Rescue with the Runs - Help! (TMI Warning!!)

[WoodRose]

We adopted our gorgeous 2 year old springer spaniel 10 days ago. He is settling well, but his poo is diabolical. He was with a fosterer for 1 month and she had him on Chappie with a dollop of yoghurt 3x per day as he is underweight. His poos were soft but firm enough to pick up.

Since we have had him, I have been introducing Fish 4 Dogs working salmon and potato so he is now getting 100g of fish4dogs, mixed with a generous spoonful of Chappie, slippery elm powder and a blob of yoghurt. However, since he has arrived, he has had diarrhoea and it doesn't seem to be improving. His coat is very dry and lacklustre although he has bags of springer energy - particularly if there is a ball in the vicinity!

I know that a change of environment can cause tummy upset, but how long should I leave it before I try something else/ see our vet? Does his diet seem reasonable? He is a short, thickset sort of working springer and I do wonder whether I am feeding him too much.

Any help/advice greatly appreciated!

Oh dear. Fish4Dogs is a great food, but it doesn't seem to be agreeing with your lad. I would go back to what he was eating in foster and see if that gets him back to "soft but firm". Give it a couple of days. If it still doesn't I would take him to the vet, probably armed with a sample - he might have picked up a parasite etc. Keep trying to ensure he is drinking plenty of water. You could also give him one of the electrolyte packs if his runs have been very bad - they will help keep his potassium/sodium etc levels right.

If it does firm up, then unfortunately you will have identified that F4D doesn't agree with him (or more accurately, one of the ingredients). Chappie contains lots of fish, so it's unlikely to be that, so it could be the potato.

Once you get him settled, sardines occasionally and the odd raw egg will help his coat. I always work on the rule of thumb that it takes a rescue six months for their coat/condition to really get how I like it, as you may be working with a backlog of poor nutrition, stress, not much grooming etc.

Wishing you all the best.

Thanks Scuttlebutter

Re the drinking - he is slurping ENORMOUS amounts of water. We have a large water bowl for both dogs and I am having to refill it 2-3 times per day. Is this normal i.e. nerves; or could it be systematic of something else?

If he does firm up on Chappie alone, could you suggest a better quality food which could eventually replace the Chappie? I RAW feed my collie but am worried this might be a step too far for my spaniel at the moment. In fact, I did offer him a raw chicken wing a few days ago. It is fair to say it was not a resounding success. My ball mad boy assumed it was a throw toy to be repeatedly retrieved and dropped at my feet.

I agree with Scuttle about getting him back onto Chappie for the time being, but it is also worth checking how much he weighs.

I feed mine F4Ds and they need significantly less than they recommend - I feed at a rate of about 10g per kg body weight and they don't get anything else to top it up. I'd also recommend getting a sample from them of their plain white fish and potato to try; the salmon and herring varieties can be quite rich.

Water could well be stress, it could be something else. I'd keep an eye on it for a week or two and if it continues a trip to the vet is in order. He may always have drunk buckets of water, of course!

my rescue dog suffered like yours for a good while - it turned out she had both lactose and wheat intolerances. The way we dealt with it was to go to the petshop and buy a big tub of doggie vitamin powder, probiotics and cod liver oil. We would then make a huuuuuge bowl of rice and mix up some mackerel in tomato sauce into it, along with all of the additives we bought from the petshop. We'd feed her this mixture twice daily - it used to last us a week in the fridge - the following week we'd give ham and scrambled egg mixed in with rice etc. You might need to add extra calories/up the meal portions if your dog is severely underweight - although my dog soon put on weight (you could see all of her ribs) as soon as the diarrhoea stopped. After about 3/4 (maybe longer) months we started introducing tiny bits of milk into the rice, until we could happily pour a fair amount it - we then tried wheat, though failed miserably with that, but we did introduce dog biscuits and finally dog meat (all gluten free)

Now at 14 my dog has a nice covering of middle aged fat and no wheat/dairy intolerance.

Chappie is quite nutritious, my vet recommends it to dogs with poor appetite as the smell is very attractive to them.