Loose Poos, What To Do?

[Guest Shambles]

Hi, hoping for some advice from more experienced owners. We have had Stella 3 days now, and right from the start her poos have been loose. This morning she ate some grass, then threw up on the carpet. Wondering if it is just that she is getting used to her new home, or if we might need to change her diet?

 

At the kennels she was fed CSJ CP extra, which is intended as a supplement to a raw food diet. We don't want to feed her raw, so on advice from the supplier we intend to switch to CP21 which is salmon based, wheat free, and intended as a complete food. First day we just gave her the CP extra, then started to mix some of the new food in. She's on half and half now. She also has extras, so far we've given her sardines (her favourite), cheese, coconut oil and yogurt.

 

So, I'm wondering what to do? Persevere and see if she improves with more time? Cut out the extras and keep it simple for a bit (reluctant to do this as when I have given her plain kibble she has hardly eaten anything, until I put some cheese on it!)? Go back to just the CP extra to see if it's the new food? Or something else? Any advice gratefully recieved, thanks.

[macoduck]

You'll get plenty of suggestions here.

 

Cut back to just the kibble. What you are adding is very oily. Put her food bowl down for 15 minutes and if she doesn't eat it, take it away. Same thing next meal time. When she's hungry she'll eat.

 

Everything is new to her. New smells and routine. Don't rush her into new adventures out and about town. Let her get comfortable in your home.

 

Regarding eating grass and vomiting, give her a cookie at bedtime. Could be she had a bit of bile in her tummy when she woke up - possibly from stress or the oily stuff added to her food.

 

Loose poop is a common discussion here. I am unfamiliar with the food brand you mentioned. Changing over from the kennel food to what you feed her will take some time for her to adjust.

 

Congrats on your new girl!

[DocsDoctor]

It's common for them to have soft stools and some digestive stress to begin with, because of the overall stress of adapting to a completely new lifestyle. Three days in is still very new for coping with a change of diet along with everything else. Personally I'd probably continue the transitioning to the new food, but take the process more slowly, and go easy on the extras. I would also always add water to the kibble, whatever else - UK racing kennels usually feed a mixture of kibble and stew, so that will be what she is used to and it is easier to eat and digest.

 

Also, check with the rescue whether she is up to date with worming - if not that may be causing some of the problems.

 

Apart from giving it time, you can also try sprinkling a tablespoonful of dry porridge oats (just from the supermarket) into each meal - good for firming up stools, and are also meant to have a calming effect.

[JohnF]

Loose poops are very common shortly after adoption as a result of stress. I agree that maybe you've added things that are too greasy to the diet.

Any changes to the diet have to be gradual (like incrementally over a week from one food to another.)

 

My Peggy has always had an incredibly sensitive stomach, and recently we almost lost her to a Salmonella-like infection. What I eventually settled on in the early years was a mid range kibble: Barking Heads 'Golden Years', topped with 1/4 tray per day of Forthglade real meat wet food in different flavours. You would probably also be fine with the expensive Canagan 'country game' kibble on its own, but although you don't have to feed nearly as much of it, and the poops will be normal solid again, it will still work out 25% dearer

 

I remember trying Peggy on Burns sensitive Duck & rice kibble (blue bag with pink stripe) 2 or 3 years ago and we ended up with bad diarrhea. I had to give the bag away to a friend who had a normal dog that loved any kind of food.

 

 

This site 'All about Dog Food"is the 'bible' for UK dog foods...

[racindog]

It is no wonder she has diarrhea with such major changes. To adjust from eating raw to dry will take a major adaptation. One of the worse things you could do is mix it up and give it to her together IMO. The 2 different foods have to be digested in 2 entirely different ways. Her system was set up to digest raw which means it was very acid and the food moved through her system pretty quick. Dry food requires a much less acid digestive environment and by its very nature will remain in her system far longer. In fact dry food is designed to do that on purpose to give the dog time to extract the nutrients they need from it. As messed up as she is now I would withhold all food for at least 12 hours, preferably a day. Then if you want to switch her to dry I would give her boiled rice/chicken in small quantities until she was doing somewhat better, a day or two perhaps. Give several meals/day in small quantities. If diarrhea persists give a little extra time between feedings. Once you have her stabilized decent with that then add a FEW pebbles of the kibble to her boiled rice/chicken. If all goes well you can begin increasing the quantity of the meals and the kibble in each meal and decreasing the number and frequency of feeding. In I would say around 10 days you might have her down to 2 meals/day with 1/2- 3/4 of each meal being actual kibble. At THIS point it will probably be able to switch her entirely to the kibble. But it is a major change and under the best circumstances takes time for their body to adjust. Also you probably should check the mercury level in the salmon food you want to feed and you will actually want to switch protein sources so she has a varied diet. The fish/seafood-particularly the kind that goes into pet foods- have a tendency to be the most contaminated(with heavy metals and mercury) of all protein sources. The reason you need to vary the protein source is because dogs have a tendency to develop allergies if they are always fed the same protein. JMO. Good luck! Scritches to your girl

[Banjoman]

Even after three and a half years Chancey still has loose stools.

 

I was unable to get the kibble that she arrived with and transitioned her slowly (over more than a week) to the one that gives money to the RGT. I was told by the kennels to soak the kibble in warm water, which I did. She still did huge, loose stools so I eventually tried the Burns Fish and Brown Rice. Like John I mix a quarter of a packet of Forthglade or sometimes tinned food like Chappie or a supermarket own brand in with the kibble to vary the flavour and content and now I find if I just put a little warm water over it her first poops are reasonably solid but the ones later in the day are invariably looser, which seems to be standard for greyhounds according to other owners on this board. She invariably goes to have a drink when I am getting the meals ready (2 meals a day) so I know she has plenty of fluids even though the food is fairly dry.

 

Treats tend to upset her innards too so they are only given when I have to leave the dogs at home in their cages.

 

Worms do make a difference and I find I have to worm her regularly.

Edited August 31, 2017 by Banjoman

[Guest Shambles]

It is no wonder she has diarrhea with such major changes. To adjust from eating raw to dry will take a major adaptation. One of the worse things you could do is mix it up and give it to her together IMO. The 2 different foods have to be digested in 2 entirely different ways. Her system was set up to digest raw which means it was very acid and the food moved through her system pretty quick. Dry food requires a much less acid digestive environment and by its very nature will remain in her system far longer. In fact dry food is designed to do that on purpose to give the dog time to extract the nutrients they need from it. As messed up as she is now I would withhold all food for at least 12 hours, preferably a day. Then if you want to switch her to dry I would give her boiled rice/chicken in small quantities until she was doing somewhat better, a day or two perhaps. Give several meals/day in small quantities. If diarrhea persists give a little extra time between feedings. Once you have her stabilized decent with that then add a FEW pebbles of the kibble to her boiled rice/chicken. If all goes well you can begin increasing the quantity of the meals and the kibble in each meal and decreasing the number and frequency of feeding. In I would say around 10 days you might have her down to 2 meals/day with 1/2- 3/4 of each meal being actual kibble. At THIS point it will probably be able to switch her entirely to the kibble. But it is a major change and under the best circumstances takes time for their body to adjust. Also you probably should check the mercury level in the salmon food you want to feed and you will actually want to switch protein sources so she has a varied diet. The fish/seafood-particularly the kind that goes into pet foods- have a tendency to be the most contaminated(with heavy metals and mercury) of all protein sources. The reason you need to vary the protein source is because dogs have a tendency to develop allergies if they are always fed the same protein. JMO. Good luck! Scritches to your girl

She never actually had the raw food diet - she had only just arrived at the kennels when we reserved her, so the lady there said she wouldn't start with raw. She said she gave her the cp extra, with 'other things' added to keep her interested. Other than saying she likes sardines she was a little vague about what she was adding, have contacted her and she mentioned trays of meat, think it might be the ones others have mentioned. She thought it might have been the grain in the new food causing the problem, but it has the same grain content as the original food. Going to investigate the meat trays, and try sticking to what she's used to as much as I can.

 

I understand the stress might cause issues, just trying not to add to the problem. She seems otherwise happy, I think. Thanks for the advice everyone

[Banjoman]

There are a couple of firms that make the trays of meat, Forthglade is one & I think Nature's Menu is the other, there may be others but those are the two stocked by my petshop. Nature's Menu contain more vegetables i've found while the Forthglade are mostly meat. Just checked, they do different types now, I stick with the "Just ....." which are all meat, if I want to add vegetables I use home cooked. NM also do frozen nuggets of food which are good for a change too, if you have room in your freezer.

[Guest NormansMum]

Hi,

 

We are from UK also so the you'll be able to get these. Normans poos were pretty sloppy when i first got him. Once he settled into his new life and the food he was eating it settled down, I would say it took a few months.

I feed him on the RGT's own food, both the chicken and fish flavours his coat looks amazing on it. He gets the odd pilchard/sardine n tomato sauce too. I also give him charcoal bones as treats just the biscuit ones and also we've had wainwrights charcoal bones which say on the packet 'reduces flatulence' and they do just that! Norman had truly horrendous wind when we got him. He gets James wellbeloved grain free snacks too and the odd shape biscuit. I've been using pooch and mutt's prebiotics just recently which are quite good. For Normans size it says 3 tsps. a day but I just give 1 tsp and its enough for less gas and firmer stools as its a bit pricey. (He's a big lad at 37kg). I think any prebiotic can do wanders though there are loads on the market to try. Good luck, hope it helps.

[Guest Shambles]

Thanks for the advice everyone. She's actually much better already. We decided to stick with the dry food she was used to, and got some forthglade trays to mix in, and we already have sardines. She seems happy, eats most of her meals, and poos are no longer loose. Guessing it's probably too soon for the food to have made a difference, but she seems generally more settled so probably that.

[Guest Claryella]

Bumping up a bit late, but this really helped my girl: https://www.fidobiotics.com/collections/good-guts-human-grade-probiotic-powder-for-dogsI just add it to her food and she eats it just fine. Went from goopy poos to firm stools in a couple days, and they get a bit loose if she misses a day. I highly recommend them

[sobesmom]

Thanks for the advice everyone. She's actually much better already. We decided to stick with the dry food she was used to, and got some forthglade trays to mix in, and we already have sardines. She seems happy, eats most of her meals, and poos are no longer loose. Guessing it's probably too soon for the food to have made a difference, but she seems generally more settled so probably that.

Glad to hear it. Well done. Don't be afraid to ask questions here. And Congratulations!!!!

[Dave_P]

Milo had similar bowel issues when I got him - he was in a whole new world, so not surprised he was anxious.

 

I fed him dry food, mixed with the carrot concentration powder, for a few weeks. Worked fine, and just feed him dry food now - no issues.

[Redfishingirl]

We had our best luck with a Dog Probiotic. We use this one from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G5CB410/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1