[Christine M]

We have a white German shepherd dog, he just turned 5 months in March. I was looking forward to take him at least twice a day for walks, but he poops too much. I have degenerative disc disease and can use the very helpful pooper scooper in our backyard, but there is no way I carry that thing around with me on walks.
The dog cannot sit still, so I basically would have his leash in one hand and try to scrape his soft stool from the sidewalk, but would need a third hand to put the poop into the poop bag.

We talked with my friend from Germany about it. Her female collie had soft stools until she was 1 year old, so she believes that’s normal.

Our vet wanted us to stop feeding him Eukanuba Large Puppy kibble (supposedly it has too many fillers, she recommended Taste of the Wild kibble instead) and to start feeding him a bland diet (white rice and ground chicken or ground beef) until his stools get firm again. That’s what we were doing the past 3 weeks, the rice did NOT firm the stool.
Do I have to stop giving him Lean Treats, 5 tiny little cheese cubicles and Abady dog cookies (1 cookie per day) which I give him in-between his breakfast at 8 a.m. and his dinner at 4:45 p.m.. He gets water the last time at 6 p.m., because we have to put him in the crate by 9 p.m., so he can make it through the night until one of us lets him out in the backyard at 5:30 a.m..

Our vet said that some dogs have a sensitive stomach. In case he has such a sensitive stomach what else could we feed him?
We cannot continue not exercising the dog properly. I was so much looking forward to start walking with him and when I took him for walks in February, he pooped in the garden first and then we started walking and sure enough: on those short 20 minutes walks he pooped again. Thank God there were very high snow banks left and right of the sidewalks where several other dogs from our neighborhood pooped and their owners didn’t pick it up, because nobody could witness it, but the snow is unfortunately gone now and I need advice very desperately.

Thank you,

Chrissie from MA

[Anonymous]

I had a dog like that (herding breed), had soft stools till the age of 9 months. Then it just stopped and she went about twice a day, an hour or two after eating.
A 3 to 5 mile brisk walk (1-2 hours) every day helped too.

I would take a look at the diet, as your vet suggested, also, you may find some helpful tips here http://www.homeovet.net/dynamic/php/downloads/dog-c8470f2c75dbe4b683205c3919ee2310/dog_diet_complete.pdf

[Susan]

Hi Christine, German Shepherds are prone to IBD EPI & SIBO, boiled rice is a no no for some dogs, can you get the Vet Diet “Eukanuba Intestinal” not the Intestinal Plus just the Intestinal, I even think there’s a Eukanuba puppy Intestinal…The Eukanuba Intestinal was the only diet that help my boy get stable.. also join this Face Book group “Dogs With Inflammatory Bowel Disorder” make sure you start to fix this problem now when he’s still young & don’t let him keep going with the irritated bowel like my rescued boy did…. a lot of dogs with IBD are real stress heads, don’t keep still, eat everything in site (Pica) anxious… see a vet that specialises in IBD… some vets wouldn’t have a clue about IBD & say “Oh its just a sensitive stomach” when it isn’t, he might have food sensitivities or food allergies have you tried boiled potatoes & a protein that he has never eating before like kangaroo, rabbit duck…. on another Face Book group called “Dog Allergy International group” I’ve listed limited ingredients kibbles in the files section…. have a look at “Natural Balance” Limited Ingredients http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/ on ur top left click on “Dog Formulas” thin click on the Limited Ingredient Diets the Kangaroo, Rabbit & Duck have the least ingredients, a few dogs with IBD are doing really well on this kibble…also NO TREATS nothing just his kibble & NO CHEESE it has diary & FAT….then when he’s doing firm poos & only 1-3 a day for a good 3 months then give him a new food & see does he have sloppy poo, see what happens if everything is good in the poo department give again the next day & the next day as some dogs wont react for 5-10 days like my boy he does really well the first 5-6 days them BOOM diarrhea… hope to see you in the F/B groups you’ll get some help when needed from a few German Shepherd owners…

[DogFoodie]

Hi Christine,

The soft stool could definitely be the result of a food intolerance. My dog with food intolerances gets soft stool from lots of things, especially flax.

The first thing I would do is put him on a limited ingredient with an appropriate Calcium level for a large breed puppy; ie: Nature’s Variety Instinct LID Rabbit.

Loose or even soft stool for a prolonged period is a problem that you can’t allow to resolve on its own without taking action. I would change the food and add canned pumpkin to his food to help firm the stool and ease the transition to a new food.

[Anonymous]

Nutrisca salmon and chickpea, no grains, no potato is bland and works well for my dog that has a sensitive stomach.
Wysong has some nice selections too.
I just use the kibble as a base and add something/homemade.

Occasional loose/soft stools are one thing, but watery, runny diarrhea (more than 72 hours) can lead to dehydration. Look at some of the feeding tips in that homemade diet link I provided, maybe something he says will be helpful.

[Anonymous]

http://www.homeovet.net/dynamic/php/downloads/dog-c8470f2c75dbe4b683205c3919ee2310/dog_diet_complete.pdf

Check: General Guidelines

[Author]

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