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My 13 year old male Maremma started having bouts of diarrhea or very loose stool about four months ago. He's now on a chicken kibble food. Despite liking and eating his food, he's now only 75 pounds from his 110 pounds. I have added pure pumpkin or slippery elm to his food and it helps a bit, but he's still getting loose stool. He was good for a while but started having very loose stool again. What could it be? Worms? Parasites? Something more and cachexia? He seems otherwise happy and active.

My 13 year old male Maremma started having bouts of diarrhea or very loose stool about four months ago. He's now on a chicken kibble food. Despite liking and eating his food, he's now only 75 pounds from his 110 pounds. I have added pure pumpkin or slippery elm to his food and it helps a bit, but he's still getting loose stool. He was good for a while but started having very loose stool again. What could it be? Worms? Parasites? Something more and cachexia? He seems otherwise happy and active.

Updated On March 4th, 2019

Pet's info: Dog | Maremma Sheepdog | Male | 95 lbs

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Answered By Amy Poole, DVM

Veterinarian

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I'm sorry to hear Chinook is loosing weight and having diarrhea. I would definitely be concerned about intestinal parasites. Ate 13 years old, I would also be concerned about something more serious, like inflammatory bowl disease or even cancer. I would recommend you take him in to your veterinarian to have him evaluated and his stool checked. He may need a probiotic or potentially an antibiotic to help decrease the bacterial load in his gut and help with inflammation that may be contributing to his diarrhea. Some dogs with diarrhea respond very nicely to supportive care and antibiotics. If he still isn't improving, your veterinarian may recommend some more testing like blood work or even an abdominal ultrasound to look at his organs to see what the underlying cause is. I am glad despite all of this Chinook is feeling okay. I hope he is back on track very soon!

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