[mah4angel]

Hello all 😀

My silky Louie is just a mess.
Looking back at his history, I cannot honestly say that there has ever been any time when his stools were not loose, or were solid for more than one or two days. And his stools are always light-colored even when they’re relatively firm. Lately, it’s literally been borderline liquid all the time, and near the end of his walk (usually after two or three times of pooping), he’ll try to go and little specs of mush just come out 🙁
I’ll just go through his history, which I know much more about now. When we got him, we were told that he was currently eating Purina Puppy Chow, which we purchased so we could transition him off of it. We also now know that the owners simply buy whatever is on sale or whatever they happen to pick up at the store. So they’d just stop feeding the dogs the Purina then move onto Pedigree and so on and so forth. So this was his diet for about three years until we got him. We transitioned him from Purina Puppy Chow to Innova Prime Chicken and Turkey over a one-week period because we thought that was appropriate. We now know that it can take a month or more to transition to a grain-free kibble. So we understood the not-so-firm stool at that point. Then, the recall happened. I emailed CS and they never got back to me so, and their formula contains a little more carbohydrates than I would like so I decided to switch to Earthborn Holistic Primitive and the wet dinner tuns (we’re currently feeding him the lamb-based one). While switching him to the Earthborn, my jerk of a father-in-law decided I was incapable of feeding my dog and started feeding him Cesar wet food. I figured the switching over and the Cesar caused his loose stools (I know that it caused him to vomit, there was no other reason for that). Now that he isn’t eating the Cesar’s crap, his stools are awful. I give him 3/8’s of a cup of the dry kibble and then half of a tub of the wet food (because he needs restricted calories because he’s almost a pound overweight now).
So, I have no idea what’s going on with him 🙁 The only consistent thing about all of the dry food is that the main animal protein is chicken. Maybe he’s allergic to chicken? He’s had two ear infections since we’ve had him (since March), which may be a sign of allergies. He sometimes paws at his face but since he has an ear infection, that’s not surprising. It’s also very rare that he does that. I really don’t know! I don’t know what to do. I got the lamb wet tubs because I thought that lamb is better for sensitive tummies/a hypoallergenic protein source.
I’m thinking of switching to Dried N Alive (I was thinking of doing that before discovering that his stools are no better on Earthborn) but what if that’s no better? I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.

[pugmomsandy]

Transitioning to a higher protein food can take longer than 1 week. And for some dogs you just have to take baby steps depending on the healthy (or non-healthy) state of their digestive tract. I was feeding poor quality food (1 star foods) for about a year or so then transitioned them to a “middle of the road” type of food like Merrick and Castor and Pollux and Blue (all regular with grain) for a couple months and then started incorporating grain free/mid-high protein foods. The final transition to Instinct took about 2 months for one of my dogs.

I didn’t know about probiotics or digestive enzymes back then either which would have helped alot. My fosters get a moderate protein diet (Nutrisource grain free Lamb) and I give them ground psyllium for just a couple days for fiber and give them probiotics for their gut and they usually transition without diarrhea. I also find that wet foods don’t have much fiber so I will add some fiber to that too or chia seed.

You might consider a limited ingredient diet for a little while to give his bad digestion a break and start giving him a multi-strain probiotic.

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/05/22/pet-probiotics.aspx?e_cid=20130522_PetsNL_art_1&utm_source=petnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20130522

http://probiotics.mercola.com/probiotics-for-pets.html

[mah4angel]

Sigh. When the universe sends us a furry friend it should also send us an instruction manual! Haha. I think I’ll try the fiber with his current diet and see if it improves. Maybe it is the fiber. You said on my other post a tablespoon of pumpkin puree? Maybe that will do the trick. That’d be very very nice. I should also add a probiotic even if his stools aren’t too loose. So much to do! Lol. Someone also said that human probiotics are less expensive and work just as well, or maybe I’m confusing that with something else?

[Annette]

My dogs started out with same problems you mention. I got them when they were about 3 months and everything was fine. When about a year old they began having problems with loose stools/diarrhea. Switched their food a few times over next 1/2 year. Vet thought allergies and through process of elimination found my dog Gracie had allergies to things like artificial flavors and grains. George improved a little but then began to have frequent ear infections. Ended up using a limited ingredient diet but George just kept getting loose stools/ear infections, then began having yeast and bacterial skin infections. Turns out George has allergies to artificial ingredients, certain proteins (lamb & chicken for sure), grains, potatoes, peanut butter, and unknown outdoor allergies. After blowing up my brain with all kinds of research and having an extensive talk with the vet, I put both dogs on a low glycemic, organic, grain free diet (Nutrisca Salmon & Chickpea dog food). George began improving within 4-6 weeks but, I did have stay on top of things by keeping him bathed, daily ear cleanings, etc. At that point I began to add organic coconut oil into his diet. It is 1/2 tsp per 10 lbs but you must do it gradually or they will get gas and greasy loose stools. I have mastiff mixed breeds (110 lbs) so I started with a teaspoon and gradually increased about every 3 days or so. George’s skin and ears have improved greatly and no more diarrhea! This is the first time ever in 2 yrs I have gotten to a 3 month point without seeing the vet! (I should mention that they get a little fish oil and the treats I give them are organic, grain & potato free – made with pumpkin and turkey and they like them.) I will be adding some probiotics into their diet this month but haven’t decided exactly what brand yet, I’ll talk to the vet about it when he goes in for his shots. These things may or may not work for you but worth a shot.
Anyway, the site I found most helpful (besides Dog Food Advisor) was the Whole Dog Journal. I could have saved my brain a lot of damage by looking at them first. They had a canine allergy download that explained canine allergy issues thoroughly and in a way I could understand so that I could have meaningful discussions with my vet. I am less frazzled now and feel I have a better handle on helping my dog live a healthier life. Lol, did that just sound like an ad for them? If, knock on wood, we have George’s food issues pretty well cleared up then we’ll be tackling the outdoor allergen issues next. Keeping my fingers crossed!

[InkedMarie]

I’m going to suggest you get a food without chicken. I have a dog who had many ear infections which mostly went away when I eliminated chicken.

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