11 week old pup soft stools-need help

Dog Food Advisor Forums Diet and Health 11 week old pup soft stools-need help

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  • #113421 Report Abuse
    Lindsey T
    Member

    Our 11 week old Newfoundland puppy has just had a rough go with his belly. When we got him he was fine, eating a large breed puppy food. After a couple weeks home he started having really loose soft poop. Formed, but mush when I scoop it from the yard. It turned to mush, so we went to the vet. Vet said he did have some campylobacter in his fecal so he prescribed antibiotics and a probiotic and put him on a science diet r/d formula food that is high in fiber. His poop was solid within a day and stayed solid for the 3 days he was on it. We started transitioning to a grain free all stage dog food with beef and lamb. His poops have started to go soft again. Again, not diarrhea…but soft enough that when I scoop it it kind of mushes and leaves residue.
    The vet says to go back to thr weight management formula but he is only 11 weeks old and lost a lb last werk on that food so im not comfortable doing that.
    Should I just give this more time to transition? Or does this sound like he is not tolerating the food? I am running out of money with all the food changes. I really want something that will help keep his poop solid and help him grow as well.

    Any input would be appreciated

    #113461 Report Abuse
    crazy4cats
    Participant

    Hi Lindsey-

    Has your pup gotten any better in the last couple of days?

    The new food is most likely much higher in fat than the food you were feeding that was working well. A slower transition to a food that is closer to the same fat percentage of the prescription food you were feeding would be better. Have you contacted the vet with the issue? Puppies tend to get diarrhea pretty easy. You need to be very careful that they do not get dehydrated and lose even more weight by switching foods.

    Good luck and report back!

    #113464 Report Abuse
    Lindsey T
    Member

    I have been in contact with the vet. He is recommending science diet I/d which is not my favorite food. But if it helps his poops firm up, that’s ideal.
    He is having some solid, and some soft poops. Seems he poops solid, then an hour later, poops again and it’s much softer and skinnier than the first poop. I believe he is pooping around 7-8 times a day. Not diarrhea and again, some are solid, some are soft-like formed, but mush when I scoop them.
    We transitioned very slowly to the new food…it was over a week of transition, but it was around day 4 that the softer poops started coming again.

    Is there a better quality dog food that is a low residue or sensitive digestive system formula like the I/d?

    #113466 Report Abuse
    crazy4cats
    Participant

    You might consider doing another fecal test as well. Parasites, worms and such are pretty common in puppies. Sometimes they are cyclical and don’t show up on all tests.

    I don’t know of any food that is similar to the prescription food.

    That’s a lot of poop!

    #113695 Report Abuse
    Lindsey T
    Member

    Updating and hoping for more experience and advice.
    We completely transtioned to the Science diet I/d (please spare me the “its trash food-its temporary to fix the digestive issues). He has been on it 2 days and still very soft stools. It comes out formed, but I cant scoop it off the grass without keaving a mess. When I contacted the vet about it he suggested giving it a couple more days to see if he adjusts and show improvement. If he doesnt, he said he wants to do a 10 day course of panacur and tylan (an antibiotic I believe) in case there is giardia or any other worms or parasites that the fecal just isnt picking up. He is continuing to gain weight throigh all of this, so that makes me feel a little better. But soft stools so often just makes me think things are not right, so trying hard to get to the bottom of all of this.

    His poop has never been watery or bloody, and the fecals are only showing a slightly eleveated bacteria count despite the flagyl treatment we just finished.

    Just looking for more direction on what more we can try, or what to ask the vet about. Vet still thinks this is food related which is why he wants to give the gi care food a bit more time. I’m just impatient since we have been dealing with loose poops for 3 weeks now

    #113696 Report Abuse
    anonymous
    Member

    “I’m just impatient since we have been dealing with loose poops for 3 weeks now”

    That’s all, just 3 weeks. Listen to the vet, keep it simple, continue the prescription food, the dog is a baby!

    Really, do you think adding phony baloney supplements and such will help? I think not.

    Add a little water to the food, or plain home made chicken broth (no salt, nothing added)
    to prevent dehydration.
    PS: Some dogs have soft stools no matter what. As long as it is not diarrhea, or watery, bloody.
    I would continue to work closely with your vet.
    Good luck

    #113697 Report Abuse
    Lindsey T
    Member

    I definitely don’t want to keep adding things…for sure.
    I have had several puppies over the years and NEVER dealt with this kind of issue in puppies or my grown dogs, so it’s new and kind of worrisome to me. I am definitely following closely with my vet. I won’t do anything he doesn’t approve…just didn’t know if anyone else had experience with something like this that could offer something to ask my vet about.

    I’m also new to this breed, and I know giant breeds need super important nutrients while they’re rapidly growing so I worry that in this time of so much soft stool that seems to be going through too quickly, that he is lacking important nutrients.

    #113698 Report Abuse
    anonymous
    Member

    I had a corgi that had watery stools, diarrhea off and on from the time I got her at 10 weeks old. It didn’t happen every day but at least once a week.
    At the time I could not afford to go back and forth to the vet. Don’t think I had much testing done other than routine. Tried different foods, nothing seemed to make a difference.
    At age 9 months it just stopped completely. She was fine for the rest of her life. Cancer got her at age 9+.

    PS: In retrospect she probably had some kind of a bug, that’s why your vet wants to try medication, antibiotics panacur, tylan. I would go along with it.

    #113715 Report Abuse
    Susan
    Participant

    Hi Lindsey,
    Try “Royal Canine” Gastro Intestinal Vet diet wet & dry if after 2 weeks poos are still sloppy while eating Hills I/d vet diet. My boy does sloppy poo’s when he eats Hills I/D formula’s
    also get the Purina “Forti Floria” Probiotic, make up recommended dose with 10-15ml water & give this way, not with food, it’s best to give probiotics in between feeds or first thing of a morning on empty stomach when stomach acids are low..
    He needs to get a healthy gut & the vet diets do this as the have Prebiotics but you need to feed vet diet for a good 6-9 months for best results then slowly introduce new diet over 2-3 weeks & try a freeze/air dried diet, not kibble…
    Maybe ask vet can you put him on the Metronidazole for 21-28 days, 200mg every 12 hours with a proper meal, he might of needed to be on the Anitibiotic (Metronidazole) longer..

    #113716 Report Abuse
    Lindsey T
    Member

    Thank you for the suggestions. We have been doing a probiotic, but we sprinkle it on his food in the morning.
    I did mention to the dr that if things didn’t improve with this science diet that maybe the Royal Canin hi formula would work better. We also thought about the fact that all the foods we have tried have all been chicken…and maybe chicken doesn’t agree with him. A lot of sensitive dogs do better on salmon, so that’s another thought.

    The vet visits are getting costly and I’m overwhelmed trying to get him better. It makes me anxious over every little odd thing he does and I feel like I can’t relax and enjoy him with all of this stress!

    #113717 Report Abuse
    anonymous
    Member

    My dogs do well on Zignature whitefish or Nutrisca salmon, I think the Nutrisca is more bland, you can find it at chewy dot com.

    I never have used probiotics, never got into that trend. In fact, I would ask your vet if you should discontinue it?

    PS: The prescription foods go through a process so the pup will not react to any ingredients he is sensitive to, even chicken.
    The two I mentioned have no chicken, no potato, no grains. They are not prescription, however they are limited ingredients.
    I have also heard good things about Pro Plan Focus salmon for sensitive skin and stomach.
    No chicken, no potato, it is not grain free, but I believe it may be appropriate for large breed pups? Check it out.

    This site has a lot of good info http://skeptvet.com/Blog/

    #113718 Report Abuse

    I’m pretty sure that not all prescription foods are formulated to prevent reactions. If that was the case, lid formulas like the rabbit or duck wouldn’t exist.

    I’ve had great personal success with probiotics and my pets. But the type and strain matter. Not all probiotics work for dogs. A lot of people like forti flora. I’ve found that’s a good start.

    #113721 Report Abuse
    Lindsey T
    Member

    Yes, we are using a good probiotic. And i do know limited ingredient may be out best next step ifnthis is diet related. And i kind of think it is if he formed up while he was on the science diet r/d (high fiber weight management food). They use it for helping with diarrhea and we used it for 4 days and it seemed to really help. Once we started adding back in kibble is when it went south again. And we can’t stay on it because it is weight management and he was actually not gaining weight on it which is not good. That’s why the vet hoped the I/d would work because it’s very similar but has the right calories and nutrition for him to stay on it a while. But…it’s chicken based…and lots of Newfs don’t handle chicken really well, so that’s a possible issue if he is not handling chicken well.

    Someone else suggested going to chicken and rice for 4 days. If the stool forms up…it’s food related. If it doesn’t…it’s likely to be gut related. Who knows. I think my head spins so much with thoughts of things to try that I confuse myself! Lol.

    #113728 Report Abuse
    Susan
    Participant

    Hi,
    dont do chicken & rice, its old school now, as boiled rice can irrtate the bowel more, the new carb is boiled sweet potato, I boil the orange sweet potato in pieces & then I freeze pieces in freezer & take out a few pieces as I need them, they thaw pretty quickly, get some lean turkey mince & sweet potato or lean pork mince works for my boy & just feed for 1 or 2 of his meals & kibble for the other 1-2 meals, being a pup he’d be eating 3-4 meals a day, also boiled pumkin is good to add, boil & freeze some boiled pumkin as its high in fiber like the sweet potato & your boy did good with a higher fiber diet.. he’ll probably poo less eating some cooked food.. for lunch my boy gets the changed meal either freeze dried or cooked meal that Ive cooked then frozen & I just take out in morning to thaw.

    Change vet diet to Royal Canine Select Protein vet diets, there’s Potato & Rabbit select protein formula, potato & sweet potato seem to firm dogs poos up or look at “Natural Balance” Sweet Potato & Bison LTD formula or Sweet Potato & Fish or the Potato & Duck LTD formula, if you dont want to pay to see vet again it will be cheaper to buy the Natural Balance LTD kibble, but you need to read all the N/B LTD formula’s as some have Chickpeas & different ingredients. Chewy sell the N/B LTD formula & refund money if food is not agreeing with pup.

    #113765 Report Abuse
    anonymous
    Member

    “Someone else suggested going to chicken and rice for 4 days”

    If you try this, the chicken should be boiled, bland and chopped up. Rice should be soft, mushy, overcooked.
    Classic remedy for dogs with diarrhea, however, more than 3 days could cause the opposite, constipation. You said your dog has loose stools, not diarrhea?

    It may be best if you go just by what the vet that has examined the dog recommends, for now.

    #113793 Report Abuse
    amy r
    Member

    Hi lindsey sorry your baby isn’t feeling 100%. I have a newf who went through much of what you have described. We did all the recommended things from Id(which really is junk)to boiling chicken and rice. Remember what needs are breed for the diet they would thrive on if doing the job they were breed to do. For one of my girls it was indeed chicken causing her tummy issues. When we stopped all chicken things improved greatly. I used rice baby food it is predigesteted and her gut won’t have to work as hard to digest it. To that I added canned salmon or sardines in water it took about a week to completely resolve. I then put her on I then slowly and I mean 5 kibble at a time weaned her onto totw I am not a huge fan because it is a diamond product but as feeling sort of limited in my choices at the time. The calcium phos.% although not ideal was not horrible compared to some foods I had researched. I kept her on that for 1 year then decided as she was older and more able to try fromm again (which is what everyone else eats) I seriously added 5 kibble at a time over a period of weeks. She did great and to this day is good with fromm I use a little kibble lots of fish vit.c and fish oil I also boil a mix of different meats and freeze 30 days at a time worth with fruits and veggies added in. Newfs.are special they grow in 2 years what humans take a lifetime to reach so go easy and slow with everything. Most importantly is enjoy every second of puppy nonsense because they really do grow up much to quickly.

    #134219 Report Abuse
    Deric L
    Member

    Hi Lindsey, I just have a 12 weeks old puppy and have a similar situation like yours…How are your dog doing now? Hope he is doing great…If so, mind sharing what you did to make him better? Thanks in advance

    #134221 Report Abuse
    Lindsey T
    Member

    Deric-Ferdinand is now over a year old. We struggled with soft stools to no avail for 6 months. The one thing that the vet did that helped us was prescribe a powder antibiotic called tylosin/Tylan powder. We had tried a lot of things and lots of foods and nothing helped. The Tulane helped a bit, but we did still have some soft ones in that time. He hit is peak of growth at 8 months and that’s when it suddenly just stopped. The vet says he sees it with large breeds because their growth is so fast and the tummies cant keep up with any food in the amount they need it in.
    He’s great now…just needed time to catch up.

    Hope that helps…it’s messy…but it’s temporary. Keep checking in with the vet.

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