We are first time puppy parents and our sweet girl is great except one thing.... Her digestive system is completely out of whack. She won't poop during the day and instead gets us up 3-4 times in an 8 hour period to go outside. This has been going on for the entire month we have had her. Every time she goes out she goes poop. Last night it was 1am, 230am, 4am, and 6am. And when she goes it is like pudding. We can't let her crying it out per say because obviously she has to go. And we can't even predict when she is going to go out because it changes nightly. I fear she is training us to get up constantly instead of learning to hold it. We try to exercise her after meals and we walk her and take her out on a fairly set schedule. Any ideas how to get her on track and sleeping more through the night???
Hi @melissagreen0530 All I can come up with is the following suggestion. Have you attempted to change her meal times in order to reset her digestive system? Once she starts going during the day then gradually change meal times to bring her around to a reasonable time. Make sure you mark faeces with yes and treat. I would be concerned that after one month she has very soft faeces like pudding. I would check with the vet.
Poo like pudding is not normal. The most common causes of this type of poo is over feeding or or a problem within the stomach/intestines. Over feeding you can resolve yourself by reducing the amount of food, which will soon produce a firm, well formed poo. Anything else needs a trip to the vet. A specimen would be good for testing. Once the cause of pudding poo is resolved you will be able to establish a better routine and will soon benefit from unbroken nights.
Hi - I'm sorry you're having these problems, as puppy-raising is hard enough when everything goes smoothly...! When are you feeding her? How many times a day, at what times? That is really way too long to let this go on for, without trying to do something about it. Pups need the nutrients in their food and they won't be absorbing those nutrients, if they have constantly sloppy poos. Yes, there is a real risk of this. But as you say, you have no choice for as long as she has an upset stomach. So it is a huge priority to fix this, for multiple reasons. This isn't normal. Before you can address anything behaviourally or with training, you first need to address the physical issue of the runny stools. When did you last worm your puppy and with what product? I think you are in the US, from your post... I would highly recommend using Panacur dewormer: https://www.revivalanimal.com/product/panacur-c-canine-dewormer?sku=31450-120 This is also effective against giardia (which can be a cause of runny stools), but for some reason the product doesn't include that on the data sheet. The giardia dosage is half the 'normal' dosage, for 3 consecutive days. If that doesn't work, then a trip to the vet for sure...
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to this. She is 13wk old Eats 1/2 cup of puppy food (taste of the wild bison which is what she arrived to us eating) 3x daily at 630am, 1230pm, 630pm. Mixing Rice in with food to help bind her up a bit. Eats from a show feeder bowl. Treats for pottying outside during the day only. No treats at night. Takes walks twice a day plus indoor exercise and training sessions with us. Training treats are her food. Mostly crate trained. No accidents in crate or house in 3 weeks. Sleeps/snoozes what seems an average amount of time. Last worming was last week. Have provided vet with 2 fecal samples both negative for parasites and worms. She goes back and forth between solid and pudding poop. Yesterday for example she had solid poop at 8am, 130pm, 6pm and it started to get softer right before bed at 930pm. She was up barking and carrying on every hour all night long. She had soft poop twice between 11pm and 4 am. She peed every time we went out (all 7 times.) And when she went back in her crate she fussed and barked each time. We are currently taking turns sleeping in the couch near her crate just so we can get her outside and let the other person sleep upstairs. I would love to ignore her but obviously she has to go some of the times. I just bought a different puppy food an hour ago as it was suggested to me she may need a probiotic formula and the protein in the current food we are giving her may be hard for her to digest and to go with a chicken instead of a red meat.
Ok... So two things come to mind as possibilities... 1. Food. Some puppies have food intolerances to specific proteins OR to grains (which I don't think are in TOTW) OR to other ingredients. I would recommend switching her food to something very simple, with very few ingredients and a different protein. Food intolerances are not necessarily there from day dot of a puppy eating solid food, so it's very possible she was fine on this food at the breeder's originally but the intolerance has developed as her immune system has matured. Food intolerances can be low-grade and chronic. It sounds like you are feeding this food? https://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.c...rie-puppy-formula-with-bison-roasted-venison/ If so, the ingredients (before the additives etc) are: Buffalo, lamb meal, sweet potatoes, egg product, pea protein, peas, potatoes, canola oil, tomato pomace, roasted bison, roasted venison, beef, flaxseed, potato fiber, natural flavor, ocean fish meal, salmon oil (a source of DHA), salt, DL-methionine, choline chloride, taurine, dried chicory root, yucca schidigera extract, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries, That's a lot of different 'stuff' in one food. You've got 7 sources of protein alone: Buffalo, lamb, egg, bison, venison, beef and fish/salmon. An intolerance to any one of those is going to see a reaction. Canola oil - we don't really like to see vegetable oils in dog food, as they are high in omega 6 and going to throw out the omega 6 to 3 ratio - too much omega 6 results in chronic inflammation. (Same for people too.) Fats should be animal fats. Tomatoes appear twice - tomato pomace and tomatoes. This is a weird one as tomatoes are in the nightshade family, and parts of tomatoes contain substances that are toxic in high amounts. Small amounts probably isn't doing anything, but long-term I'm not sure it's a great ingredient for a dog food. If you can steel yourself to try a raw complete diet, I would really recommend that. Pick a single protein raw complete - and try to avoid any of the proteins listed above in the TOTW. Cooking denatures fats and processes ingredients and can result in dogs being unable to tolerate them - when they are able to tolerate the same proteins or ingredients, raw. In addition, try to find a raw which doesn't have grains or other types of carbs (ie lots of potato or sweet potato) - try to find one which is meat and bone and maybe some other veg. Next best choice, is a premium wet dog food which is very holistic and natural and contains only one protein source again, not in TOTW. Third best choice, is a different kibble which again has only one protein source and that not being one in TOTW.... Simple, few ingredients... 2. There is still a parasite or bacterial thing going on. Giardia for example, is very notorious for not appearing in faecal samples. It is not shed in every stool, nor in every part of every stool. So unless you happen to sample the right part of the right poo, it's very possible for it to go undetected. (This is why it's recommended you take in samples from 3 different consecutive stools - did you do that?) Since the next step up, is going to be the vet basically guessing and prescribing ABs, I would really suggest treating with Panacur for 3 consecutive days and seeing if that helps. Other wormers will not have the same effect - it needs to be fenbendazole, as only that is effective against giardia. (As well as worms.) You can read more about giardia and why it often doesn't appear in stool samples, here: https://www.beaglesunlimited.com/health/giardiasis-diagnosis-treatment-and-prevention Good luck!
