Dog Community

Poopy Puppy Problems!

Posted : 1/24/2007 5:34:41 AM

I'm having problems with my new pup! He's about 6-8 months old and I got him from the dog shelter a week and a half ago. He has had non-stop diarrhoea - light brown and quite

udding-y. Every now and then it looks a BIT more formed. This has been going on ever since I got him, and his stools were fairly runny while he was at the shelter as well. They were feeding him Purina Puppy Canned and some puppy kibble that wasn't labelled (came in a plastic bag.....). I fed him the rest of the puppy kibble for the first two days, with about 1 cup

uppy kibble and 1/2 cup Canidae All Life Stages Dry - twice a day. And then I did one cup Canidae and 1/2 cup the

uppy kibble for two days. Then just pure Canidae, which I've now built up to 4 cups (coz he started looking a bit skinny). I've given him raw K9 (see [linkhttp://www.k9natural.co.nz]www.k9natural.co.nz[/link]) once in the morning since then. Three days ago I gave him the

urina Puppy Canned stuff with his Canidae for two meals, and his stools firmed up the tiniest bit (I think!) - but I really don't want to be feeding him Purina canned. Since then I have just given him Canidae and it's pretty bad. Overnight he can go up to three times, which I think is a bit excessive, and normally about twice during the day. I know I switched him onto new food pretty quickly - but I really want to feed him the quality stuff. I was just reading the Canidae feeding guidelines and thought maybe 4 cups a day might be too much, and causing the diarrhoea, or maybe Canidae just isn't right for him? But if it's all natural, I don't see the problem. I'm thinking I might cut him down to 3 cups a day, and I started giving him about, 200 gm pumpkin with his Canidae tonight. Any ideas? I think I've stressed his body out!

glenmar

Posted : 1/24/2007 6:12:53 AM

Has he been completely checked for worms and parasites? Four cups a day of Canidae is a LOT. My gsds only get 3 cups for their one kibble meal....some of that diaherra could be from over feeding, but I think my first step would be to have a stool sample checked.

Rick B

Posted : 1/24/2007 8:47:24 AM

He has had non-stop diarrhoea - light brown and quite pudding-y.

ORIGINAL: lil_valwee

I agree with Glenda that worms or some other

arasite may the cause. I thought my (then 11 month old) rescue had giardia when we got her (I walked her in the woods and she drank from a creek) but vet tests were negative. Though I dropped the SciDi regular dry (which shelter receives for free) I did not realize at the time that she was gluten intolerent. I was searching for food for her. Like some humans she cannot digest barley, wheat and rye (high gluten grains).

Any food with those grains gave her poop that was kind of like oatmeal. She did not have diarrhea all of time (uncontrolled pooping) but never had formed poop. Grain free works best with my dog but a couple of grains do not seem to bother her too much.

I don't know if you are feeding dairy (or the kibble has it) but, like humans, some dogs digest dairy well. You may want to read [linkhttp://www.dogtorj.net]www.dogtorj.net[/link] .

Santino Rizzo

Posted : 1/24/2007 9:11:43 AM

The dog could still be adjusting to new surroundings. The added stress could affect digestion. Canned pumpkin (not the pie filling) helped our puppy when he had the same problem. We gave him around tablespoon a day.

mudpuppy

Posted : 1/24/2007 9:17:57 AM

take a stool sample to the vet NOW. If he's had severe diarrhea for some time he is in danger of dehydration and serious illness.

UrbanBeagles

Posted : 1/24/2007 2:56:47 PM

Worm this pup with Panacur (fenbendazole), decrease the amount of food being fed by close to half, and see if that helps ... you can always give him Pedialyte to combat dehydration in the meantime & also 10mg of Pepcid AC to settle his stomach. If you try all of this and he still has problems with diarrhea/loose stools, a vet visit is definitely in order!

Valerie Tan

Posted : 1/24/2007 3:11:05 PM

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. I don't believe it's worms as he was wormed by Dogwatch just before I got him (less than 2 weeks ago), along with necessary vaccinations and being neutered. He was pretty well checked out by the vet. I think I might just go with the pumpkin and start feeding him a bit less. I've just been told that with puppies they do need to be fed more, as they are growing? And the instructions said 2-4 a day for puppies. But yea - will see how he goes on 3 cups.
I'm pretty sure Canidae is grain free. But no dairy in it. He's otherwise very healthy, lots of energy, beautiful coat and everything. He doesn't seem unhappy at all! I think the soft stools are only bothering me! But i'll see how he is at the end of the week, and take him to the vet if there still seem to be problems.

chewbecca

Posted : 1/24/2007 3:27:30 PM

an added aggravation might be that not only were you introducing one new food (Canidae), but you were also introducing that K9 new food as well.
If you could or wanted to, I'd go all raw. But some choose not to do this. Adding pumpkin is good and you could also try some probiotics and/or plain yogurt.

Pretty pit bull, by the way![

]

Boxermom4

Posted : 1/24/2007 7:04:49 PM

So sorry your poor baby is having this problem[

] Canidae is not grain free. It's a great food, but I do think he's just eating too much right now, even if you wanted to split up his meals giving him them more frequently, but the same amount at the end of the day. Also, the pumpkin, one TSP in his food once a day is all you need, any more than this will actually "give" them runny poops. Good luck, hope your babies feeling better real soon.

Margaret Tyler

Posted : 1/24/2007 7:43:19 PM

I would have him checked for worms again.

He could also still be reacting to the wormer. In some dogs it causes the runs.

I would continue feeding Canidae. Follow the feeding instruction though. And add pumpkin as mentioned above. Try that for a while.

Stef w

Posted : 1/25/2007 8:01:48 AM

You should see the vet first though - there might be something else and you have to worry about dehydration when it's gone on this long.

Then if it was me I would probably fast him for a day and then introduce something like rice or oatmeal and yogurt/honey until he stopped having to go excessively. Then I would start slowly mixing the kibble in, but I agree with everyone else, 4 cups is a lot. My guys were getting 3C a day and they're over 80lbs.

Edited to add: Tux was loose for about a week when I first brought him home. He was nervy and a change of food - I called my vet and they checked him and didn't find anything - it was just the transition.

Lilea Storm

Posted : 1/25/2007 12:05:02 PM

don't most wormers need two doses? And if your pup was only given one he would still need the 2nd? I don't know, I think I would see a vet just to make sure and if nothings wrong, I would try another food after a week if it doesn't get better. I know you want to feed a good food but not all dogs do well on all "good" foods. I would switch back to the purina canned and see if that helps. If it does, then you could start trying different high-grade foods until you find one that works as well as the purina for his poop. But it is important to make each switch a gradual one I think.

Valerie Tan

Posted : 1/25/2007 3:35:56 PM

After three meals with pumpkin, he's already heaps better! His stools are partially solid with the end being a bit puddingy. My sister tells me he didn't really have DIARRHOEA but just really loose stools. I guess although he was going quite a lot, he did have enough control to hold it if he was in a car, or in a crate. Last night he only went once, and then once again this morning - which is a vast improvement on his 3-4 times. I'm taking him to the vet at the beginning of next week - just to double check all the worming and what not!

Valerie Tan

Posted : 1/25/2007 3:37:41 PM

Also, yeah I have been cutting him back to 3C a day now. He was on 4.5C at the dog shelter - so I assumed 4C was okay! But yeah, because he's only 6 mthish - they're meant to eat heaps, aren't they?

Lilea Storm

Posted : 1/25/2007 3:38:53 PM

Thats great!! Thank goodness you won't have to go through the hassel of finding a new food or pinpointing an allergy!