Amount of food in diet and soft poo's :(

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

I think I'd talk to your vet. Check that your concerns about him possibly being too thin really is a reason not to cut his food down (you seem to have been feeding about 220g for a while). If the vet says it's ok to feed less, then feed less. If not, change food. Poo should not be constantly soft or runny, even though some people say that's a consequence of feeding kibble, I don't think it is.

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

I've never heard anyone say that loose poo is a result of feeding kibble.... Interesting. I feed Penny only kibble, just dry, and her poos are perfectly solid without fail.... Well, now that we've got her on a better food that agrees with her anyway.

I think it is best for you to speak to your vet about it. It could be dietary intolerance or intestinal parasites as it has been going on for so long.

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

[quote author=Penny+Me link=topic=6733.msg93441#msg93441 date=1404595457]
I've never heard anyone say that loose poo is a result of feeding kibble....
[/quote]

I've heard it a lot on the forum - mainly people who switch to raw, convinced kibble in general is the problem. Which might be the case for their dogs, of course, every dog is different.

(By the way, for the avoidance of doubt, I will switch to raw at some point, I'm not making an argument that I think kibble is better).

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

[quote author=JulieT link=topic=6733.msg93437#msg93437 date=1404591819]
I think I'd talk to your vet. Check that your concerns about him possibly being too thin really is a reason not to cut his food down (you seem to have been feeding about 220g for a while). If the vet says it's ok to feed less, then feed less. If not, change food. Poo should not be constantly soft or runny, even though some people say that's a consequence of feeding kibble, I don't think it is.
[/quote]

We were feeding him 204g but then increased it to 239g and he got soft poo's, so reduced it to 220g over 4 feeds on 30th June, but we wanted to increase it as we are worried that he is growing so fast, and not getting enough energy & nutrition, but everytime we increase it he gets soft poo's therefore causing him to look thin for the day then over night he looks normal again then we have soft poo's and he looks thin, and then we are back in the horrible circle.

[quote author=Naya link=topic=6733.msg93396#msg93396 date=1404575795]
I struggled with Harley's poo being soft when on royal canin gastro puppy. I changed to bob and lush after over 6 months of tummy upsets (including bleeding from behind). She has gained weight and is looking really good. I'm glad I changed food because it was obviously the cause - we did find out eventually that she us wheat intollerant. Might be worth a try??
[/quote]

We have just ordered some Bob and Lush to try out with him, but we will check with the vet on Tuesday what his thoughts are, incase we have a bigger problem than just food. Glad you got Harley sorted.

[quote author=Jane Martin link=topic=6733.msg93419#msg93419 date=1404583569]
Add a dessert spoon of natural yoghurt to each meal and lose one feed for 2 days in a row. That's the advice I got and it worked.
[/quote]

I wondered how he'd take to natural yoghurt, perhaps we will try it, I've got to go shopping tomorrow so I'll grab some.

[quote author=Penny+Me link=topic=6733.msg93441#msg93441 date=1404595457]
I think it is best for you to speak to your vet about it. It could be dietary intolerance or intestinal parasites as it has been going on for so long.
[/quote]

Think we are best taking to the vet and seeing what he says, and we'll got from there with it.

Thanks for you help and advice everyone, will keep you updated

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

I've just caught up with this thread. Sorry your having some toilet issues again. :-\

As has been suggested I'd ask your vet about his weight. If he thinks he's under weight or not and then discuss food. Puppies do tend to go skinnier as they get taller then fill out again. I don't think you necessarily need to increase the food every time when this happens but best check with vet.

You will probably find he loves yoghurt. I used to give it my old lab who had regular bouts of colitis. He was a fussy eater but loved the yoghurt. :

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

Just a quick update, we have taken Ozzie to the vets today for his 12 week injections, and the Vet has advised us to transition his food over to something else, and we have opted for Bob and Lush, which arrived today, so we are moving him over to that over the next week.

On a slight side track note, Bob & Lush customer service is amazing! We called them for some advice on the transition and they were so helpful.

Will keep you updated on how we go over the next week but fingers and toes are now crossed

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

I agree their customer service is fantastic they have a Facebook page where they upload photos etc. when Harley changed to that food, they emailed me after about 2 weeks as my original conversation was about her tummy sensitivity. I use a mixture of wet and dry - I give the wet via a kong and freeze it so it takes longer to eat . Hope Ozzie likes it let us know how you get on

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

We changed to bob and lush when Benson was approx 5 months old...we struggled a bit to keep the weight on him, and he looked decidedly thin, in fact there were comments on the forum regarding his thinness in some photos.. When we increased the amount he had soft poo and lots of it... whether this reflected a problem or not I don't know. We switched to bob and lush, a combination of kibble and wet food, we use the wet food in his kong frozen with a bit of banana. We are now adding a bit of raw into his diet only because it is convenient for us to do so. He is now around 27 kg and nearly 9 months old, we expect him to be on the heavier side due to his show line heritage, so for Benson this is a normal weight, which reminds me, we must weigh him again soon

Bob and lush do have a good feeding chart, although we keep Benson rations significantly under the measures as I am paranoid about having a fat lab, and their wet puppy food is quite high in fat and protein, but this probably compliments their kibble.

Some info here: http://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/dog-food-reviews/0522/bob-and-lush-puppy-duck-kibble

He is doing really well on it and looks very fit and healthy, we get lots of positive comments regarding his condition on walks which is also reassuring.

It is interesting however, that Benson will eat all manner of things, including the bit of rabbit that even Remy (my hunting cat...) won' t eat and doesn't have a problem!

http://www.bobandlush.com/index.php/feedingplan/

I have noticed there are few other small companies offering a high quality kibble, Lilys kitchen is one of them, our cats just love their food!

Hope this helps!

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

Hi Nick & Katie,

I'm a rank newbie on the forum, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I'd been having major problems with soft stool since I brought my now-13.5 week old female, Daisy, home from the breeder (see my thread about "loose puppy stools" under Labrador health in the index). Similar story to yours - same food, soft stools. I tried a different food, checked fecals for parasite eggs, started probiotics and digestive enzymes, reduced amounts, but what finally made the difference was a deworming. I gave her a 3-day series of dewormer (SafeGuard), even though several fecal exams were negative for parasite eggs, and within 2 days her stools started to firm up. It's now been 4 days since the 3rd dewormer dose and all her stools are normal. Instead of 4-5 very soft stools every day, she's having 2-3 firm doggy poops. What a relief! The breeder had dewormed her twice before I got her, but there must have been something left behind. I don't know for sure that worms were the problem, but the circumstantial evidence is pretty compelling to me. Being also a little concerned about weight, I'm sticking to the slightly reduced amounts. She now weighs in at about 32 pounds (14.5 kg) and she gets a scant 2 cups of dry kibble split into 4 feedings. She tells me she's starving, but I have my doubts

I know there is concern about unnecessary deworming, but it sure did the trick for Daisy. Intestinal worms don't shed eggs all the time, and for all I know, they were not shedding when the other fecals were taken (lucky worms!).

Food can certainly be an issue, so if the change works, YAY!

Good luck to you!

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

Hi Everyone,

Sorry we haven't replied much, we been trying all sorts of different solutions.

We have been having a few days of no problems and then straight back to soft poo's, so we decided to take a sample to the vets, because we decided we needed to know what was going on, as he wasn't gaining weight and was growing fast, so the vet have been testing it and he actually has Giardia and has had 4 days of antibiotics to solve it, and fingers crossed it is sorted now! We are still waiting for a few other tests to be confirmed, but the vet seems confident that its just Giardia.

So he seems to be on the right track, just a little under weight now, he is 14 weeks old, and weighs 9.1kg, he is a very tall puppy, and we are starting to see ribs, so we are upping his food to what Bob and Lush recommend for an under weight dog at 9kg for 0-4 months, so fingers crossed this will set him on the right path.

Thanks again everyone for all your help & advice.

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

So glad you have found out why pup has been struggling. Fingers crossed he is on his way to full health

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

Hopefully mystery solved great news ;D

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

So glad you had a sample tested and got some results you could work with! I had several negative fecals but, in desperation, went ahead with another deworming anyway. Daisy's had normal stools now for about a week, and I'm so relieved! I'm keeping her on the probiotics and digestive enzymes for a while yet, and will gradually wean her off them.

I hope treating the Giardia does the trick for you!

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

Well we are back at square one again, Ozzie has been great for a couple of weeks after his antibiotics for Giardia, but then I had to take him to the vets for a very smelly bum (anal glands needed to be emptied) so the vet kindly did this for me not a job I wish to do my self!! We did discover that he has an infection in there too,

The vet also made a comment that he has had it done 3 times since they have been seeing Ozzie, which is only 8-9weeks, and the last time was only two weeks ago, then went on to ask about his food and poo's, and I explained that in the last week or so, he's having a similar problem as to when he was given antibiotics for Giardia, firm in the morning (first poo of the day) but then gets softer as the day goes on, so we have sent 3 days worth of poo samples off to the vets again for them to check them out, fingers crossed we get some sort of answer. If there isn't an infection present we may have to have diet investigations, which he has said could be a short or long process depends on what they find

We will keep you all posted on what is happening & please cross your fingers or paws that we find out soon what is going on.

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

Oh no poor Ozzie :'(
I hope the vets manage to get to the bottom of his poorly tums.
How old is he now?
Until Harley was 8-9 months we had constant bouts of diarrhoea, we found out she was wheat intolerant and had to watch her very closely, change her food and treats and she couldn't have any extras etc. it is really horrible to see them so poorly
Keep in touch and let us know how he gets on x

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

Hi Naya,

He is 17 weeks old now, so just over 4months, We are back in the vets on Tuesday, so fingers crossed we get some answers x

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

Bless, so little still
Good luck at the vets, let us know how you get on x

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

Well, we had a phone call from the vets, he has Giardia again so is back on antibiotics for another 3 days.

Vet seems to think it is common for it to come back, as it can get into the environment, through his poo and the grass, which no one can give us any advice on how to get it out the grass, but hopefully we can crack it this time with the antibiotics so fingers crossed

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

Poor Ozzie I hope the antibiotics work quickly x

 

Re: Amount of food in diet and soft poo's

I've heard it is common for giardia to need anther round of treatment to clear up so fingers crossed this one will get it!

When stools are loose all the time it can lead to anal gland problems as they can not empty properly without a firm stool. I would think that once the giardia is cleared up he is producing good solid poos again the anal gland problems should resolve.