Runny or soft stool - vet doesn't have an answer
I have two corgis. The first, an adult male, doesn't have any major health issues. I feed him California Naturals grain-free lamb dog food. My other, a female who just turned one year old, had been on high quality puppy food until this Jan. We moved and couldn't find her brand of food out here so we switched her to Cali Natural as well since she was about 10 months at that time.
Not surprisingly, we started having runny, watery stool. Around the same time Pixel (the female) also consumed a stuffed toy. We took her to the vet for an exam to make sure there weren't any blockages. There weren't, so she was fine and the toy passed with no issues. After that we started feeding her Flora Fauna packets in combination with the ID (I think) prescription canned dog food. We also eliminated most of her toys, chews, and treats. She doesn't have access to raw hides or anything else now. After the prescription food ran out the vet told us to put her back on the normal diet. We switched her back slowly using the last of the canned food.
Several months passed and we're still having issues with runny stool. We've been back to the vet for tests and exams, but nothing shows up as being out of the ordinary. She doesn't have worms, any recognizable allergies, or any types of hereditary disease. I started giving her the flora packets again with some canned dog food about a month ago, but still we're having runny crap and noxious dog farts all the time. I consulted a dog nutrition store and switched her over to Orijen. This helped with the farts but her poop is still runny.
I'm at a loss. I can't think of anything else to do. I measure the food, so she's not over fed. She gets food on schedule in the morning and evening. She has exercise and doesn't get any treats that could upset her stomach. Has anyone else had this issue? I love Pixel to death but I'm really, really tired of runny poop.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jane on
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What is the protein level in the food you're feeding her? Some dogs just can't handle the high protein levels in some of the higher end foods. You could also try adding a tablespoon or two of plain canned pumpkin to her kibble.
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Permalink Reply by Rockstar on
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I tossed the package just the other day. I think this is the one that I'm feeding her now. She also gets a small portion of this each day so that I can mix the flora packets into something. I try to spread the wet dog food around her bowl so that she doesn't gulp it down so fast. We use one of those "eat slow" bowls.
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Hmmm well I'd be inclined to say try a lower protein food since Orijen is 38%, but then I looked at the California Naturals and it looks like the grain free lamb is only 21%. And she had runny poo on both foods? Do you remember what her puppy food was? If she did well on that maybe you could find an adult formula from the same company.
I'm not familiar with the flora packets, are they supposed to help with digestion I assume?
We used to have the same issue with Henry when he was on Wellness, but when we switched to Fromm his awful farts and runny poo went away. I know how frustrating it is cleaning up bunny butts all the time though. Some people seem to swear by the pumpkin but I haven't tried it long term, just when they had an occasional upset tummy.
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The brand that I used when she was a puppy isn't sold around here at all, at least according to their web site. According to the pet food store owners, the most similar formula is Chicken Soup for the Dog (or something like that). I've read that food isn't the best.
And yes, we call it "runny butts." As in, "Hey, honey, can you grab me a towel? Runny butts again."
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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Have you checked Dog Food Analysis? I believe it's fairly good but not positive. Good luck and the pumpkin may help also!
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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on
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Haven't had this problem with a dog, but we did with our cat, did all the Vet checks etc. finally added pumpkin and yogurt mixed, as a treat, and that was like a magic wand! Good luck.
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Permalink Reply by Jane T. (& Griffin) on
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I had Griffin on Nutra Natural Choice for puppies. It was ok but he pooped and farted a lot. The poop was very soft but not runny. Then I ran across dehydrated food from The Honest Kitchen. You can buy sample boxes to try it out. Griffin loves the Embark. I also throw in some of the Natural Choice kibble just to give him something to chew on (and to use it up). Now no more farts, he usually poops only twice a day and it's formed.
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Permalink Reply by Rachael & Waffle on
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I second THK. If you don't want to feed raw and you don't want to feed low quality kibble but high quality kibble isn't working out, THK is an excellent in-between choice. As Jane said, you can get some samples. The poop is MASSIVE and for my dog, his poops on THK are a little soft, but certainly not runny. They're a great company that makes a great food. My only problem with them is their foods do not have enough meat for my tastes, or Waffle's tastes for that matter. Waffle is the exception and not the rule, though. Most dogs on THK eat it eagerly with gusto.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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She may have a food allergy or IBD and can't handle the high protein food. Orijen is REALLY high protein and few dogs actually do well on it. I'd try switching her to a limited ingredient food that is a different protein SOURCE as the other foods your feeding (i.e. only chicken or only lamb). Blue Buffalo and Natural Balance make limited ingredient foods. Don't get so concerned about grain free or things like that at this point if she is having such bad diarrhea. If she did ok on the I/D (the prescription food), look for a limited ingredient chicken and rice. Switch slowly, then give it about 2-3 weeks. Also, her GI tract may just be super irritated. The flora packets are just to replace good intestinal bacteria, if she doesn't have any kind of imbalance they likely won't do anything. Have they tried a course of metronidazole or de-wormers for giardia or coccidia? Those often don't show up on fecals and can take 2 or 3 fecals before they come up positive unless it is either a high parasite burden or fresh fresh fresh fresh stool. Franklin had coccidia has a pup and had to be on I/D for several months, it took 3 fecals before it came up positive. By then his intestines were so irritated that after we treated and got rid of the infection we had to give him a bland diet for several weeks before his system went back to normal.
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We did the dewomer routine not long ago. It seemed like we were deworming from August-December before she came up clean. Hopefully it isn't that again. I really don't think it is, though.
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Permalink Reply by Kari & Quin on
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If Quin gets too much protein the same thing happens with her, I had trouble finding canned pumpkin so I bought fresh sweet potatoes and cooked them and then sliced them and gave her a few slices it firmed her right up so now if she has any problems I just give her some sweet potatoes. Right now she is on a salmon sweet potato no grain dog food dry kibble only and she is doing fine I think that most of the salmon based dog foods are a bit lower in protein, and still a high quality.
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