Puppy Poops

[CalamityJess]

So Brody is 10 weeks old. We gradually switched him from the mix of foods the shelter fed his litter, to Hills Science Diet Puppy. He has yet to have consistent poop. Not counting last night when treat rewards gave him the runs AND the pukes, his sool consistently alternates between soft serve and runny but not quite liquid. He has been wormed twice. The puppy breath even faded after the second one, and he's due for another worming on the 25th.

 

I'm stumped. I've added pumpkin to his morning and afternoon meals, but I was told not to do that constantly or he'll just need weaned off of that too. I've mixed his kibble with rice as well. We've had maybe 3 or 4 normal stools in the 2 weeks we've had him.

 

He's acting fine (aside from last night's debacle), drinking fine, and his appetite is fine as well.

 

No fevers, no sign of infection, and only roundworm and hookworm were found in his fecal last week, when he got that worming done.

[Maralynn]

Maybe the food doesn't agree with him? JMO, but I'd choose to feed something other than Science Diet as I think it's over priced for the ingredients. Also, has he had a fecal to make sure he is parsite free? Different wormers kill different parasites.

[CalamityJess]

Maybe the food doesn't agree with him? JMO, but I'd choose to feed something other than Science Diet as I think it's over priced for the ingredients. Also, has he had a fecal to make sure he is parsite free? Different wormers kill different parasites.

 

Yeah he had a fecal done just this past Tuesday. Hookworm and Roundworm were found and he was wormed accordingly by our vet. We've been feeding Hills for years now as it's one of the few brands I can consistently get my hands on when my husband isn't available to drive across town to Petco. It's Hills, ProPlan, Nutro, or Iams. But I don't know how to introduce a new food in this situation. I know a lot of puppies do well on iams puppy, as it isn't as rich as hills tends to be.

[Maralynn]

I would give him bland food (chicken breast and white rice) in small meals for a day or two to see if that will firm up his poop. Then gradually add kibble back in over the next couple days. The other thing that could be going on is that he's just eating too much food. If that is the case then just reducing the amount fed will help.

[Maralynn]

Also, if those are your choices, I'd give the pro plan or nutro a try.

[chene]

How much pumpkin are you feeding him? Too much can have the opposite effect and end up giving him runny stool instead. Just a possibility. Also are you feeding him anything other than the kibble? Meals scraps or dog treats or whatnot?

[CalamityJess]

I would give him bland food (chicken breast and white rice) in small meals for a day or two to see if that will firm up his poop. Then gradually add kibble back in over the next couple days. The other thing that could be going on is that he's just eating too much food. If that is the case then just reducing the amount fed will help.

 

That's entirely possible. I was going by the bag which had him at 1.5 cups a day. I might have some frozen chicken breast I can boil up. If not I'm sure I have hamburger. I noticed some eye boogers today, I'm wondering if there's an allergy.

 

How much pumpkin are you feeding him? Too much can have the opposite effect and end up giving him runny stool instead. Just a possibility. Also are you feeding him anything other than the kibble? Meals scraps or dog treats or whatnot?

 

No table scraps, and the pumpkin is just the tip of a small cereal spoon. It would probably only fill a baby's spoon.

[Debbie Meier]

First things we do with loose poop is back down on the food and feed small feedings 3 times a day. I would also take him off the Science Diet and move him over to something that requires a lower volume of food to get the nutrition he needs, I've had good luck using Eagle Pack and I'll often pick up a grain free dog food for a bit, Natural Choice makes a nice one that won't break the bank that has worked out for our dogs/pups. Our pups at 9-10 weeks old are getting 1 3/4 cup of dog food per day with no treats, right now that is split up into 2-3 feedings. Also, treats will cause loose stools with many pups.

 

When you cut back you should see poops firm up, about 8 days after his last deworming you will likely see them get loose again, that is when the next hatch of worms will start effecting him. He should be dewormed every two weeks for the next 6-8 weeks to get his worms under control, you also want to deworm any other dogs you have at the same time so that they are not infecting each other and be picking up stools in the back yard as they are being made.

[gcv-border]

There are many, many online retailers of dog food. The sky is the limit for ordering any type of food you need for your dog. Using online ordering will remove the limitations on the type of food you can buy locally.

[Maralynn]

Maybe just try reducing his food tonight and tomorrow AM to see if that helps. If not then move on to the chicken/rice. If you use hamburger, rinse in under hot water in a colander after cooking to make sure there is as little fat as possible in it. Fat can just further aggravate the issue.

[CalamityJess]

First things we do with loose poop is back down on the food and feed small feedings 3 times a day. I would also take him off the Science Diet and move him over to something that requires a lower volume of food to get the nutrition he needs, I've had good luck using Eagle Pack and I'll often pick up a grain free dog food for a bit, Natural Choice makes a nice one that won't break the bank that has worked out for our dogs/pups. Our pups at 9-10 weeks old are getting 1 3/4 cup of dog food per day with no treats, right now that is split up into 2-3 feedings. Also, treats will cause loose stools with many pups.

 

When you cut back you should see poops firm up, about 8 days after his last deworming you will likely see them get loose again, that is when the next hatch of worms will start effecting him. He should be dewormed every two weeks for the next 6-8 weeks to get his worms under control, you also want to deworm any other dogs you have at the same time so that they are not infecting each other and be picking up stools in the back yard as they are being made.

 

I've been feeding him 1.5 cups/day broken into 3 meals around 5 hours apart. He ended up with an extra worming. His first was 9/3, then he got an extra dose last Tuesday, and he goes back to the rescue this coming Thursday for his regularly scheduled one. The second he is old enough he goes on Heartguard+. Mocha is on Heartguard+ so she has hook/round prevention year round. And they are both on flea prevention to prevent fleas (of course, even though I haven't seen a single flea in our yard in 3 years...pretty sure the fire ants keep them away >.<) but also tapeworm, and to repel mosquitos (we live in heartworm country, take no chances. Already went through that with Mocha). I dropped the treats. Tomorrow I'll feed him less, and more spread out. Treats are already stopped after yesterdays fiasco.

 

There are many, many online retailers of dog food. The sky is the limit for ordering any type of food you need for your dog. Using online ordering will remove the limitations on the type of food you can buy locally.

 

I don't know why that didn't occur to me. We have a petco, it's just in a location that I am not comfortable driving too so my husband would need to do it...when the Army lets him stay home. But i never thought of ordering online between times. And I think I saw Natural Choice at our PX...I'll have to look the next time I'm there.

 

Maybe just try reducing his food tonight and tomorrow AM to see if that helps. If not then move on to the chicken/rice. If you use hamburger, rinse in under hot water in a colander after cooking to make sure there is as little fat as possible in it. Fat can just further aggravate the issue.

 

Good idea. I already cut out his evening serving. i gave him a spoon of plain yogurt, thinking maybe his flora is all screwy from everything he's had going on in there (worms, the reaction to the treats, being adopted even). Tomorrow I'll see if I can hold him off until later in the morning.

[Maralynn]

I'd give him some food at the regular time in the morning, I'd just give less than normal. I'd probably try 1/3 cup 3x/day and see how he does.

[CalamityJess]

I'd give him some food at the regular time in the morning, I'd just give less than normal. I'd probably try 1/3 cup 3x/day and see how he does.

 

I'll give that a shot, thanks

[mum24dog]

I've been going through exactly the same thing with my 11 week old. We seem to be turning the corner (fingers crossed) at last and the only thing that has had any real effect is probiotic/kaolin paste. I don't know what brands you have over there but here it's mostly Pro-Kolin or Pro-Max.

 

His bowel is inflamed, probably triggered by worms initially. It needs help to heal.

 

He was underweight and didn't seem overly keen on the not especially high quality food he was on so I gradually changed him to a more easily digestible food and if anything he got worse, although I may have been feeding too much as Maralynn said. I don't want to be changing his food again.

 

I tried bland food but he wouldn't eat it. He can't afford to miss meals.

 

I have tried slippery elm but he won't touch it.

 

He had been on 3 meals a day so I put him back on 4 smaller ones.

 

He's had a couple of anti inflammatory injections and is currently on antibiotics that I would have preferred to avoid, but we're at the stage of throwing everything at it. And he's been wormed twice with different wormers.

 

We've postponed his second injection due tomorrow. Annoying but we (vet and I) don't want to take any chances while he isn't right.

 

A friend with a pup from a different litter from the same breeder has just been through the same thing. Same sire, dams sisters but not litter mates.

 

All I can say is that growth charts and estimates of where a pup should be in relation to adult size and weight at certain ages are not helpful in cases like this.

[teresaserrano]

Just another idea: my last dog Sara had soft/runny poop all her life. I tried several different brands of food with little effect, then when I put her on a grain free quibble, it got a lot better, although not perfect. What really worked for her was a RAW diet, since she started eating raw she never had another problem with soft stools. Doesn't of course mean this will work for your dog, just another thing to consider.

[CalamityJess]

After this morning's poop, same color ,(yellowish, which I've read is an absorbtion issue) loose just like the last few days I'm heading out to see what we have at the PX that isn't chicken based, and is grain free, His eyes are slightly watery, and his coat isn't as good as it was which to me says allergy.

 

He did ok on the mix from the shelter, and that was I'm sure all chicken based foods. But I just noticed SD Puppy has PORK in it. Pork is not good for dogs I've been told all my life. Definitely time for a change.

[mum24dog]

One of my dogs that I got at 15 weeks struggled with colitis for quite a while but I put that down to the stress of being in the pound in Ireland then being shunted around. There was no apparent cause and it was fixed by a gluten free kibble and he's been fine ever since and can eat anything. I say "fixed" but I have no evidence that the change of diet was the cause of the improvement. It could just have been coincidence but I suspect not.

 

I think we were lucky though. I don't buy into the idea of allergies or food intolerance being as widespread a problem as is commonly believed, neither for humans nor dogs. Not saying it doesn't exist, just that it should be assumed automatically to be the cause of every bowel disturbance.

[Maralynn]

I'm not sure where you heard that about pork, but it's an ingedient in several foods that dogs do well on. I've fed 2 or 3 foods with pork with no issues. But it may not be right for *your* pup. At this point I would feed over cooked rice/chicken breast today (super easy to digest and soothing to the gut) and call the vet in the morning to see if there's something else you should be trying.

[CalamityJess]

I'm not sure where you heard that about pork, but it's an ingedient in several foods that dogs do well on. I've fed 2 or 3 foods with pork with no issues. But it may not be right for *your* pup. At this point I would feed over cooked rice/chicken breast today (super easy to digest and soothing to the gut) and call the vet in the morning to see if there's something else you should be trying.

 

I've been told since I was a kid never let a dog eat pork, it has something in it that's bad for them. That could just be human grade, it's been in my brain so long it's just...there. I picked up a small bag of grain free puppy (blue wilderness, mixed it with his second feeding). He's already had 2 meals today. But I'll go ahead and boil up some chicken breast for the last one.

 

Edited to add: Immediate change. Smaller poop, still soft serve (mixed the wilderness with a little SD) but slightly darker and more firm spots. We'll see if this keeps up and improves or is just a temporary good moment. If it improves, that should point to the grains or the pork. Considering he was exposed to chicken at the shelter and was ok on that I'm thinking the pork. He is also itchy and has a watery eye, and my GSD did that with a food allergy.

[mum24dog]

Raw pork no because of the parasites it carries. Cooked pork is fine.

[CalamityJess]

Raw pork no because of the parasites it carries. Cooked pork is fine.

 

Ok thanks for clearing that up. Old Wives tales die hard. And miracle of miracles the improvement continues with new food. Now the hard part comes in a few more days. Was it the grains? or was it the pork? I belatedly realized I should have tried something with no pork in it BEFORE trying grain free.

 

I don't want him staying away from grains completely if it's the pork. Common sense says the shelter food had grains, and chicken, which leaves pork as the guilty ingredient. His tummy is reaccting better now. So maybe give it a few more days and try something that is wholly chicken based?

 

I had a GSD that went grain and gluten free in her later years. And she got a bite of pancake one day and died that night in her sleep. I'll never not think it was that pancake that did it.

[Maralynn]

Could be a combination of backing off on food and a new food, too. Or maybe the new food isn't as rich. You might find that once his gut settles down that it won't be a big issue. The whole new home/food change/parasites combination might have just been too much for his tummy to handle.

[CalamityJess]

Could be a combination of backing off on food and a new food, too. Or maybe the new food isn't as rich. You might find that once his gut settles down that it won't be a big issue. The whole new home/food change/parasites combination might have just been too much for his tummy to handle.

 

I hope that's all it was. I know he had a horrible reaction to science diet treats, turns out they have pork in there too. I don't want to go too long restricting grains, like I said. But he has a shot and worming this week too so I'll probably wait until that's over with to try anything else. I'm mixing the SD with the grain free so he isn't totally not getting any grains. Though I'd have expected Blue Wilderness to be richer than SD. I'm not complaining though, it works! And he isn't biting himself and scratching and sneezing (that had just started yesterday).

[Gideon's girl]

One of the issues with pork is/was that dog that were kibble fed were being given pork scraps, which are the fatty trimming. That's a huge change in the amount of fat that the dog is used to and can cause any number of gastric and intestinal issues, from colitis to pancreatitis.

 

Raw feeders feed pork too, but it needs to be frozen for a couple of weeks to kill off the possible parasites. Commercially raised pork is not very likely to have the parasites that we worry about, because a commercially raised pig in the U.S. never touches dirt in it's entire life and is wormed regularly anyways. That's why they recently revised the cooking recommendations for pork and lowered the temp that they recommend the meat reach before consumption. Wild hogs are a different story though.

 

It is fairly common for pups with severe hook or roundworm infestations to need time for their gut to heal. Remember that those worms actually bite the gut wall. You might want to look into a product like The Honest Kitchen's Perfect Form. A little extra fiber, slippery elm, and probiotics will all help, but you would do best to find a probiotic that has more different strains than yogurt has. Top of the line would be Mercola's probiotics, good enough would be one of Swanson's probiotics, like Dr Langer's or Soil Based Organisms.