oh no.....tried orijens and back to loose stools!

[Laura Deutsch]

Well, I bought a 5 pound bag of it last night and decided to try 1/4 cup with the other cup and a half of rice/chicken mixture...voila! Loose poop! just in time for Molly's 4 month check up tomorrow morning. Vet will probably  not be happy. I am not happy. Does this sound familiar to anyone? I seem to remember a couple of posts that mentioned loose stools at first but I can't have that. I'm going back to work this week!!!! Any ideas?

[Linda Lynch]

How about just trying the Orijen -it should not be a problem!

[Julie, Boomer, Milo & Casey]

Orijen has alot of protein which will cause loose stools. I'm not sure what you've been feeding her but that may have been a shock to her system. I remember jumping from California Natural to Orijen when Boomer was a puppy and boy was I in for a surprise. I feed him Acana now - which is grain free and protein is a lower percentage than the Orijen was that I initially gave him. He's not had a loose stool since. HTH.

[Michelle B.]

My girls started having loose stools while on Orijen. We had worked our way through the flavor and were trying Regional Red. Our vet suggested moving to Acana because it's lower in protein. Unfortunately, my husband switched them cold turkey and they started vomiting and had looser stools. Not being certain if it was from the sudden switch or the food, we went back to Orijen and bought two different flavor bags - one of fish and one of adult and mixed them together. This has worked really well for them. No more loose stools and they like the food.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm confused as to where the idea that high protein causes loose stools is coming from. High fat and high fiber can cause loose stools, but not protein; in fact foods that are extremely high in protein sometimes have the opposite effect and can cause constipation.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Well, you would have had loose stool on any food you'd started, coming off a chicken & rice diet; and I believe you said she had loose stool on the previous food as well. But I wouldn't mix kibble with chicken & rice; that will make the changeover harder.
One thing I wonder about is the medication; why was she on Flagyl? Is there a parasite or infection? That could be the cause of the loose stool, and you are going to have loose poop on any food until it's cleared up. If there was something that showed up in the stool culture, you may have to wait until she tests negative for it before you take her off the chicken & rice, and start the kibble.
But even for a perfectly normal, healthy dog, it is very common to have a few days of loose stool when going through a food change, especially for a young puppy with an immature digestive system who has gone through several food changes in a relatively short period of time. If she's only four months old, she's only been eating solids for 3 months, and has been on 4 different foods in that period.
I would first make sure her stool is negative for any kind of infection or bacteria, and then I would start the Orijen and allow her a few days to adjust. You can give her a spoonful of canned pumpkin with each meal (NOT pie Filling) and or a spoonful of plain unflavored yogurt, but nothing else other than the kibble.
One other thought: what kind of treats does she get? Sometimes that can be the culprit.

[Laura Deutsch]

she hasn't had any treats at all...just chicken.
every time I've ever changed back to kibble with any dog, from chicken and rice, it's been gradual, the way I did it, as well as changing food types. Thanks for the help and suggestions. It will be interesting to see what the vet says. I'll let you know what happens. Oh, and no, she tested negative on cytology, so I was surprised that she put her on Flagyl. I see my "main" man tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see what he suggests.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I would definitely ask why she was put on medication.

[Ann O'Connor]

In addition to switching the food over gradually try putting 1 tablespoon of pumpkin in with the food. The pumpkin helps firm the pooh and calms the stomach.

[Linda Lynch]

Flagyl is usually prescribed for protozoa type organisms(like giardia), colitis or overgrowth off bad bacteria in the intestinal tract. So if there is no diagnosis-pup should not be on them unless vet was just covering what he didn't know.If there was not a positive stool sample or other indications of a bacterial infection, this probably didn't need to be prescribed. This medication can also CAUSE loose stools as a side effect. It's also not supposed to be prescibed to dogs under six months and 3-5 days is supposed to be the treatment period for this medicine. Good luck with Molly

[Laura Deutsch]

I will be talking very seriously with my vet this morning. I did not think he would have put her on Flagyl, but don't know. You want to trust the vets in the practice you're in, but this is not the vet I usually see. It's very discouraging to have all these problems with a small pup (not small anymore!!!). It's the first time we have had these types of food problems with a puppy. I only gave her a quarter cup of the Orijens, which is the way you're supposed to introduce foods. Maybe it is because she's had so many changes in such a short time. I'll keep you all posted. Thanks for your replies.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Let us know how you make out with the Vet today. I had the same problems with Guinness. It went on for many months, and we were never able to find a food he could tolerate...always had very loose stools. When he had reached full growth, I moved him to a home cooked diet with the consultation of my Vet and so much help from the DK Food Group. He's been fine since then, and now he even can handle Acana (he gets half home cooking and half Acana). Murph developed loose stools after he had been on Orijen for a while, but he does fine on Acana. Good luck!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I think that many changes to a diet in a short time period can DEFINITELY cause loose stools. It is hard on their digestion. Simplify, simplify is my opinion. Get her off those meds if they are not necessary and try a good food for a week or so. Keep us posted!!!!