Constant diarrhoea

[Bingit]

I have a 4 year old golden retriever and he nearly always has a certain amount of diarrhoea. He gets walked at least once a day, and on each walk I will need about 5 poop bags, and by the end I just can't pick it up as it's too watery. About once a month, he gets it so bad he ends up pooping in the house overnight so there's a huge mess to clean up the next day. I always let him out just before we go to bed and first thing in the morning, so he's never indoors for too long and he has opportunity to go. I would be happy to let him out if he was desperate in the night but he never asks, he just goes! I feed him standard dog food, have stopped all treats as that does make him worse. I've varied the types of dog food but nothing makes a difference. I have asked a vet about it but they don't seem bothered or know the answer to it, other than to suggest changing his food which I already have tried. Are there any reasons for him being like this? He is a purebred retriever so maybe it's a pedigree problem?

If your vet “isn’t bothered” it sounds like you need to find a new vet.
Have you tried drastically changing your dogs diet? Like going raw food or fresh cooked food or are you feeding a supermarket kibble and just changing to another brand of kibble?
Have you tried adding any supplements to your dogs food?
Do you wash your dogs water and food bowl regularly and change his water every day?

Yes I was surprised that the vet had such a flippant attitude. He did say Chappie was a 'bland' food for dogs so worth trying, but that didn't make a difference either. I haven't tried a raw diet no, I've just gone through all the dry/wet dog foods that are available. What sort of supplements would be useful? Yes the water gets changed regularly and food bowl gets washed. The thing is, not all of it is diarrhoea. He'll normally start a walk with regular good poos, then it gradually gets worse and worse. Then the very wet accidents in the house are rarer, but still averaging once a month like I said. If it was the food giving him diarrhoea, wouldn't it be 100% of the time rather than some good poos and some bad? I just can't work it out.

When you’re trying new foods you need up 2 8 weeks to see if it makes any difference, vets can take blood and allergy test to make the process easier

Things we have tried/been recommended are a tablespoon of natural bio yoghurt on food at each meal. Vet should also be able to give a probiotic.

Is it possible he’s allergic to any plants in your garden? I wondered if our dog chewing one of our plants had caused her diarrhoea.

I'd be getting him off any 'standard food' and starting from scratch.
Raw feeding gives much firmer and less frequent poos, but you might need to make the switch slowly. Pooing that many times a day is not right, and liquid poos... nope.
What is he actually having currently?

My dog used to have frequent diarrhoea as a puppy. Initially we put it down to the usual puppy tummy upsets and also tried lots of different foods but it never really stopped and he had episodes where it was terrible.

I asked my vets for more invasive tests after several bad episodes as I just knew it wasn't right and wanted to know exactly what was wrong. After an endoscopy we discovered the problem and could then treat it directly and he has now been ok for many months.

I would be changing vets if they didn't take you seriously as it sounds like there is a chronic issue. If it is food related you could try an exclusion diet but it can be very hard as you would need to stop them eating anything else for many weeks.

Agree with everybody else - you need a second vet opinion. My first dog Toby had similar to this and when he was 6 was diagnosed with stress induced colitis. So much easier to deal with when you have a diagnosis. Agree about the food as well - start from scratch. There are so many foods now and options.