Messed Up My Dog's Stomach. :(

SDRANGER619 · 10-07-2009, 11:43 AM

Hi dog lovers. I have a 7 month old Shepherd mix named Bailey.

I rescued her back about 5 months ago she was on Science Diet. I made the gradual transition to Wellness Large Breed Puppy food. She started getting finiky so I decided on giving Solid Gold a try. My plan was to transition her into the new food over a two week period but, money got a bit tight and i wasn't able to, I just made the switch from one feeding to the next..

She's been on Solid Gold for a week now and the diarreah isn't getting any better. Anyone have any ideas as to what my options are? I'm thinking i will just wait it out...I just don't want her to be so uncomfortable.

Ayanla · 10-07-2009, 12:00 PM

I would give her another week or so, unless the diarrhea is affecting her health (loose, often, and causing dehydration), but also try adding something like pumpkin to aid in the firming process. If you give her some more time and it doesn't improve, I would consider that perhaps she just doesn't tolerate this particular brand of food.

SDRANGER619 · 10-07-2009, 12:29 PM

Her health doesn't seem compromised. She's seems happy and playful all the time, and she's going about twice (maybe 3 times) in a 24 hour period.

When you reference pumpkin...you mean like raw pumpkin straight out of the pumpkin? I'm getting ready to carve some for Halloween, if i can give her that I will.

RonE · 10-07-2009, 12:55 PM

Canned, unsweetened, pumpkin (usually in baking section of the store) is what I use. Do NOT use pumpkin pie filling as it has added sugar and spice (and everything not-so-nice.)

Oddly, this can help with both loose stools and constipation, and most dogs like it. A large dollap mixed with each meal may help.

In extreme cases, I've given my girls a half-can each, since it isn't always obvious which one deposited the mess in the yard. They can't really overdose on it.

Dog_Shrink · 10-07-2009, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ayanla

I would give her another week or so, unless the diarrhea is affecting her health (loose, often, and causing dehydration), but also try adding something like pumpkin to aid in the firming process. If you give her some more time and it doesn't improve, I would consider that perhaps she just doesn't tolerate this particular brand of food.

Pumpkin is only recommended for firming up stools IF you know the issue for the loose stools isn't upset stomach. If it is an upset stomach then the pumpkin will only aggravate that more. Pumpkin is a high fiber food and what does fiber make you do??? Poo. We use pumpkin in our rabbitry to prevent wool block and it works gerat as a stool softener that's why I could never understand the suggestion to use it as an anti diareahl in dogs. PLUS high fiber in a dog's diet over tax the liver and pancreas, the organs that are used to digest any nutrients out of the fiber products, which generally there is very little nutrients in fiber.

You can use regular plain yogert. 1 tablespoon per 10-15 pounds of dog to help restore the gut's natural flora (and usually fixes diareah in my dogs with in 24 hours). You can also add old fashioned rolled oats (not the instant kind) to his food as a binding agent. I use a 1/4 cups oats to each cup of kibble eaten and that has also worked well for us. Also if you fear the change over is upsetting his stomach then you can also add 1/4 tsp of cinnamon to his food to settle his stomach. Kinda like what pepto does for us. In dogs upset/uneasy stomach and diareah don't always go hand in hand. Just because a dog has diareah upon innitial change over doesn't mean that that food is going to keep presenting that as a chronic problem. Usually they recommend feeding the new food only for a solid month before determining if it is truly the cause of the diareah. You can cause MORE problems from constantly changing foods in order to help a problem. Pick something, stick with it.

Lastly you might want to have a stool check. You may think all the GI upset is related to the food change but maybe during the change over some where he might have ahd picked up worms. Sometimes worms are present in the system but dormant until the system is compromised (such as at times of food change overs). You can pick up panacure granules at wal mart and give him a 3 day course since it's a broad spectrum dewormer it'll take care of any thing that might be lurking in hs system. I deworm monthly profilacticly since I have a lot of dogs come thru my house for rescues, and board and trains or just regular boarding clients.

Wynpyp · 10-07-2009, 01:17 PM

If nothing is medically wrong, a little canned 100% pumpkin does work for diarhea. It generally does work, like RonE said. My vet even recommends it.

Dog_Shrink · 10-07-2009, 02:04 PM

Totally understand wynpyp, just presenting the other side of that coin is all.

Kina_A · 10-07-2009, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SDRANGER619

Her health doesn't seem compromised. She's seems happy and playful all the time, and she's going about twice (maybe 3 times) in a 24 hour period.

When you reference pumpkin...you mean like raw pumpkin straight out of the pumpkin? I'm getting ready to carve some for Halloween, if i can give her that I will.

I've actually used fresh pumpkin. I cut it up in large pieces and boiled it until it was soft enough to mash and then took the skin off and mashed it up.

Because my youngest dog Kina has small poop our vet recommended the to give pumpkin to firm up Kina's poop.

She told me to play around with the amount given to them as pumpkin is also used if a dog is constipated.

Michiyo-Fir · 10-07-2009, 04:24 PM

Or you could give him a little pepto bismol to settle his stomach. I was told by the vet to give a little pepto when my dog was having a diarrhea problem. However, I'm not sure if it will work for a dog with an upset stomach from changing food. If nothing works, you could give it a try.

I used 2 times a day, 1 tsp for every 10 lbs of body weight.

SDRANGER619 · 10-07-2009, 11:32 PM

Thanks for all the tips everyone. What is your thoughts on steamed rice? I had a suggestion to mix rice with the food.

dieterherzog · 10-07-2009, 11:53 PM

Plain boiled brown rice and plain steamed shredded chicken breast for three days, twice a day. Supplement with 1 tbsp organic plain pumpkin puree. If you're having the pumpkin from your Jack O' Lantern, make sure there are no seeds, steam and mash into a fine pulp. Provide lots of water and do NOT overfeed. That includes no treats and is only for diarrhea i.e. watery poop. Never fails to fix my doggie's diarrhea problems, even after he walloped a whole pound of raw chorizo once.

If your dog just have loose stools, then adding pumpkin to kibble should be fine. Start him back slowly on the food and try not to change it for the next month or so and see how he does.