hello everyone. I am new to this so please bare with! This our first dog, and first lab. A rather long post so thank you in advance for reading. We re-homed a puppy from my close friend, at the end of September. We had a lot of trouble with his food. When we received him he was on adult food (at 3 months old), he was vomiting after every feed and I contacted the lady who we got him from. She said to change back to the puppy food but the vet told her to put him on the adult food due to his size.. I found it hard to believe but there we go. He also came with rawhide chews which were ‘his favourite’. We changed his food from the adult Harrington’s back to the puppy ‘skinners field and trial’ and removed the rawhide treats as I’m aware these aren’t good for dogs guts. Anyway, I spoke to a woman in our local pet store about a chew for him as he was gnawing everything and everyone due to teething and she suggested an antler which has been brilliant. the last couple of weeks poor little pup has had diarhoea every time he passes his stool. I have cut out even his little training treats to see if it was that causing him upset but still no change. The only thing is he having is his food. Would we have to get him checked or just see if it passes? He has been flead and wormed with vet treatment also and all jabs up to date. thank you for reading and any help is appreciated! Laura
Hi Laura, We went through some times of an upset stomach with our lab and each time we have used the below food. Almost every time, after about 3-4 meals of just having this food, his stomach was back to normal. Good luck! Hill's Prescription Diet i/d Digestive Care with Turkey Canned Dog Food
Sorry to be gross but is it watery diarrhea or like soft ice cream poops? If its soft unformed poops it could be maybe you are overfeeding a bit? If that isn't it, maybe try splitting his daily kibble amount into more meals? If that doesn't work I would talk to vet. Also sometimes its just a simple matter of changing brands of food (transitioning slowly though so you don't make matters worse!)
Does this mean he is overweight? Puppies (even overweight puppies) NEED to be on a puppy food or an 'All Life Stages' food, because they need very specific and controlled calcium to phosphorus ratios. Puppy foods, and foods which are labelled suitable for reproduction (pregnancy and lactation) have the correct ca to ph ratios for puppies. Foods labelled for 'adult' dogs, do not. The significance of this is to do with bone development, the laying down of bone and joints closing etc - which is all happening around this time. If you want him to lose some weight, then simply feed him less - but don't take him off a puppy food or a food for all life stages. I would highly recommend you purchase some Panacur 10% - which is non-prescription and you can get it online or from Amazon - and give him the 3 day giardia dosage of it (as listed on the data sheet that comes with it). It is effective against giardia, which is a common cause of runny or watery or bloody stools in dogs and it is also a gentle canine wormer which won't cause other side effects. If you go to the vet, this is often one of the first things they will try anyway - since if Panacur works, they wont need to use antibiotics... so you are skipping a step if you try the Panacur yourselves first and can then tell the vet you've already done that, if you do still need to go.... I don't think your current situation with runny poops, is related to the food you are feeding. It is far more likely he has picked up a gastro bug from somewhere - the vast majority of puppies do, at some point in puppyhood. Try the Panacur 10% first, and then see your vet.
