[Amelia Z]

Help! My 20 month golden has had poo issues since he was born. The breeder feed him Annamaet 26% which I continued for a month or so and then switched him to Acana Wild Prairie. His stools were ALWAYS soft. I switched him again to Acana Pacifica, since I thought the problem was chicken. It has gotten better with the Pacifica but here is the wierd thing. His poos in the morning and afternoon as always firm, after dinner they start out firm and get softer and softer and come out alittle at a time. By this point he is walking and dropping little poos all over the yard. HARD TO FIND IF YOU ARE NOT WATCHING HIM!!!
He has been on Pacifica at least 6 months. I have added pumpkin to his food for months and that did not make any difference and tried yogurt. Sometimes I add string beans. Now I am thinking of changing to Acanca single ingredient pork. Just bought a small bag and have been slowing mixing in with the pacifica. Maybe that is how his system is and nothing will change it. But I am open for any suggestions, I am at my wits end!!!

[Wifsie G]

I will follow this because ever since coming back from the dog sitter our dog has been having a liquid end to her second poop of the day. No change in food. My question is about bland diet. I feed her a grain free diet so the vet said just feed her boiled chicken. Any thoughts?

Amelia, have you tried fish? Zignature or Fromm’s?
Good luck!

[Susan]

Hi, pumkin is high in fiber, if it hasn’t helped firm his poos stop, he doesn’t need more fiber… Try another brand of kibble, one with less protein & less fat, No peas, No lentils, a limited ingredient kibble & see how he goes, Acana may be tooooo rich for him….

When my boy was on a higher protein kibble his poos were soft & he was doing 4-5 poos a day as the day went on the poos got softer & softer, I know when he was on a vet diet with lower protein & lower fat with limited ingredients, he was only doing 2 firm poos a day….. I’m feeding Earthborn Holistic Ocean Fusion at the moment, Ocean Fusion has the least ingredients out of the Earthborn flavours, no peas, no tomato pomace, no rice & no probiotics…..my boy is doing the firmest poos since stopping the vet diet kibble….
http://www.earthbornholisticpetfood.com/us/dog_formulas/ocean_fusion/

[Patti S]

Have you tried a diet with a lower fat content? Look for one that has 6-15% dry matter.
You might try using an Omega 3 fatty acid supplement and also a probiotic.

[crazy4cats]

Hi Amelia-
Boy, can I feel your frustration. I have two golden labs that had/have similar issues. They are now four years old. I switched foods several times only to finally find out that they had parasites, both giardiasis and coccidia. Have you had fecal tests done to rule out both parasites and/or worms? Sometimes they are hard to detect and need to test a couple of times. After four or five treatments to rid of the pesky bugs, they were left with bad digestive issues. A lot of loose stools and also the walking around and dropping soft plops a little at a time like you described.

I turned to http://www.dogaware.com for a lot of great information on digestive disorders and diarrhea along with recommendations from several on this site. Pumpkin did not work for my dogs either. The Honest Kitchen’s Perfect Form worked great until my difficult dog decided he didn’t like the smell of it anymore. I also used and rotated Gastriplex made by Thorne, Vetri Pro BD by Vetri Science, and Phytomucil with success. I have fed Victor which contains clay that I think is beneficial with success. Now, I have been slowly weaning them off supplements and am feeding Whole Earth Farms with only probiotics now and then and they have for the first time have consistently firm poops!

It took a while for their tummies to heal, but it finally happened! You also might want to try feeding a little less food. Sometimes over feeding can cause loose stools as well.

Good luck! Please write back with any questions.

[Amelia Z]

Thanks for all your suggestions!
I switched over to Acana pork (grain free) which is a one ingredient food with less protein and fat. It’s been a couple of days that he is getting only that, since I’ve mixed it with his old food for about a week. So far, no change!!
No, I have not tried Zignature or Fromm’s or Holistic Ocean Fusion but will look into it. I would think that the Holistic Ocean Fusion would be similar to the Pacifica that he has been getting except it is not grain free and would prefer that it was.
This can be a LONG process to keep changing foods and of course when you do that the stools are softer. I am considering doing NutriSan from Dr. Dodds to figure out what the culprit it. Expensive but in the end may save time and money. http://www.nutriscan.org/

[Wifsie G]

I started a digestive enzyme/pre and probiotic powder a few days ago and after 2 days of detox (sneezing, drooling, shaking her head ), my dog seems to be improving. Her diarrhea after the second poop has stopped and she’s not scratching or swallowing as much. Fingers and toes crossed! Maybe it’s worth a shot for you too? All the best!

[Anonymous]

Did you check the search engine to see a variety of opinions on the product you mentioned?
Example: /forums/search/nutriscan/

[Susan]

Hi Amelia, Glacier Peck Holistic has their Hair & Salvia testing for $85 & test for 100+ Environment Triggers & 200+Food Items, http://www.glacierpeakholistics.com/More-Than-an-Allergy-Test_p_80.html
Have you seen a vet & tried a vet diet? the vet diets are formulated especially for the digestive tract & some vet diets have less fiber 1.7%-Royal Canine Intestinal & Eukanuba Intestinal… Hills vet diets seem to have more fiber in their digestive/bowel kibbles like their Z/d Ultra & didn’t work for my boy…..your boy wont stay on the vet diet forever, just till his bowel heals then like I did after 6months I tried another kibble but Patch had a problems with the new kibble I picked so I put him back on the vet diet then I found a Gluten, Dairy, Sugar free kibble & Patch stayed on that for 6months while I found another kibble that had least ingredients, (I live Australia we don’t have as many kibbles)
Patch was put on a vet diet for 6month-12month so his bowel could rest & heal he was also put on Metronidazole an antibiotic for the bowel… I didn’t want him on a vet diet but I had to do something, so I gave it a go, his poos firmed up within 2 days, I couldn’t believe it..I don’t know what fixed his bowel, if it was the vet diet kibble or if it was the Metronidazole but 2 years later Patch is doing firm poos & can eat anything as long as its low in fat & low in fiber…one problem I had with Patch he was a rescue & the vet said we don’t know how long his old owner left him like this (diarrhea, sloppy jelly poo, blood) he may have thickening of the bowel but ultra scan show no thickening of the bowel lining, thank-god, you really need to see a vet, your dog might just need some antibiotics, he may have S.I.B.O Small Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth…what we think Patch had….

[Bobby dog]

Here’s an interesting article I just received about allergy testing in pets. This site also has allot of other information in regards to allergies under their blog and resources tabs:

http://www.healthyskin4dogs.com/blog/2015/4/29/allergy-testing-your-dog-the-top-5-allergy-test-mistakes-to-avoid?rq=immune%20IQ

[Author]

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