Help/ideas please for Merauke 1 1/2 months of loose stools

[Snowysmom]

Hello-

I wrote a few weeks ago about my 1 year old Merauke, Snowy and her loose stools with food in them. Been in treatment for 5 weeks under the vet's care.

She has been on Benebac probiotic which she is still on, been dewormed with Flagyl, but negative 2 parasite fecal exams, and is on her 4th abx injection out of 7 for the bacteria culture called Interbacter Aerogenes that grew at the vet's outside lab. Bottom line, she still has watery, or mushy stool that stinks very bad with food in them. About once every 2 weeks her stool looks almost normal except for a greenish color. Never black or dark brown like they always were.

I have no idea what caused this, but one day her stools just changed. However, throughout the almost 2 months, she has actually never missed a meal, still very active and put on over 50 grams and grew an inch. The good news is that she acts healthy.

I am reaching out for ideas here. I am scared and sad. I am worried about the issue not getting better, but also all the meds and what they can do to her.

Thank you-

Cathy and Snowy

[Dood]

Im sorry to hear Snowy is still fighting this issue

I'm not familiar with Interbacter Aerogenes but will do some research

Giardia often cause food to pass undigested but as she's had two treatments of flagly(metronitizole) that likely isn't the current issue (also rules out liver damaging Entamoeba)and I hope they've ruled out other parasites like cryptosporidium

Green poop is associated with liver disease which can be due to damage or viral, bacterial or a parasite infection

Has any bloodwork been done to see if her liver (and pancreas) are functioning normally? If it they aren't producing sufficent digestive enzymes and acids to breakdown foods it can cause undigested food in stools ((AKA maldigestion) or a bolus of green or yellow bile acids to be excreted - hence green poop

What diet are you feeding her ?

You may want to temporarily remove all lipids/fats from her diet and just offer easy to digest proteins (poultry, rabbit, egg yolk) and high fibre carbs such as leafy greens with some low starch and low sugar root veggies and avoid fruits and grains. If she has a liver or pancreatic disease (and not a pathogen) then it should help with stool consistency

Being too cool can cause digestive issues and if she is more often on the cool side she may not be processing properly, heat can also help fight off disease and if you haven't already done so you may want to boost the ambient temperatures up to the 80's with a basking spot of 100'

I am amazed she isn't loosing condition and is still gaining weight !!! I just goes to show how tough these little buggers can be I truely hope this gets figured out

[Snowysmom]

Now I'm scared. We haven't done the liver test at all and most days this week she has had solid feces with the dark green though still. The green is very dark, almost black like a normal color feces. Not an alarming green. She gets the dark green mush when I give her eggs so no more eggs. It started right away like in one day so I am thinking the green is just from the bacteria. Vet does not think it's Crypto and mostly because she has been sick for 2 months and is otherwise thriving. He doesn't think it fits her at all.

I have not been feeding any fruit and mostly beef, lamb, snails, and dubia for protein sources. I will switch to poultry for now. I feed her greens, carrots, squashes, green beans, peas, etc. and alternating them and more. It is never the same mix. Could you please throw me some ideas on low sugar root veggies? Thanks.

I have kept up with her temps through the changing seasons and this happened in the summer. She loves to stay on the cool side and even during the day. The temps are 75+ at night and 77 is the lowest during the day. Basking spot is always 100, 101 and she likes it that way. She has mid to upper 80s near the end of her tank for high ambients. She really likes the cooler side most of the time, but not always.

I do see an improvement with the abx injections just still get the runny poop once a week or so and vet is continuing to research what to do next here. We will go slowly and not medicate at the drop of a hat . He is spending a lot of time on us and I'm grateful.

Thanks for your help and if you have anything else to add, please do.

Cathy and Snowy

[Richard.C]

Hi cathy,if treatment was still quite recent it can be normal for them to have loose stools for a bit,good bacteria is also affected by treatments not to mention it can at times take a bit for them to be back to normal after treatment

Keep us posted on any progress

[Snowysmom]

Thanks Richard. I also have her on a probiotic , so hopefully it will help some, but you are so right. I most certainly will keep everyone updated. I think this is important to help others in case they find themselves in my shoes someday. We have an injection today and Friday and then we are finished. I am keeping a close eye and journal on Snowy throughout this entire ordeal. Hope it ends soon.

Thanks everyone for your help-

Cathy and Snowy