Diarrhea in Pups

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Stu
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Joined: Sat Jun 26, 2010 5:05 pm

Diarrhea in Pups

Post by Stu »

Hi all.

I'm after some advice. I have a 6 month old Alaskan Malamute pup Oakley. Unfortunately for the last few weeks now he's not been feeling so great - his stools have varied between soft to diarrhea like. We've taken him to the vets who tested him for Giardia and Campylobacter and Salmonella etc and all results came back all clear. He's been prescribed Trichozole and a course of panacure but so far we've seen no change in his condition. He seems lively enough and he's still gaining weight. But we are concerned that he doesn't appear to be getting any better. We've tried changing his diet to include Hills Science Diet ZD which he flatly refused to eat. After two days of throwing out full bowls of stale dog food we went back to Pro Plan which he wolfs down. But we're still seeing no change in his health. We've cut all treats out of his diet too. We're keen to keep with the advice the vet has provided but are becoming concerned. If anybody out there in the wider doggy community has any advice or had a similar experience we'd dearly like to hear from you.

Many thanks,

Stu (and Oakley)
runlikethewind
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Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 12:48 pm

Re: Diarrhea in Pups

Post by runlikethewind »

Hi there

I did have a similar problem with my young collie - apparently it can be that as collies are sometimes a bag of nerves, it affects their digestion. We had tests done - all negative. He grew out of it in a way. But we changed his diet to a superior one. There are vets on here who will disagree but Hills Science and Pro Plan, I don't think, are good enough. If you have to feed kibble (and not perhaps look at a raw diet for you dog who would do very well on it, I'm sure) then Orijen or Arcana are ones to look at. He may have an intolerance to grain for example. None of the above two brands contain grain.

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/
josie1918
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Re: Diarrhea in Pups

Post by josie1918 »

Your dog may just need a grain free product. The worth of dog food can only be measured by whether or not your dog can utilize it. I know many dogs who do wonderfully well on "Ol Roy" :shock: Others swear by the organics that I absolutely cannot feed to one of my dogs. :roll: Each dog is totally Unique, like people are. It took me almost a year to find the right food for my GSD, and by the right food, I mean the one that he did well on. That is why I am slower to criticize some of the diets on the market, to my mind the "Only" diet to use is the one that your dog does well on. Hills z/d is an excellent product if you have a dog that is allergic to almost everything (believe me, I have seen allergy dogs that have had allergies to EVERY food on the market except "Mighty dog", not the owners or the vets first pick for a dog food, but the blood work we sent in doesn't lie) the dog has done well every since, so .............Why don't you give him a try on taste of the wild (I would recommend the salmon for a large breed dog) see what happens, and please understand that it can take up to 6 weeks for ALL of the old food to cycle out of his system.
Plumber
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Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2010 1:52 pm

Re: Diarrhea in Pups

Post by Plumber »

Hi all.

Oakley was on Orijen for about 2 months when the problem started, which is why we went back to the Pro Plan which we had had no issues with prior to the whole episode. We're also in New Zealand so the range of really good food is limited, and we're not really keen on going down the road of things like K9 Natural raw food. Our other dog is giving us no issues what so ever, happily eating Orijen and no health problems which is leading me to think maybe it's not a bacterial or viral issue (although I'm not a vet, so could be completly wrong).
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Beckyyy
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Re: Diarrhea in Pups

Post by Beckyyy »

Does he have any dairy/left overs/treats?
Plumber
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Re: Diarrhea in Pups

Post by Plumber »

No we've cut out the treats completely including the daily Dentastix. I even stopped the freshly cooked chicken,rice and peas about two weeks ago. He doesn't get any dairy nor table scraps.
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Beckyyy
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Location: Scotland

Re: Diarrhea in Pups

Post by Beckyyy »

Personally I would try a grain free diet, which contains as many natural ingredients as possible, if you'd like to stick with a complete food - but give it a couple of weeks before you make a decision on whether to stick with it, as a change in food can also give a dog an upset tummy while it gets used to it. If you find he doesn't like a new food - still stick with it for a while, leave it down for 10 minutes and remove anything left until next meal time. A hungry dog won't starve itself if food is there, but it will become fussy if it knows it can get it's prefered food from ignoring a new one.

Do you soak the kibbles before you feed them? If so, try giving them solid and seeing if that helps.
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Mattie
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Re: Diarrhea in Pups

Post by Mattie »

Home cooking or a raw diet may help him, there is a very good thread on feeding dogs in the health section which may help. It isn't difficult to feed like this an dyouwill know what is going into his food.
[url=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Nethertumbleweed/PIXIE.jpg][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v312/Nethertumbleweed/th_PIXIE.jpg[/img][/url]
runlikethewind
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Re: Diarrhea in Pups

Post by runlikethewind »

I know you have a limited choice over in NZ as we looked into moving out there (my husband is a kiwi) You do have K9 Natural as you say but for the price of that raw packaged food, you might as well do your own raw food. You also have Ziwipeak (I suspect the wet version might help). You have such wonderful grass fed meat over there - have you tried raw feeding?
Wicket
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Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 11:36 pm

Re: Diarrhea in Pups

Post by Wicket »

Perhaps the protein is too high for him in Orijen? I've read reviews where the stomach troubles went away when owners switched Acana, which has the same ingredients as Orijen, but a lower protein percentage.
Plumber
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Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2010 1:52 pm

Re: Diarrhea in Pups

Post by Plumber »

Well we went back to the vet yesterday (same practice different vet) and the little fella has been taken off his meds and put on a diet of freshly steamed chicken or fish, with rice and peas or mixed veg for a week to see if that makes any difference before he wants to start looking at blood tests and ultra sounds. He seems to think maybe the fat content of puppy food is the culprit as during his examination the pressing of the lower left abdominal cavity produced a Cujo moment, which is leading him to look at the pancreas (and checking he still had hands :oops: ). So we're going to be cooking his meals for a week and hopefully there will be some improvement, we will keep you posted should anyone be interested, but I would really like to thank everyone who has taken their time and given out some very thoughtful and useful advice.
Stu
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Joined: Sat Jun 26, 2010 5:05 pm

Re: Diarrhea in Pups

Post by Stu »

Well we're less than three day's into the new home cooked diet and since yesterday afternoon we've had nothing but normal movements; Who'd have thought cleaning up after your dog could become a pleasant experience?

We'll still go ahead with the blood tests on Thursday if the vet thinks it's prudent, but as for now we have the job of tracking down what it is that upsets his stomach.
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