I just posted in the food group and then saw this group....

[Kat and Winston]

Basically Winston has been with us 6 weeks tomorrow. He's had stool problems for 5 of them.

We brought him home on a Saturday and took him to the Vet on the Monday for a check-up. They gave him oral Bordatella, which I had asked about postponing, but allowed myself to get pressured into it. I've read that others have had long term stomach issues after this vaccine....so I do wonder.  

He's had 4 stool samples checked and is growing OK, but his weight is low end of the growth curve I feel. He's a miniature doodle, came home at 4.4 and on Tuesday he weighed 7.11. So has gained about 3.4 pounds in 6 weeks. Some of his litter mates that weighed less then him, now weigh a pound or two more.

We've tried several foods, Earthborn Holistic Puppy,  California Natural Puppy,  Natural Balance sweet potato and bison. He came home from the breeder on Victor Active Dog and Puppy and did fine the first few days. Then after the vaccine he seemed off and nothing has been the same stomach wise since. Possibly a coincidence, but I just don't know what is going on.

Here's the post I just made in the Food group.

I wasn't sure where to put this, and I'm sorry it's so long, but we are into month two now of issues.

Winston is 14 weeks old now and really a very sweet puppy with a great personality, but his gut is not.  He does fine on bland food, but add in anything like a bit of kibble(we've tried several) or even just some salmon oil, and the loose stools eventually return.

He was doing pretty well on both chicken and rice and chicken and sweet potato, so I added in the calcium I knew he needed. Still doing well for a few days so I added in just a bit of sardines trying to get him a little bit of fat and DHA, in his diet. He did great on that for a few days, so in his next batch I decided instead of the sardine to just use a scant tsp of salmon oil mixed in to his two days worth of food that I prepared.

By the end of that batch on Sunday his stool was getting soft. Monday I made a new batch with just chicken rice and some sweet potato, but it stayed soft all day and by Tuesday morning it looked like his food had basically ran through him coming out looking like a jar of baby food sweet potatoes. This was the loosest I'd ever seen stool from him so I took the sample in and had him checked out again. 

No parasites, no protozoa, no infection and he'd gained weight, although not as much as I think he should be gaining compared to his litter mates that I've spoken with.  The vet did notice that he only seemed to have one kind of bacteria and the bacteria wasn't even moving. The sample was about 4 hours old by the time our appt. time came, which I did tell him. 

But the thing I'm wondering is if the bacteria the vet could see in the sample was actually the probiotics I'd given him the night before. They were Proviable ,which he's been on for a couple of weeks now, since as I said it honestly looked like his food had run right through him. Maybe the probiotics were just in the undigested food and that's what he saw. I'm going to ask him tomorrow when we go back for his parvo/distemper final shot.

The vet gave me a different probiotic to try in the hopes we can get some good bacteria growing in there. Prostora,  Iams Veterinary Formula. I've read conflicting things about this one, but seems like it's helped a lot of dogs. We also decided to give him Panacur since I keep worrying it's Giardia. I've bleached everything as well just in case.

After his appt. I gave him the panacur and then a while later he ate. He hadn't passed any stool at that point since the sample I'd taken in. His next movement was normal. I didn't give him the new probiotic until right before bed so it can't be given the credit for the formed stool. So maybe it was the salmon oil that had finally cleared his system. I don't know.......

He was great all day Wednesday and then yesterday it was loose once, but that was after the Panacur dose so maybe it was from that. Last night's was formed and so was this morning's.

We really love having this little guy be part of our family. But I just want to not have food and examining stool be such a huge part of my life. I know we don't always get what we want...lol

I just don't know where we go from here. I feel like he's been home 6 weeks tomorrow. He's happy, playing, and acting like a typical puppy should act. I want to be sure that he's getting the nutrients he needs to grow well and have long term good health.  It seem like he handles, chicken, rice, sweet potatoes and oatmeal without issue and possibly sardines, but he needs some oil in there from everything I've read. I give him calcium(bonemeal) so that's covered but what about healthy fat? I'm worried it's impacting his growth and health. I haven't even added in a multi vitamin yet, as I'm worried about how it will effect him, but if we are going to home cook it's got to be added.

He eats his food like he's been starved for days, every. single. time. I bought a slow feeder and that's slowed him down a fair bit. 

Would you keep him on home cooked food, and keep trying to add in oil, or ask for a prescription diet for a while? I just feel a bit lost.

I'm going to be honest. I'm a busy mom with children that I homeschool, and while I don't mind cooking for him for a bit to help him overcome whatever,  I'd still like to know he could eat other food,  at least part of the time. 

Read more here: http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/gi-issues-continue?groupUr...

[Divyangna and Chai]

Hi Kat, 

I just saw your post and was wondering how Winston is doing now? We had similar issues with little Chai, and I know how frustrating it can be.

Just wanted to share our experience with Chai if that helps. 

She came from the breeder on Purina puppy and had loose stools ever since. We decided to get her on a better brand so transitioned her to wellness core puppy, which was as bad if not worse. With the thought that she may have Giardia or something, we got fecal tests done and they put her on metro even though they were negative :(

I had her on Proviable DC too, and that didn't do much with kibble so I was cooking chicken and sweet potato/rice for her every day! It was the only thing that seemed to keep her tummy in check. The doc heard this and insisted on RC puppy prescription food.

The RC worked well and her stools started forming although my husband and I were not happy about the food. 3 bags and 8 weeks later, we transitioned her slowly to Fromm Duck and Sweet Potato. It was VERY slow and we had her on Proviable DC again for 2 weeks before and a month after the transition. BUT this time it WORKED!! 

We are now on Bag 3 of Fromm Duck & Sweet Potato and she loves it! 

Just thought I would share my experience because I totally understand how hard this can be with a new puppy. Feel free to reach out should you have any questions! Hope the little one is doing better!