Jack Russell diet

[littlem133]

Morning all! We have a two year old Jack Russell. He's well behaved in almost every way- sleeps well, doesn't bark, never chewed or bitten ... We run with him every other day if not more often. He also has fairly long walks every day. The only issue we have with him is that he has runny poos when he exercises. His first poo is fairly solid but after that we have no chance picking it up. It means we can't take him on pavements, on the school run, to the shops etc. He has a mix of dried and wet food twice a day an we don't feed him scraps or our food at all (though we catch the kids on occasion!). I really want to be able to lead walk him on the pavements. Any advice?

Bump

Try ditching the wet food. I have a jrt and the vet recommended feeding a premium brand dry food only. Terriers are both fussy and greedy at the same time so it may take a bit of perseverance to get him to accept the change.

Thank you very much. I do miss the wet food when I feed him - got to pursuance the rest of the family to do the same! He is a fuss pot. Won't even eat dog biscuits. We don't give any tit bits

Might be worth removing the wet food so they can't slip it in. See if it makes a difference after a few days. Apparently pumpkin is very good for stomach issues. Worth a try.

Pumpkin?! Never heard that before!

We only give dry food to our jrt. Sometimes Wainwright's, sometimes supermarket own brand. She's happy with stuff from Aldi. She eats it slowly through the day. The only other things she eats are whatever disgusting items she finds on walks. Usually other small poo/bits of dead birds! Similar poos, first is very firm and the rest become softer each time but we can pick them up. I suppose a tiny smear might get left on the pavement.

Pumpkin is excellent for digestive issues. We've used it the odd time ours has had diarrhoea. You don't need much but can add it to kibble. We feed raw now and dog has much smaller, more solid poos.

Try Natural instinct dry food even the wet may agree with him.

Thanks again everyone. I'll try and get that dry food. Silly question - do you roast the pumpkin?

From what I've seen it's puréed so boiling is probably easiest. It might also be worth trying a specialist digestive care blend of dog food - will be more pricey but the good thing with a fussy small terrier is they won't get through loads. A quick google shows Royal Canin do one specifically for smaller dogs available to order from pets at home, so not difficult to access. It says it produced optimum stools on 92% of cases and is tailored to the problem you describe.

Thanks. I'll try a week of just the dry food we have (James wellbeing adult) and if there's still a problem I'll order some of that food.

Personally I would ask your vet. I know vets recommended chappie. Google up on it. Any dog with sensitive stomach its recommended for. It worked for my dog. Also its a nightmare when they are runny and you can't clean it up off pavements etc so take a bottle of water with you on school run. Clean up as much as you can and still rest away.

Sorry should say *swill rest away.

Our JR (possibly X) has pets at home fisherman's finest dry (it's in a blue bag) adult small dog salmon and potato. He also most days has a tiny bit of tin (the square ones with the foil lid) mixed in to make it fancy for him. Text book poos every time 😉 The bag lasts forever as he only gets a handful per day.

Tin is from Aldi. I meant to say - on other food he had before his poos could be dead runny. I think the one I recommended has yukka in which is meant to be stool forming 😉

We have a pup but he loves Butternut box - expensive but unless the kids feed him endless treats he has good , easy to pick up poop. He's a terrier too

We had exactly the same issue with our jrt X I switched his food to the Butchers tripe tins (he only has half a tin a day) and Crave biscuits which I leave down and he has when he wants them.

It's not 100% perfect everyday (my dd still gives him the odd treat or dental stick which play him up) but a lot better than it was.

Same with my jrt until I switched them to royal canin. It's pricey but he's 10 and has never been ill.

Sometimes I switch the royal canin stomach one for the RC dental one if his breath starts to smell.

Well dried food for a week hasn't made any difference. We've just had a hill walk and he was the same. He did have a denta stick yesterday though. I'll get some of the other recommended food and see if that works. I do take a bottle of water with me to swill stuff away but avoid pavements most of the time as it's horrible! Thanks everyone

@ThighthighOfthigh and @midnightstar66 which royal canin food?

This was the one I found (incase the picture doesn't show its the Digestive care dry adult dog food for mini breeds). Warning too that dental sticks are terrible for this sort of thing but I'm sure you'd know if it was a once of reaction to that.

If he isn't keen on the kibble you could mix a little sardine in with it

I've heard good things about pumpkin too, and I've seen it in tins in Tesco so you wouldn't even have to prep it - could maybe freeze it in small portions or something?
Bikedog is fed mostly kibble but has whole chicken legs once or twice a week which seem to firm him up a bit.

I think it's the bone that does it, not sure though! Maybe whole raw chicken wings would be better suited for your dog actually as he's a little smaller.

Does it happen only when he runs?