Blood in stool for months

dracosmommy · May 24, 2021

Hello, it is sad that this is my first post on this forum, but I truly do need any help or advice I can get. I picked up my french bulldog puppy Draco in January, he was born November 13, 2020, making him 6 months old now. When he first came into my life he was healthy, with no issues. After a week or two, he started to throw up every day. We were feeding him the same food the breeder was feeding him Purina pro plan small breed which has chicken, and the vet told us to give him chicken and rice for vomiting. This did not work and we tried Hills i/d which had chicken as well. I took matters into my own hands and made him bland pork and sweet potato which worked! He was healthy again for a few weeks but I could not keep him on just those two ingredients since he was a growing puppy. We chose to give him the farmer's dog because he liked fresh food so much. After about a week of gradually transitioning him, he has had blood in his stool every day. This was in April so it has been nearly two months of blood in his stool. We have had stool samples done, a blood mal digestion test, he has taken probiotics, pumpkin, metronidazole, sucralfate, and the vet has recently had us switch to Purina Pro Plan HA Hydrolyzed salmon, he has been on that for 3 weeks. He is currently taking Panacur, he has 2 days left out of 5. Absolutely nothing is working and I'm very confused. Most of the other posts I have seen about blood in dogs' stool for a prolonged time, the dogs were very lethargic and not gaining weight. Draco is skinny, he weighs 17.8 pounds, but he has steadily been gaining weight every month and is within the weight range for his age. He is occasionally lethargic, but if he naps that is usually fixed quickly and he has playdates with other dogs frequently and runs around fine. The mal digestion test did show that his pancreatic levels were elevated 43.3 (normal range is 5-35) but the vet did not have us fast him, it can go up with eating food. Everything else was normal. We have another vet visit Wednesday, and the vet wants to schedule an endoscopy. The doctor is considering Pancreatitis and IBD. I am also going to ask about granulomatous colitis the boxer/ french bulldog colitis but I feel like based on what I have read he would be sicker than this? I know it is likely he will need an endoscopy/colonscopy but I am scared, he is young and our babies' have those cute pushed-in noses that make everything so troublesome. I am not sure if his issues earlier on are related or not, and I am not sure if this is simply allergies like it was with the chicken, or something more serious. Also, the blood is sometimes darker, sometimes lighter, sometimes a lot and sometimes only a little. But it is always there. If you can offer any assistance on anything please share. Anything to ask the doctor would help so much thank you.

2bullymama · May 24, 2021

It he was good on pork... when you went to Farmers dog food what protein did you use?

Lots of bulldogs have issues with chicken and grains.

Can you try another protein like duck, turkey, rabbit, etc?

Look into primal, vital essential or Stella and Chewys raw foods

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dracosmommy · May 24, 2021

We did pork and beef recipes and then exclusively the pork recipe but it did not change anything, I will look into those. He is currently on a Salmon diet now but he still has blood in his stool. It does have corn starch and corn oil so maybe that could be the issue, but the vet does not believe it is food-related. I do still think it could be since he had such a terrible reaction to chicken.

2bullymama · May 25, 2021

Also, did the vet check/test for giardia?

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dracosmommy · May 25, 2021

I am going to push for that test tomorrow when we see the vet. I had mentioned it before but he wanted to see if the hydrolyzed diet worked first because he didn't think it was parasite related. I went with that but I definitely want him to have that done.

2bullymama · May 25, 2021

dracosmommy said:
I am going to push for that test tomorrow when we see the vet. I had mentioned it before but he wanted to see if the hydrolyzed diet worked first because he didn't think it was parasite related. I went with that but I definitely want him to have that done.

That is very concerning, to me it should have been ruled out first

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dracosmommy · Jun 12, 2021

I discussed this with the vet in May, he assured me that they did in fact do the separate test for giardia. Since then we have seen a specialist and she diagnosed Draco with a bacterial infection, she thinks that it will go away and will not be persistent. She prescribed tylan and a new prescription food. After 3 days on tylan powder the blood was gone. Sadly, 2 days later the prescription food came and I slowly put him on it giving less than 1/4 cup for 2 days when he started vomiting. After this, he had bloody stools again and the specialist advised to take him off that food since it did not work for him. It has been 5 days since we stopped the other food & he still has blood in his stool again. I’m so upset because he was better and now the food seemed to have ruined it. He is still getting tylan but it seems like it only had an effect before trying out the other food. Have you had any experience with bacterial infections?

2bullymama · Jun 13, 2021

dracosmommy said:
I discussed this with the vet in May, he assured me that they did in fact do the separate test for giardia. Since then we have seen a specialist and she diagnosed Draco with a bacterial infection, she thinks that it will go away and will not be persistent. She prescribed tylan and a new prescription food. After 3 days on tylan powder the blood was gone. Sadly, 2 days later the prescription food came and I slowly put him on it giving less than 1/4 cup for 2 days when he started vomiting. After this, he had bloody stools again and the specialist advised to take him off that food since it did not work for him. It has been 5 days since we stopped the other food & he still has blood in his stool again. I’m so upset because he was better and now the food seemed to have ruined it. He is still getting tylan but it seems like it only had an effect before trying out the other food. Have you had any experience with bacterial infections?

Stay on the Tylan.... what food are you giving? Have you tried bland diet... boiled meat and egg noodles or white rice?

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dracosmommy · Jun 13, 2021

Per vet recommendation, he is currently getting Purina Pro Plan HA Hydrolyzed Salmon. We did have him on a bland diet pork and sweet potato because he doesn’t tolerate chicken or rice well. He was on this after his throw up for a month and was absolutely fine (this was before the bleeding) and then for a short period of time with his blood in his stool which had no effect. I’m worried to even change his food to that, it was so quickly when the vet changed his food that the blood came back. But it doesn’t seem like any food is working for him right now

. It seemed like the tylan worked before but then the vet had us change foods almost right away. I regret that. I’m just worried that was a one off thing and the tylan won’t work. Most things I have read said tylan worked very quickly so I am concerned.

dracosmommy · Jun 15, 2021

I will keep updating in case someone else has gone through something terrible like this with their Frenchie pup and can help. Today Draco threw up blood. So now it is coming out of both ends, we are still waiting on his baseline blood test, allergy test, and cortisol test. I hope they are able to provide insight but I don’t want anything else to be wrong with my baby. He was prescribed omeprazole for 30 days now to give along with the tylosin since he threw up the blood. I was hopeful he would get better soon but now pooping blood and throwing up blood is a scary sight. He is still so healthy though, gaining weight, playing etc. so I don’t understand. He did act tired today after threw up but that is to be expected because throwing up isn’t fun.

Cbrugs · Jun 15, 2021

So sorry you haven’t gotten any answers yet. I’m sure that is very frustrating. Have you tried getting a second opinion from a different vet?

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dracosmommy · Jun 16, 2021

We have seen our regular vet as well as a specialist but we are thinking of taking him to a university hospital next, the only reason we had just stayed with our specialist and vet so far is because of the Covid restrictions. It’s very important I am able to go in and tell the doctors everything, a lot want you to simply drop your dog off and with Draco you can’t see anything physically wrong with him. I am willing to do it, I just don’t think it’s fair. If I had a young child you bet doctors would without a doubt let you in with your child. But I think that is our next step, a university hospital who probably won’t have an appointment available until December.

Cbrugs · Jun 16, 2021

Could it be IBD?

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dracosmommy · Jun 17, 2021

That's one of the very few things we haven't been able to rule out so far, we got Draco's cortisol test back yesterday and it is suspicious for Addison's disease. I am so upset Addison's disease is rare and mainly present in female poodles I am hopeful it is not true but cortisol under 1 is Addison's disease and Draco's was exactly a 1. The vet advised waiting for his food allergy results which should be back in a week or two before testing for Addison's. If it is not Addison's it's either IBD or granulomatous colitis. We are doubtful of the boxer/ french bulldog colitis because Draco is in good health besides all the blood. Do either of you know anyone with a Frenchie with Addison's? Just searching "Addison's disease French Bulldog" I could only find one french bulldog who has it, so needless to say it is extremely rare if this is the case. Again, hoping with all my might that it is not. His insides are indeed inflamed so it could be IBD.

Cbrugs · Jun 17, 2021

I do not know any dogs with Addisons. Are you able to do any kind of treatment for IBD to see if it would help while you wait for the other test results?

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dracosmommy · Jun 18, 2021

I guess I am already kind of doing an IBD treatment right now it says, probiotics (check), antibiotics (check), LID or hydrolyzed food (check), and anti-inflammatories& B-12 are the only thing Draco is not on right now. I could give him a B-12 supplement? But it says B-12 by injection so I don't know if a supplement would work the same. I don't know about introducing anti-inflammatory medicine as well but maybe I could give him anti-inflammatory foods? I'm just worried because literally any change in his diet the blood seems to get worse.

2bullymama · Jun 18, 2021

So sorry you are not yet getting any answers, it is so hard since the pups can’t tell us what hurts or feels off.

I do not know any dogs with Addison… I know it is normally found in a puppy.

My female bulldog had colitis, it would occasionally flair up, but I never could find the trigger. She would literally leak poo and blood for days and the only thing that help was tylan powder and bland diet.

Sending prayers you get an answer. Please keep us posted

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dracosmommy · Jun 18, 2021

Thank you both truly. How long would it take for the tylan powder to work for her colitis? We have been on tylan for 3 weeks now, it worked at first but when the vet had us try to change his food 2 days later it really came back strong. The hydrolyzed food he is on is pretty bland but I could go back to making him plain pork and sweet potato that is the best he's ever done on food, I am just worried the blood will get worse if I change it. It doesn't matter how slowly I transition the food it seems, and our vet mentioned the bland diet may work but then at some point we will have to switch back to a regular food and it might happen all over again.

2bullymama · Jun 18, 2021

dracosmommy said:
Thank you both truly. How long would it take for the tylan powder to work for her colitis? We have been on tylan for 3 weeks now, it worked at first but when the vet had us try to change his food 2 days later it really came back strong. The hydrolyzed food he is on is pretty bland but I could go back to making him plain pork and sweet potato that is the best he's ever done on food, I am just worried the blood will get worse if I change it. It doesn't matter how slowly I transition the food it seems, and our vet mentioned the bland diet may work but then at some point we will have to switch back to a regular food and it might happen all over again.

How much tylan per day? Also if he was good on what you were maki go back to it. Once he is stable you’ll have to add more nutrients to keep his diet balanced

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dracosmommy · Jun 18, 2021

I will think about doing the bland diet again, I am really scared to disturb his system again, so I will at least wait until his diarrhea from the medicine we stopped is fully gone. The tylan powder prescription says "1/16 teaspoon a day or about a pinch" so I try to give Draco a hefty pinch but I am 4'11 so I don't imagine my pinches are very large lol. On another note, how do I change my profile picture so I can display my babyboy too?