I tend to be conservative with things like this – I will put a dog with a sore limb on crate rest for a week to see if it resolves. If it doesn’t, we head to the vet. This means on leash when in the yard for toilet, no jumping in the car, no jumping on furniture. Just crate or on a cushy bed on the floor.

Things to do: check paw pads, check nails (most people keep dog nails WAY too long, so if you can hear them clicking, it’s time for a nail trim…and then do them twice a week until they’re short, and weekly to maintain). I also move the limb and gently massage to see if there’s any sort of soft tissue soreness.

Unfortunately, diagnoses for things like this *cannot* be made over the internet. She needs to see a vet…especially if she’s been consistently underweight. She’ll need a full exam, with bloodwork and possibly a urinalysis.

I’m sorry. But if you refuse the vet, you’re furthering her illness. Please find a way to pay for it.

A friend’s chicken allergic Greyhound did well on Natural Balance turkey limited ingredient diet. Another friend feeds her Dobes Annamaet Aqualuk and Manitok with significant success – the dogs love it and look great on it.

Pro plan had a fairly recent recipe change of the sensitive salmon (as in last year), and a lot of dogs seemed to go off it. I’m told it may have improved since then.

Makes me wonder if she’s got something like giardia. Let us know what they say?

What have you done to help alleviate this in the interim?

I don’t immediately run to the vet UNLESS this is a very young puppy or a very small dog. Instead, I switch over from dog food to unseasoned cooked ground meat and cooked rice, with a higher rice to meat content. I stick to ground turkey breast, low fat ground beef, and ground chicken if I can find it. USUALLY diarrhea will resolve quickly with this change…once it does, I slowly add kibble back in.

After 2 days on this, if the dog’s loose stool is not resolving, I call the vet.

First off: I’m so very sorry. I know how much this hurts. I know how much it sucks. My biggest regret was not letting my cat go earlier. I couldn’t be with him when he crashed, and it absolutely destroyed me.

It’s always, ALWAYS better to let them go too early than to make them suffer for our need to keep them with us. We owe them that for all the love they’ve given us.

Self isolation is a big sign. So is the refusal to eat, the general restlessness. It sounds like he’s miserable. I would give him the best day you can, and let him go gently.

Oh I’m SO relieved to hear that! Our cats do get dehydrated quickly – I’d probably invest in a fountain or two to encourage more water consumption.

I would guess intestinal. Please get him to the vet first thing this morning.

I would consider this an emergency at this point. Please get him to the vet NOW.

If it wasn’t ingested you have nothing to worry about. The concern is when it’s ingested – depending on the individual dog’s tolerance and the amount ingested it can cause kidney issues.