3 Days Of Diarrhea

[Guest Beernardo]

Hello

 

We've had with us for about 16 days now, we started to give him proplan and canned food, then after finding out proplan had 3 ingredients not good for greyhounds (wheat, soy and corn) we decided to switch it gradually over a week to blue buffalo food. At the same time we changed the canned food from pedigree to canidae, which is more like a paste when pedigree seemed more solid.

 

The thing is that on the last few days of the food transition and when the canned food was switched too up until today (3 days total), he started with very loose almost liquid poo, nothing you can pick up with a bag, like a thick milkshake, and super stinky, you can smell it from a block away. I was giving him two tablespoons of yoghurt on each meal to help with the digestion and avoid the terrible farts, and it worked, but I stopped the yoghurt yesterday just to see if it was lactose intolerant but this morning he did the same, almost liquid poo.

 

Yesterday morning was the exception with a pudding like poo.

 

He usually goes two times a day and that haven't changed, is not like I have my house or patio covered in poo, he can hold it up until the morning or evening walk.

 

Any ideas on what would this be?

 

Should I be concerned about dehydration? He's been drinking water normally and he is eating his 6 cups a day (2 sessions) without a problem.

 

I'm embarrassed when he does it in the sidewalk and I just can't pick it up, I just do like I'm picking it up but honestly I have to leave most of it there and walk away.

 

 

 

[macoduck]

It almost sounds like the food is too rich. IAMS ProActive Health Mini Chunks in the green bag is the only thing my Gracie can eat without getting super runny poo. We tried many of the high-end dog foods and IAMS works for her. Six cups is a lot of food. Gracie gets 1.5 cups twice a day.

 

Has he been checked for worms?

[Time4ANap]

You are changing too many things in the diet at once. The hound's stomach is probably upset. Also, 6 cups a day sounds like way too much food. Is that what the Pro-plan calls for for your hound's weight? Overfeeding is one of the most common causes of diarrhea, with a too-fast food switch often being one of the other main causes.

 

Your hound is drinking normally, so it sounds like dehydration isn't a concern.

 

I would do the following:

 

1. Double check the Pro-plan feeding instructions and verify the correct amounts. Many instructions are poorly written, and will say someting like feed 3-4 cups in two feedings. What they are actually instructing is to divide that amount into 2 feedings a day, so be sure that you are following the directions as intended.

 

If you are feeding the correct amount, there is most likely no need for the canned. If you are feeding both, you need to figure out the calories in both and cut back the amount of each proportionally to give your hound the correct amount of each food to prevent overfeeding.

 

2. I would definitely cut out the canned until you see if the hound needs it to supplement the kibble. By feeding the proper amount of kibble, and cutting out the canned, your diarrhea problem will most likely go away unless there's some reason your dog can't tolerate that particular kibble.

 

If the diarrhea continues more than 2 days after cutting back the food, you may need to follow a short-term cooked ground beef and rice diet to heal the stomach.

 

Good luck. Hope your hound is feeling better soon.

[Guest Beernardo]

We give him a couple of pills my vet gave me for the worms, I'm not sure if he has or had worms.

 

Will it be too soon if we try to change his food again? It will be the third food change in 2.5 weeks after getting him directly from the tracks (we didn't get him through an organization, but fastfriends have been helping us greatly through email consults.

[Guest Vers]

It sounds like the Blue Buffalo or Canidae isn't agreeing with him. Which protein did the ProPlan have compared to the Blue Buffalo? Six cups also sounds like a lot of food; Simba at 90 pounds gets 1-1/2 cups twice a day, 3 cups total.

 

Search here for bland diet -- most of us switch to an easy-to-digest meal when loose poo is happening.

 

It's worth having a fecal done at the vet for parasites or giardia. In the meantime, you can try adding ground psyllium husk or plain canned pumpkin for fiber.

 

If his gums are tacky to the touch or if his skin at the nape of his neck doesn't slide right back into position after you pull it up, he's getting seriously dehydrated and needs to see the vet soon. If he's eating and drinking normally, this may not happen with diarrhea.

 

Also, invest in some paper plates or newspapers -- slide one under your hound when he crouches to poo. Makes clean up very easy -- just pick up plate, put in poop bag. No more mess on the sidewalk.

 

Since the diarrhea has been happening for three days now, it's probably best to call your vet in the morning.

[Guest FreddyGirl]

You can stop the kibble and canned and give him cooked white rice and chopmeat for a few days to settle the stomach.

 

FYI- All 5 of my dogs eat ProPlan chicken for adults and do fine on it. One of them, Corey, I tried when I first got him to feed him Wilderness chicken and turkey, he could NOT handle it and we had the same output here. I mean the very next poo after the meal was soupy. So, I just put him on ProPlan and he is fine.

[Guest Beernardo]

Forgot to mention about the food quantity. We were feeding him 2 cups teice a day, but he started to loose weight so we upped the dose to she how his body reacts. We added canned meat because we wasn't very interested in the kibble alone, we only add about 1/4 can to add flavor.

 

I'm going to try and give him 2.5 cups twice a day without the canned food, hopefully he'll eat it all.

 

He's acting normal so I'm not too worried at the moment, I hope we can sort this out soon.

 

He also farts like crazy, like 1 every 3 minutes for about the next hour after he eats, then 1 fart every 30 minutes or so.

 

I also heard his stomach growl when I was brushing him after his morning feed.

 

 

[Guest Beernardo]

You can stop the kibble and canned and give him cooked white rice and chopmeat for a few days to settle the stomach.

 

FYI- All 5 of my dogs eat ProPlan chicken for adults and do fine on it. One of them, Corey, I tried when I first got him to feed him Wilderness chicken and turkey, he could NOT handle it and we had the same output here. I mean the very next poo after the meal was soupy. So, I just put him on ProPlan and he is fine.

 

So it looks like it could be the food, after giving him cooked for 2 days do you recommend me to go back cold turkey to proplan or some other like costco's chicken and rice? Or should I make the 1 week transition?

[Burpdog]

Vets will tell you 48 hours then it's time for a visit. Since you have had him only a short time, it's possible he has critters and needs medicine.

[Guest Beernardo]

The vet is coming tomorrow to give him his shots, Let's see what he says. I'll fix his diet in the mean time

[Batmom]

finding out proplan had 3 ingredients not good for greyhounds (wheat, soy and corn)

 

Those are perfectly good ingredients for greyhounds and other dogs. An individual dog might be allergic or intolerant of one of them, but dogs in general don't have any problem with them.

 

If he was doing well on the ProPlan, I'd switch him back cold turkey.

[Time4ANap]

The vet is coming tomorrow to give him his shots, Let's see what he says. I'll fix his diet in the mean time

 

As you work on the diet (make changes, try new foods, etc) - be sure to only change one thing at a time so that you know what works. That means no different treats and don't mix 2 new foods at the same time while you are doing the change, or you won't know which change causes an issue.

[Guest Vers]

This may just be me being careful, but I wouldn't do shots/vaccinations until he's feeling better.

[mychip1]

Agree with a lot of what was said. Clearly sounds like a food change problem.....Some dogs just can't handle the foods that are supposed to be the "best" for them. One of my boys is on the prescription ID diet for a bad stomach. When I read the ingredients, I almost keeled over...it's all corn....everything they tell you not to give, but it keeps him from being sick, so the vet wants him on it. Not that your boy is at that point...just illustrating the fact that what should be good for them isn't always and sometimes the other stuff is OK.

 

As far as amounts of food, our EZ who weighs in at the mid-seventies has always needed a full five cups of food....JJ is fine on just over three. My Jack ate about four or five cups, and Dustin eats four.

[Guest Beernardo]

I did made the mistake do changing the two foods at the same time.

 

I'm going to give him only 4 cups a day of kibble only (he doesn't eats well without the canned) for the next 2 days and see how everything comes out.

 

I feel optimistic because I haven't seen a change on his behaviour, he has been eating and drinking water normally.

 

Thanks to everybody for your help

 

By the way, the paper plates seemed like a good idea.

[kudzu]

finding out proplan had 3 ingredients not good for greyhounds (wheat, soy and corn)

 

Those are perfectly good ingredients for greyhounds and other dogs. An individual dog might be allergic or intolerant of one of them, but dogs in general don't have any problem with them.

 

If he was doing well on the ProPlan, I'd switch him back cold turkey.

Agree with this. Was going to say the same. I have two dogs who can't do wheat but that's the only reason I avoid it. Have had dogs on ProPlan in the past & they thrived. It isn't that those ingredients are bad for Greys, or any other dogs for that matter, but that those are some of the most common allergens. If he was having the soft serve poo probs while on ProPlan then those ingredients would be on the most likely suspects list. However, if he wasn't having problems with ProPlan I'd just go buy a bag & put him back on it, at Batmom says, cold turkey. If you still feel you want something different you can try a more conservative transition plan later after his GI tract has settled.

 

So when was the deworming done? Just wondering if the timing coincided with the appearance of gooey pooey.

[Guest Beernardo]

I gave him 2 deworming pills 7 days ago, 3 days before the runny poo started. The only change that I did when the runny poo started is adding the canidae canned food, which I already stopped. We'll give him today and tomorrow before trying something else, the vet just saw him and advice us the same, to stick with the new food (without the canned) for some more days suspecting it is due to a hard food transition.

 

Mmm, they were having soft poos with proplan too but it may be because of the adaptation phase and food change, so I'm not really sure if he was 100% ok with proplan.

[Guest Beernardo]

Today I gave him only his 2.5 of blue buffalo in the morning and another 2.5 in the evening (no canned, no yogurt) and he just made a combo of solid (between a solid and pudding like) and runny like the previous ones. You think his stomach is getting used to its new food finally?

[kudzu]

Getting used to the new food OR could canned have been the problem all along? Though you did switch the canned food as well. Too early to make any conclusions. Glad things seem to be moving in the right direction. Well I guess were literally it was moving in the right direction all along. Glad its doing that & with a better consistency.

[Guest FreddyGirl]

finding out proplan had 3 ingredients not good for greyhounds (wheat, soy and corn)

 

Those are perfectly good ingredients for greyhounds and other dogs. An individual dog might be allergic or intolerant of one of them, but dogs in general don't have any problem with them.

 

If he was doing well on the ProPlan, I'd switch him back cold turkey.

 

Agreed, that's what I do.

[Guest Beernardo]

AND we went back to runny poo, I'll give it another 3 days, if not, I'm switching the food. I'm thinking on giving costco's chicken and rice a try since that's what I can get where I live without crossing the border to the US (it can take about 3 hours sometime)

[Guest jbox]

Mine never could tolerate Pro Plan, although I didn't try all the flavors. Tried Buffalo Blue Chicken & Rice once and that was a disaster. Tried the Canidae canned food as well once and it gave them pudding poos. There is a lot of rich canned food out there that just doesn't work very well for sensitive tummies.

[Guest Beernardo]

Mine never could tolerate Pro Plan, although I didn't try all the flavors. Tried Buffalo Blue Chicken & Rice once and that was a disaster. Tried the Canidae canned food as well once and it gave them pudding poos. There is a lot of rich canned food out there that just doesn't work very well for sensitive tummies.

 

What ended up working for your dog?

[Brandiandwe]

If you want to move to just kibble, I've had success with kibble mixed with hot water. I boil the kettle, put a little bit of water in to wet the food and make like a gravy, let it cool a bit then give it to Paige. It releases the smell and seems to be more palatable. I combine this with yoghurt but have also used the biodynamic powder stuff (brain not working but the stuff with all the things yoghurt has bt without the dairy element). Switched off the powder because it didn't do anything different to yoghurt and was 7 times more expensive.

[Guest Beernardo]

I finally made Stannis finish his bowls adding more water to the kibble but letting it settle for about 10 min. so the kibble sucks up the water and end up being moisity balls. Now I just have to wait untill he makes solid stools, he passed the farting days (we used to had like 20 super stinky farts per day, today has been a no fart day finally. I stopped the yogurt because I want to give him only one thing at a time to identify the source of the diarrhea. Today he did something between a pancake and a triangular mountain, let's see how we do tomorrow, I'm giving him little less that two more weeks before calling this food off.