Too soft poop (sorry tmi alert) - dry food?

[lepetitchienbrun]

Puppy is 16 weeks and has been with us 8 weeks. For his first few weeks he had varying degrees of runny poo. Sometimes very runny, sometimes soft.

He is also quite hyper even for a puppy and the trainer thinks it might be related to some stomach issue.

For a few weeks I have fed him on special tinned prescription only food from the vet and that sorted things out BUT he can't stay in this forever as it is not good for weight gain and he is very, very skinny.

So for the last two weeks I have very slowly tried to switch to dry food. I am up to about 25g dry and 50g canned and even that is starting to make his poops revert to being too soft particularly a last bit that's definitely so. They are also quite prolific.

Anyone had similar? We steered clear of food with chicken as I thought it could be a chicken intolerance but the dry food (the third we tried) has no chicken in the ingredients list.

He has been wormed before we got him and after few weeks too so I don't think it's that.

Can you list what dry foods you've tried?

Would you consider raw food? Has been brilliant for my dog.

Arden grange puppy, Hills Prescription id gastro-intestinal and now James Wellbeloved.

Hills dry has chicken in as does AG but the JW doesn't. The tunned food is chicken free (also Hills id).

Could it be he just cannot tolerate dry food in any quantity?

I can't really get him on raw as dh is veggie and it will be a step too far.

First off, has he had a stool sample taken at all? Certain bugs that cause intermittent diarrhoea/loose stools are fairly common in pups and although a stool sample can be pricey (think ours was about £150.00) it's worth it to eliminate any nasties, especially if your pup isn't carrying enough weight.

Our boy, now nearly 1, had similar symptoms as a pup and turned out to have a nasty campylobacter infection, the other thing the vet was considering was E-coli, but there's also Giardia and a couple of others that should be eliminated. Some/all of these can be passed onto humans without proper hygiene and husbandry and children are most at risk.

In the meantime, either put him back onto the food he was tolerating or take him off commercial food completely and just feed him on fresh cooked white fish or chicken (obviously not chicken if you think he's intolerant though) while you are sorting the problem.

He will need small feeds more often than normal to get enough food into him, but barring any underlying medical condition, he should gain weight once his gut is settled. My pup was on 8-9 meals a day of oven baked chicken (complete with skin for the fat content) and regular probiotics at the same age as yours. He was on just chicken for a good few weeks and it hasn't done him any harm, as he's a strapping 28 1/2" to the shoulders and fit as a fiddle these days.

You can buy probiotic paste, such as Canikur here to help repopulate his gut with the right bacteria. My boy had the brand I linked to (we had it from the vet at first, but found it cheaper online) he loves the taste and will happily just lick it off his bowl. I keep it in stock now, as it's great for sorting minor stomach upsets in dogs too.

Then, when he's ready start by just adding literally one piece of your chosen kibble to his meals and build it up very slowly from there. Personally, I'd go for something grain free, as in all grains, including rice. They will be more expensive, but well worth a try, as a lot of dogs can't tolerate grains.

Have a look on this site to compare ingredients and costs.

An alternative would be to get his digestion settled down and try him on raw. You could go for one of the prepared brands like Nutriment if you'd rather not deal with bones and raw meat yourself.

Cross posted. We are a veggie family, but my dogs were on raw for years until we moved house and lost both the freezer space and our local friendly butcher. It's amazing how quickly you get used to it and it really does make a massive difference to their health.

As I mentioned above, the pre-prepared foods, such as nutriment or nature's menu etc, make it much easier if you aren't keen on handling the raw ingredients, so-to-speak.

Also, most vets recommend you worm pups every month until they're at least 6 months old. If you are using the Advocate spot on treatment that does worms and fleas, this needs to be done monthly to cover lungworm.

Our pup had runny poo until we switched to Millies Wolfheart at 6 months. Called the owner Mark and he helped get him settled on the new food within a few days (some of our problems were over feeding, the suggested qty on the bags can be quite high, a few grams can make a big difference)

Think its trial and error, and switching slowly between foods.

Thanks all. Should have said he is on probiotic powder.

I wonder if it was a bug if it would have been ok for a good four weeks or more on the tinned food and then now we have upped the kibble suddenly the prblem is back, albeit mildly?

He has had advocate about two weeks ago and the worming paste about four weeks ago. Due another Advocate dose in a week or ten days.

He has three meals a day but I could reduce the amounts and do more treating between to spread the amount hitting his stomach out maybe.

He didn't tolerate chicken pieces well at all early on so I am reluctant to do chicken again. Will look up grain free options on that site.

Ps does the fact that only the final bit is soft mean anything that could be a clue?

Millie's Wolfheart is a very good food. Alternatively there are quite a few salmon and potato type options about for dogs that can't tolerate either grain or chicken, so they might be an option.

Three meals a day should be fine for normal feeding, you only need the extra feeds if they're on a strict exclusion diet like my boy was, otherwise it's hard to get enough food into them to maintain weight and growth.

Not sure of the significance of it only being soft for the final bit. I know a few of my dogs have been a bit like that when over-excited and of course hot weather can affect some dogs as well.

I will look up Millie's. Where do you buy it from?

I have now got a feeling it might be over feeding for him at least and that he can't quite cope with slightly larger portions.

Will try the snacks in between for training and slightly smaller meals. It was fine this morning again.

Millies can only be bought online. Order for DPD delivery, usually next working day. Have a look at their website, and join their FB group, you can ask for and get lots of advice there on feeding quantities etc. for your particular breed/age/weight of dog.