Immodium
Brody enjoys napping, resting, and sleeping. Except when he's fulfilling his self-appointed role as Squirrel Alarm! Central for the neighborhood, he's happy to stretch out on his pillow (ok, two pillows) and chill. But Thursday night, Brody didn't sleep well, and so, of course, neither did we. Every couple hours, he whined and nudged to go out-not his usual behavior at all. He ate his breakfast eagerly on Friday morning and didn't act otherwise ill.
Everything was pretty well cleaned up by the time Jim got home, and all the furkidz' appetites were normal at dinnertime, i.e. they were ravenous. Brody continued to need potty breaks every couple of hours during the evening.
About 11 p.m., our neighbor, who does greyhound rescue and had been observing the in-out, in-out at our house, suggested a dose of Immodium would address Brody's problem and Brody relished the peanut butter we surrounded the little pill with. However, within a half hour, Brody was agitated, whining, restless, and pacing.
Having gotten little sleep the night before, we desperately wanted to snuggle under the goose down, but Brody would have none of it. He jumped up on the bed repeatedly, which he never does. He wasn't in pain, had no temp, didn't want to go out-he was just restless.
A call to the Emergency Clinic assured us that he would metabolize the medication within a couple of hours and there was nothing immediate that we should do but wait it out. The only thing that would calm him was being close to one of us, so Jim gathered some blankets and pillows and stretched out on the bedroom floor with Brody on one side and Jane on the other. About halfway through the night, Brody was settled enough that Jim could come back to bed, and this morning, Brody's back to his usual calm self.
We still don't know what caused it, but a web search turned up this info on the MN/WI collie rescue site (http://www.mwcr.org/be_aware.htm)
"Immodium - Warning for Collies"
DO NOT GIVE COLLIES IMMODIUM !! It's the brain barrier block, similar to giving them Ivermectin products (Heartgard 30). I used to use Immodium for years & never had a problems - but within certain bloodlines you can kill them, and the dogs in rescue are randomly bred Collies, so we have no idea the genetics involved - and even though I used it for years with no problems, once I read about this, I decided not to use it any longer at all.
I use Metronidazole now for any stool problems & usually one treatment does it, maybe two at most. I get on it right away as soon as I see a bad stool starting. We use it at dog shows - some young dogs just starting out will get the dog show trots so to speak - and we use it for that too.
You want yogurt with live active cultures - yogurt is not the same as giving whole milk to a dog. It helps to settle & sooth the gut. I also give yogurt whenever a dog is on antibiotics . As for how much - a couple of heaping tablespoons - maybe more if the dog is not eating much else. Each case is a little different." | 
