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kelty

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Chaucer is about 6.5 months old, and we've had him on the same food since we got him at 7 weeks old, except for the transition off of the purina puppy chow.

He's currently on the canidae all life stages. he gets 3 cups a day, most of the time in three meals, and he is at a healthy weight. Sometimes his stools are ok, but at least once a day they are loose. Last time we were at the vet, his stool sample came back negative.

It was a lot worse, but we cut out treats (except for ob class) and the cow hoof. The cow hoof was causing extremely loose stools. He hasn't had the hoof in about two weeks.

Here's the question, should I switch him to something with less ingredients. I'm thinking the canidae chicken and rice. Or should I wait a little longer to see what happens?

It took me forever to figure out the cow hoof thing, and we have changed his treats a million times trying to find something that didn't have an ill effect.

Normal poop 100% of the time would be awesome, any advice?
 
#2 ·
First, use kibble as treats. Why does a dog need special treats?

Second, how much does the dog weigh? Although your dog may be at a healthy weight, overfeeding can cause loose stools.

Have you considered adding probiotics?
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
murphysmommy said:
First, use kibble as treats. Why does a dog need special treats?

Second, how much does the dog weigh? Although your dog may be at a healthy weight, overfeeding can cause loose stools.

Have you considered adding probiotics?
Click to expand...
I have not considered probiotics, I know that the food has some in it...but who knows how active that is--I always thought probiotics had to be refrigerated, and the dog food clearly is not. So, I'll look into that a little more.

He weighs 41lbs, here's a goofy picture of him from two days ago, he does have a waist (not the best pic):

Image


Should I back it down to 2.5 and see what happens?

In obedience class we used to use kibble, but he had a hard time staying focused. The trainer had us use treats, and he acted more focused with that.

However, at home we don't use treats anymore--we use the tug as a reward. Since starting the tug, his focus during training is awesome.

That was a really long way to say "Good idea, we'll use kibble during class again :)"
 
#4 ·
Be sure to visually check his stools as from my experience worms often don't show up in the test. For treats I use freeze dried liver which shouldn't cause any bowel issues when used in moderation. I had similar stool issues with Winston and we did get better results with higher grade kibble but not 100%. We had some tests done at the vet and they concluded he may have some kind of bowel issue (probably based solely on negative results for everything else) and wanted to do more tests but after talking to a nutritionist we switched him to a raw diet and he is 110% better now. May not be for everyone but it's an option worth considering.
 
#5 ·
I would suggest cutting back by a half cup... overfeeding can cause loose stools. I also suggest another round of worming meds for all types as they are tricky buggars and depending on the stage of the life cycle, may not even show in a test. Lastly, try adding some probiotics or even some plain organic yogurt daily to introduce more good bacteria to the gut.
 
#7 ·
I would cut it to 2 cups a day. And probiotics don't have to be refrigerated. While the canidae PAWS food does say "superior digestibility" and "guaranteed viable micro-organisms" i wouldn't label that probiotics, although it probably does provide some benefits.

I would drop it to 2 cups and see if that helps. If it doesn't, consider a probiotic or maybe even switching foods.
 
#8 ·
I agree to cut the food back and all treats first. I believe dogs should have variety so don't hesitate to try the other formulas. I would try the Lamb as it is a much simpler food and is easier on the stomach, chicken would be fine as well but it's a higher allergen. The ALS is a great food but it has many proteins, I agree that probiotics would be a great supplement but Canidae has one of the highest amounts included so it shouldn't be required.
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
Thanks everyone! Well, we cut back the food portions and so far so good. We'll give it a week and see what happens. If we have to switch we'll do the lamb and rice (thanks Paulnzeus.) In the meantime I'm going to do a little more research on the probiotics.

Thanks to all for the advice!
 
#15 ·
Guess I've been pretty lucky with my dogs in regards to diet. Never have been any serious issues since they were pups. I feed the best food I can afford and supplement with fresh fruits, veggies, yogurt etc. Very rare to have mudd butt or gas anymore.
 
#16 ·
Drakoshuman said:
Guess I've been pretty lucky with my dogs in regards to diet. Never have been any serious issues since they were pups. I feed the best food I can afford and supplement with fresh fruits, veggies, yogurt etc. Very rare to have mudd butt or gas anymore.
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I have been lucky as well, I feed a huge variety to both Zeus and Ares and don't have any issues. Zeus is chowing down on his favorite this week "raw".
 
Discussion starter · #17 ·
Update

Decreasing his food by 1/2 cup did the trick! All normal bm's, yay! Thanks every one! And now that he's normal, it seems he going thru a growth spurt--he gained 1.1 lbs in 4 days. He actually grew over night, this morning I literally had to adjust his collar because it was too tight :D
 
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