Chronic Loose Stools (sorry- it's a little long)

[Palin]

Palin will be 1 year old on August 2 and has had chronic loose stools after I changed her food when we brought her home at 9 weeks.

Initially when we got her she was in Iams puppy and her stools were semi firm. I switched her to Pro Plan Chicken and Rice and her stools were almost normal. After talking to our trainer, I switched her to Royal Canin which I thought was a better food and her stools were back to semi firm to soft again.

I spoke to our vet and he put her on an antibiotic saying that he thought we just needed to get her good bacteria back in check. It seemed to help for a while then went back to soft after the meds.

Then, I found this amazing site and found out with some great advise that Royal Canin was still towards the bottom of the chain so I switched to Wellness Puppy. Nightmare!! Loose was not the word. Most days were watery. I tried to wait to see if it got better but the thought of her stomach bothering her so much killed me. We went back to the vet and had blood work done which came back normal. His suggestion was to try Vetri-Probiotic soft chews which really didn’t help either.
After 2 ½ months of watery to mushy stools I decided to try again and have switched to Merrick…… sigh…. After 2 weeks…. No change.

How do I determine if it is a food allergy being that all 5 of the foods I have tried really run the gamut from 2-6 stars and she is still having so much trouble? My vet just seemed to say it was all trial and error but that’s not a good answer in my book. If so, how long do I wait before changing from the Merrick. The owner of the pet store I get the Merrick from said to try a little yogurt mixed in but I think the Probiotic soft chews would be doing the same thing. And why is it that the worst food would have given her stomach the least amount of trouble.

Again, sorry so long but I just can’t stand to see her tummy giving her so much trouble. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[caruse]

First, I think the antibiotics made it worse as antibiotics strip the bowel of the "good bacteria" and cause diarrhea....it may be that she is in a cycle now and needs to build her bowel back up....I would continue a good plain yogurt and add some probiotics...I use Total-biotics that I get online and use a scoop per each cup of food fed to my boxers each meal, this has helped as Frazier has allergies too....I would also consider a good no grain food in the five star category as these are not too high in protein for a younger puppy...right now I am using Acana by Orijen...you can also add a tbsp of 100% pumpkin once a day as this firms the stools up (make sure it 100% pumpkin not pie filling)..I am sure some others with more experience may jump in here too to help...
good luck
Barbaralovicon

 

[kathysboxer]

If you don't mind it, give raw a try. Tyson had horrible watery poo after Canidae changed formulas. Nothing I fed him helped. So, I went raw. It was the greatest thing I ever did!! His poo firmed up within 3 days.
What I'd do right now at this point is give his poor belly a break. Boil up some chicken and rice. Not instant or quick rice. Regular long cooking kind. I used brown rice. Feed this to him for a few days. It is easy on the digestive tract.
Check out the home cooking forum as well. He needs to get "rebalanced" some way.
Once he is doing better, introduce a new food very slowly using the chicken and rice. If the rice is too much for him, try sweet potatoes.
Good luck. I know it's not any fun with runny poo.

 

[Palin]

Thank you both for the advise. Just to follow up...

What I'd do right now at this point is give his poor belly a break. Boil up some chicken and rice.

She is 50 pounds. If she normally gets 3 cups of food now, what would be the equivalent for the chicken and rice?

Also,

I would continue a good plain yogurt and add some probiotics...

When I get her back on the kibble, how much yogurt should I add in?

Thanks again!

 

[Dannimarie]

We've been experiencing the same thing with Zeke - he's 6 months. After reading A LOT of posts on here we decided he had similar issues to irritable bowel. We started him on a probiotic and Prozyme. Then we switched him to Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venision after hearing the great results people have had with this food with chronic runny poo.

He is still in the process of switching to this food completely - but his poop is already more firm than before! It is grain-free and for allergies. I mix some 95% meat in as well since the protein content is a little low (that's why it's in the 4 star range).

Maybe give Merrick another week and if it doesn't work - go for Natural Balance!

Hope it works!

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

I would absolutely do boiled chicken and rice for 10-14 days and give her poor intestines time to settle down. I would also add ProZyme and a good probiotic (IMO ditch the dog ones and just get a human version, any store acidophilus or probiotic) and give one capsule at each feeding (which I'm assuming is twice a day). I agree that the antibiotics probably did more harm than good as they do not distinguish between good and bad bacteria they simply kill ALL bacteria and it can take up to a month to build that good bacteria back up after a round of antibiotics.

Then slowly wean her back onto a kibble after her stomach has had time to heal and settle down. I'm sure it's inflammed up the wazoo.

 

[Palin]

Thanks for all the advice but I am still confused as to how much chicken and rice I should feed her. Can anyone suggest what would be the equivalent to her normal 3 cups of kibble she is getting now? I don’t want to over/under feed her and she is such an active kid that I want to make sure she is getting enough calories. Also, should I the ProZyme and probiotic with the chicken or wait to add it to the kibble when she is back on it.

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

Thanks for all the advice but I am still confused as to how much chicken and rice I should feed her. Can anyone suggest what would be the equivalent to her normal 3 cups of kibble she is getting now? I don’t want to over/under feed her and she is such an active kid that I want to make sure she is getting enough calories. Also, should I the ProZyme and probiotic with the chicken or wait to add it to the kibble when she is back on it.

I would do the ProZyme and the probiotic immediately. Um when I did chicken and rice I did about 3 1/2-3 3/4 when my dog ate 3 cups a day. I did break it up into 3 meals rather than 2 as it digests quicker and he was scrounging around for tidbits on the floor in the afternoon LoL. Plus if you are doing it for an intestine that's inflammed (which in this case you are) smaller meals are better, so I'd do 3 meals a day (if possible) and try 3 1/2 cups if your pup still seems hungry make it 3 3/4. A couple of weeks won't do any harm if it's a little over or a little under.

Also make sure it's not minute rice, and I wouldn't do brown rice for the issue you're having. Just good old fashioned long grain white rice.

 

[fryguy]

We have had the same problem with Charlie snce we got him at 9 weeks. He is now just over 1 year old. I would look at the ingredients in his prior foods. Find out what they had in commom and find a food that is different. When we got Charlie he was on Eukanuba (sp), then switched to Iams at vets wishes, then to Wellness Puppy, then Innova (I think), and tried boild chicken and rice in between some. Each time it got a little better then worse. I looked into it and they were all chicken and rice formulas. I guess his stomach doesnt like one or both of those. So I switched to Natural Balance Potato and Duck. That seemed to help for a while. Then got back to runny. Now we are in the process of switching to Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venison. What a difference. Just in the first week of adding some venison to the duck, he has not firm poo but formed poo. Cant wait untill he is fully switched to see the difference.

 

[TwoDogs]

When I had to put my guy on boiled chicken and rice, my vet recommended a ratio of 1 part chicken to 2 parts rice. He was 65 lbs and I fed him 2 cups (packed) of the mixture twice a day. I kept him on it for about 10 or 12 days before I started transitioning to another kibble. I also added a heaping tablespoon of canned plain pumpkin to each feeding.

If the chicken and rice doesn't seem to be firming things up, it might be that she can't tolerate chicken. You could try the same mixture of lean ground beef (well drained of all fat) and rice.

Use the 10 days to compare the ingredients of all the foods you've been feeding. Different varieties of the same brand contain different ingredients so knowing that she didn't do well on Wellness doesn't tell anything unless we know which Wellness. You could try to compare the foods she has eaten and make note of common ingredients and if those foods caused common reactions but frankly, some of the foods you mentioned have such extensive ingredient lists that it may be nearly impossible to narrow down which may be the culprit(s).

I would transition to a limited ingredient kibble that contains the same single protein and carb that she tolerated the best. If she did alright on the boiled chicken and rice mixture, you could try California Natural Chicken & Rice. My guys do well on that.

As for why she did best on the lowest quality food--that easy. Low quality foods are loaded with grains. Grains go largely undigested, but do absorb water so will make the stools firm. Additionally, low quality kibbles often add beet pulp which has the effect of hardening the stools. Her poops may have been firmer on that food, but I bet they were huge because of all the undigested fillers.