New puppy's diarrhea

[Olga1]

We have just got us a new 5 months old Lab puppy Buddy. The main mistake we made was that we did not pick up any of his food (kibble) from the breeder (we simply did not think about it and the breeder did not remind us).
Then we thought that it would not be a big deal and the pup would have no problem to eat the same food our older dog eats (variety of Orijen kibbles). So, we fed him the food we had at home from day one. He had bad diarrhea right away. We put him on boiled rice and beef. But he started to poop the rice without any digestion tracies. Out vet said he was healthy and normal overall and recommended to replace rice with mashed potatoes in case he can't digest rice. After a week on potato and beef he finally started to poop normally. We waited for another 3 days without liquid accidents and started to add the same kibble again, about 20 kibbles per meal, soaked in water for 15 minutes in advance. Today is the 3rd day on potato+beef+20 kibbles diet. And all these 3 days he is having veeery soft poop again and it is not getting any better so far (almost just water every other time).
I forgot to mention that Buddy was doing very well overall during those days (we had him for 2 weeks total), was very playfull, without any signs that he was sick.

Please advise what we do wrong? Will he ever be able to be on dry food again or we will have to cook for him forever? Should we try a different kibble in case this food is too rich for him?
Thank you in advance!

[shackybracky]

It definitely sounds like the Orijen is upsetting his digestion at the moment. Have you tried him on any puppy food? Do you know what food the breeder was giving him?

[runlikethewind]

Orijen is a good food as far as kibble goes but is is quite a complex kibble in that it has a lot of herbs etc in it - and you can never say if it is ok on a sensitive tum. I sympathise with you on this as we had the same issue, settling our collie - who are renound for easily upset tummies when they are young apparently. 2 weeks isn't very long to say whether a kibble suits your pup or not. I don't think you should continue to cook beef and potato - this is only a temporary measure as you know.. to settle tummies but usually the advice is chicken and rice. Anyway, the reason is not to continue on this is because it is not balanced enough - it is all muscle meat; pups need calcium.

One of the best things I found during this period is to buy some of the vets' own sensitive tummy canned food... It's a Royal Canin product.. yikes.. BUT I did find it very useful to get back to hard poops. They use it for dogs during tummy upsets. It is very bland and very simple. At least you will know this is more or less 'balanced' and has some calcium in it. Then I would as above - either find out what food he was on before the little fella came to you or start again very carefully on the Orijen.

However, you may have also introduced too many proteins at once to your pup - this can sometimes cause an upset. I believe Orijen is mixed protein (chicken, turkey, salmon) so you would be mixing beef in aswell - that is a lot of different protein.

A lot to think about.

[Olga1]

Thank you very much for your replies. It says "All life stages" on the Orijen bags. That's why we thought it would be ok for the little guy. Our other dog is 1 year and 3 months now and she was on Orijen since she was 6 months old. But it looks like this is not the right food for him. At least not at the moment. I remember that the breeder fed him Enhance. We couldn't not find it anywhere in our area. I checked the ingredients on Enhance website. It is very simple food with only 1 protein source and fish meal as the 10th ingredient.
We will try some other puppy food on him with 1 or 2 proteins maximum. Hopefully his tummy will accept it.
I checked our vet's office. They have Royal Canin in dry only, no cans. But they have the other brand for sentitive stomachs, Hill's Prescription Diet, in cans. We probably will start with it for now and then decide what puppy food we are going to feed him.
As for the vitamines and calcium - we have been adding NuVet canine supplement to his food because he was on very limited ingredients food for the last 2 weeks. So he should be somewhat ok. Maybe not everything he needs... but at least it is better than nothing.
Thank you very much for your support!

[Blansten]

I have just been through this with my 6 month old Olde English Bulldog. Many of the better natural foods are very rich for some puppies. After trying 4 different foods and discovering that Moe has a chicken allergy I finally landed on Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Bison and Sweet potato. This is the first food he has been able to digest and the most "normal" his stool has been since I got him at 8 weeks old. He is a completely different dog now (for the better). There are several other limited ingredient foods that are also very healthy, sometimes the foods for allergies also help dogs with sensitive stomachs.

Good luck finding one that works for your dog, I know how stressful it can be to have to keep trying to find the right food.