# 6mo old with chronic diarrhea



## DougieTheDog (12 mo ago)

My puppy 6mo old puppy has had diarrhea for about 2 months now. We have had several vet visits to try and troubleshoot this but have so far come up empty handed. Here is what we’ve done so far : 


Cut out all treats and put him PPP Gastroenteric kibble for 2 weeks + PPP probiotics
Antibiotics (metronidazole)
Pumpkin purée mixed with his kibble

His current diet consists of PPP puppy food shredded chicken and rice formula, to which we add freeze dried beef and duck liver jerky for treats along with tiny amounts of peanut butter for his kong.

Nothing has worked !! He continues to have diarrhea even when we cut out treats and fed him a bland diet. Everytime we attempt something it just seems to get worse.

I want to try switch foods to see if that helps. I’m leaning towards


Prescription Hills large breed lamb formula
Acana large breed puppy formula
Open Farms puppy formula
Nutrience infusion for puppies

Exploring a raw diet is also a possibility, but I’m a bit overwhelmed by the concept.

Appreciate the advice !


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## rhondas (Sep 10, 2010)

DougieTheDog said:


> My puppy 6mo old puppy has had diarrhea for about 2 months now. We have had several vet visits to try and troubleshoot this but have so far come up empty handed. Here is what we’ve done so far :
> 
> 
> Cut out all treats and put him PPP Gastroenteric kibble for 2 weeks + PPP probiotics
> ...


Your dog needs a fecal test to determine if he has parasites or worms. This should have been the first that your vet should have done


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## DougieTheDog (12 mo ago)

rhondas said:


> Your dog needs a fecal test to determine if he has parasites or worms. This should have been the first that your vet should have done


Yes I questioned my vet about testing his stools, but he ruled out parasites because he’s been taking Heartgard (dewormer) every month since he was 2mo old. we gave him his last round a week ago.


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## rhondas (Sep 10, 2010)

DougieTheDog said:


> Yes I questioned my vet about testing his stools, but he ruled out parasites because he’s been taking Heartgard (dewormer) every month since he was 2mo old. we gave him his last round a week ago.


Heartgard does not cover giardia, bacterial overgrowth or diarrhea caused by eating rabbit poop in your yard (identified by yeast in stool). If your vet doesn't know this then you need a new vet.


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## Rockalicious (Nov 23, 2020)

My pup will be 8 months this week and he's had soft stools on and off (mostly on) since he was about 4 months old. Fecal keeps coming back negative, he's on Sentinel which is for about every worm out there (not really, but close). He's had a round of metro, several weeks of Royal Canin low-fat GI food, probiotics, greek yogurt, pureed pumpkin, etc. 

My breeder (and vet) suggested I might want to try a "cheaper" food like Iams because PPP (which he's on now) can apparently be too rich for some pups and overfeeding even a little bit can cause problems. Before I try switching food, however, I bought something called Olewo Carrots. You can search on Amazon; Chewy's also carries it. I just started it yesterday and while he still has soft poop, he's also had several that were firm, which he hasn't had in months. And even his soft poop is not as bad as it was before the carrots. I'm hoping that with continued use, things continue to improve. It might be worth trying before you switch foods again. Good luck!


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## rhondas (Sep 10, 2010)

Rockalicious said:


> My pup will be 8 months this week and he's had soft stools on and off (mostly on) since he was about 4 months old. Fecal keeps coming back negative, he's on Sentinel which is for about every worm out there (not really, but close). He's had a round of metro, several weeks of Royal Canin low-fat GI food, probiotics, greek yogurt, pureed pumpkin, etc.
> 
> My breeder (and vet) suggested I might want to try a "cheaper" food like Iams because PPP (which he's on now) can apparently be too rich for some pups and overfeeding even a little bit can cause problems. Before I try switching food, however, I bought something called Olewo Carrots. You can search on Amazon; Chewy's also carries it. I just started it yesterday and while he still has soft poop, he's also had several that were firm, which he hasn't had in months. And even his soft poop is not as bad as it was before the carrots. I'm hoping that with continued use, things continue to improve. It might be worth trying before you switch foods again. Good luck!


If a dog has chronic soft stool/diarrhea using Tylan with a low residue prescription diet like Science Diet I/D can settle the GI system. I would suggest talkingbto your vet about this before experimenting with different foods.


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## JulieCAinMA (Jun 19, 2020)

Been exactly where you are!! You can look up my posts about it. Started when Archie was about 9/10 weeks old and continued until he was about 5.5 months old. A very long ordeal short, we did end up making a vet change…we had been going to the same vet with our cat who just turned 18 years old! Vet was great with the cat, but she just wasn’t a match with our golden. I found a holistic veterinarian in Carmel CA (not sure where you’re located) and she gave ALL the fecal tests there were. Everything came back clean, multiple times. I loved that she treated me like a partner and valued my questions and input. We finally decided that the common denominator in every treatment was some form of chicken, or chicken byproduct. I did not know that byproducts lurk as other names in every formula, so it has to state Chicken-Free. Archie has been on chicken free kibble and there has been no diarrhea in 9 months (he’s now 14 months old.) I use the kibble for training treats and he’ll do anything for 1 piece of kibble. We’re getting ready for the canine good citizen test, so for the 1st time I needed a higher value treat. 2-weeks ago, I introduced the tiniest bit of string cheese (I was so scared) and he got so excited that his teeth chattered!! But NO diarrhea!!! I’ll truly never know if it was a chicken intolerance or not, but at this point, I’m too afraid to try anything else because as you know chronic diarrhea is a nightmare. Long way to say, if you’re feeling red flags, or just marching in place don’t be afraid to change vets!!


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## bsc095 (Jan 2, 2022)

I also had my puppy on PPP chicken puppy formula and she had diarrea for a month with negative fecal tests and even treated her for parasites in case of a false negative but nothing worked. I switched to PPP sensitive skin and stomach salmon puppy food and she has been normal every since. I don't know if chicken was the issue cause I still give her treats that contain chicken and she has been fine with those.


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

DougieTheDog said:


> Yes I questioned my vet about testing his stools, but he ruled out parasites because he’s been taking Heartgard (dewormer) every month since he was 2mo old. we gave him his last round a week ago.


HG doesn't do much for intestinal parasites esp considering life cycle is not 30 days for more parasites.HG just has a small dose of pyrantel in it. 
Esp if it is PM diarrhea, he should be treated for giardia whether he tests + or not.


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## Rockalicious (Nov 23, 2020)

rhondas said:


> If a dog has chronic soft stool/diarrhea using Tylan with a low residue prescription diet like Science Diet I/D can settle the GI system. I would suggest talkingbto your vet about this before experimenting with different foods.


Thank you. So far, fingers crossed, the carrots are making a world of difference. I hope they keep working, but if not, I'll mention your suggestion to the vet. Appreciate it!


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## FurdogDad (Mar 30, 2021)

Murphy's mom had a C- section to deliver 12 puppies and developed an infection that made it impossible to nurse the puppies at 2 wks. They were fed by our breeder and transitioned to puppy mush earlier than she normally would have. He came home with us at 8 wks with firm stools but after a week was soft with some diarrhea. We struggled with that for about 2.5 mos and our vet ultimately decided to put him on PPP Gastroenteric prescription diet. It includes kibble, canned food and treats in that formula. The canned food was great for freezing in a Kong to keep him occupied at times. He. ate nothing else ...no add ins. We kept him on it for 6 Mos. We wondered if his GI tract might have been extra sensitive as a pup due to the issues with his mom. Also, our vet said that once those innards get irritated it can take quite a while on a bland diet for the inflammation to subside and everything get settled down again. Two weeks on prescription diet might not have been enough and all the add ins aside from the probiotic may not be helping. I agree with Prism that treating for Guardia regardless of test result is a good idea because it seems that giardia/ coccadia can be difficult to detect.


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## DougieTheDog (12 mo ago)

JulieCA said:


> Been exactly where you are!! You can look up my posts about it. Started when Archie was about 9/10 weeks old and continued until he was about 5.5 months old. A very long ordeal short, we did end up making a vet change…we had been going to the same vet with our cat who just turned 18 years old! Vet was great with the cat, but she just wasn’t a match with our golden. I found a holistic veterinarian in Carmel CA (not sure where you’re located) and she gave ALL the fecal tests there were. Everything came back clean, multiple times. I loved that she treated me like a partner and valued my questions and input. We finally decided that the common denominator in every treatment was some form of chicken, or chicken byproduct. I did not know that byproducts lurk as other names in every formula, so it has to state Chicken-Free. Archie has been on chicken free kibble and there has been no diarrhea in 9 months (he’s now 14 months old.) I use the kibble for training treats and he’ll do anything for 1 piece of kibble. We’re getting ready for the canine good citizen test, so for the 1st time I needed a higher value treat. 2-weeks ago, I introduced the tiniest bit of string cheese (I was so scared) and he got so excited that his teeth chattered!! But NO diarrhea!!! I’ll truly never know if it was a chicken intolerance or not, but at this point, I’m too afraid to try anything else because as you know chronic diarrhea is a nightmare. Long way to say, if you’re feeling red flags, or just marching in place don’t be afraid to change vets!!


This would make a of sense ! From the comments in this thread I’m pretty convinced by now that I should simply be seeking help from another vet.

thanks for your insight 🙂


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## Goldie_lover (Jan 3, 2021)

Not testing for Giardia is pretty strange considering how common is it in young puppies. For our dog, it turned out to be a chicken allergy. Chicken-free food + Fortiflora + Runs be done (a supplement sold by Dr Harveys) fixed his poop issues. 
Just FYI - our breeder jokes that the shredded PPP shreds dogs' stomachs because a ton of dogs he knows can't digest it and has loose stool. Might be worth trying a new food on your list.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I could be wrong, but when PP first came out with the shredded chicken stuff - people said all the soy in that formula was messing with dogs guts... just something to consider.

Also - dog should just be getting plain kibble. No add ons or PB. Biscuit type treats like milk bones, etc should be fine because they are bland.


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## Rockalicious (Nov 23, 2020)

Rockalicious said:


> My pup will be 8 months this week and he's had soft stools on and off (mostly on) since he was about 4 months old. Fecal keeps coming back negative, he's on Sentinel which is for about every worm out there (not really, but close). He's had a round of metro, several weeks of Royal Canin low-fat GI food, probiotics, greek yogurt, pureed pumpkin, etc.
> 
> My breeder (and vet) suggested I might want to try a "cheaper" food like Iams because PPP (which he's on now) can apparently be too rich for some pups and overfeeding even a little bit can cause problems. Before I try switching food, however, I bought something called Olewo Carrots. You can search on Amazon; Chewy's also carries it. I just started it yesterday and while he still has soft poop, he's also had several that were firm, which he hasn't had in months. And even his soft poop is not as bad as it was before the carrots. I'm hoping that with continued use, things continue to improve. It might be worth trying before you switch foods again. Good luck!


**Just an update that we're going into day 4 with the Olewo Carrots and all is still well! It's amazing how excited you can get about something as simple as being able to cleanly pick up poop from the grass! LOL


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## JulieCAinMA (Jun 19, 2020)

Rockalicious said:


> **Just an update that we're going into day 4 with the Olewo Carrots and all is still well! It's amazing how excited you can get about something as simple as being able to cleanly pick up poop from the grass! LOL


Oh the excitement is real! Even 9-months later, I anxiously wait while he does his business on a walk. If someone hasn’t been through the nightmare, they can’t fully appreciate the excitement of a firm 💩!


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## Rockalicious (Nov 23, 2020)

DougieTheDog said:


> My puppy 6mo old puppy has had diarrhea for about 2 months now. We have had several vet visits to try and troubleshoot this but have so far come up empty handed. Here is what we’ve done so far :
> 
> 
> Cut out all treats and put him PPP Gastroenteric kibble for 2 weeks + PPP probiotics
> ...


Just wondering how your pup is doing? Mine was doing ok on the PPP SSS and the carrots I mentioned, and then strangely had a flareup again and had to go back to the vet. Another round of metro did nothing, so she sent out a fecal panel to test for essentially everything. It came back clean.

Now starting Royal Canin hydrolyzed protein diet, along with tylan powder. It's been less than a week, so we'll see, but looking back, I'm starting to think that maybe the PPP was the culprit. He got so much worse on the purina and I've been battling loose poop and occasional diarrhea and vomiting since switching him from Eukanuba to Purina when he was around 4 months old. My breeder said that purina changed their formula awhile back and many pups are having problems with the new formulation. I think if the RC gets it under control I will keep him on it for a while, and then try to transition to something like Dr. Harvey's (which is a base that you then add your own protein to). The struggle is real! 

I hope your pup is doing better!


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## JulieCAinMA (Jun 19, 2020)

Rockalicious said:


> Just wondering how your pup is doing? Mine was doing ok on the PPP SSS and the carrots I mentioned, and then strangely had a flareup again and had to go back to the vet. Another round of metro did nothing, so she sent out a fecal panel to test for essentially everything. It came back clean.
> 
> Now starting Royal Canin hydrolyzed protein diet, along with tylan powder. It's been less than a week, so we'll see, but looking back, I'm starting to think that maybe the PPP was the culprit. He got so much worse on the purina and I've been battling loose poop and occasional diarrhea and vomiting since switching him from Eukanuba to Purina when he was around 4 months old. My breeder said that purina changed their formula awhile back and many pups are having problems with the new formulation. I think if the RC gets it under control I will keep him on it for a while, and then try to transition to something like Dr. Harvey's (which is a base that you then add your own protein to). The struggle is real!
> 
> I hope your pup is doing better!


I went through the same nightmare and have been feeding Archie Taste of The Wild Ancient Stream (has grain) for the last 10-months. All has been fine, said in a whisper so as not to jinx it! My vet told me unless the food is advertised as chicken-free, it will have some sort of chicken product lurking in the ingredients. Vet and I finally figured out that the common denominator in all the stuff we were trying during those awful months was chicken. I can only assume he has an intolerance, because I’m too afraid to experiment and try something else…that’s how nightmarish those diarrhea months were. If I was going to try something with chicken, I would feed him Farmina, which is what his breeder fed his mom and the pups before he came home. For just having a load of pups, his mom’s coat was beautiful!
My fingers are crossed for you!!


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## Zerpersande (9 mo ago)

JulieCAinMA said:


> Oh the excitement is real! Even 9-months later, I anxiously wait while he does his business on a walk. If someone hasn’t been through the nightmare, they can’t fully appreciate the excitement of a firm 💩!


Clooney had diarrhea at 10 weeks and finally found it was rice. Had some other allergies too. Now at 16 weeks it’s back. Vet wants to put him on Royal Canin Amino Peptide formula, do PCR tests on his stools. He has good days and bad days. And the good days give me hope. I try to look on the bright side that I bought some health insurance for him, but at the same time I’m wishing I had gone with 75% coverage rather than 50%.


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## Rain438 (11 mo ago)

My puppy has had such a sensitive stomach since he was 10 weeks old and then on top of it ended up with giardia. We are having very good luck right now with Proviable-DC and Honest Kitchen Perfect Form!


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## Zerpersande (9 mo ago)

Zerpersande said:


> Clooney had diarrhea at 10 weeks and finally found it was rice. Had some other allergies too. Now at 16 weeks it’s back. Vet wants to put him on Royal Canin Amino Peptide formula, do PCR tests on his stools. He has good days and bad days. And the good days give me hope. I try to look on the bright side that I bought some health insurance for him, but at the same time I’m wishing I had gone with 75% coverage rather than 50%.


And today? Not too much of a problem. 

I’m thinking of havingbthe PCR stool tests done before changing his diet. If he has Giardia, or some other identifiable organism, that should negate the need for this special diet thing, right?


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## Dunmar (Apr 15, 2020)

Mine had diarrhea and soft stools until we switched her to adult food.


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## Zerpersande (9 mo ago)

Dunmar said:


> Mine had diarrhea and soft stools until we switched her to adult food.


Clooney is already on adult food. His allergies to rice and corn made it more or less necessary to switch to grain-free. I stuck with Diamond brand, the Whitefish/Sweet Potato was an ‘All Stages of Life’ food. Probably not ideal.

i stopped giving him ANYTHING OTHER THAN food and water and he’s much better. Pretty much normal. Also reduced the amount by about 10-15% for a few days. Probably a treat or a dental chew. Thinking of using honemade chicken jerky as training treats. He won’t work with me for his kibble. No, that’s too strong. It’s a struggle to get him to work with me just for kibbles.


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