Hi Everyone, I just joined, with my 13 week old Yellow female, Daisy. I bought her from a reputable breeder and got her home when she was 8 weeks. She'd been dewormed twice by the breeder. She had one firm stool that evening and mostly butterscotch soft-serve since (gross, I know - sorry!). Same food as the breeder IScience Diet Large Breed Puppy); two negative fecals; one round of metronidazole; 7 days of probiotics from the vet - nothing worked. In the meantime, she'd eaten enough rotted gunk, bacteria-laced, mud with a high clay content to plug her up, requiring an emergency visit to the vet (high fever, inflamed gut, gas). She got through that and passed the mud plugs, and returned to her "normal" abnormal stools. (We live on a farm and she wants to eat EVERYTHING!!) I found a different probiotic (Probiotic Miracle from Nusentia) and a week of that didn't help. I finally dewormed her again with SafeGuard dewormer from Drs Foster & Smith. Since then, she's had a few normal stools, but is still having the soft ones. She's active and otherwise healthy. She weighs about 30 pounds at 13 weeks. I'm gradually switching her to Drs. Foster & Smith puppy food (description and ingredients look quite good, with way less grain than SD)), since the old food didn't seem to be the issue and new food looks like a better nutritional value. I'm hoping that the last deworming will truly do the trick. a Any advice?? The dewormer directions say to do it again in three weeks - whaddaya think? She's such a honey!
Re: Loose puppy stools Hello and a warm welcome from me and my two dogs This is a very common issue for pups, mainly because Lab pups can and do eat all sort of gross and horrible things , basically they are little dustbins It sounds like you have a found a good food for Daisy now and she should start to settle down in the poo department once her tummy has got used to it , I would certainly stick with the worming every month or so until she is about 6 months of age , good luck
Re: Loose puppy stools Hello there Welcome to the forum to you and Daisy! I hope you enjoy it. Sorry to hear you are having trouble with your pup's tum. I do hope you manage to sort it out. Regular worm treatment is important for pups, yes. In terms of exactly what and when, your vet is probably the best source of advice about frequency and type of worming - it might depend on your pup's risk profile (you mention you are on a farm) and the local conditions (are you in the US?). We'd love to see pictures of your pup if you get chance!
Re: Loose puppy stools Hi welcome to the forum. ;D As you've been to the vet I might repeat some things you have already been told. Upset stomachs are common in pups when they get to there new home especially when there are lots of gross stuff to eat. We live on a farm. When my two were pups they found the delicacy that is chicken muck. :. They ended up with ecoli in their bladder but that's another story. Although by now you might expect her tummy to have settled as she has had a very upset stomach it might have to settle again. New homes mean lots of new germs to get immune to and lots of new exciting things which can effect stomachs as well. The other thing that can cause loose stool is too much food. Could you be feeding her too much ? Most Labradors won't leave any food just because they are full. Put it in front of them they will eat. ;D Sorry that's all I've got at the moment I hope its sorted soon. Apart from the eating the gunk tummy I bet Daisy isn't as bothered as you. ;D
Re: Loose puppy stools Thanks, everyone, for the quick responses. Jen, I wasn't aware that too much food would cause loose stools, but it makes sense. Daisy is getting about 2 cups a day, split into 4 meals (2/3 c morning and again early afternoon, 1/3 c late afternoon and before bed). This is right in the middle of the recommended amounts. Maybe a bit too much? This is a picture of Daisy at 11 weeks. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6sXNCF5WPbDQm5YWVN2RTFNeEk/edit?usp=sharing Is there an easier way to include a picture?
Re: Loose puppy stools Daisy is gorgeous. ;D Sorry I can't help with the photo question I've no idea. I think it's explained in the technical help section. I think working out how much to feed a puppy is difficult because obviously they are still growing but one of the guidelines is stools should be firm. If they are soft they are getting too much food. As long as you've ruled out tummy bugs etc then it might be too much food. It depends how soft the stools are. Does the food feeding guide give it in weight or just cups ?
Re: Loose puppy stools The package gives the amount to feed cross-referenced by age and projected adult weight. I'm looking at a 3-6 month old puppy who will likely be 60-70 pounds as an adult. The amount recommended is 1-3 cups per day, and I'm giving 2 cups.
Re: Loose puppy stools Ok if my calculations are correct then 60-70 pounds is about 30-40kg? It's quite unusual for an adult Labrador to reach that weight even as an adult, especially as a female. It's not unheard of, and if your puppies parents were that large then your pup very well could be however I would be looking at an adult weight for a female of around 20-25kg on average. As a guide I think the majority of us on here don't feed anywhere near the recommended amount for our size dogs.... Some of us feed as little as 60% of the recommended measurement and our dogs do just fine. I think just make sure you do the diet transition slowly (it should take at least 7-10 days) and maybe consider decreasing the amount that you feed overall and you should start seeing results. As an example I feed my dog Penny 70g per meal, so 140g per day. The package recommends a minimum of about 300g per day for a Labrador.... Penny has never been underweight and at times is often a little podgy!! You should also take into account the amount and type of treats you are feeding as this should be subtracted from your pups daily food allowance.
Re: Loose puppy stools That's very helpful! Thanks! I haven't had a puppy to raise in about 25 years, so I feel like a novice again. I'll cut her food back a bit and see what happens. This is a link to a photo of her daddy with breeder, and he is pretty massive. I never saw her mother, so can't say anything about her size. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6sXNCF5WPbDSjdkWjlsM3ZmMUZLaHpUQUlVTTZfU3BHRjE0/edit?usp=sharing (can someone tell me how to embed a photo in my posts?) Your numbers fit my 13 year old female Lab. She is about 53 pounds (about 24 kg?) and she gets about 1.5 cups by volume each day. I can't figure out how to convert my volume amounts to your mass amounts (depends on the density of the food, I think!), but I can certainly cut Daisy's food back a bit. I've also noticed that her morning and early afternoon stools are much more firm - nearly normal - than the ones later in the day. The last two of the day are much softer, though improving. I know the lower GI is where water is absorbed, so perhaps those "nice" stools are the result of spending more time in the lower GI tract?? Such a lovely topic for discussion... On a more cheerful note, she's learning good things very quickly. She now rings a bell hanging on the door knob most of the time when she needs to go out, and she'll "give" mostly on command when she's got something in her mouth she shouldn't have (she even spit out a chunk of dry horse manure while still out of reach! I was impressed.). She'll "sit" and "down", and is starting to "stay". She still thinks "come" is somewhat optional, but that'll come. Lots of work but so much fun!
Re: Loose puppy stools Hi there and welcome to the forum! Don't worry about the poo discussion, we're old hands at that here! Sounds like you are getting things sorted out, it's a bit tricky when they are just pups and so much to try to figure out all at once. Glad to hear the mud-eating episode got sorted out, that sounds painful! The best way to embed photos in a post is to upload it to a photo-sharing site like Flickr or Photobucket, then copy/paste the BB in the post. If you look at this link you will get a step by step instruction via some screenshots, just scroll down to the post by Rachel (Oberon) with the screenshots. http://www.thelabradorforum.com/index.php?topic=1903.0
Re: Loose puppy stools trying again. If it comes through, you'll see daisy dashing through the grass. https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos?pid=6037578755135420738&oid=113724175722247419455 Edited to remove the image tags - works with just the link in this one pasted directly (jac)
Re: Loose puppy stools She's quite pretty in the first pic link you posted! Posting pics almost drove me nits in the beginning. I use Flicker. Upload my pics to that, then select the sharing option arrow and copy and paste the BBC code in your post. You can preview the pits and the pic should be embedded if it worked correctly. Where are you and a Daisy located? And welcome from me and Edsel (5 month black). Lori
Re: Loose puppy stools I found photo bucket the easiest - just upload, click on get links and the copy and paste the one that says for forums and message boards. Simple as that
Re: Loose puppy stools Daisy is beautiful, looks like a naturally chunky lady from your photo I use flickr and photobucket to embed photos This link should help or shout for help otherwise http://www.thelabradorforum.com/index.php?topic=1903.msg71126#new edit to include link
Re: Loose puppy stools Here is a link to see a pic of my other two dogs, Molly (13 yr old Lab) and Henry (3.5 yr old Golden mix). Henry thinks the puppy is wonderful; Molly would just as soon send it back. :-\ https://www.dropbox.com/sc/m79gst134dn7f3t/AACkpYPTgtgtHlH5vjKqdy38a I'm trying to use Dropbox since it's on my phone, too, so automatically uploads phone pictures to the website. If this link seems to work, I'll try some more.
Re: Loose puppy stools They are gorgeous. I edited your previous post to get the windswept puppy running through the grass Lovely
