# Food and loose poos?



## jenlaur (Jun 24, 2009)

Riley was switched from Eukanuba (breeder's food) to Wellness. This was done over a couple of weeks. She had firm poos at first then loose. She was on Wellness (puppy) for probably 1 1/2 months and poos started becoming looser. I gradually switched her to Chicken Soup and got even looser poos. Now, back on Wellness (Lamb, barley and salmon formula) she hasn't firmed up at all. I've tried pumpkin, off and on for the last month. One day she's semi-firm then by the evening she's back to loose again. Should I leave her on the Wellness longer to see if she improves? Or should I try another food? I was thinking of Fromm. By the way she gets 1 1/2 cup kibble twice a day, she also gets a spoonful of plain yogurt in the morning, spoonfull of wet Wellness in the evening and an occasional egg (about twice a week). And she is 5 1/2 months old. I just scooped poop and there were a couple of very runny ones :-(


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## msdogs1976 (Dec 21, 2007)

You might be switching around too much. How was he doing on Euk? Another thing to look at is how much you are feeding. Too much food can cause these problems.


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

How old is she? Another possibility is that she has coccidia, which is difficult to find in stools and in puppies, will often show up after being stressed (going to a new home, starting a new food, etc.)

Coccidia is very common and requires a different fecal test than either giardia (another possibility) or worms.


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## jenlaur (Jun 24, 2009)

msdogs1976 said:


> You might be switching around too much. How was he doing on Euk? Another thing to look at is how much you are feeding. Too much food can cause these problems.


She was on Wellness from about 11 weeks of age until about 18 or 19 weeks. Chicken Soup (with Wellness mixed in) for only about 2 - 3 weeks and then back on Wellness. She's been on Wellness only for about a week now. We began the switch from Eukanuba at about 9 weeks of age. She was not on it long and (without getting into a food debate) I do not want her back on it. 

I should add, on the days she gets the egg I do not give her a scoop of wet. She is being fed the amount the breeder suggested for her age. She was on the slow growth plan and now, at about 5 1/2 months weighs about 37 lbs.


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

It could very well be the food. Flora had stomach problems for the first like... 8 months I had her, and it ended up being because I was putting her on the fancier foods and they were too rich for her. Solid Gold and Blue Buffalo gave her watery stools; Purina Pro Plan firmed that up immediately. I was so glad to finally be able to give my girl some relief.

Good luck! It's gross, I know.


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## davepharos (Jan 20, 2008)

if he was doing fine on Eukanuba, why not go back to it?

my dog was doing great on pro plan. but reading all the stuff on here about food, i wanted to try some of the "better" foods. i tried a handful of the super premium expensive foods, and they all left him with soft serve poop.

after messing around with pumpkin, and leaving him on various foods for months, i ended up just going back to pro plan, where his poop returned to nice hard ones.


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## MyBentley (May 5, 2009)

Make sure there are no parasites like coccidia - need more than a stool screening to rule them out.

Three cups of the Wellness Lamb (405 kcal/cup) seems like quite a bit for a 37 lb. dog -perhaps cut back the total daily amount by 1/2 cup.

If there are still problems after ruling out parasites and cutting back the food quantity, maybe barley is an irritant to your dog. Both the Chicken Soup and the Wellness have quite a bit of barley. Through trial and error I know both of my dogs don't do well with it and so avoid it.


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

She's a little old for the problem to be coccidia.

I will say that one of my Goldens cannot tolerate raw or hard boiled eggs-she gets monumental diarrhea  She's fine with egg in kibble but just cannot take it otherwise. And another one does not handle dairy foods well-yogurt gives him the runs.

I would try cutting out the extras, including the canned food, and see if that helps. It can take several days for everything to work its way through her system.

Also, if she has always had loose stools, have you tried something like Tylan? It works wonders on diarrhea with no specific cause. I always keep Tylan on hand in my first aid kit, in case someone gets the runs, especially on the road for dog shows.


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## jwemt81 (Aug 20, 2008)

I agree that you may be switching her food a bit too much. Wellness is one of those foods that dogs either do excellent on or they do horribly on. We tried Wellness for a couple of months when Tucker was a puppy and he constantly had loose stools. It was just too rich for him. I would also get her to the vet just to rule out the possbility of a parasite, such has coccidia. It's very common in puppies. You may also want to consider a food with a little less protein. I'm wondering why you took her off the Eukanuba if she was doing fine on it. It's a perfectly fine food.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm one of those people who's wondering if you took her off Eukanuba for philosophical reasons even though she did well and now are subjecting her to "higher quality" foods that aren't agreeing with her in order to satisfy your own sense of dog food philosophy.

If that's not the case, I apologize in advance, but it's something I see a lot.


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## MyBentley (May 5, 2009)

I think we need to respect the poster's statement of "I do not want her back on it (Eukanuba)" and offer suggestions and comments regarding what her situation is at the moment.


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

Without knowing the calories, 3 cups plus the extras seems like a lot of food each day, unless she is VERY active. I would at least cut out the extras, give it several days and see if that helps.

Also, it is possible that her intestines have gotten irritated and have not had a chance to settle down. Tylan is good for that, as is "resting" her insides with boiled hamburger or chicken, and rice, until her stools firm up again. Once they firm up, you can begin substituting a small amount of kibble until she is switched 100% to kibble.

What suggestions has your breeder had? Has she been checked by your vet for parasites?


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## jenlaur (Jun 24, 2009)

Thank you all for your input. I appreciate the advice. As for the dog food debate....I will not get drawn into that and this is the last I will say about Eukanuba: she will not go back on it. I am not of the belief that it is a perfectly fine food. I am looking for a higher quality food and that is direction I will continue to head. As advised by some folks I am going to give her tummy a rest tonight. After some reflection, I agree that 3 cups may have been too much. The 3 cups a day the breeder recommended was on the Eukanuba and I did not take that into account. I'm also going to give her only kibble while she adjusts to a new food. Thanks again! You guys are the best!


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## jenlaur (Jun 24, 2009)

MyBentley said:


> I think we need to respect the poster's statement of "I do not want her back on it (Eukanuba)" and offer suggestions and comments regarding what her situation is at the moment.


Thanks


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## LuckyPup (Sep 9, 2009)

Tahnee GR said:


> She's a little old for the problem to be coccidia.
> 
> I will say that one of my Goldens cannot tolerate raw or hard boiled eggs-she gets monumental diarrhea  She's fine with egg in kibble but just cannot take it otherwise. And another one does not handle dairy foods well-yogurt gives him the runs.
> 
> ...


 
Where would you get Tylan? Luck has stool issues since I have had him, completely unexplained.


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## Sucker For Gold (Jan 13, 2009)

You can get Tylan online. Here one link:

http://www.amazon.com/Tylan-Soluble...1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1258670181&sr=8-1

It's $50.00 for a 100 gram bottle, but that will last you a VERY long time. A good dosage is 1/8 of a teaspoon twice daily. It's a powder, so you can sprinkle it right on their food.

I am a big fan of this stuff.

Tylan is a lot like Metronidazole, but it's much safer to use and you can use it for *LONG* periods of time. It has antibiotic properties that will help restore the balance of microbes in the gut. It is an anti diarrheal....you usually see a difference in 24 hours. It is also an anti-inflammatory that helps resolve any colitis that is present. 

It was the one thing that solved the constant problems we were having with our puppy. From the time we brought her home, she would have a couple days of good stools and a few days of mush. We tried a lot of different things. Finally, we put her on Tylan for 3 weeks, then stopped. She had trophy stools for a little over a week, and then went back to mush (a big improvement). We put her back on the Tylan for another 3 weeks and stopped. She has now been doing wonderfully for the past 4 or 5 months.


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## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

Tahnee GR said:


> How old is she? Another possibility is that she has coccidia, which is difficult to find in stools and in puppies, will often show up after being stressed (going to a new home, starting a new food, etc.)
> 
> Coccidia is very common and requires a different fecal test than either giardia (another possibility) or worms.


This is what I was going to suggest, since it happened after she was already on the new food for a while. Any dog that starts that and it lasts more than a few days gets treated for coccidia automatically in my house. But where I live, it is rampant.


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## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

Yup, I keep Flagyl (Metro), Tylan, and Albon. Tylan is BITTER NASTY stuff, though. Even my greediest pig won't eat her food if it's in there. I have to get creative.


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## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

I don't feed my dogs top notch food to make myself feel better. I do it for them. Just saying....

But I will say if she thrives on Euk, then why not feed it?


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm sorry, and I know this doesn't make me popular, but feeding a dog something that sounds better to you but makes the dog sick doesn't make any sense to me.

If you're not going to switch back to the food that makes her symptoms disappear, that's your right. She's your dog. It's just a mentality I don't get.


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## msdogs1976 (Dec 21, 2007)

tippykayak said:


> I'm sorry, and I know this doesn't make me popular, but feeding a dog something that sounds better to you but makes the dog sick doesn't make any sense to me.
> 
> If you're not going to switch back to the food that makes her symptoms disappear, that's your right. She's your dog. It's just a mentality I don't get.


I agree but some feel Euk/Iams = O'roy's. Not me as I feed Iams, but that is the thinking. I wish I knew of something to recommend that would meet her philosophy of good ingredients, but I have no experience with the 'premium' foods. I do wish her the best of luck.


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## jwemt81 (Aug 20, 2008)

tippykayak said:


> I'm sorry, and I know this doesn't make me popular, but feeding a dog something that sounds better to you but makes the dog sick doesn't make any sense to me.
> 
> If you're not going to switch back to the food that makes her symptoms disappear, that's your right. She's your dog. It's just a mentality I don't get.


I totally agree. I just don't understand it either. We had Tucker on Eukanuba for a good 7-8 months, but we had to change to California Natural because allergy testing confirmed that he has an allergy to corn, which was causing his ear infections. If he didn't have the allergy, we would would happily continue feeding Eukanuba. It is a brand that has been around for decades and a lot of dogs thrive on it. If your dog was thriving well on the Eukanuba and wasn't have the stool problems that she is having now, why try to fix what wasn't broken in the first place? You're obviously now having problems that you didn't have to deal with before the switch.


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## jenlaur (Jun 24, 2009)

jwemt81 said:


> If your dog was thriving well on the Eukanuba and wasn't have the stool problems that she is having now, why try to fix what wasn't broken in the first place? You're obviously now having problems that you didn't have to deal with before the switch.


OK....Eukanuba....she was on it from whenever puppies start solid food until she was totally switched to Wellness at 11 weeks. She scratched at herself constantly....from the day we picked her up. That dramatically reduced after the switch to Wellness. I totally understand people's passion about dog food. And again, I refuse to get into a debate about it. I simply want what's best for my girl.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

jenlaur said:


> OK....Eukanuba....she was on it from whenever puppies start solid food until she was totally switched to Wellness at 11 weeks. She scratched at herself constantly....from the day we picked her up. That dramatically reduced after the switch to Wellness. I totally understand people's passion about dog food. And again, I refuse to get into a debate about it. I simply want what's best for my girl.


Oh, so she wasn't totally healthy on that food either. That makes your search for another food make _much_ more sense to me!


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## The_Artful_Dodger (Mar 26, 2009)

jenlaur said:


> OK....Eukanuba....she was on it from whenever puppies start solid food until she was totally switched to Wellness at 11 weeks. She scratched at herself constantly....from the day we picked her up. That dramatically reduced after the switch to Wellness. I totally understand people's passion about dog food. And again, I refuse to get into a debate about it. I simply want what's best for my girl.


Maybe there is a common ingredient between the two dog foods that your dog does not tolerate very well? I'm not sure why it would have different reactions though (i.e., loose stools vs. itchiness). Maybe a food with different ingredients (e.g. lamb & rice) would work better. You could talk with your vet about food alergies and possibly do an elimination trial (or whatever that is called) to figure out which ingredients bother her. Then you'll know what to aviod when you choose a food. Or maybe it is something else all together. If the loose stools continue, I would get her checked out.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Lots of puppies have loose stools on foods that are rich, those with relatively high protein or fat numbers (28+ for protein and 18+ for fat).


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## Bock (Jun 23, 2008)

tippykayak said:


> Lots of puppies have loose stools on foods that are rich, those with relatively high protein or fat numbers (28+ for protein and 18+ for fat).


My westie was like that on Nature's Variety. Had to put her on Cali Natural since it had lower protein/fat levels.


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## Lucky's mom (Nov 4, 2005)

You mentioned that you use a spoonful of wet wellness. Lucky gets diarrea and gas...on going and getting worse....just from a spoonful of wet food. Of course for him...it was a spoonful of Alpo

But it was hardly a tablespoon and it reacted badly.

Perhaps you might try just the dry kibble. Just a thought.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

I also might cut out all the additions for a few weeks to see if things settle down. Then you can add them back one at a time to see if any of them are causing the trouble.


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## Bozema (Nov 23, 2009)

jwemt81 said:


> I agree that you may be switching her food a bit too much. Wellness is one of those foods that dogs either do excellent on or they do horribly on. We tried Wellness for a couple of months when Tucker was a puppy and he constantly had loose stools. It was just too rich for him. I would also get her to the vet just to rule out the possbility of a parasite, such has coccidia. It's very common in puppies. You may also want to consider a food with a little less protein. I'm wondering why you took her off the Eukanuba if she was doing fine on it. It's a perfectly fine food.


Boy, this was my expereince with Wellness after I was told it was such a great food. Two goldens with a TERRIBLE case of the poos despite a very gradual transition period. I switched to Cal Natural with much more success. I used Cal Natural for a very long time since my male has a tendency toward allergies and he did exceptionally well on it. Then my female golden started getting "belly aches" on it for lack of a better term. We worked with the vet to settle her tummy issues and decided it was time to switch her to something else. I went in search of a food both could tolerate so I wouldn't have to keep buying two foods. I finally settled on Natural Balance duck and potato a few months ago which seems to work for both. That's where we are for the time being.

In general, with my food "experiments," my goldens generally did not do well on any of the high protein superpremium foods. I was tipped off by another dog friend that high protein content might have been the issue. Mine definitely get decent amounts of exercise but they are not working dogs who are regularly spending hours in the field. From talking to other owners since being told this, unless their dogs are highly conditioned working dogs and burning tons of calories in the field daily, very high protein foods can often be too "high octane." I'd be interested in other golden owners experiences based on their dog's ages and activity levels. This seems to be true for my two goldens.


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