Stools look like chocolate pudding......help!

[Tammy M. Jacomin]

My doodle Gatsby is 4 months old.  About two weeks ago he started have stools that looked like chocolate pudding.  Last week I stopped feeding him his food (Buffalo Blue Puppy) and for three days fed him boiled chicken and sweet potatoes.  The stools went back to normal.  Saturday night for dinner I brought back his dog food and now this morning his stool is chocolate pudding again! 

Does anyone have any suggestions for me?  I am new to this site, I just joined last week.  But I have been reading a lot of the discussions on this group and it seems as if there is a lot of knowledge and experience here.  Two weeks ago he was at the vet and had been scratching himself on his stomach so I asked the doctor if it could be his food and of course she said no.  I'm not so sure.  I haven't called the vet about this problem yet.  I thought I could manage it.  It was fine when he was eating chicken and sweet potatoes, but he can't eat that forever. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

He needs a fecal, so you do need to call the vet. 

The vet is correct in that the scratching has nothing to do with his food. It's very doubtful that the pudding stool has anything to do with his food, either. If you're thinking along the lines of allergies, you can forget that. It's almost impossible for a 4 month old puppy to have developed an allergy to a food source, and food allergies don't present as digestive symptoms anyway. In addition, the main protein source in the BB puppy food is chicken, so if that were the cause of the GI issues, the home-cooked chicken wouldn;t help. 

Most of the time, sudden stool issues are due to either parasites or the dog having eaten something he shouldn't. 

Is it possible that he ingested anything he shouldn't have, either indoors or out? 

Have a fecal done and in the meantime, order a bottle of Proviable DC probiotics. Some vets do sell it, but not many, and it's cheaper on-line anyway. 

[Tammy M. Jacomin]

Thank you for getting back to me.  After I read through your reply and read a few other discussions I realized I forgot something that may be important in the puzzle.  At the end of September, Gatsby went to the vet and as I said he had been scratching his stomach a lot.  The vet said it looked red and infected so she put Gatsby on antibiotics (Cephalexin, 500 mg 2xday).  That's when everything started happening.  My daughter thinks the antibiotics are the problem.  He has been off them for over a week though.  Could that be the problem? 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Oh yes, it certainly could be. Any time a dog is on antibiotics, they need to be given a good probiotic. The problem is that the antibiotics will destroy all of the good bacteria that's necessary for proper stool formation along with the bad bacteria, so you must replace the good gut bacteria by giving probiotics. For future reference, when giving both antibiotics and probiotics, they must be given at least 2 hours apart, and longer is better. 

I'd still have a fecal done just to be sure, but I really think the Proviable will help a lot.