Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Poop!
Now that you've been forewarned about the topic....
From the day we adopted our dog he's had loose poop. We contacted his foster mom who said he never had that problem with her. We kept the food identical to what she gave him (Natural Balance Ultra). So we head to the vet.
Vet trip No 1 they test him for worms and he does have them. He was a stray and only 4 weeks off the street so not surprising. We treated him and during the treatment it was solid again. Medicine finished and it went back to loose.
Vet trip No 2 they did a few blood tests, but said that he was completely healthy. She gave us some medicine that would help. I think it was just some sort of immodium for dogs. Again it helped while he was on the medication, and as soon as we stopped it it went back to loose. We called her and she said to start giving him brown rice in his food. Didn't work. The grass was still diarrhea central.
Vet trip No 3 she told us that maybe that was just how he was, but that there wasn't a single thing medically wrong with him and suggested we give him a tbsp of pumpkin with every meal.
AND IT WORKED! YAY! 8 months later it's still working. And we even got it down to once a day. But if we skip a day boy oh boy.....
So the thing is it's kind of pain in the butt. Not a HUGE pain so really we'll do this forever if need be. I sound silly even complaining about something so easy to do, but for some reason at 6am having to walk all the way to the fridge to get the pumpkin is driving me nuts! I wondered if anyone knew of either a food we could switch to that might help, or a non-messy non-refrigerated treat treat that we could give him once a day to help. Thanks!
Re: Poop!
We have the SAME problem with Jasper! He also had a bit of blood in his stool and he had some meds for it and it's been gone since then, but he still had the diarrhea, which was worse on the meds! He's problem was he couldn't "hold it" and would go in the house.
I didn't know about the pumpkin until recently (the dogs had tummy aches from too much people food. MIL gave it to them even though we had said no). It's been wonderful! So far i don't have a problem going to the fridge, but the dog bowls are really close to the fridge (in a side/laundry room by the kitchen), so it's not a far walk.
Is there a way you can move the dog dishes so you don't have to walk as far?
Not all foods work for all dogs, so I would try switching foods. I'm not too familiar with Natural Balance - is it grain-free? If not, maybe try a high quality, grain-free option? Many stores will give out free samples, so you don't have to buy a big bag only to find out it doesn't work for your dog. I feed Wellness Core, and it works great for my two dogs (no loose stool), but each dog is different.
Put the pumpkin in a Kong and freeze it. Give it to him the night before, and make a few days worth.
I also found this:
http://www.earthclinic.com/Pets/diarrhea.html
It's the food.
I've had to go through a bunch of different holistic brands of ultra holistic puppy foods, and our puppy as the worst sensitive stomach, i swear.
Here's our process if they gets the runs.
First: do your research on holistic foods that are good for sensitive tummies {this was our case} I finally came to find Blue Basics Turkey and Potato for puppies {the puppies one is harder to find than the adult dog brand, but she's not old enough yet to have the adult line} Spend time reading other reviews and comparing the reviews/brands of food. This is a pain but it's worth it.
Now, this was the best solution we have found that works for her.
1} Fast your pup/dog for 24 hours: Nothing but water, and water only. Make sure fido gets lots of water to prevent dehydration.
2} For the next 24 hours, water and boiled white rice. Don't season or butter it at all. This is just to give the dog the most blan thing possible. A teaspoon of pure canned pumpkin will help firm the stool. Make sure it's pure pumkpin, not the canned pumpkin pie mix.
3) For the next 24 hours, repeat the second step, but this time you may add in either just pan seared chicken {i don't do this} or you may start adding the kibble in small amounts at a time. The first day, just a tiny bit, and as each day comes along, less rice and more kibble. This way the stomach can adjust properly to the diet change.
It's actually taken us 6 months to get this right lol. It's a pain in the but, but I'm so happy she finally has no problems at all.
By the way, the *** Van Patten's Natural Balance gave our Chloe the WORST loose stools. I mean... it was just water consistency. And I read up on this brand, and this is pretty common for other dog owners.
We have also gone through the Nutro Natural Choice: did work for us either.?
Try the Blue Basics, it could definitely save you the pain.
Thank you guys for all the suggestions! Some really good ideas for us to try. The kong idea is something I could even start tonight, so I think I will do that while I start looking into some grain-free food options. The dog is a first dog for both of us, so we're kind of like those newborn parents that take their baby to the ER every time they cough. It's nice to know other people have encountered this issue too!
Kong is my puppy-sitter lol. My pup loves the puppy formula, and I'll always use it because it's light on their tummies. I haven't had any problems with it.
But man, it can get expensive after so many times. I never thought about the pumpkin, good idea! I freeze it for her anyway, it lasts longer and good for her teething