[Gpdd] [HEALTH] Diarrhea in Sooty all the time and Imodium

[Ann Evans]

All of this info is from the Cambridge Cavy Trust and has been supported 
by my personal experiences. All medications are to be given orally. 
First try to stop the diarrhea with Imodium. You can give 2.0 mg/day for 
up to 3 days. This can be given as one dose or in divided dosages. I 
start by giving 1.0 mg and repeat in 8 hours. I use generic Imodium 
liquid that contains 1.0 mg of loperamide HCl in 5.0 ml. Thus the first 
doses is 5.0 ml. You can also use Imodium instant melts. One melt 
contains 2.0 mg. Dissolve in some water and give half of the water for 
the first dose. His intestinal villa most certainly have been damaged so 
stopping diarrhea using any medication will be difficult. In all cases 
the underlying disease must be addressed. Everything Sandy said is 
correct. I would suspect that he has coccidiosis along with a bacterial 
and or fungal infection. Your vet can determine coccidiosis from a stool 
sample by looking at the fecal float under a microscope. At the same 
time I would suggest having your vet culture the stool sample for yeast 
and bacteria. My first choice of medication is Flagyl, metronidazole, 25 
mg/day in one dose for up to 10 days. My second choice for coccidiosis 
is Albon 5% suspension of sulfadimethoxine. Give an initial dose of 50 
mg in one dose on second day and up to 10 days give 25 mg/day just one 
dose per day. Also worm him per Piggyville protocol 
http://piggyville.com/index.php?id=9. Recovery is often a long road 
especially in a piggy that has had a long standing condition. If the 
diarrhea is caused by bacteria, Baytril given at 10 mg twice a day for 7 
days should be given. If it is caused by fungus then itraconazole 10 
mg/ml suspension is used up to 30 days. The dose is 4.0 mg twice a day 
for the first 5 days. If using 10 mg/ml this would be 0.4 ml. Then 2.0 
mg twice a day up to day 30. Again if using 10 mg/ml this is 0.2 ml. 
Ibuprofen should be given twice a day when using Baytril and or 
Itraconazole. The dose is 8.0 mg twice a day. Thus if using children's 
ibuprofen that contains 100 mg ibuprofen in 5.0 ml this equals a 20.0 
mg/ml solution. You would use 0.4 ml twice a day.


Cheers,

Ann and the Rescued Piggys of Piggyville, Tampa Florida USA.