Goldendoodle with a sensitive stomach

[Audrey Alegre]

Hello all,

I just wanted to get anyones advice and if any of your Goldendoodles out there have a sensitive stomach?

Otis is 5 months and has persistent diarrhea on and off. They've tested him for Giarda and all have been negative.  He's been on antibiotics and they've cured him for a while then he'll all of a sudden, diarrhea. He may have eaten something while we've walked but nothing crazy that has been worrisome. 

Can anyone tell me what kind of food your Golendoodle puppies are on? We are currently feeding him Wellness puppy large breed. The vet thinks we should change his food.

Any advice, suggestions, etc is greatly appreciated!

Thank you! 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Audrey, DK has a very large and active group, The Food Group, where you will find hundreds of discussions on the subject of doodles with sensitive stomachs as well as lots of help, advice, and food recommendations. Please join us, we'll be happy to help you, too. :)

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Welcome to the wonderful world of doodles! Any breed of dog can have a sensitive stomach and/or diarrhea for no apparent reason. Loose, even runny stools, that are not frequent may likely clear up on their own. Severe very frequent watery stools can cause dehydration and I would visit the vet that day if possible. Light or white gums signal dehydration, but if you aren't used to looking at dog gums it can be a difficult call.

From another view if this were my puppy I would do another check for giardiasis and even a third if the intermittent tender tummy continues. It is not unusual for puppies to arrive with giardia. Giardia only appears in the stool at a cetain phase in its life cycle. It can be very difficult to clear up and requires meticulous dog run, dog bottom and human hygiene.

Quite a few of us can tell messy lengthy stories of puppy giardiasis that lasted months, me included with Tigger. Karen and Jackdoodle can tell you. The exact best medicine to clear it and not all vets seem to prescribe it initially.

[Alex]

Audrey, The question of what food is "best" for your dog is a big one. As Karen said, there is a huge amount of information in many threads and a dedicated forum. It also seems surprisingly controversial, because there is a vast difference of opinion between dedicated dog owners (on this board and others) and the majority of vets. I won't speculate as to why this is the case, and I really do not want to get into a food debate with anybody. But I would like to share my personal experiences and try not to editorialize, since they seem to be relevant.

We started our male standard golden doodle Baci on exactly the same food you are using, and had exactly the same experience. Our vets were strongly opposed to this particular food from the get go. They claimed that their clinical experience was that dogs were more likely to get struvite stones. I have no idea whether or not this is true, and it did not happen to us.

After holding out for a while and watching Baci's stools get increasingly worse, we eventually switched him to Science Diet Puppy Large Breed (Again, I really don't want to get into a discussion about the merits or flaws of this or that food, and will just describe our experience.) Initially, Baci's stools cleared up immediately and stayed good for about 6 months. Then we moved to California, and he got sick; probably with something like giardia. But once he started to recover, his stools didn't. I don't have any idea why, since the food had previously worked well. They just kept staying persistently bad. We first transitioned him to the adult line of this formula, but that didn't seem to help. We then moved him to the science diet "Adult Large Breed Lamb Meal & Rice" formula, which is marketed as being for sensitive stomachs. Again, I don't really understand why. We thought maybe he had some intolerance to chicken, but we have no evidence for that, and the food probably has some chicken product in it anyway. 

Anyway, after that switch, his problems again cleared up immediately. He has had perfect stools now for about another 5 months running, and his weight is good (lean and healthy). He's not yet neutered so that seems to help control his appetite. Fingers crossed.