Labradoodle & Goldendoodle Forum
Hunger / diarrhea issues
Our almost 5 month-year-old puppy is always hungry. I realize this may be normal puppy behavior but his constant hunger has increased recently. We feed him Fromm Large Breed Puppy food on a strict schedule three times per day - 7AM, 11AM, and 4PM. We feed him the amount the bag suggests which is 3 1/4 cups per day. Sometimes we increase slightly if he has a very active day. We provide treats during the day when we're training (inside the house and on walks). Nonetheless, he begs for food between meals. I swear if we put a bag of food in front of him it still wouldn't be enough. Also, he eats a lot of grass and dirt in the yard and on walks. Our vet says this is all normal, but it doesn't sit right with us. Any suggestions?
The second issue is diarrhea. I posted about this issue a while back. We tried switching from Life's Abundance to Zingnature. We did so gradually mixed with a bland diet. That didn't go well so we started over and switched to Fromm LBP. His stools we're okay and he loved the food so we stuck with it. He still has diarrhea issues. About half his daily stool is formed, but the rest is soft, sometimes very soft (usually in the afternoon). We tried removing treats one day and it sort of helped but he still got soft stool once per day. We added treats back in because he was enrolled in puppy school and we couldn't go without treats during training. I ordered Proviable DC which arrived today. We'll start it tomorrow. I hope this helps. Would love advice if I am missing anything. I'll add that we had a stool sample done a while back and it came back fine.
Here are the treats we use for training:
- Cloud Star Chewy Tricky Trainers Liver
- Trader Joe's Beef Liver Begging Treats
- Trader Joe's Joes Chicken & Sweet Potato Flavored Dog Treats
- Vet One Neat Treats
- Occasional pieces of hotdog for high reward training
- NF Greek yogurt
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle on
-
The Primal Nibs are indeed a high quality product, but at 41% fat, this is not a product that I would recommend for a dog with loose stool/diarrhea. Dogs with chronic loose stool or digestive issues require very low fat percentages in their diets.
-
Permalink Reply by Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie on
-
We use slo-bowls from Outward Hound (ordered on Amazon or Chewy and even at PetSmart now) at our house. As for treats, too many of anything makes a difference in the firmness of stools on all of my three. Two of my boys are chow hounds and will take kibble all day long as a treat, especially if I use an LID kibble rather than their regular Orijen; even as a high value one -- so go figure :-}. However one our our boys refuses a piece of kibble - looks at us like we are stupid to even try that trick, but then he seems to feel that if we throw a ball (for fetching) WE can retrieve it. :-}
-
Permalink Reply by Josh Adams on
-
Wow, this looks like a mouse maze! Very cool, we may need to try this out if our pup gets smart enough to knock over the can. Thanks for the recommendation!
-
-
The PureBites Chicken Treats arrived yesterday. We used the treats for leash training yesterday and this morning. Our pup loves it (no surprise, he likes everything), but the verdict is not out yet if his stomach likes it. His stools have become softer again. They’re not as loose as before, but definitely softer than the past few days when he was only eating his Fromm kibble. Are there any other factors I’m not considering that could be contributing to his loose stools?
We’ll continue with the Proviable and the PB treats to see if it approves.
-
-
It would be very odd if plain freeze-dried chicken breast caused the stools to become loose, but I can't think of anything else that could have caused the change. Let us know if things improve or get worse.
-
-
I know, I thought the same thing, Karen. I'll be sure to keep you posted over the next several days. Thanks for all your guidance.
-
-
Hi all, our pup's soft stool has improved. He still gets soft stool if he has a lot of treats during training. One thing we've noticed since switching him to 2 meals per day instead of 3 is that he doesn't always finish his meals. He used to devour his food. He leaves about 1/3 of the kibble. Sometimes he goes back to finish it after 10 minutes. We always take it away after 15-20 minutes. We don't allow free feeding. Maybe it's too much food for him at this age (he turns 5 months tomorrow)? Or maybe his growth is slowing down, although I think he has a lot more to go. I doubt he's getting bored of the food because he's always excited when we put it out. He's on Fromm LBP. I know people usually mix it up with other food within the same line but not sure if that's the best idea with his sensitive stomach?
-
-
Our pups are one day apart! Jasper turned 5 months today!
They do start to slow down their growth around this age and consequently may not be as interested in food, since they don't need as much. It's normal and nothing to be concerned about.
You're right that it would be a bad idea to start changing formulas. With dogs who have digestive issues, when you find something that works, it's best to stay with it. Down the road, if things improve, you can always try another formula.
-
-
Happy 5 months to Jasper! Hope you guys had a fun-filled day.
-
-
You too!
-
-
Well, his 5-month birthday yesterday was a lot of fun! Today, not so much. His soft stool returned with a vengeance. He had two almost all liquid (but no blood) stools. He had no treats today or last night. Just his kibble. I have no idea what's going on with our guy. It's so inconsistent. His spirit was a little low today too. It might be time for a visit to the vet again for a stool analysis to make sure all is fine. I'm starting to think maybe it is best to switch him to the Wellness LID ...
-
-
Josh, I agree that it might be time for a vet visit. I would just caution you to be very very careful about accepting metronidzaole if the vet suggests it, or about purchasing Rx food. Neither of those things will help in the long run, and may hurt.
Aside from switching his food and going to a stronger probiotic, (VSL#3), I'm out of ideas. I do think a fecal would be a good idea.
© 2025 Created by Adina P.
Powered by
