# Royal Canin GI for pup? 4 month old puppy with poo issues.



## kimmilo (Sep 3, 2013)

Hi everyone,
I'm new here and have only posted once before when I got my new puppy at 8 weeks. Love him to pieces!!! But I have a bit of a problem now and I really need to ask for some advice. We're having food issues and bouts of diarrhea - it is becoming maddening. This is my first dog and I didn't think finding a food that my poor puppy could tolerate would be THIS hard. I don't want him to suffer, so I have been doing everything possible to make things better. I'm just not sure what I'm missing here... please let me know if you can think of anything? 
Here's my story. I'll try to make it as short as possible...
Our breeder had him on Honest Kitchen, which is a wonderful (but expensive!) food. We weaned him off of it onto a kibble - Wellness LBP. He didn't seem to like it much and wasn't finishing his food, so I did some reviewing and decided to try out Fromm Gold Large Breed Puppy, again transitioning slowly from the old food. Landon loved it! But once we got to 3/4 cup of the new food, we had our first bout of diarrhea. So I took him to the vet - all fecals were clear, negative Giardia, negative Coccidia, no parasites, just pollen and a bad imbalance of bacteria. We came to the conclusion that because his diarrhea had mucus and a little blood in it, that he had all of the symptoms of Colitis. Is this common for little puppies?? He was put on Metrodiazole and he had normal stools almost immediately! But when he finished it, the diarrhea came back. Went to the vet again. Different doctor. She recommended we change his food. Another round of Metronidazole with the new food (Nutro LBP - Oatmeal formula for sensitive stomachs). Things looked promising until Monday. His poop went from formed and firm to formed soft serve to squirts back to soft serve then back to the squirts, depending on what his GI tract feels like doing that hour. The poop had mucus in it again today, he was straining, and needing to go frequently. Even though he has a recheck on Monday at the vet, I felt SO bad for him. So I called the vet tonight and a great tech recommended "Royal Canin GI for Puppies." He's 29.6 pounds (5 months on 11/19) and we'll start this tomorrow at 2 1/4 cups a day (3/4 c three times a day.) Is this a good food?? To be honest... the ingredients list is crap. Chicken meal? Ugh. How do such ingredients make for a calm stomach or a "prescription diet"? I don't know, I'll try anything at this point. Please help me make my puppy happy. Oh, also, we had him on 3 cups a day. The bag says less. Would you guys think it would be ok for me to add boiled chicken?

PS. He's acting normal aside from all of the poop sessions and he is also on a probiotic. Am also giving him K-Pectin (puppy Pepto-Bismol) every 4 hours, as needed. In the past I have also tried just plain chicken and rice. Calms his tummy down but I want to get him on a good kibble that works just as well! Anyone, thank you so much for reading this and I look forward to any advice you can give us.


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## Cowtown (Sep 23, 2009)

What probiotic is she on? 

I'd try the below before I went to the Royal Canin GI puppy. I'd add a teaspoon of canned pumpkin to every meal. The fiber will help with the stools. Other than that I'd do a probiotic and an enzyme. For probiotic look for Kefir in your grocery store next to the yogurt. You can do a tablespoon of kefir or plain yogurt and a teaspoon of pumpkin with each meal. 

I'd also recommend Wellness Core Puppy or Nature's Variety Limited Ingredient Turkey for your pup. Wellness LBP has too much calcium for your pup but that's another conversation. 

Before a food switch, I'd try the pumpkin and kefir/yogurt first and I bet you see her stools improve.


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## Millie'sMom (Sep 7, 2012)

How long have the courses of metronidazole been. I would suggest at least 21 days and then slowly taper. I would not feed any Royal Canin product. Fromm may be too rich for your puppy. You could try ProPlan or Eukanuba foods. I use baby food bananas as well as pumpkin and probiotics when my girls have diarrhea.


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## crazy daisy (Jul 3, 2011)

when Daisy was a puppy, I had to add some mash potatoes, the instant stuff with her food, to cope with the soft stool.

But.. she gets:

Super Premium Oven Baked Food for Dogs | Flint River Ranch

plus Dogzymes Probiotic Max
DOGZYMES® Probiotic Max – 1 Pound » Natures Farmacy Inc.

and haven't needed to supplement her food with mash potatoes for the past 2+ years.


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## crazy daisy (Jul 3, 2011)

when Daisy was a puppy, I had to add some mash potatoes, the instant stuff with her food, to cope with the soft stool.

But.. she gets:

Super Premium Oven Baked Food for Dogs | Flint River Ranch

plus Dogzymes Probiotic Max
DOGZYMES® Probiotic Max – 1 Pound » Natures Farmacy Inc.

and haven't needed to supplement her food with mash potatoes for the past 2+ years.


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