8wk medium puppy(7lbs)- runny, soft stools

[Lori watts]

Hi all! Just picked up my medium godlendoodle (7lbs) last Sunday. He was on Nature's abundance from breeder. I transitioned him to orijen lg puppy food. His stool has been very soft and runny since he came home. I have been feeding him 1/2cup day (divided up into 3 portions). He has gained a pound since being home. The bag only starts at 11lb puppy food reccomendations (1 1/3cup/day)..so i divided that in half = a little more than a half cup per day. He should be about 40lbs full grown. Yesterday was 1st day on full orijen food. This morning he had some fresh blood in his stool. I just checked his stool yesterday and was negative for any worms, etc.He acts normal and plays hard with my 1.5yr old golden retriever. They are best friends already!

Several questions:

Do you think the lg puppy food is too much for him? Should i switch to the smaller puppy orijen?

Do you think 1/2cup per day not enough at this age? I started him on 3/4cup and he was pooping every 2-3hrs. Is this normal? So i cut back and that has slowed him down a bit.

Thank you!

Lori

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

We typically advise that you don't change anything about a puppy's diet for the first two weeks after you bring her home. This is why:

Many, many doodle puppies come home with giardia and other parasites. Giardia has a 10-14 day incubation period, so it won;t show up in a fecal test right away. The excitement and stress of leaving the mother, the litter, and the only home the puppy has ever known can contribute to tummy troubles, too. And an 8 week old puppy has only been eating solid food of any kind for about 4 weeks, so the digestive system is very immature.

We have even had members whose brand new puppies had serious health issues resulting in digestive symptoms.

If you change the food before the dog has had a chance to settle in, and before any parasite issues have time to show up in a fecal test, and the dog has diarrhea, you will not know if it's caused by the food change, stress, parasites, or a digestive illness, and the breeder will blame it on the food change. Thus begins a journey of frustration trying to figure it out and an endless round of food changes. You also don;t want to do anything to upset that delicate digestive system, as diarrhea can cause a young puppy to dehydrate very quickly, and is going to make housebreaking a whole lot tougher.

So you wait. If you leave the dog's diet exactly as is, and diarrhea develops, you have just eliminated any connection to food as the cause, and saved yourself a lot of aggravation. And of course, if the puppy comes home with diarrhea that doesn't resolve in a day, you know your breeder sent you a puppy with an intestinal parasite and you can probably recoup the cost of the fecal testing and the treatment, lol. (I personally would have fecal done on any new puppy I got, along with a general once-over at the vet's office, but parasites may not show up right away.)

So wait at least two weeks. If, after two weeks, the stool is firm and regular and everything seems fine with the pup's digestion, you can start changing her over. Make only one change at a time. 

Unfortunately, you've already changed his diet, and Large breed puppy food wasn't the best choice. "Large breed" formulas are inappropriate for any dog who is expected to weigh less than 50 lbs as an adult, and are really meant for the giant breeds who end up topping 80 lbs and don't reach full skeletal growth until 18-24 months of age. That's why the feeding guidelines don't even include a puppy of his weight. He should have been started on the regular Orijen Puppy formula, and not until you'd had him at least 2 weeks. 

The large breed puppy food is not "too much" for him.  Large breed formulas contain fewer calories per cup and less fat because the designed to help keep the giant breeds from gaining too much weight too fast and putting an unnecessary strain on the joints. This is not something you need to worry about with a dog who is not going to weigh more than 50 lbs.

However, you aren't feeding him anywhere near enough. He requires approximately 350 calories per day. The large breed Orijen puppy only contains 429 calories per cup. That half cup you're feeding only contains 215 calories. On that amount,(or God forbid, less) he'd starve to death. 

However, chances are that the reason his stool is loose is because he has giardia. Have a fecal done ASAP, and if it is positive, insist that the vet give you Panacur, NOT METRONIDAZOLE (flagyl). Insist on that. And don't buy Rx food. 

I would take the large breed formula back to the store and exchange it for the regular puppy formula. And have that fecal done. 

 

[Lori watts]

Thank you! I feel terrible that I have feed the wrong food. I will go get the regular puppy food now! I did get a fecal test on Thurs, and was negative for worms, etc. But, I'm not sure they tested specially for Giardia? Can't get fecal done now until Mon. Is this contagious to my other dog?

UPDATE: Just pooped and firmer, no blood, and just a little soft.

I feel terrible that i have messed my new puppy up. 

Thank you

Lori

p.s.

picture attached

[Lori watts]

Is there a growth chart for goldendoodle's medium (up to 40lbs)?

I followed one with my English Golden.

Thanks!

Lori

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Doodles are a mixed breed dog which is why there is such a huge variation in sizes, so there is no growth chart.  However, there is a general rule of thumb for standards - double weight at 4 months, and add or subtract 10 pounds.  For minis, it isn't as accurate because they are done growing by about 8 or 9 months.

[Lindsey Holt]

I think that Karen has given you great advice and especially the quantity of food.  At 5.5 months my Jake (standard F1B golden doodle) eats 2.5 cups of Canidae grain free chicken puppy formula.

Good luck, it is hard when they aren't feeling good.

[Lori watts]

UPDATE: sulley kept having runny, mucus, sometimes bloody diarrhea so took in another stool sample this past mon and finally they daw coccidia. Took ponazuril for two days n today for first day since getting him he had a solid poop. YEah!!!! He is eating his orijen puppy food 1cup per day (spread over 3times a day) great! Finally feel we are on the mend. He is so adorable! We love him!!

[Amy and Annabelle]

That's good news.