# Diarrhea related to kibble?



## golden_daisy (Aug 10, 2010)

Daisy, our 10 week old golden, has been home for a week and half now and we have been feeding Blue Buffalo large breed puppy food since she came home. Two days ago, she started with loose stools. She acts totally normal in every other way. Plays, nips, chews, sleeps, etc. She's eating fine too - no change in appetite at all! Her stools are loose and smelly, but not watery.

When we bought Daisy from the breeder, all 12 pups in the litter and the 3 adult goldens the breeders owned are raw fed. The pups were begining to eat raw chicken quarters, bones, etc. My DH and I had long discussions, research and multiple conversations with vet professionals and decided that raw was not something that we were all that interested in continuing. We did some lamb patties for the first few days, but she ate the kibble and left the raw meat in her dish. So, we stuck with the kibble. She had solid poops up until two days ago.

We were giving treats (rawhides, pig ears, etc) daily and thought maybe that was the issue. It's been three days since she's had that and still continues with the poops. We've given rice, yogurt, etc to help firm her up. Sometimes she's semi-firm, sometimes it's super soft and squirty. 

The more I'm thinking about it, the more I'm wondering if it's food related. We choose Blue Buffalo because it's mostly grain free, has real meats in it and seems "better" than other foods. Other than the diarrhea, she is having zero problems. She's not vomiting either.

I'm giving the diarrhea thing another day, and if it's not better after tomorrow, I'm giving the vet a call to find out what she recommends. 

Any advice or words of wisdom??


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## Sophie_Mom (Jan 21, 2009)

Have you had a fecal exam yet? It's possible she has coccidia, which could cause the diarrhea. It could be helpful for you to read through the thread I started about Sawyer's tummy. We are having similar issues here, I feel your pain! Many people have offered lots of great advice. If I find something that works, I'll let you know! My Sawyer hasn't had a treat or bully or anything in such a long time....


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## Allan's Girl (Apr 16, 2009)

I am by no means an expert! However, here is my recent experience with my new foster Bella. Bella came to me at 7 weeks old. She had been wormed and had her first set of shots. They had her on inova kibble. Her poop was the consistency of soft serve ice cream. Everything else was fine just like your Daisy. I took her to the vet after two days because they said she should be having solid poop by then. The vet put her on a second, longer course, of worm meds. After 5 days she still had runny poop. They then put her on a prescription intestinal diet, probiotics and a intestinal antibiotic for 7 days. She was coming to the end of her seven days and still was runny. The vet was going to put her on the prescription diet for 2 months to see if that worked. 

Well I got to thinking that when my Bailey came to me she had horrible diarrhea. After a couple of days i switched her to Nutro large breed puppy lamb and rice and the diarrhea totally disappeared. So I went to the store and bought some of the Nutro for Bella. I switched her without weaning her off the other. In 12 hours she was having solid poop and it has been solid ever since. That was the way it was with Bailey too. As it turned out bailey has environmental allergies also. You may want to keep an eye out for breakout on Daisy's tummy.

Having said all this.... I would take Daisy to the vet first and check for parasites and bacteria in her stools. If all comes back well you may want to consider a food intolerance/allergy. I found out the inova had turkey as the main protein and so did the prescription diet. So the vet thinks that turkey is the issue for Bella. I hope this helps some


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## eeneymeanymineymo (Oct 5, 2009)

How much Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy food are you feeding per day? Sometimes too much food can cause diarrhea. Sounds like you have eliminated other treats. You have transitioned her from a raw diet to kibble in only a weeks time. This *might* be the issue but you need to rule out parasites as well. Are you adding probiotics or yogurt to her food? Canned pumpkin (not the pie filling which has sugar added!) can be added to her food to help firm up the stools. 

You mentioned you took in a stool sample the other day in an earlier thread - was it a simple flotation or smear? Sometimes coccidia and giardia can happen after your pup first comes home. This link may help explain the different symptoms & treatment:

http://www.lbah.com/intpar.htm

Albon for coccidia and Flagyl for giardia but you will need to make a visit to your veterinarian to confirm that this may be what the issue is. But do not let the diarrhea continue as dehydration is a big concern. Best to make that call to your veterinarian.

Good luck!


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

I would not try to feed a grain free diet to such a young puppy (or raw for that matter). There are just too many things that can go wrong. 
Try a more traditional puppy food for large breeds (Pro Plan, Eukanuba, Nutro, Eagle Pack, etc.)


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

There are a lot of puppies, and dogs, that can't eat Blue Buff, it gives them diarrhea.

Definitely have the vet check her for intestinal parasites, but I would try a different food.


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## firedancer722 (Apr 12, 2010)

I also kinda wondered if she might have some intestinal parasites going on too. That would also be my first rule-out. And if that's not the issue, I agree with a couple of others here that maybe the Blue Buffalo is not agreeing with her and a change to something else may be warranted. I have had marvelous success with Eukanuba for stool consistency in my dog. When I tried feeding him grain free Acana, ALS Canidae (with "good" grains), California Natural Lamb & Rice, and Innova ("good" grains), he had mushy and sometimes watery poop for weeks on end. I switched to Euk and within 2 days, his poops were perfect.


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## golden_daisy (Aug 10, 2010)

Well -- today we're back to formed and more solid poops!  YAY! They tested her stool at the vet, not sure how it was done though. They tested for worms, which was negative. We've been giving her yogurt once or twice a day since this started and she loves it. We've also cut down on how much food we've been giving her. She's been getting 1 cup of food per serving (feed directions on bag for her size), and cut it down to 1 and 1/2 cups total per day. We'll see how that goes, and go from there. We may switch her to a more "traditional" kibble if she goes back to loose stools.


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

Giardia is always a possibility too, if it continues. . .


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