Hi, just signed up to this forum. We have a 3 month old lab. Can anyone recommend a dry food other than Royal Canin to help stiffen the poos up a bit!? Don't want to change without an idea/ recommendation as there are so many on the market. Also is it normal for a puppy to have soft poos??
Hi and welcome to the forum from me and my two, Willow and Shadow, who are a year old. Ask a question about food and you'll get a different answer from everyone - it's one of those topics! I had my two on Hills Science Plan when they were puppies; I don't think it was the best food for them, but it was the best I could get hold of at the time and they did fine on it. Now they're older, they're on Burns and I'm very happy with that. It's not unusual for puppies to have upset tummies from time to time, but if it's consistently soft, then it sounds like you have a larger issue. Does it start firm and end up runny, or is it runny from the start? The former is a sign of over-feeding, but if it's the latter and has been persisting, a trip to the vet might be in order to rule out things like giardia. You might also try a diet of chicken and rice for a day; just boil up some cubed chicken breast in a pan with the rice, then let it cool and serve very sloppy. This usually firms up a tummy that has just been upset by normal puppy things. But, if it's been going on for some time, I'd definitely recommend seeing your vet, as tummy issues in puppies can be very serious as they get dehydrated very quickly. Let us know how you get on.
Hello there, and a very warm welcome to the forum. It's not normal for puppies to have soft poo - in that really, you should be feeding something that suits your puppy. But neither is it unusual for young puppies to take time to settle down in the poo department, and many people have to look at diet to make sure this happens. There are many other causes of problems apart from the type of food you are feeding, and a chat to your vet is always a good idea. You are not going to get a good answer about what food to feed your dog by asking for recommendations though - this is because what suits one dog, may not suit another. People tend to swear by the brand that they are feeding because it suits their own dog but this does not say anything about whether or not that food would suit a different dog. The best thing to do is to look at the ingredient list of the food you are feeding and consider what it is that you want to try to change first. So, for example, if the food you are feeding is mainly chicken and rice, you might decide to change to something that has a different protein source - say, fish and rice. And if that doesn't work, you could try rabbit. And so on. Try changing the carbohydrate source after that, from (for example) rice to potato, or tapioca. Otherwise, you'd just be taking a stab in the dark, and there are literally thousands of kibble formulations available that you could work through in a random way before hitting on something that suits your dog best. Good luck with it.
Welcome to you Twiglet is on Royal Canin and her poos are firm. Usually if poos are soft in puppies, but they are well, we are giving meals which are too big. I tried Twiglet on three meals when the turned 14 weeks and her poos became very sloppy - so I am now very gradually reducing one feed and upping the other three (by one gram per meal per day!)
Thanks for the support and the welcome! I knew that asking a food question may be "daring"! But just good to have some thoughts on it, so thankyou for your view points. I will let you know how I get on.
Things seem to be settling down after we reduced her feeds, think we upped it too much too quickly when she turned 3 months. Lessons learnt for the next time we need to up the food! Thanks for the words of advice!
