My dog won't eat and has diarrhea. Vets can't find a cause. What now?

Question

Our 6-yr Bernese Mountain Dog stopped eating a month ago. We've taken him to 2 different vets every week since. They've run blood & urine tests and a sonogram but all negative. He still won't eat except every few days (and then only a handful). He was on a special diet before (Wellness Simple Lamb & Oat); we've since tried many other diets (raw meat, fresh rice, yogurt, etc.; probiotics; other LID dog food; wet food) - no luck. He also has diarrhea. We are desperate for answers! Thank you, Pet's info: Dog | Bernese Mountain Dog | Male | neutered | 5 years and 10 months old | 100 lbs

Jeffrey Milner · Accepted Answer

Sounds like it is time to get an endoscopy. Typically, an internal medicine specialist performs these. They will take a small camera attached to a long cord and feed it down your dog's esophagus, into the stomach and part of the small intestine. Depending on the exact timing and type of symptoms, they may even recommend a colonoscopy as well. This is where they take a camera and it is fed up the rectum into the colon and up to the ileum (lowest portion of the small intestine) when possible. Endoscopy is the best and most effective way to determine gastrointestinal disease. They will be able to visualize everything perfectly and obtain biopsies where needed. This way, they will be able to rule out irritable bowel disease, lymphangiectasia, and/or gastrointestinal lymphoma. Unfortunately, in a 6 year old Bernese, at least two out of these three are reasonable possibilities with the middle of the three being fairly uncommon. Another possibility which I feel like would have been considered based on blood work would be that your dog has a condition called Addison's or Atypical Addison's disease. It is a disease of the adrenal glands that causes hormonal imbalances that can result in non-specific gastrointestinal signs. Your dog is not the typical age or breed for this but it is not something to be minimized as a possibility. This disease requires a specific blood test known as an ACTH stimulation or Low Dose Dexamethasone Suppression test to diagnose definitively. Speak to your last veterinarian about these options so you can get to the bottom of things. The last option due to its invasiveness is an exploratory surgery, where they go in abdominally and look around for the problem. Hope this makes sense.

My dog won't eat and has diarrhea. Vets can't find a cause. What now?

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