Still Diarrhea with my puppy

[Lisa Marin]

My little Tucker still continues with his tummy troubles. I have posted before but wanted to update everyone on the situation. Tucker just turned 5 months old and has had diarrhea since we got him at 8 weeks. He has had multiple fecal that have all come back negative and has been dewormed (even a special dewormer for whipworms...just in case). He has been on metronidizole with success. He has normal stools on the medicine and then within days of stopping it gets the severe diarrhea again. So he has been on meds most of his little life. I have been feeding him Acana Wild prairie and have tried pumpkin and probiotics. After researching from the food group I just switched him to Natural balance duck and potato LID food. I did it cold turkey because he is on the meds and the stools are fine. Has anyone else had this problem???  The vet wants to start with very expensive tests...I have tried to avoid this but might have to?

[Maria, Ton & Zoe]

Lisa, I saw the same with our Zoe, and since we had her on ZiwiPeak she had really compact-hard and small poops, but if I give her any regular kibble (tried Orijen Puppy, Wellness, EVO, raw and canned food) the poops are very soft and she is gassy for 3-4 weeks after the switch.  Karen is right, their stomachs need to adjust but Zoe needed no adjustment period for ZiwiPeak (no gas or soft poop).  If you can afford ZiwiPeak - it's not low-cost but our Zoe is 25lb so she does not eat a lot - it may do the job.  It took us a long time and patience to figure out what works for her and settle on the type of food though...

One of my work colleagues is using Royal Canine Poodle food - I know it is not on the recommended list, but this works for her picky doodle. Our trainer tried tens of brands for her second puppy who was not gaining weight and was not digesting any food and finally settled on the grain-free Costco food (who would think of that?).  I have adhered to the WholeDogJournal recommended dry foods (no Costco or Royal Canine on that list), but tried a couple of them until we settled on ZiwiPeak....

[Lisa Marin]

The loose stools have started again...seems like he can only be off of the metronizole for about 2 days. I am taking him to the vet on Monday. Hope to have some better answers. I am afraid all I will be told is to feed him the Purina EN! Something I am trying to avoid. But it is better than being on an antibiotic I guess????  So frustrating!

[David E]

PLEASE consider a raw diet. My guy NEVER got used to kibbles. I tried everything. All the expensive Orijen, Acana, probiotics, green beans, yogurt etc etc. It never worked.

Raw diet = perfect. He's now 15months has the whitest teeth you'll ever see and his 5 1/2 month Giant Schnoodle brother is now grinding up the chicken quarters as fast as he does.

Any of the commercial frozen raw foods worked for me. Primal, Stellas, Instinct - check the ingredients on the Instinct patties, it's all natural foods. They were too expensive to do long term, but I found a great local raw supplier who makes up a mix that I supplement with meat from the supermarket now.

You can struggle forever. I think eventually a dog may get used to one kibble....but it's not what they're meant to eat. When I give mine run off into the yard with their chicken and chomp down on it, it feels much more natural than a bowl of dried processed food. There's a reason kibble lasts for weeks/months without going bad. Raw dog food would spoil in a day if you left it out of the refrigerator. 

A pack of 12 frozen patties is $25 or something. It's a $25 experiment. Try it, you can do it cold turkey (no pun) and I will send you the $25 if your guy doesn't have great poops by day 2. 

This worked for me of course and obviously you should check with your vet if you think there is something seriously wrong. My bet is that the above will save you a LOT of vet bills.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

David, we appreciate your advice, but there are several hundred members of this group who are feeding some form of kibble, so to say that it's "not what they were meant to eat" or to denigrate the feeding method that several hundred FG members have chosen and used successfully is somewhat inappropriate here. There are some dogs here with health issues who have done better on commercial raw diets, (particularly Honest Kitchen) and some who cannot eat raw food at all, also for health reasons. Raw food of any kind is not a cure for disease, or a substitute for veterinary care.

It isn't "natural" to cut your doodle's fur, either, or have him groomed, or cut his nails, or clean his ears, or walk with him on a leash. These are pet dogs who are not living in the wild, nor were their parents or their grandparents, or any of their ancestors for hundreds of years back. And many people do have living situations which do not lend themselves to allowing a dog to run off outdoors with their hunk of raw meat.

Again, we appreciate your suggestion that another form of food might help Tucker. But let's leave it at that, without making criticisms of other people's choices.

 

[David E]

Sorry, not trying to criticize...however when I've gone through all the issues already and found an answer that makes logical sense to me and then I read about someone about to subject their dog to lots of tests by the vet, I just want to help. My Doodle's stomach is sensitive and it is a common problem with them it seems. I'm not alone, search these forums and it's obvious (that's how I found this site in the first place).

I honestly hope everyone's dog who is eating kibble is as healthy as can be. 

Like I said - it could be a $25 experiment to feed raw for a week or even a few days only. I think it's worth it and it's certainly cheaper than the vet. I know you came down hard on me before for talking about raw and my posts were censored, so I'll leave it at that.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

As was previously mentioned in this discussion, the tests that Lisa's vet wants to run are diagnostics to rule out some fairly serious issues, which cannot be helped or cured by any kind of food whatsoever, raw or otherwise. Food cannot cure diseases.

I wonder what kind of reception I would get in the Raw Feeder's Group to which you belong if I came in there and started suggesting that people feed their dogs kibble instead.

Yes, let's leave it that.  

[David E]

I lied, I can't leave it....

Please have all the tests done. I would do the same. My dog had all the same symptoms with the foods though and I'm not alone, there are lots of people on here with dogs with sensitive stomachs. I got to the point where I was imagining all these horrible diseases and parasites that my dog must have..........

Once the tests are done, I would be really really interested if raw food is tried and what the outcome is. I sincerely hope it's just a food issue. The current food isn't working anyway, so no harm in trying I would think. 

Lisa - I have my fingers crossed for you, good luck.