[Elena B]

Hello,

I have a Goldendoodle named Penny. She is almost 7 months old. We got her from a breeder at 8 weeks and after a few days at home she started having soft poo. Like really soft and sometimes it has mucus sections. She has been checked by the vet multiple times and has had a fecal test which came back negative. She has been on 5 different foods, including i/d food that the vet recommended but nothing helps. She was on a medication for a week which she did great with but one day after the meds ended she was back to the soft poo. The vet thinks it’s an allergy issue which is why he have been trying different food.
She’s been on:
Canidae Pure foundations Puppy formula- chicken
Blue Buffalo Basics Puppy- Turkey and Potato (with chicken)
i/d Vet recommended food
Natural Balance Limited Fish & Sweet Potato
Merrick Limited Turkey & Sweet Potato

She has tried a bland diet of chicken and rice but that gives her diarrhea. We tried probiotics and that gave her diarrhea as well.
The only thing that I found works for her is cooked sweet potato and turkey and I add slippery elm. If she eats this alone then her poo is great. But this becomes expensive a lot of work.
I’ve tried adding sweet potato to her kibble but its hit and miss. Her poo will be formed and normal maybe 1 out of 6 times.

Can anyone suggest anything?

[crazy4cats]

Hi Elena B-
Sorry about the troubles with your pups’ digestion. My pups started out with the same issue. It was very stressful. I switched foods several times as well only to find out that they had Giardia and Coccidia. Has your vet sent a sample out to a lab and specifically tested for either of those? They are both pretty common in puppies. Sometimes it is hard to detect as they shed the parasites intermittently.

Was it metronidazole that they were on that helped? It’s an antibiotic that is often given in combination with panacur to get rid of parasites. Supplements with slippery elm also helped my dogs tummies. Check out http://www.dogaware.com and click on the digestive disorders tab. There is so much helpful info on that site. One of my favorite supplements is Perfect Form made by The Honest Kitchen.

Of course, none of this info helps if it is a food allergy. Sorry, I don’t have any experience with that issue, thank goodness. But there are a couple of others that frequently post on this forum who might be able to help. There is a site that helps create home made diets called balanceit.com, if you are interested. Good luck to you. Please report how your pup,is doing!

• This reply was modified 9 years ago by crazy4cats.

[Elena B]

Hello crazy4cats-

Thank you for your reply. She was on metronidazole for 10 days and thats what helped. I actually have the Perfect Form supplement and it didn’t make a difference for my puppy. 🙁
I will call me vet and see if we can specifically test for Giardia and Coccidia. I don’t think she was specifically tested for that if that is something that the vet does seperatly.

I’ll keep you updated.

[Susan]

Hi Elena, if the Metronidazole helped then ask vet about Tylan Powder, it has less side effect & is suppose to have no side effects like Metronidazole has, Patches vet wanted Patch on low dose of Metronidazole for 6 months but he started acting weird & real paranoid after takin the Metronidazole for 1 month, so I tried the Tylan Powder 1/4 teaspoon once a day, you put 1/4 teaspoon in empty capsules & give with Dinner every night once a day, the Tylan Powder taste awful, so make sure you put in empty capsule, can turn them off meal… In America you once could buy the Tylan Powder over the counter from Pet Shops but I’ve read you now need a script from vet…
Join this Face Book group called “Dogs With Inflammatory Bowel Disorder”
someone on that site may know where to buy the Tylan Powder online, I live Australia & we need a script….also there’s a few dogs with Food Allergies & Food Intolerances….Have a look at IAMS Vet Formula Skin & Coat Plus Response KO, it’s just Kangaroo & Oat flour & Beet Pulp that makes poos firm, fat is 12% & no other ingredients to irritate the bowel…. https://www.iams.com/dog-food/veterinary-formula-dog-food-skin-coat-health-ko

I feed boiled chicken breast & boiled potatoes, broccoli & zucchini & add a small tin of salmon or make a big batch & buy the big tins of Salmon…. I don’t mix any kibble with the cooked meals, I feed 4 small meals a day, I give cooked for breakfast & dinner & kibble for lunch & a late dinner this way its not expensive feeding the cooked meals & the weight stays on… I feed a Fish & Rice kibble with no other ingredients…..

Boiled rice can irritate the bowel, my boy can not eat boiled rice, but he can eat kibbles with rice that’s been grounded up….

Can you find a kibble that is just turkey & rice or chicken & rice or lamb & rice where the fat is around 10-12% no higher?? fat can cause diarrhea….
Have you tried the “California Natural” Lamb & Rice it has just 4 ingredients, Lamb, brown rice, rice & sunflower oil, I don’t know if C/N is money back guaranteed, if it doesn’t work you can get money back, some kibbles are only guaranteed if the dog doesn’t eat the kibble, so Patch has not liked a few kibbles lol, the Pet Shops know Patch and are very good when we have returned kibbles, they didn’t mind….it becomes expensive when they cant eat a kibble….
A few dogs with IBD & Food Sensitivities are doing really well on the California Natural kibble, stay away from kibbles that have peas, barley, chick peas, lentils, too many ingredients, only limited ingredients with just 1 protein & 1 carb like the California Natural has… http://www.californianaturalpet.com/products/1181

You may need to see a specialist that specialises in IBD/food intolerances, my boy had an Endoscope & Biopsies done, then was put on Vet Diet “Eukanuba Intestinal” low Residue kibble, its just Chicken, rice & corn, that was the only vet diet that worked for him, he had to stay on the Eukanuba for 6-12 months to let his bowel heal, (he was a rescue) then the next 1-2 years I tried every kibble & found the only kibbles that work were kibbles with just 1 protein & 1 carb, no peas, gave bad wind pain & farts, kibbles with potatoes/sweet potatoes gave him diarrhea but he can eat cooked fresh potatoes & fresh sweet potatoes, so the potatoes in the kibbles mustn’t be fresh & green or rotten potatoes,thats why I like rice….
You will work it out hopefully but try & not let Penny have diarrhea too much, it will cause thickening of the bowel lining as she gets older…..ask vet about the Tylan Powder or try & buy it online, poos are firm the next day….as long as she isn’t eating something she is sensitive too..

[crazy4cats]

Hi Elena B-

Yes, please ask your vet if your pup was specifically tested for it. Like I mentioned, even if there was, it can be intermittent and hard to detect. Here is a link on the subject: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/03/19/giardia-infection-on-pets.aspx

If you do find that your dog is positive and Panacur is recommended, you can order it much cheaper online than from your vet at Chewy.com, http://www.healthypets.com/, or amazon.com.

Also, be sure to check out the dog aware site that I mentioned earlier. It might have some other ideas as well that may help your dog. Now that mine are finally clear of the parasite, they do do best on low fat foods that are a little higher in fiber. I also add tripe three or four days a week that seems to help with digestion. I think they developed a little colitis or IBS after their episode.

If she has a food intolerance, it would be best to do an elimination diet starting with a very limited ingredient diet. Good luck!

[Bobby dog]

Hi Elena B:
Just adding to C4c’s posts on parasites, here’s a few more sites that might be helpful to you:
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=680&S=0&EVetID=3001644
http://www.capcvet.org/capc-recommendations/coccidia/

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=2386&S=0&EVetID=3001644
http://www.capcvet.org/capc-recommendations/giardia/

[Jenn H]

Assuming your pup doesn’t have parasites or other medical conditions try giving a limited ingredient food for a little while and adding pure pumpkin and/or a probiotic.
Your dog may be one that doesn’t tolerate the more common proteins like chicken or beef. You can try lamb, fish, bison or other novel protein source.

[Brandi B]

I have a senior dog with stomach issues due to a stomach infection. I too have tried many foods. The one I found that worked was Natural Balance sweet potato and chicken. It seems any food with meat as the first ingredient has bothered him. He had also been on metranidozole, but we found by accident that amoxicillin worked better for an antibiotic. We only found this when he had a swollen lymph node that came back showing signs of infection. Within the first few days of being on that, his stools improved. My vet said it’s not common, but also not unheard of for amoxicillin to work better in some dogs.

[Susan]

Hi Brandi, when Patch had Endoscope & Biopsies on stomach back Dec-2014 vet found he had the Helicobacter-Pylori of the stomach & he had to take & still has to take when his stomach plays up, Metronidazole-200mg & 300mg-Amoxcillin twice a day together for 21 days, now I just give for only 7 days as these drugs make him feel nauseous…. I have too give meds twice a year, around 6 months he starts getting acid reflux, burping & poos are yellow sloppy (S.I.B.O) & yes the protein in a kibble has to be low around 24% & under & he does best on a kibble with rice…..

[Margaret C]

My dog had Giardia and Coccidia when she was a puppy but any vet’s fecal test should find those. Coccidia isn’t always treated as it’s fairly common but my vet treated it as it was only found after three cycles of treatment for Giardia so she felt it best to treat since she was a small puppy.

Considering all you’ve tried and the fact that chicken and rice doesn’t help which is a tried and true solution usually, I would suggest switching out your water. It could be that your tap water has excessive fluoride or other treatments that are disagreeing with your pup. My parents had to switch to bottled water (they just buy the generic at the grocery store in large containers) when their cat wasn’t tolerating a normal diet and had constant urinary issues as well as diarrhea regardless of food.

I also can suggest from personal experience that if you buy high quality no-grain food (you’ve already invested in so much so I don’t think you’d mind. 😉 ) you will typically find your pet’s bowel movements to be smaller and solid as they digest more of the food and don’t have filler waste. I use Wellness Core for both my cat and dog. Each receives a quarter can of wet each day to ensure additional water volume and no constipation. The rest of the day is dry. Wellness Core doesn’t have any grain in it which grains tend to be more prevalent in allergies and inflammation.

Hope some of that helps. 🙂

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