Confused about feeding - kibble, raw, vet's opinion, loose stools...

[EmGee]

Hello,
My 14mo female labrador has been fed Orijen Large Puppy food since she was about 3 months old (switched from Royal Canin puppy food for labs) after looking at the allaboutfood website.

She has always been prone to loose stools and diarrhoea which I put down to her eating goodness only knows what when we're out in the forest. She is also keen on dog poo - her own (if we're not quick enough to pick it up in the garden) and others when out on a walk.

Just been to see a behavioural vet for unrelated issues and mentioned the loose stools.

He wasn't keen on Orijen but did look at the ingredients list and said it wasn't too bad, and had the correct amount of phosphore.

Completely no-no'ed the suggestion of a raw diet (due to bacteria).

Said grain wasn't too bad in small doses as easier to digest than some of the non-grain ingredients in Orijen (red lentils, green lentils etc).

Am totally confused. A friend says to raw feed but I live in France and getting ready-made raw feeds delivered is really expensive and I also don't have the freezer space.

Really don't know where to go from here. I know my habitual vet will recommend a 'vet' one. She's already told me kibble should be in a bowl, whereas I do a mix of slow-feeder and scatter in the garden otherwise the meal is gobbled in two nanoseconds.

Sorry this is long but I'm really struggling with doing what's best for Ddog - everyone seems to have a different opinion!!!!!

Have you ever had her checked for parasites?

Most vets are against raw so you won’t get a true answer from them. I don’t feed raw but nearly everyone I know does (I don’t have the freezer space) and they all rave about it and recommend it.

Orijen is a good food but you might want to put her on the adult one and see if that helps. Loose stools can be a sign of being fed too much. The grams are a guideline and you can usually tell by their poo if it’s too much or not enough. Millie’s wolfheart has good information on their website and their food is great too (don’t know if it ships to France though sorry). They also have a nutritionist you can email who is really great.

there is a FB group that’s really helpful called dog sport nutrition. Loads of great advise on there.

Thanks for the replies - the vet today did mention doing a stool analysis as some parasites can be present despite conventional worming treatments being taken regularly.

Good point re adult food - I could try and mix it with the puppy food and see if it helps. Will also check the amount.

I'd recommend royal canine hypoallergenic dry food for your pup- it was the only thing my lab cross pup could handle when he was younger.

What will work for one dog won't necessarily work for another. I have three dogs:

Golden - 14 months - Royal Canin + Butternut Box
Dalmatian - 6 Years - Bella and Duke
Cocker Spaniel - 10 years - James and Ella + Lily's kitchen biscuits.

I tried mine on Orijen once and one was violently sick after three different meals. No issue on any other food, just Orijen. But the other two were fine. I haven't used it since as I won't run the risk of the one that was sick snaffling from the others bowl...

I think you'll just need to carefully shop around and figure out what works best for her. Many vets (including two in my family) often say that a dog eating it's own poo is a sign they're not getting enough nutrients (my cocker did it as a puppy) - puppies are often very prone to it.

Until she's had a parasite check I wouldn't start messing around with her food as it could potentially make her symptoms even worse.

Mine is on Orijen (adult) with no issues. Is her weight OK?
It seems a good idea to do a stool analysis to see is there are any issues there.

It might be time to move onto an adult food, puppy foods are usually high in protein in fat which can cause soft poos in some dogs.

There is solid evidence of raw foods containing some really nasty antimicrobial resistant bacteria that can prove fatal to dogs and be passed to humans both through handling the food or an infected dog, so my view is it's not worth that risk. Frontiers | An investigation of the presence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Enterobacteriaceae in raw and cooked kibble diets for dogs in the United Kingdom (frontiersin.org)

I would say it can take a bit of trial and error to find what your pup does well on, just make sure it's a nutritionally complete diet. If they are prone to an upset tummy then the recommendation from others to try a hypoallergenic food could be a good place to start.

Agree with checking for parasites but after that I'd get her something to help with her digestion.
Slippery elm powder might help.
I'd also give her a really good probiotic (many of them are ineffective) so have a look round for something decent.

Food is an absolute minefield with some real fanatics out there. Ultimately a fed dog is a happy dog. I have a PomChi so very different to a Labrador, but I was having issues with her and have found cutting out chicken entirely has really helped with her stools, she's decided she needs to bankrupt me and really likes Lily's Kitchen wet food, it's a good thing she's tiny!!

On the scavenging side, if your dog is being pretty bad eating anything it can find including poops when out and about, it might be worth muzzle training her and working on a really good "leave it" command, it will help stop the scavenging.

Also, use the All About Dog Food website as a guide, but not as gospel, it's not perfect. Raw feeding in itself is a minefield and does NOT suit every dog.

I had a little one with IBD all her life,on meds. Tried all sorts of diets. Found funnily enough she did best on the basic Chappie tinned food. The usual chicken/ rice recommendation was the worst possible thing to cause her to flare up I always made sure to have this in stock for any flare ups.
Far cheaper than from the vet
https://www.vetuk.co.uk/dog-supplements-cat-supplements-prebiotic-probiotic-products-c-5_172/vetuk-probiotic-kolin-paste-for-cats-and-dogs-p-20356

Hello again, stool samples will be taken in tomorrow for testing (120€ just for the analysis!!).
Her poos have been mixed this week.
Gave her pro-kalin last week. Added spoonful natural yogurt this week!

I will definitely be ordering the adult food but will wait for analysis results.

Thanks everyone for the advice!

Just read your thread, OP. I went through weeks of this and it was eventually resolved by faecal testing - we had guiardia! Hopefully your testing will help. Good luck!

You need to stop putting food in the garden. You are encouraging your dog to forage which needs to stop. You will also risk having vermin in the garden. The slow feeder is good.

As a pp has said, what works for one dos not always work for another. My land on grain free and has never had a problem. One of my vets dogs is on basic chappie kibble as everything else gave him diarrhea.