Hannah Zulueta Home Remedies for Diarrhea
Four steps, three days, and a clear line for when it stops being simple.
Every dog has a stomach upset at some point. Most of the time it is dietary indiscretion, not an emergency, and it resolves at home in under three days with the right sequence: fast, rebuild, heal, then rebalance.
Dietary indiscretion
Most stomach upsets trace back to one thing: too much. Too much food, too much fat, or too much fiber, eaten in an amount the gut was not braced for. Stress is the less common trigger, showing up around road trips, moving homes, or anything genuinely new for your dog.
Simple upset, or something more
Four steps, in order
Fast from food, not from water
Fasting gives the GI tract time to rest, repair, and restore itself. An adult dog can fast for twelve hours. A puppy should only go six. Do not let water run free during the fast, since too much at once can trigger vomiting. Offer small, measured amounts instead.
- Water: about a cup in the morning, a cup in the evening
- Chamomile tea: calms and relaxes the stomach and bowel muscles, one cup morning and evening
- Ginger water: a few tablespoons after a few hours of fasting, daytime only, nothing after 3pm
- Bone broth: homemade or unsalted store-bought, either works
A bland, low-fat diet
Once the twelve-hour fast is up, lean cooked ground turkey with pumpkin is the default: one tablespoon of pure pumpkin, not pie filling, for every 15 pounds of body weight. If your dog runs sensitive to fiber, or needs more warmth than turkey provides, chicken and white rice covers a meal or two instead. Bananas and a little oatmeal work as well.
Dogs prone to yeast do not do well on extra fiber. Pumpkin, banana, oatmeal, or yogurt can aggravate them further. If that is your dog, skip straight to Step 3.
Heal the gut
This step has changed. I no longer use or recommend slippery elm. For anyone on a fresh food diet I have formulated, psyllium husk is already built into the recipe, so the home remedy that actually gets used now is an herbal formula that absorbs the extra fluid directly.
Si Miao San works well as long as there are no underlying health issues or parasites, and resolves diarrhea within three days. My own dogs have not had an irregular bowel movement in over three years.
If you are not already feeding a formulated recipe with psyllium husk in it, you can add psyllium husk on its own: a quarter teaspoon mixed with a quarter cup of water for a 20-pound dog, adjusted up or down for weight.
Some links below are affiliate links. At no cost to you, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Si Miao San is carried by Kan Essentials and available through Amazon.
Rebalance the gut
Once the stool is back to normal, this is where the supporting cast comes in.
- Probiotics replenish the gut’s good bacteria and help rebuild the gut lining. I recommend Mercola
- Prebiotics feed the probiotics and make them more effective
- Digestive enzymes help a dog with an irritated gut break down food and absorb nutrients. In Clover’s Fresh Digest works as a daily enzyme, and Berte’s Digestion Blend adds bromelain, L-glutamine for cellular repair, ginger, and NAG for gut lining permeability, useful for dogs with recurring stomach trouble
- Goat kefir carries strains of friendly bacteria yogurt does not have, and has research behind it for gastritis, pancreatitis, and leaky gut. Small dogs: one tablespoon. Medium: two. Large: three. Freeze it in an ice cube tray and thaw a serving at a time
Rotate, and introduce slowly
A strong GI tract handles new food the way yours does. Fresh food feeders who rotate proteins every few days build that resilience over time. Still, introduce anything new, food, treat, or chew, in small amounts over several days, and watch the stool. Soft stool is the tell that you moved too fast.
When three days becomes a vet visit
Stool still soft after three days means it is time to call. Sometimes the cause is viral or bacterial. Sometimes it is Giardia, or in worse cases Parvo. Sometimes it is a foreign object, a toy, a glove, a sock. Any of those needs more than a home protocol to sort out.
Your vet will typically run bloodwork alongside two stool tests, one that checks for parasite antigens and eggs, another for the bacterial or viral agents behind diarrhea, and treat from there. If loss of energy, lethargy, blood, or fever show up alongside the loose stool, that call happens immediately, not after the third day.
Fast, rebuild, heal, rebalance. Most dogs are back to normal in three days.
If diarrhea keeps returning, or a formula like this has not worked on your dog specifically, that is exactly what a consult sorts out.
Book a consultation
Hannah Zulueta obtained her Certificate in Canine Nutrition from CASI Institute. She is also studying for her Doctorate in Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Herbalism from the esteemed Pacific College of Health and Medicine. If you’re as keenly interested in health for yourself, visit her website for human health: Satori Acupuncture and Herbs.
She resides in San Diego with her three dogs, Maggie, Orbit, and Mr. Higgins.
She is available for one on one consultations. She develops evidence-based recipes that meet both NRC and AAFCO nutritional standards while integrating the therapeutic food principles of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine into her formulations.
Additionally, you can find her sharing free content on Instagram.
