we have been able to see storm's ribs since she was poorly with campylobacter about 5/6 weeks ago. I have now got her on a food which i think is agreeing with her. We had 2 days of firm poos. Then a rather loose explosion across the lawn this morning. I just don't know what to do about food. She is on what the packet says. I was going to increase slightly (vet said to try increase of 10%) but worried that will run through her. Thought about mixing sweet potato in a kong with some kibble. Could his help firm things up? Any other kong fillings that could help. Vet thinks that her gut is now just super sensitive after having campylobacter, giardia and 3 different kind of antibiotics all while she was so young!
You could try a specialist food - if my dogs get upset tummies, I switch to a Royal Canin brand with the name SC21. You can get this with different protein and carbohydrate sources. Sometimes dogs do well on a protein and carbohydrate source that they haven't had before - I use duck and tapioca. You can switch to SC21 in one shot, you don't have to do the gradual switch over for other foods, so you could get a small pack of it and see. I think other companies make similar formulations, but I haven't tried them for my dogs myself. My older dog now stays on SC21 pretty much all the time, since he took NSAIDs over a long period of time and we just couldn't get his tummy settled back down.
Thanks @JulieT can puppies have this? Storm is nearly 5 months. We are current trying barking heads grain free puppy days which is salmon, trout, potato and lentils. I had been giving her some beef pizzles. Wondering if this might be the soft poo problem today?!
Seeing ribs isn't such a terrible thing. You can see the ribs on both of my dogs. Of course, there is too skinny, but a bit of rib isn't something to worry about. Shadow struggled to put on weight for a very long time and was always slightly too skinny for my liking as a puppy. I just increased his food a few pieces of kibble a day and gradually got him to where I wanted him. A specialist food would also be a good thing to try. Pizzles can certainly cause upsets in some dogs, so I'd stick to just her food for now until things settle down and then introduce treats slowly and one at a time, so you can see what she reacts to.
I would certainly keep off the pizzles, they can easily upset delicate tums. But don't worry about the ribs, she will soon have a healthy profile again - and that includes a good tuck up and nearly visible ribs.
You'd need to check with a vet/the company. I suppose it depends on how long you feed it to a puppy and whether it's suitable long term.
Ok will lay off the pizzles but I need to keep her quiet while we are eating. She is driving us mad!! She will bark and howl and if we let her out she snatches food clean out of the children's hands! Or eats there crumbs and sometimes we'll have a meal with onions in. Kongs with just kibble go to quick and frozen kongs she gives up too easily!
Jessie was very skinny up until about 9 months and her ribs stuck out. The vet wasn't massively worried as no underlying cause, just her burning a lot of energy I think. But they did suggest supplementing meals with a bit if potato or rice. I was also slow to stop her midday meal as hard to get enough food in her without a tummy upset. She's fine now at 12 months. 2 meals a day and just eating the recommended amount of Kibble. She's still very slim, but I think that is a good thing.
Whenever Quinn has an upset tummy, I mix pumpkin into her food/kongs and/or sweet potato. Not too much, just a spoonful in her dish or mixed with kibble in a kong. I find it helps firm things up. Beef pizzles caused major tummy problems when she was small - we rarely give them now as they would kick off a couple days of diarrhea.
Loose explosion? Or is this an exaggeration? Explosive diarrhea is one thing, but do you mean loose like something coming out of the yogurt machine? I've cut Sparky's meals to 70% of bag recommendation and that solved his soft stools. I find that my wife spoils him too much with food and when I was giving him bag recommendations it would always be loose. I came home today and she had used all 3 large kongs and 1 medium kong filled with God knows what. Anyway, as a nurse, one incident of loose bowel movement in a 24 hour period doesn't count as diarrhea. While a series of loose bowel movements in 24 hours is considered diarrhea and will warrant more attention.
We increase Mollie's food slowly and steadily and keep a careful eye on her shape. They have growth spurts at this age so need more food each week. Mollie is on pro-biotics every morning which keep her poos firm. But you are right, a meal which is too big will cause soft poos.
You could try more frequent, but smaller, meals to help her put on weight without loose poos. Molly had a few months of recurring stomach troubles between about 7 and 10 months of age. Probiotics seemed to help and she also just seemed to grow out of it - she can eat anything now (and no longer has probiotics) so there is hope things will improve for Storm.
