[Ron D]

We have a nine month old lab and we have been feeding her Wellness Complete Health Large Bread Puppy dry dog food for the past five months. In most cases her stools are extremely soft. Can anyone suggest something?

Thanks.

• This topic was modified 7 years ago by Ron D.

[haleycookie]

First have u had her dewormed? Second why are you still feeding the same food if it’s always been soft poop? Try changing to something else. Make sure she’s in health as well from the vet. I have a family member who has had multiple labs and they’ve all been on large breed puppy then adult by blue buffalo with no issues.

[Ron D]

First thing we did was to have her checked for worms. We have tried a couple brands of dog foods, and some gave us worst results. We tried a better brand and now we are here, same results. The vet says she is healthy and not sure where to go other than continue trying different brands until we find something that works.

[haleycookie]

What other foods did you feed? Did they share common ingredients?

[Susan]

Hi Ron,
yes what other brands have you tried did they all have grains & same protein (Chicken)??
As soon as my IBD boy eats a kibble with Barley, Oats, Chickpeas, Lentils, Corn Gluten Meal his poos go sloppy, you can’t pick them up….
Have you tried “Taste Of The Wild” Sierra Mounatin Roasted Lamb?? it has just Lamb as the meat protein, Sweet Potato, Potato, Peas, Egg, Berries
Have you tried kibbles with very limited ingredients that have Poatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Egg? Potatoes & Sweet Potatoes seem to firm a dogs poos up, well most dogs….
Have a look at “4Health” Special Care, Sensitive Stomach, it’s just Potato & Egg as main ingredients, it’s pretty much like a vet diet but cheaper, then if his poos do firm up I’d slowely start adding 1 new cooked ingredient to his kibble every 3 weeks & see does his poos start to go sloppy again, add cooked boiled rice, add ingredients from the kibbles he’s been eating & doing sloppy poos on, work out which ingredients he’s sensitive too??…

“Canidae” make a few large breed formula’s, there’s their new All Life Stages, LID Turkey & Brown Rice Large breed formula but all their large breed formula’s have grains except their other brand “Under The Sun” Large breed formula but it has Chicken & Chickpeas, your dog might be OK with Chickpeas you’d have to try & see, this is why its best to try the “4Health” Special Care, Sensitive Stomach Potato & Egg LID formula then you just add the cooked ingredients & try & work out which foods he’s sensitive too, it might be chicken as chicken is normally in these Large Breed Puppy formula’s.

Have you tried Kefir to strengthen his gut? start with 1 spoon a day then after 5 days give 1 spoon twice a day.
Dosages
Recommended Minimum Daily Intake of Kefir
Small size dogs or cats – 1 tsp. – 1 tbsp.
Medium size dogs – 1 – 2 tbsp.
Large dogs – 2 – 3 tbsp.

[Agnes L]

So is it becouse of the diet?!

[Ron D]

— Update —

We had Sadie checked for worms again yesterday, and she is still worm free. We are going with Susan’s suggestion and changing her food over to Taste of the Wild. Our other lab has been on the Diamond brand large breed formula for a few years and really likes it.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

Ron

[Scott L]

Our Rottie pup was on Wellness Core from the breeder, it wasn’t long before his poop went from soft to runny. We did all the tests and the anti diarreah medicine. Never got better, so I switched to TOTW (grain free) and he didn’t do well on that either. Since he was not retaining much of his food I was concerned with his growth (body&brain) so I reluctantly took the vet advice and put him on prescription diet for 3 weeks and then gradually switched to Pro Plan Focus Lg Breed as it was the same brand as the prescription diet and was the most similar in ingredients. Best poop ever and he has been growing at a normal rate! Now that he is stabilized I will be doing a gradual switch to a better quality food, one with good grains and lower in fat/protein. Wellness & TOTW were just too rich. I did a lot of research and am going with one of the following: Annamaet Encore All Life, Canidae All Stage, Horizon Complete or Nutro Ultra. Still deciding.

[Scott L]

FYI – Horizon Complete and Nutro Ultra are both the Large Breed Puppy Formula.

[Ron D]

Scott, this is good information. Our lab is extremely small, but she was the runt of the litter. I think that I am going to get her into the vet for a wellness checkup, just in case.

[Scott L]

Ron, Our pup was one of the smaller ones in the litter also, but he has been like a different dog since we got his poop stabilized. I am not thrilled with the ingredients of the prescription diet or the Pro Plan Focus large breed but it has definitely helped get him to a much better place. He is actually thriving on this food.

[poodaddy]

All (100%) of our canine-related issues (digestive dysfunctions including stools consistency, on-set of periodontal disease, anal gland operations, ignorance of canine nutrition) vaporized when we made the decision and committed to stop feeding commercial mass-produced dog food and committed to raw food AND regular teeth brushing.

[Author]

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