Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
Hello! I am always surprised on this page, by how often I read 'the vet is out of ideas.' I was an active first opinion small animal vet for over ten years, locumming across a huge variety of practises. In this time, I never heard a vet say 'I am out of ideas for this case' with no suggestion or direction offered as to where to go next, especially not a case that's only 10 months old. To be honest, I wonder whether adequate client-vet communication is happening between the two of you here. Assuming that your dog has been consistently following a vet-suggested bland diet with no transgressions (such as adding yogurt, which can set things right back as dogs did not evolve the enzyme for digesting dairy) and a comprehensive flea and worm programme, this should continue for at least three months before being branded unsuccessful. It may be that an alternative diet is tried after that. My suggestion meanwhile would be to go back to your vet and ask them to list the most likely causes of chronic diarrhoea in a dog of this breed and age. I would ask which causes they have completely ruled out and which they need to better rule out before referring to an expert. This may include tests for pancreatitis, liver disease, various parasites, various gut diseases and even cancer in some unlucky individuals. If you work together to make a diagnostic plan, it will help you to understand the process - which can be quite complicated- and provide some structure. Failing this, you could ask to be referred directly.
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