction of the cells that line the intestines (the enterocytes). After infection has cleared, the cells of the intestine need to regenerate; this process takes approximately 7 days. I would say that patients are usually normal 1-2 weeks after recovering from the infection... 5 weeks post-infection is somewhat delayed in my opinion. The difficulty here is that there may be other causes for your dog's diarrhea. The recent bout of diarrhea may be due to diet change (even though you're gradually switching his food). You can try to be more conservative with the diet change...

I think it would be worth while for your puppy to have an abdominal ultrasound to evaluate his GI tract. I also think it would be a good idea to check some blood work to make sure his liver, kidneys, proteins etc. are normal. You could also consider re-doing a Parvoviral SNAP test to see if he is still shedding virus from his GI tract; maybe he has an ongoing infection and he is still somewhat symptomatic (although this is atypical).

If your veterinarian is not taking his clinical signs seriously you are certainly entitled to ask for a second opinion.

 

[LabSmitten]

I would trust CalvaryDMW. You might not know by this point that s/he is a vet. I completely trust her/his advice.

 

[Holly]

Have a Giardia ELISA run on your pup's poop. Parvo puppies tend to have concurrent Giardia infections, which your vet may not have treated for.

 

[BlackShepherd]

So today, he had normal poop all day long, until after dinner where it was diarrhea.

Breakfast: 1.25 cups I/D, .25 cups Blue, 1 spoon of plain yogurt

Normal poo

Lunch: Same

Normal poo

Dinner: 1 cup I/D, .5 cups Blue, 1 spoon plain yogurt

Diarrhea

And I'd like to note that his poo has seemed to stink pretty bad since bringing him home, which I expected due to his intestines being torn up... but still?

 

[Tess]

Hmm... stinky poo can be a sign of Giardia. Holly might be on to something there....