10 month old puppy with very sensitive stomach.

[Jayne05]

Hi, our 10 month old border terrier seems to have a bad reaction to the food we’re giving him. We’ve tried several dry and wet foods but he always ends up with a poorly stomach.
Any recommendations for food that will help firm up his poos? The vet has given us a probiotic to mix in with bland food such as rice, but after 3 days of this he still has loose poos. Temperature is normal and he’s his usual bouncy, playful self. TIA 🙂 I’ve attached a pic of my handsome lad!

How long has this been going on for?

You could try a completely different protein incase he is sensitive to a certain type.

However, we had many many months of similar issues which just got worse and eventually pushed for diagnostic tests to get to the bottom of it.

He’s been like this for the last 2 months. We’ve seen the vet 3 times but he’s gaining weight (now maintaining) and is happy and well apart from his poos.

What are you feeding currently?

Are his poos worse at particular times of the day?

Do you worm regularly?

What are you feeding him currently?

My dog can't take dry food and is on a special low fat wet food for 'sensitive' stomachs.

She had regular outbreaks of pancriatitis before being on the special food. Some foods are just too rich for some dogs.

I also think that I was feeding her too much food, which is upset a dog's stomach. It's rare that a dog needs as much as the advice on the packet/tin tells you.

He’s gorgeous! We have a Border too, with a very sensitive tummy and bouts of being in uncomfortable pain, think it could be a Border trait, her tummy settled down with gluten free hypo allergenic diet, since the introduction of this she’s been fine.

He’s having Skinners puppy dry at the moment, but I’m concerned it may be too rich for him.
His poos are loose all the time at the moment which is a worry and he’s wormed regularly.
Thanks for taking the time to reply 🙂

My dog was the same, rice can give them loose poo.
I've had success with James Wellbeloved dry, turkey and rice.

It’s interesting you say that pigDOfly as the vet said the packet recommendations are vastly overestimated.
Thank you Bonkersblond, think we’re going to have to try eliminating certain foods.

thesunwillout I didn’t realise that rice could actually make him worse. He loves his food but nothing seems to agree with him unfortunately.

Mine digests wet food much better than kibble.

Millieswolfheart does a variety of different proteins if you want to try new ones in case it's a sensitivity to common proteins like chicken.

Yes to feeding too much so start on the very low end of the recommended feeding guides for that particular brand.

Have you tried any raw meats? The inclusion of bone seems to really firm up the poo.
You could try a swap straight to raw, one protein at a time?

Thanks BiteyShark, I’ve heard good things about Millies Wolfheart. Think it’s time to try wet food.

ihaventgottimeforthis, we’ve never tried raw food, could be worth a try with the bones.

You can get ready prepared packages with all the right proportions. It suits many dogs very well, not for everyone though.

But is worth a try.

I did look at raw food a few months ago but was a bit overwhelmed by all the different types. It’s got to be worth a try though, poor lad 🙁. Thanks for replying 🙂

We use James Well beloved Dry chicken and rice, hypo allergenic, ours is fine on this. Please be careful feeding raw, we tried and ours ended up with severe bouts of colitis, we could only ever feed minced meat/bones, even though we had fed complete bones by hand so she couldn’t gobble she still suffered. In the end we stopped and also having young kids the risk of salmonella is too high. A separate fridge is better to keep it in and also trying to keep the kids away from the dog after she’d eaten, I was worried they might pick something up that was left in her beard! Borders love food, ours would eat until she popped I think, I don’t know at what point she would stop if faced with a mountain of food!

Bonkersblond, as a vegetarian for 30 odd years the raw food is a bit of a challenge! I’d definitely need to do more research before trying it. You’re right though, he does love his food and is such a happy little chap.

Jayne it definitely could be a challenge for you! I think the packets are easier to deal with, and I don't let the kids handle it.

Yes I think I’d have to leave it up to my carnivore husband!

Jayne05 Just as an example: my dog weighs 6.7kilo. The recommended amount of food given on the tin is 301grms a day over two meals.

I feed her 242 a day over two meals, so a 59grm difference over a day, which given she's a small dog is quite a bit.

The amount I feed her keeps her happy and healthy. She definitely doesn't need more.

The only food my dog can tolerate is Lily's Kitchen lamb kibble. It's eye wateringly expensive but she reacts to grain, dairy and fish.

My dog started on Skinners dry as recommended by the breeder, but by 9 months he was having loose poops all the time and losing weight. We eventually worked out that chicken is the main cause of his stomach upset, and he's doing much better on a duck diet (we had thought it was grain that was the problem, but wainwright's duck and rice dry has barley in, and he's fine on that).
Main thing for us is to avoid treats with unknown ingredients. Now, we introduce one new food a week as a small portion. if he has an upset stomach, we know what caused it. But we had 10 weeks of a single food diet first, to let his digestion settle back down.

James wellbeloved dry food. Hypoallergenic. My previous dog was allergic to all sorts and all foods (even other hypoallergenic ones) caused bad belly and sickness and he came out on bumps. On James wellbeloved one he is fine.

Mine suffered upset tummy/loose poo's as a pup, looked for advice and Chappie seemed to keep coming up so tried that, sorted her out completely! Cheap too. Chicken and rice or scrambled egg also firmed things up if needed for a couple of days... she still comes running when she hears me whisk something!

I second the Chappie recommendation. My Patterdale has a sensitive tummy, and it is the only food that doesn’t cause problems. He looks the picture of health, shiny coat etc and full of life, plus lovely firm poos (if rather a lot of them). It’s cheapest at Asda. I tried all the quality foods and he always had runny, bloody poos, but with Chappie they’re perfect!