[Kathy B]

Our girl is a rescue who didn’t have the best start. She was not let out often so when she came to us at 14 months we had several challenges. One of which was she was almost forcing herself to go poop every time we let her out, therefore runny, poop in the hair… just a hot mess. It took awhile to get her over but one of the people on here recommended Nutri Source which was higher fiber and seemed to help a lot. I like to pooper scoop so I understand where you are coming from. Anyway, she does poop maybe 2-3 times a day but is left alone in the house while we both work without issues. I’m one of those that worries that I am feeding a good quality dog food and heard good things about Zignature which is the only reason I went that route.

[Kathy B]

What is the fiber percentage of her food. We had the same issue with our OES and once we watched the fiber content and tried to get at least 6% the issue was over. We feed Zignature.

[Kathy B]

yes! please let me know if it helps. I do see cranberry in the turkey formula or perhaps it’s just because I’m looking at the label? We have given her the turkey and the next bag we bought is the multi-protein. One thing I do like is the variety of “blends” and that you can switch between them. Our girl is a rescue and we had a horrible time with diarrhea when she first came to us I also always watch the fiber %. Molly had so many UTIs that she had gotten into the habit of waking me up every couple of hours to go out, which was better than going in the house but has become somewhat aggravating now as she’ll walk out look over the backyard and walk back in! Hopefully we’ll overcome that too!

[Kathy B]

Kimberly,

I believe all of the “flavors” of Zignature have cranberries. Our vet also recommended Cranandin by nutro as a once a day supplement. In addition to this we give Molly “treats” of ice cubes to ensure her water intake has increased, she thinks they are great! It so hard to be sure what to do, as you can see from earlier posts there are many opinions.

[Kathy B]

RE: Dog Food aggression….. We have a rescue that growls when you touch her head while eating but we can put our hand in her food and she’ll eat around it, if she has a treat we can actually take it out of her mouth so although probably the wrong method we feed her, let her eat and if she had anything left in her bowl (rare) we put it up until the next feeding.

[Kathy B]

Unfortunately I don’t have any great words of wisdom or advice but know where you are coming from….. we rescued a 14 month old with not a very positive start – and every time she went out she pooped, almost like she was making herself go and diarrhea. We thought we needed to feed the best food possible and went with some of the higher priced foods but it didn’t stop. Someone here mention getting NutriSource as it was easily digestible, she has done amazing. This won’t help you as I think their entire line has rice in it BUT.. I’m telling you this because this is a great place to get information and it helped me ALOT! Good Luck!

[Kathy B]

What a horrible experience for you. We adopted a rescue in January and although her stools weren’t as loose as what you are describing they were pretty bad and every time she went! A member on here mentioned NutriSource dog food (dry) and we switched her a couple of months ago… end of problem. We believe it was just because of a sensitive stomach…. we are cautious about what we give her as treats, absolutely no rawhides….. I know you don’t want to keep switching foods because that is rough on them as well but it’s my only suggestion/experience. I assume you already tried cottage cheese/rice mixture and/or boiled chicken? Hope he gets feeling better!

[Kathy B]

I was having issues finding a food that my rescue could eat without diarrhea, someone on this site suggested NutriSource and we have had good luck with it, although only two stores in our town carry it. They have chicken and rice and Lamb meal and rice which is what our girl prefers. (I only feed large breed so they might have something else in regular)

[Kathy B]

We rescued a 1 year old OES and at least once a day she would have horrible diarrhea which would get in her hair making her smell just lovely. I like you want to feed my dog the very best so I went with high end foods, tried grain free nothing seemed to help. Then I got on this forum because I was thinking of switching to blue basic and wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions and/or thoughts that it would or would not be a good idea….. One of the members suggested NutriSource it has done wonders! Very easy to digest, I was concerned because it is not sold at PetSmart or Pet Supplies Plus so it can’t be high end, right? Wrong! We have a feed store that told me it is better than ProPac which they are always trying to push as the very best. I did also find it at Menards which is a building store here in Indiana. Good Luck to you!

[Kathy B]

I wish I had some advice for you unfortunately I don’t. Our OES is 11 years old and is the love of our lives. It is very difficult to see her decline in health but I do keep contact with our Vet to make sure she is getting everything she needs to give her the best quality of life possible. They have given her Metacam to help with her arthritis and Tramadol to help with the pain. She also has to take Proin because she has a tendency to “leak”. Our vet offers a blood work up for a senior dogs and although it gave us a hint of her health it didn’t help in finding that magic pill that makes her 5 years younger.

[Kathy B]

• This reply was modified 7 years, 12 months ago by Kathy B.

[Kathy B]

To further expand…. yes, I am one of those dog moms that want to give her “kids” the best….. when she first came to us she did have constant diarrhea, after four months with us Molly doesn’t have constant diarrhea but at least once a day, the vet felt that since the tests show nothing and she was a rescue possibly had limited opportunity for outside time she was reacting from that and “making” herself go thus runny stool, although she gets often outside time…most are “normal” although gas was HORRIBLE was questioning if the current food we were feeding was too “rich” thus my questions on this forum. She does have some food aggression that we are working through, also after we put down a large waterer she began wetting in the house. We questioned if she wasn’t thinking of a time of when she didn’t have water and would drink as much of the 5 gallons that she could and then not be able to “hold” it. We have since went back to regular water bowl and the accidents have stopped. All of this is the risk of getting a pup in which you don’t know how the first 15 months of her life was as to our other girl that we got from a very good breeder at 12 weeks. But we won’t give up on her! I am going to try pitluv’s recommendation of trying Nutrasource and spoke with someone else who used it and thought it was great food. However I am now debating Large breed (she weighs 72 lbs) versus regular and why offered is LAMB MEAL and why meal not lamb…. and is this one of those foods that can be exchange between fish, chicken….as a variety. If the issue continues I may try the forti flora but thought one thing at a time and to give it time.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 12 months ago by Kathy B.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 12 months ago by Kathy B.

[Kathy B]

No, the vet did not specifically say to give the supplements I did because I was giving to our 11 year old girl, will stop immediately thanks!

[Kathy B]

Yes, the stool sample to the vet was one of the first thing I did. We’ve been feeding Wllderness for large breed and according to their bag at her weight of 72 lbs she should get four cups per day. We are going to introduce NutriSource and it recommended feeding is 2 1/2 cups per day….. makes me question if we weren’t over feeding her. We have an older dog (11) that weighs 100 lbs but because of lack of activity was only feeding her 2 1/2 cups per day of the wilderness and had no issues with her but then we got her as a 12 week puppy. Molly came to us at 15 months….. of course she might not appreciate the reduced amount! LOL

[Kathy B]

To clarify my first question/comments…. I didn’t think that glucosamine would help with the poo issue I was looking for a good quality food that had the glucosamine/chongrotin for large breeds and fiber that would help with diarrhea. She does get Dasuquin with MSM everyday as well. I will definitely check out the NutriSource, found it to be a 4 Star food but oddly enough not sold at Pet Food stores but our local hardware store.

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Kathy B.

[Kathy B]

I read that the higher fiber would firm up stools and actually it improved as not constant so maybe it was just the higher grade dog food and not the fiber. She didn’t have an easy start to her life so I don’t know if she actually has a sensitive stomach or just nervous. I am more than happy for any direction as to what I should be looking for as far as protein percentages, fiber…etc

[Kathy B]

I also have a rescue (OES) and when first got her she had constant diarrhea so I researched looking for a higher fiber food and went with Blue Wilderness Large Breed so now I get an occasional firm stool but at least one very loose stool daily, then I started noticing the gas. In looking I saw that ProPlan Sensitive Stomach is good and helps reduce shedding. Does anyone have any experience with this or have another recommendation. I most definitely want a good quality food. And one of the reasons I chose Blue Wilderness Large Breed was because of the glucosamine and chondroitin.

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Kathy B.

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