[BluesMom]

I have been confused on this for a while. My dog is on Acana Lamb and Apple. He is 45 pounds and I have been giving him 1 1/2 cups a day. The bag says feed 2 cups a day for an active dog, which I consider him active, but he was having diarrhea. With the feeding reduction he is doing much better.

However, now he will have small, solid stool and then at the end there will be like a big drop of diarrhea. After this bag of food I will probably switch to Nutrisource, but as for now, I am wondering.. what causes this? The big drop is not bloody and does not have mucus and other than that he seems fine… good appetite, water intake…

What would be the cause of this? Anything other than the food? He never did well on Acana Grain-Frees so I thought this might be better with less protein and ingredients. He does well on Nutro Vension LID and Natural Balance LID but I want to feed him better than those.

Also, I have been reading a lot that Acana and Origen are “too rich for my dog”. What exactly does that mean? I don’t understand how a good quality food can be too rich… will the dog eventually adjust? I would just love to keep my dog on these brands but he always seems to have some sort of poop issue….

Hopefully this all makes sense. I seem to get more and more confused the more I read.. haha
Oh, and he is also on a probiotic, up to date on shots, and never gets people food…
Thanks to whoever attempts this answer!

[theBCnut]

Hi BluesMom

Just a couple things and a boost of your post up to the top where more people will see it. The thing with the partially solid stool is it can be from a few different causes. Early stages of some intestinal parasites will cause this. Treats that are difficult to digest can cause partial soft stool. Overheating can too, if it isn’t so bad as to cause full blown diarrhea. Also a dog may not make enough of the enzymes they need to fully use everything in the food.

Some people call a food too rich, because it is too high in fat or because they believe it is too high in fat for their dog. Some because their dog needs longer for it’s body to adjust to the change in nutrient levels, but they don’t know that is the problem, adding enzymes helps. Some because they believe the story about this that or the other having too much protein.

What probiotic are you using? Please consider adding digestive enzymes to your dogs meals, you may find this to be a real quick fix for all your concerns. In the wild, canids would get enzymes from the prey animal they were eating. Some dogs don’t make enough of their own enzymes or they don’t adjust to new foods without a little extra help.

And people food isn’t bad as long as you are sharing the good stuff, not a lot of the fatty trimmings and poultry skin.

[BluesMom]

Thank you for the info 🙂
Probiotic I am using is Rx Biotic that I got from the vet during a bout of diarrhea a while back and never used (switched foods to Nutro before I knew better and stool problems cleared up… found out bad things about Nutro and here we are again haha) but I ordered Dr. Langer’s from Swanson’s and should be here tomorrow.

So, along with Dr. Langer’s a digestive enzyme would help as well?… wasn’t sure if it was necessary to use a probiotic + digestive enzyme….

Does this mask an underlying problem? I guess I could rephrase and say…Is there a reason my dog isn’t producing these enzymes on his own?

Thanks for all the help. I love this site and all the knowledge people!

[BluesMom]

And never mind on the underlying problem… I see you that you answered that question. I got excited for a response so I seem to have skipped over that part. Thanks!

What digestive enzyme product is suggested for a dog that is also on a probiotic?

[FreeholdHound]

My guess on why Nutro improved his “output” is the dried beet pulp they use in most of their foods. I have a Greyhound & they are infamous for poo the consistency of milkshakes. ANYTHING you can actually pick up is celebrated. Iams, & Nutro ate commonly fed because of the firming effects of the beet pulp. And many owners (yes I did it once) purchase 25lb of the stuff at TSC and split it with others. It didn’t work for Harry & still haven’t achieved total success but we’ve come along way from laying a paper plate in the “drop zone” lol

[BluesMom]

Oh! That makes sense. Didn’t know what strange ingredient it was but I figured it was something because the loose stools cleared up overnight…. I’ve read a lot of brands like Iams put stool firmers in their food so you think your dog is doing better on it… Even though the firm stool was pleasing to my eyes (I was def. celebrating!), I could never keep him on Nutro after all the reviews….

[FreeholdHound]

I know, I did Nutro for a while & Iams too with much guilt. I didn’t get the miracle results as most are chicken/turkey based & Harry doesn’t tolerate those at all. ** SIGH** 🙁

[theBCnut]

Swanson’s brand name enzymes are just fine.

[BluesMom]

Oh perfect! I will order those tonight… Hopefully that will work! If not, I will change foods (working on a rotation diet anyways!), then we will be going to the vet to have a fecal done. Thanks for all the help! Hoping this works!

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