Diarrhea

[Julie & Wrigley]

I have a 5 month labradoodle, Wrigley. I have been posting/reading the food group here for a few days now because he constantly has diarrhea and/or loose poop.

He was eating NutroMax puppy until we switched him to Blue Buffalo. His poops got better but then he stopped eating the BB (I think he didn't like the taste) so we bought some vita gravy to put on it. His diarrhea came back worse after those days so I figured it was the gravy.

From the forums here I am not trying to slowly switch him to Orijen large puppy so he has no soy, corn, wheat, grains etc. We started this on Tuesday night. I bought some pumpkin to help the process but of course he doesn't like it. So I tried light plain greek yogurt and he loves it. But today he's had diarrhea about 5 times in the past few hours. We have some ID food and puppy pepto so we gave him some of each.

I have taken him to the vet previously when this happens and they said he didn't have a paraiste and just must have an irritable/sensitive stomach.

I'm tempted to take him to the vet tomorrow for them to tell me it's not a parasite, but based on his happiness/activity level I have to believe my gut that he is fine and it's all related to food.

Has anyone had similar issues with their doodle (almost constant loose poop and/or diarrhea)? Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I looked at the ingredients. There isn't anything horrible in it, but there is soy, which is not a great food for dogs.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

It may be from the changes in foods, but I would certainly get another stool sample, certainly no harm in that and at least you can begin to treat it if it is giardia. Very common for new pups to have. I had to treat mine a week after we got her and although her stools were fine, giardia showed up. As it turned out the Flagyl that we gave was what gave her the diarrhea, and we had to treat with a probiotic and Albon for another 10 days to get her totally back on track. Luckily she eats anything, so pumpkin or yogurt weren't an issue. It's hard when you're changing foods and then giving medication as you won't know for sure what's causing the soft stools that most get from it, so sticking with one type would probably be best at this point until you know more.
Let us know what the vet says. Good luck. As long as she is happy and playing, eating and drinking, she is not sick-sick. Just a fussy puppy tummy, let's hope.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Boy you should have seen my dog run this morning. Yuck! Five dogs, two with iffy stomachs anyway, one who stole a big piece of turkey and all who were fed too much people food (kids home). I really commiserate.

I did try to read all the answers, so if I miss this I apologize. Have you tried boiled rice and hamburger or chicken? Tigger has an iffy stomach, lots of pudding poop. Frequently on pumpkin, which fortunately he likes. We are going on the end of a month after surgery and he still needs lots of pumpkin.

The boiled rice diet is a good way to "start over". Boil the rice and hamburger together or separately. Make a lot and freeze or refrigerate in meal size portions to thaw in micrwave. Keep Wrigley on this from 2- 4 weeks. You can also give him probiotic pills at the same time.

This is to sort of let his immune and digestive system return to normal. Most dogs will do well on this diet. Then pick a good quality dog food with rice as its grain - stay away from wheat. Very gradually over a period of two weeks change from rice and hamburger to the dog food. As you are doing this, if poop gets loose, stay at the same level of rice/hamburger/dog food until poop firms up. If you get him to all dog food, respect his own judgement. Put food down for 10 minutes and remove it if he shows no signs of eating it. It is not at all harmful to a dog to miss a meal or two or three. After three days of really not eating at all, see the vet. Dogs with iffy tummies often take a break from eating on their own. Do not encourage him to clean his bowl for the same reason.

Switching from one dog food to the next while a tummy or immune system is irritated usually is not helpful. A good rest is needed first. Sort of like humans eating crackers and jello and chicken soup for awhile after a nasty intestinal flu bug.

Really really try to not change dog foods without going back to the rice/hamburger diet.

You can also add rice to a regular diet if pudding poop shows up and that will help.

If you see a poop with what looks to me like mucous in it, it is worth it to take it in to test for giardia. Giardia is not shed all the time, only during a certain stage of the life cycle of the parasite, so it often shows up as not present, when in fact it is.

I have had one previous dog and now Tigger with an iffy stomach. It isworrying, not mention messy. Please try very hard not to worry about likes and dislikes. Dogs will eat anything (literally) if they are hungry enough. If you find a dog food he tolerates - stick with it. If he doesn't eat it isn't because he "doesn't like" it. Maybe he has an upset tummy or maybe he like a child- holding out for something better- but as Mom you know that what he is given is what he tolerates and is best for him.

Good luck,
(wadded up newspaper works well to "scrub" the grass hit by pudding poop)

[Bonnie and Kona]

Thank you so much for posting this. I found it really helpful. I only fed Owen the rice and chicken for three days before adding dog food back in over the next two days. I will try the regimen you suggested.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I use the hamburger and rice mixture, too. The only thing I would add is that it works best to cook the hamburger separately, so you can drain off all the grease before mixing it with the rice. I rinse the meat in hot water before mixing.

[Julie & Wrigley]

Wrigley update: We went to the vet and he's negative for giardia and any other parasites. We are going to have him on a boiled chicken and rice diet for the remainder of the weekend to see how he does. We also got some diarrhea meds and an intestinal antibiotic. They said if he's better by Monday we can start the transition to Orijen, which would be a good choice for food if he likes it and it agrees with him. I will update again later this weekend. Thank you all so much for your advice/support! :)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Good report, and I like your vet. Please keep us posted!

[Julie & Wrigley]

Yeah our vet is great. I think I asked about 100 questions...we were there for 45 minutes and about 10 was actually checking Wrigley. He is SCARFING his rice and chicken down as I type. He sat at my feet the entire time I cooked, barking a bit, since he was so hungry. I'll give him seconds later if he wants (I'm sure he will).

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving and got some good deals today!

We are headed to a doodle meet-up at a local dog beach tomorrow morning (oh the wonders of San Diego). Have a great rest of the weekend!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

How is Wrigley today? The chicken and rice will certainly help, it may take a day or two. And yes, they LOVE it. Keep us posted?

[Michael Gurley]

My doodle had that when she was a puppy. She also threw up a lot. The vet recommended FortiFlora powder, and we sprinkled it on her food each day. It really helped her! Just something to look into :)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The vet recommended Fortiflora because the vet sells it...it's a Purina product, and is a poor quality probiotic that contains questionable ingredients, and is nowhere near as good as the other probiotics on the market, and a lot more expensive.
Here's a discussion we had about Fortiflora here in The Food group, right after the vets started seling it:
http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/fortifl...

[Michael Gurley]

Wow, thanks! I guess I thought it helped because when we started the Fortiflora, we started separating the dogs to feed them, and Sunny began eating more slowly so she didn't throw up anymore.