poo question!
My 6 month old Corgi has been having pooping issues. When we first got him, we weened him off of Royal Canin and onto Blue Buffalo. After a bag of the Blue, I took him to the vet because I was worried about his sometimes runny poop. The vet I visited has two Corgis and said to try Science Diet and that a food swap should do the trick. Well, now that he's on Science Diet, he has firm poop MOST of the time. I have seen a great deal of improvement, however, I'm still curious as to if it's okay if his poop isn't firm all of the time?
He poops twice when he wakes, which are firm. Throughout the day, however, he'll poop about three to four more times and sometimes it's firm and sometimes it's not. It's not completely runny, but my nephew calls him an ice cream machine, if that gets the point across!
Basically, I need to know if I should take a poop sample back into the vet or not. This is my first time owning a dog as an adult, I never had to worry about anything other than playing fetch and cuddling with my dog growing up. :)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jessica & Johann on
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Hi Lani,
I had Johann on Blue Buffalo for the first few months I had him and his stools were also inconsistent. They were mostly firm, but then he would have some runny ones.. and he had to poop A LOT!! Like 4-5x a day! I just went to a specialty pet store this week (they only sell very high end dog and cat food for the most part) and the owner explained that Blue Buffalo isn't that good... So she recommended "Back to Basics" dog food. It is pricey, but worth it. And they also have a "rewards program". In your first bag, you get a $3 off coupon for your 2nd purchase, and a $5 coupon off your 3rd purchase. You clip the UPC off of each bag and save them in an envelope so you get your 10th bag free! I love it :) ANYWAYS, the thing that is quite remarkable about Back to Basics is that they studied how dogs eat a live kill, and noticed that they go for organ meat first; not muscle meat. So the food has like 6 ingredients in it, it's composed of 76% organ meat and 24% veggie (0% starch/potato). Oh and she recommended the pork one because it is the most hypoallergenic meat there is for dogs- as Johann has been eating Blue Buffalo Chicken and Rice for Puppies and he might be allergic to chicken. The ingredients are apparently bound together with tapioca, which I found interesting. So yeah, definitely try out Back to Basics or Instinct, which is similar, but doesn't have the reward program. Since I've been increasing the amount of BtB in his food, his stools have been less frequent (like 2, maybe 3x a day) and they have been more solid. I hope everything works out! (PS the BtB "starter kit" was like $13.77. Try to talk to an independent store about it before going to a big chain store.. the chains might not be able to do the rewards program) Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Lani & Chewie Harrison on
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Thanks so much! Science Diet has been better than the Blue, but he still poops frequently and it's runny at least once a day.
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Hi Lani, the frequency of poop = # of things he consume, how many times do you feed him per day and what else do you give him besides food? Write down everything you put in his mouth through out the day and you'll know if it's normal.
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I feed him when he wakes up and then at dinner time. Other than that, he gets ice cubes and training treats. I think he poops more frequently because we live in apartments and any little sign of noise or movement, he gets distracted and stops.
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Permalink Reply by Jane on
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Did the vet do a fecal the first time? At 6 months old I would be inclined to have another done just to make sure.
If he had a hard time handling the Blue Buffalo I wouldn't go to a high protein food.
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He had a fecal done when we first got him back in May, he hasn't had one since. If I don't see and improvement, I'm going to take a sample into the vet. Thanks for the reply!
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I would definitely call your vet and ask if you can just drop off a sample. I would want to rule out coccidia and giardia before you bother trying to change his foods or anything else.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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Was the fecal negative? I too would probably drop off another fecal just to be sure. I had problems with Franklin's stool as well. I have done EVERYTHING as far as food goes and finally found a good combo that works for him. He couldn't handle the no grain dog foods. I have fed him Wellness, Blue Buffalo Wilderness, Instinct, and now he is on Taste of the Wild. He always pooped 4-5 times a day and more often than not it was soft. A few months ago I added some Science Diet into his food morning and night and his poops are now almost always firm. I think some dogs just can't handle the high protein and no grain. Also, Frank poops more the more active he is, and if he is running and playing A TON his poops will be more runny than if he is just on a walk. Franklin didn't appear to be allergic to any specific protein or anything like that, I think it was just a lack of grain in his diet that did it because that was the only thing that fixed it in the end. I even had him on a raw diet for several months and though some of his poops were hard, it was pretty much only when I fed a lot of bone. So, just because the new fad is no grain and super high protein, doesn't mean that's what is best for YOUR dog. I know I will probably get a lot of arguing from this comment but Science Diet, Purina, Royal Canin, and Eukaneuba all have certified veterinary nutritionists that formulate their food. If you buy a high quality formula from one of these brands and it works for your dog, don't switch just due to the current grain free fad. Each dog is an individual and what works for one may not be what's best for others.
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Permalink Reply by Vee Luther on
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you're right that exercise has to be factored into this...also, our corgis are very individual in terms of how their bodies process food. With my 3 guys, one is heavier than the others and gets less food but only poops 1x a day. The others are slim boys and go 3 or 4 x every day...I feed smartpak chicken and brown rice formula and the big boy is on the weight management version of this food. That has the same protein and ingredients but lower fat content.
it's good to keep track but we can get a bit obsessive about it all!
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