Hello Friends! This weeks topic is all about poop! Every spring and continuing through the summer, there a large number of dog owners that battle soft stools or intermittent diarrhea. Often, many remedies have been tried and it just keeps returning, or even gets worse! We are going to explore what may be causing this and share some tips for correcting it.
As winter turns into spring, the snow and ice melt away and we say hello to our first culprit, Giardia. Giardia is a single celled protozoan parasite that can be found in ponds, lakes, and rivers, it can also be transmitted to your dog when he sniffs contaminated ground or feces where an infected animal has been. Diagnosis of Giardia is a challenge because false negatives are very common. It is not unusual for it to take 2 or more tests to get a positive reading, even when the dog is infected. Giardia causes intermittent diarrhea, the stool may be runny to liquid, foul smelling, usually containing mucous, and sometimes blood. Often it will seem to resolve on its own and then a few days later the symptoms start over again. The most common treatment, when Giardia is suspected, is Metronidazole, sometimes in combination with Fenbendazole. The problem is, that treatment plan is only marginally effective, and the side effects are even more diarrhea and vomiting. Metronidazole can also cause neurological effects. So what can we do? There is a natural treatment for Giardia that works, with symptoms usually resolving in 24 hours! There is an essential oil that has been proven effective. We would love to share this information with anyone that wants to have it, but we will need to go over what grade of oils are safe for use and proper dosing techniques. Please stop in or call during the day and we will gladly answer all your questions.
That brings us to our second culprit. It is Roundup season! The herbicide Roundup is absolutely everywhere during the summer. The crop fields are being sprayed, local parks, the neighbors lawn, it is almost unavoidable. The active ingredient in Roundup is Glyphosate, it works by disrupting the Shikamate Pathway. Plants have this pathway and so does bacteria. Some of you may have heard that Glyphosate is an antibiotic? So your dog is lower to the ground, sniffing and eating things from treated areas, or areas that have been contaminated by wind drift, potentially getting a hefty dose of the antibiotic Glyphosate. This will usually cause the cow pie type stool. Change of diet is often tried and nothing seems to work. Ugh! Frustrating! For this, try to avoid areas known to have been treated with Roundup and feed a good daily probiotic. Also very effective, is Spirulina and Chlorella, they bind to toxins such as heavy metals, herbicides, and pesticides and then they can be flushed out of the body. As an added benefit, they are both super foods that have almost every nutrient needed! This may also help with allergies, and that will be a topic we will expand on in a future blog.
We hope this helped and see you next thursday!
Written by Kaye Huebner