Need a little advice on the canned food to firm things up :)

 My guy Woobie had chronic mooshy poops on Natural Balance too.  If they don't seem to have food allergies, is there some other reason they're on the RX foods?  Some people have had good success adding pumpkin, yogurt (plain) and probiotics to their dogs' diets.  Woobie gets the runs on pumpkin, so it doesn't always work for every dog the same way.  My two have done really well with the addition of fiber, in the form of psyllium husks and Fiber One cereal.  I homecook for them but I think, after speaking with your vet, it would be easy to mix either of those in with canned food, just start slow and small so it's manageable for them.

Good luck! 

you might just have to experiment. Have you tried the canned EVO?

I have never tried Evo, I'm lust looking for any advice for something to try out. And I do give them plain organic yogurt every day  (3 tbs for each, they love it). They were doing well on the Triumph canned  over a year ago, then I fed home cooked for 2 months, and then Evanger's which they were doing spectacular on, but now I don't feel safe giving it to them although there were never any recalls for it. I was thinking maybe Solid Gold canned?

My current rotation is 1/3rd TOTW Pacific Stream, 1/3rd (which works out to 1/3rd of a can) Wellness canned, and 1/3rd homecooked low fat meat.   Prancers poop are firm on this.   I do think its a matter of slowly changing foods and experimentation.    Smaller meals also help ALOT - Prancer gets 2 main meals a day (with the canned food and homecooked).   The kibble 1/3rd of her diet is fed throughout the day as treats or in her treat ball that she has to work at to get to.     Maybe more frequent smaller meals  would help your "kids" ?

have you tried NOT feeding the yogurt? many dogs are lactose-intolerant and get runny stools when given dairy. 3 tablespoons is quite a lot for a little dog on a daily basis.

I do feed them 2 meals a day, 1-st around 11 am, and second is around 7 pm. I give them 2 oz. of canned per meal to each dog. Their weight is good. They get pieces of fruits sometimes as a treats, and Yogurt in the late eve, after their bully sticks chewing session. Maybe MudPuppy is right and I should cut a little on a yogurt, I used to give them 1 big tbsp before, when I fed the Evangers, and they had a very firm stools. But it might have been the food itself and not the yogurt. My previous vet told me that yogurt supposed to firm up, thats why I decided to enlarge the servings. JoAnnDe, is Taste of the Wild Pacific Steam a dry food or is it canned. We only eat canned, so thats what I'm looking for, if it is canned I would try it. Thanks :)  

 Have you tried California Natural canned lamb and rice; Jessie has nice firm stools on it.

I see that California Natural has salt and  Flaxseed in it? Isn't it a bit tricky for dogs?

PomMommy

I see that California Natural has salt and  Flaxseed in it? Isn't it a bit tricky for dogs?

  Dogs require a certain amount of sodium. I don't know if flaxseed would irritate a sensitive dog's digestive tract but other than that won't cause a problem unless your dog is allergic to it.
 

It was sort of an oddball fact that Ben could tolerate flaxseed but not flax oil.  I know now he just didn't do well on any but animal fats but it sure was a mystery when I figured that fact out!

I'm not a huge believer in adding stuff first to correct a problem - I like to simplify things and try to track down the trouble makers.  So, to my way of thinking, I'd go to a bland diet I knew they would tolerate, and then after giving their systems a few weeks to rest and recuperate, start adding in possible triggers. 

Yogurt isn't magic for every dog equally - mudpuppy is right, some dogs are lactose intolerant - small amounts of yogurt might be okay because the probiotic benefit outweighs the small amount of protein exposure for the dog that's not TOO sensitive (I'm that way myself).  But, increase that and then you are putting abunch of dairy protein in there.  Ben could hardly tolerate any lactose at all. 

Once I confirmed that all the food sources I wanted to feed were NOT triggers, I'd start adding things.  The first thing I'd go to is probiotics and prebiotics.  Instead of yogurt, I use a high quality concentrate - I get more of my money's worth and consistent results from that.  And I can use it when I'm "troubled in spirit" - it doesn't take as much exposure to dairy protein to get results.

You can get commercial products that supply prebiotic action (prebiotics are nutrients which set up conditions that encourage probiotic growth).  These usually say "FOS" or might be acacia extracts or other natural sources of soluble fiber (I use jicama since I've got it around all the time for me too).  I like to try pectin from apples and other similar fruit, and pineapple to see whether enzymes can help.

Soluble fiber starts me down the road of insoluble fiber.  I want to be careful there because if the source of the problem is an infection or allergies (ie, inflammation), insoluble fiber CAN make it worse.  Again, I tend to reach for natural foods that also supply their own moisture with the fiber:  veggies, fruits, etc.

I always give something a few days, go back to square one, and then start with a clean slate.  I journal to track what worked and to what extent because it's easy to forget details when you start experimenting.

Vets are of little help with this sort of problem because very few dogs die of soft stools so it's hard for them to get excited, and also, more importantly, little time in vet school and professional training, is spent addressing "touchy tummy syndrome."  Food producers are just now starting to get serious themselves.  So, in this as in many other things, you have to be the vet's helper.  Collect data and consult when you feel you need help, or if your dog's condition takes a turn for the worse.

I would go back to less yogurt and cut out the bully sticks too and see if that helps.  Those things make Willow sick. 

which of the evangers formulas did you use to feed? a lot of their formulas are very "basic", just meat with vitamins; maybe some of the "95% meat" formulas made by several different companies these days would work. It might be all the fruits and veg etc. that so many companies like to add causing the problems.

When I was feeding Evanger's, I was feeding Lamb and Rice, Duck and sweet Potatoes, Whole Mackerel with gravy, Organic Turkey with Carrots, and I was giving a different flavored can every time I opened one. No 95% meats, because they are just a kibble toppers (intended for supplemental feeding only). And my dogs poop was SO  firm, that I had to mix in some Metamucil (as per my Vets advice) for one of them, because it looked like he was constipating a little. And I was also give a 1 tbsp of yogurt and bully sticks every day. I'm going to get some California Natural today and see how that works, but to be honest, their stool is not like very mushy, it just sticks to the floor, when I'm picking it up, and I have to wash their butts more often, so thats why I think they need a little firm me up at the moment. I wanted to switch off from IVD and Hill's anyway, not a big fan of those ingridients, it was just something that my Vet suggested for me to try. And also what are your thinking about the Eagle Pack Holistic Select ===>>> http://www.eaglepack.com/Pages/HS_CanDog.html         canned food? Could that be good for my two boys?

Also guys can I ask what are your thoughts about Timberwolf Organics. I was considering it for a long time, and would love to try it. If any of you is feeding it it, I would love to hear your feedback. I'm only interested in canned food. The ingredients looks very good to me.