7 month old Lab - Irregular B.M.s - at a loss....

pat_in_az

Hi All. First time poster.

Read a few threads while snooping around and figured this was the best place to get some insight.

Maggie, our 7 month old lab puppy, has never really pooped right.

Originally, we bought her and she was being fed Avoderm, which I was instructed to promptly take her off of due to some reason or another (something about it not having enough nutritional value for a large breed puppy).

We moved her to Purina One for Large Breed Puppies. We had her on that and at the time, her stool was soft, but still had substance and was well formed.

Then I read horrible review after horrible review about the Purina One so I dug into my piggy bank and decided to try Wellness.

She survived a whole bag of that (30lb?) and on the second bag, started having horrible bouts of diarrhea. Every 25-30 minutes, she'd go. Watery, disgusting, in the crate, outside, in the house. I felt absolutely horrible for her because she would just glare at me like "This is your fault".

Getting her back on the Purina One (which seemed to work well for her), she was spayed at 5 months.

Let me rewind here by saying I'm pretty sure Maggie is the most sensitive puppy on the planet. At 3 months, a huge granuloma formed on her right shoulder which we found out was her bodies reaction to her microchip (done before I bought her, unfortunately). Surgery was discussed, but at 4 months, her body got over it. After the spay, we had to get her on some sort of immunosuppresive steroids because her body reacted negatively to the sutures and started to force them out (Joy...)

Three weeks ago was the final straw. She had been having loose stool up until now but one night I came home and found her in the crate full of diarrhea. I let her out into the back yard and she immediately ran to the grass and had more horrible, explosive diarrhea. As she was walking back into the house, I noticed blood running down her leg. Right to the clinic we go @ 2 in the morning. 150 dollars later, they say it "might" have been a rupture, might have been a ulcer, might have been this, maybe that, but the bleeding stopped, so take her in to your vet tomorrow. Thanks.

Fast forward to now, we've had a full CBC/everything blood workup done. All body functions are normal. 3 stool samples including a loop, all return nothing. We were given Metronidozole, some probiotic (FortiFlora) packets, and a bag of Iams Low Residue. After about 3-4 days, her stool finally hardened up. There was noticeably less stool and it was darker in color (and indication, according to my vet, that it is staying in her longer and she is getting more nutrients out of it). After two weeks, she was done with the metronidozole, but within two days, had another huge bout of diarrhea. If it matters at all, I went out of town and it was just my girlfriend (whom has known Maggie and has lived with us as long as I've had her) and her.

If you've made it through the book this far, I really appreciate it. My questions/concerns are as follows:

I want to switch her food to another low ingredient diet. I'm comfortable with the cost - at this point, I'd pay thousands just to make her happy and content. Wellness Simple Food Solutions? Canidae? Natural Balance? Even when we had her on a bland diet of plain boiled chicken and rice, her stool never really "got normal". Maybe she's having a problem with the chicken?

The Sunday before the most recent diarrhea episode (which happened on Wednesday), I had let her chew on a rawhide (she loves them and I couldn't help but let her indulge). Could this be a major problem of hers?

She has just now (since putting her on the Iams from the vet) started itching at her ears, head, flanks, and chewing at her knees and legs (to the point that there is some fur missing ontop of her left knee). I can only assume this is a result of the Iams. I can also assume the only way to tell is to switch her diet?

Its now Saturday and she is finally seeming to hold her food in a little longer. Today she pooped and the first "length" of it was perfectly normal. As the bowel movement progressed, it got looser and looser until it finished with a little piece that barely had any substance or shape. I've read elsewhere that this may be a result of too much food intake. She is exactly 7 months old, weighs 74 pounds, and I feed her 6 cups of the Iams a day in three intervals.

Thank you all very much. I hope you're able to help me out and maybe someday I can help you guys out somehow.

-Pat

myminpins

You should not give her rawhides. They are full of chemicals and can cause the runs for sure. Give her raw bones to chew.

You should probably try to put her on a homemade diet - either raw or cooked. Then you know for sure what's going into her system. She may have allergies to something.

Have you ever fed her cooked white rice and cooked chicken or hamburger? Try her on that for a week and see if she gets any better - no itching, no runs, etc. If that happens, you should probably try her on a homemade cooked or raw diet. There's a ton of help here on the forum for that but you really need to get her system settled.

Where'd you get her?

pat_in_az

I was under the impression that flavored and colored rawhides were the detrimental ones. These were "natural", but I can understand that they might still be packed with chemicals. Rawhides went in the garbage as of yesterday.

We did try her on boiled chicken and rice for about 2 weeks. Her stool showed marginal to little progress. Possibly an issue with the chicken? It was purchased at the supermarket and was not free range, so maybe a hormone or preservative in the chicken that isn't agreeing with her?

My mother is a breeder of labs, but unfortunately lives across the country now. My girlfriend is the type that has to pop her head into every pet store we drive/walk passed. We bought Maggie (gulp) at a pet store. My girlfriend fell in love with her immediately (and I'll admit, I did too) and against my better judgment, we bought her. She is AKC certified and her breeder did send OFA certifications and the like with her. I guess at this point we're just doing the best we can with what we've got. I can't say I regret buying her, because I'd buy her again in a heartbeat. I just wish it were a little easier to get in touch with the breeder and maybe see what the parents were like.

Never tried hamburger. Tomorrow I'll be running to the pet supply place and checking into the three foods I've been reading about on here: Wellness Simple Solutions, Natural Balance, and Canidae. Each apparently has a line that is a 1 protein/1 carbohydrate. Hopefully one of these three will become her new food and suit her well.

Keechak

I'm just courious. yu said you got OFA certificates with her when you baught her. are they for her parents?

myminpins

You can try hamburger and rice. ALL commercial dog foods are full of a myriad of ingredients, any of which she may be allergic to. You CAN take her to a specialist and have her allergy tested, though I don't know anything about it - if it works, etc.

You MAY have purchased a puppymill puppy who is just so poorly bred it will be hard to keep her healthy. No REAL breeder is PERMITTED to sell their pups in a pet store.

Be that as it may, you really need to find out what is bothering her system and get her eating something that agrees with her.

You can always put canned pumpkin (plain, no spices) in her food to help firm up her stools, a tablespoon per meal or so.

Dogs should NOT have the explosive runs any amount or usually it means there is something wrong - an allergy, an infection, something is bothering her.

Any chance of taking her to a specialist vet to check her out?

What are you giving her for treats? Is the girlfriend possibly sneaking her "goodies" when you're not there or watching her? A LOT of manufactured dog food treats are just FULL of junk of one kind or another - nasty byproducts, chemicals, etc.

It's really important you and the girlfriend get together on this, stick to a strict diet for her with NO exceptions and get her settled.

I hope you can find an answer somewhere.

pat_in_az

Yes, they are. Didn't mean to imply that they were for her. Sorry.

myminpins

Some more information for you:

pat_in_az

When you suggested earlier about giving her a bone, where would I pick something like that up? I've been told before that giving them bones aren't good either because splinters from the bone can shed off and damage their stomachs. Anyway, where would I get something like that? The supermarket? Do I boil it or just give it to her out of the package?

myminpins

Dogs can eat any RAW bones. You can NEVER heat, microwave, cook, etc., ANY bone and give it to a dog.

Many vets still advocate dog food but you should do your own research on that then decide what you'd like to feed your dog. I can give you some links if you're interested.

You can give him a bone from anywhere - supermarket, butcher, etc. Don't give her one with too much meat on it and let her happily chew away. I give my dogs chicken wings every day but they're fed raw and always chew before swallowing. I'd give your dog larger bones and supervise at first to ensure he doesn't just try swallowing the bone. If you leave too much meat and fat on it, it could give him the runs (as he's not used to raw meat).

BoxMeIn21

Cooked bones are dangerous. Raw bones are perfectly fine...I usually just rinse and hand them over.
You might be able to find them in your local grocery store or butcher. Beef ribs usually give a good workout and cleaning.

pat_in_az

Is it dangerous if I start noticing her getting pieces of the actual bone off instead of the marrow inside the bone or anything still attached to the outside.

Pardon my naivety, I'm just used to feed a dog hard, dry food and am uncertain about anything else.

zimandtakandgrrandmimi

Raw bones are different. They are soft and don't splinter. When you cook a bone the contistency changes from more spongy to hard and brittle which is where you run into problems.

if you are worried about germs then dip the bones in apple cider vinigar that contains mother of vinigar and freeze them before giving to the dog.