Worried about my dog

[GelatinousDynamo]

First things first, already booked an appointment at the vet's but it isn't until Thursday, and I'm worried and was hoping someone might give me some ideas as to what could be wrong with my dog, so that I could ask more informed questions. Also want to get this off my chest...

I've got a kooikerhondje puppy (well, a teenager, almost 7 months old). He's been having some digestive problems, it's been about three weeks since it started. It gets better for a few days, then gets worse again, then again better and so on. We're in a very bad phase right now.

His poo always looks very good in the morning, firm, but during the day he always develops diarrhea. Every day is the same, no matter what he eats. He has been on a light diet for four days (rice, chicken and carrots with peas, all cooked very soft), but nothing has changed. He eats slowly and hesitantly (previously he always inhaled his food, it started even before the light diet). He also sheds more than usual and started licking his paws (but that might also be due to the recent growth spurt). He's not dehydrated.

Any ideas or tips? I'm googling myself crazy here, and asking doc Google always ends with self-diagnosed cancer, so please help me stay sane here.

Almost forgot 😊

It sounds like allergies to me, especially if he now has itchy paws.

Chicken is a very common allergy in dogs - can you try switching to white fish?

Agree with the PP. Try eliminating chicken and see if anything improves. Your pup is gorgeous btw.

Beautiful dog! My first thought was allergies.

The thing is, his previous food when it started was horse or beef, so I don't think it's due to chicken, he's only been getting it for the last four days

Have you checked the ingredients for things like chicken meal? Lots of dog food contains chicken even if it has a different flavour.

First he's gorgeous, but don't understand the name of the breed. I wouldn't give a dog with a gut problem veg,you want low residue,rest the gut, same as humans. Fish/rice/pasta/chicken...my vet calls it the beige diet.

Just checked to be sure - definitely no chicken.

That's good. I would still worry about allergies with those symptoms though - I walk a dog who has a really long list of allergies - he can only really eat duck, turkey and venison in terms of meat, anything else just goes straight through him and he itches like mad.

They're a Dutch breed (duck decoy dogs), hence the weird name. They are not very well known or popular in the UK, but more common where I live.

I'll try leaving the veg out, but he's still young, so can't keep him on the "beige diet" for too long...

Thanks, I'll ask the vet to run allergy tests, as well as test for parasites.

When mine are unwell they have chicken thighs and white rice cooked for them. I then take the meat off the bones and boil the bones for a bit of stock and few days of that and the poop returns to normal.

Gorgeous boy! Sounds likely a food intolerance/ allergy with itchy paws or possibly parasite.
There are veterinary diets for allergies that are hydrolysed proteins, probably super expensive but won't need to stress about nutrition and less likely to cause more inflammation if is an food allergy so gut has chance to recover while work out the cause.

I use probiotic paste like protexin pro-kolin or similar cheaper brands when my dogs get diarrhea as helps bind and settle gut pretty quickly, i've had it dispensed by the vet but doesn't require prescription and there are also powder or capsule pre/probiotics to support gut longer term.

I'm not sure why chicken & rice is always advised as my dogs weren't particularly food sensitive but tended to get paint peeling wind and soft poo on any chicken based food/treats and to lesser degree turkey and for some dogs the boiled rice can also be an issue. White fish, scrambled egg or mash potato (no milk/butter) as alternative is ok with those are bland.

Stop with the rice - it's absolutely no good at all for dogs. Same with the carrots and peas.
Feeding rice to poorly dogs is very outdated advice.

I would put him on scrambled egg for a few days.
Then I would give him lightly cooked meat. Single protein. Turkey mince is often good. Avoid chicken if you think he may be allergic to it.
Is he drinking ok?

My dog gets itchy and soft poo, rotten wind with both chicken and beef - apparently the most common allergies for dogs and obviously the most common varieties of dog food!

She now eats duck and veg Millie's wolfheart kibble mixed with duck forthglade wet food and no issues. Occasionally shr gets a bit of pork, lamb or turkey which she can tolerate. But even a tiny bit of chicken or beef and she suffers!

GORGEOUS! Is he cocker size?

Try a fish based food.

He's lovely.

He's lovely. Is he of a nervous disposition? If it's not allergies, it could be stress. My dog starts the day off quite well. If we go for a walk, the first one or two are solid and then they get more watery until they are just brown water drips. He will do around 10 on a one hour walk. He's fine but can only eat dry biscuits and actual meat.

@Noblehound thank you, I'll try to order the paste.

@carerneedshelp I've never heard of scrambled eggs for dogs, my dogs only ever had hardboiled eggs and always more as a special treat... I'm worried he wouldn't be getting enough nutrients (even if I managed to avoid the calorie deficit) from just the eggs, he's growing very fast at the moment

Yes, very similar. They are a spaniel-type breed, but no gun dogs.

He is rather sensitive, but I wouldn't call him nervous, he focuses well on walks.

Your poor doggy! NYE must have been hell for him.

My dog has allergies too. Our vet always said keep them on their normal food that their gut is used to, but in smaller, more frequent feeds when they’re I’ll, rather than giving them scrambled egg/chicken/fish that their gut hasn’t had.
We find a grain and rice free kibble in fish or turkey flavour is best for our allergies dog. Remember that treats should be the same base.

@GelatinousDynamo well oddly, I've never met a dog so thoroughly unbothered by fireworks. I've even walked him accidentally as neighbours have set them off and his biggest reaction was to watch one go up and as it exploded he shook because he thought it landed on him. But move too quickly in your own house and he's off!

Could be giardia, quite common in puppies i think. Mine had it and was skinny for a while, I tried all the diet changes to no effect because its a parasite! Went away with antibiotics.

I would try not to worry too much about nutrients in the short term - what you need is for his poo to firm up, then you can worry about his long-term diet.

Is he up to date on his wormers?