stool issues

[Nicole]

My 7 month old labradoodle has had some diarrhea for the past six days. I say some, because for the past three months she would go all night without using the bathroom. The last five out of six mornings I have gone to let her out of her room (a small bathroom in which she sleeps) to find some more solid pieces of stool, some pudding-consistency stool, some more runny (although not watery)...ALL OVER her bed, the floor, even on the wall :( Ugh!.....she DID pass two socks in the past few days...apparently she has been sneaking into my daughter's room and stealing her dirty socks...another Ugh!...

 

I looked for canned pumpkin...all of our groceries say they can't get it right now...she ate some cottage cheese one day (and the next day was the only day in the last six days I woke up to a clean bathroom) the vet suggests I give her a few cans of their canned intestinal diet food from ?science diet?...but IDK...she's been on Taste of the Wild for months with no issues...I hate to give her something else. (She doesn't get anything except her dog food and some treats...no "people" food)

Haven't given her anything new...she doesn't act like she feels bad at all...the first thing she did this morning after going outside was to grab a toy and start running around. And she ate all her food yesterday....

 

She DID eat/chew part of a bully stick before episode 1 of the nighttime diarrhea. Haven't given that back to her since...but she has had them before.

Any ideas? I am really getting tired of having this huge mess to clean up every morning upon waking lol...and giving her baths because she walks/lays in it...

 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I would not use the prescription food. We have a lot of info on the Rx foods in The Food Group, but the bottom line is that it is not medicine, contains no medicinal or therapeutic ingredients, and will not cure anything. Plus it is garbage and costs a fortune.

I don't know how old your daughter is, but dirty socks should be in a laundry hamper or a closet out of reach of the dog. Eating socks could certainly cause a digestive upset, and you're lucky if that's all it causes...it could  cause an obstruction that could kill your dog, or at the least, necessitate expensive and scary surgery. And if your dog eats socks, chances are she eats other non-food items, too, any of which could cause diarrhea. You simply must make sure that she does not have access to anything other than her own food. Your daughter's bedroom door needs to be kept securely closed.

The bully stick could be responsible, too. But socks in a dog's intestinal tract...I don't think you need to look any further for a cause. Her digestive tract is probably pretty irritated.

You can iorder canned pumpkin on line if you can't find it in your stores. I wouldn't give cottage cheese, yogurt would be a better choice. Use plain non-fat yogurt, not vanilla, Greek, Activia, etc.

You can try giving her plain boiled chicken and white rice for a few days, along with some pumpkin or yoghurt, until her digestive system is back to normal.

[Susan Davis]

Rice can firm up a loose stool in the absence of pumpkin. I have used Rx food with no issues, and I normally feed TOW also. But I agree with Karen that it is really expensive and probably not as good for her as if you did the boiled chicken and rice.  Also make sure she's drinking plenty of water so she doesn't get dehydrated.  I think most of the time things like this resolve themselves within 7 days or so.  Be careful with those socks though.  They can get tangled in there causing an intestinal blockage which can be extremely dangerous (even life-threatening).  However, I think she would have other symptoms such as vomiting and lethargy if that were the case.  Just keep a close eye on her.

[Donna Vee]

We've been through the same thing a couple of times recently. My girls are 5 and 8 months old. After changing food several times, a few trips to and treatments from the vet we have found that enzymes and plain yogurt do the trick just fine.  Every dog is different but after we had our experience and read numerous posts here, we found the above to be true. 

Karen posted some great info for us and others. If you've ruled out Giardia (sounds more like the socks anyway), try the enzymes and yogurt. You may not need the enzymes but they were really helpful on our case.  Regular pet stores don't carry them but upper grade pet feed stores do, they also carry higher grade foods like taste of the wild and of course orijen. Overall, we not only have normal poopies going on, but we have less of them and they are smaller. The girls both have a lot more energy and just seem happier. 

 

Oh, one more little note that gave us some comfort, puppies, like kids during their first year are still teething a lot, hence the chewing.  All of that chewing stimulates acid in their tummies.  It's quite common to see looser stool (not runny though) up to 10 months and sometimes after if they are still in the habit of chewing.

 

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

 

 

 

[shelly]

Have you checked Walmart for the canned pumpkin?  That's where we get our stock!  We have begun collecting and hoarding since the fall.  perhaps the passing of the socks along the digestive tract could have scratched or irritated it.  Also some have said the bully sticks could cause a problem as well.  Good luck!

[Donna Vee]

They keep it in our market all the time but it's not in the dessert isle. It's in the canned veggie isle... Weird! I have also found it at walmart and even the 99 cent store.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It should be in the canned veggie aisle, lol. Pumpkin pie is a dessert, but pumpkin itself is a vegetable, in the squash family. Just like canned cherries would be in the canned fruit aisle, but canned cherry pie filling would be in the baking (or packaged dessert mixes) aisle.

In some stores, plain canned pumpkin is in the pie filling aisle; but at others, it's with the canned vegetables, where it should be, along canned yams, etc.

[Donna Vee]

I thought it would be in the baking isle even though it's a veggie. Who buys pumpkin puree for anything other than baking ? (We do).  I have a great soup recipe with that uses pumpkin puree...oh well. Maybe they should keep it in both places and avoid the confusion :)  They do keep pumpkin puree with the pie spices already added in the baking isle.

[Nicole]

stool issue update:

2 days of cottage cheese as per vet's advice...still diarrhea.

2 days of yogurt (can't get probiotics in my small river town lol)...still diarrhea.

Broke down and bought 3 cans of ID diet food....voila! Firm stools yesterday and this morning. Going to start weaning off the ID and back to her own over the weekend. I know some said this was not an ideal food but hopefully it will be all right since she's only going to be on it a very short time. I must say it did the trick!

 

 

Thanks for all the help! I still have not found canned pumpkin...not even canned pumpkin pie mix (which I know is not to be used but was just curious to see if it was available)...very odd!