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Food is too high in protein? Soft poops....

1K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  dZilla 
#1 ·
We have an 8.5 month old Duck Tolling Retriever. He started on Canidae chicken and rice wet, mixed with the same brand/flavour dry. When he was about 4 months old we decided we didn't love feeding him that (partly because we had a really hard time finding it, and we also just thought there were better brands out there) so we switched him to Innova puppy wet and dry. We did the switch very slowly (over about 2 weeks) but it didn't seem to take - he started having terrible diharrea. We did a bit of research and found out that Innova is very high in protein, and that often if the food is too high in protein, this is the result. We then stopped feeding him the Innova wet, switched back to Canidae wet, and kept the Innova dry - and problem solved - his poops seemed to go back to normal. We talked to our vet about it afterwards and he said it sounds like we identified the cause and solved it. So we were happy.

Now - he's never had super hard poops, but about a week ago he started having super, super soft poops again. In fact, for alternating nights three times he would wake up and have to go poop (diharrea) multiple times in the night. We took him to the vet, and the vet did whatever checks and said he was healthy (no parvo, etc) but something is bothering his stomach. So, off we went with deworming pills, just in case, and some pills that is supposed to harden his poops. Its been working somewhat, but I am wondering if this is all still a result of the food. Does anyone have any insight into this? Has anyone else had trouble with the protein content in the food? And finally, does anyone have any suggestions? He's otherwise healthy - no blood, no mucas in his poops, he plays and runs around like always, he's still eating normal amounts, and he's not vomitting. He's just pooping really soft poops....
 
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#2 ·
Try feeding dry only. Both my dogs are on dry only for this reason. If he is picky try some of the natural vitamin gravys that are out there or just add a little water to the kibble to stink it up a bit. I am feeding Orijen Puppy and Natures Variety Instict and both dogs always eliminate firm non-offensive poops. Good luck.


Kai
 
#3 ·
How many times are you feeding him?

Sometimes it takes awhile before they can get back to normal,mine sometimes
has hard poop for awhile than gets a soft poop (treats/rawhide usually the culprit)slip up.

Try breakfast and supper (around 5pm if possible)
No snacks...try to get back on a steady bathroom routine.

Hopefully he will go to the bathroom before he has to go to sleep for the night.
 
#4 · (Edited)
We feed him in the AM around 7ish, and then again in the PM at around 5-7ish.

And its not a matter of him going to the bathroom in the middle of the nite its that he has 'explosive diarrhea' or that's what has started to happen and we are wondering if its possibly food related
 
#5 ·
Did he get any treats? I don't think the same food that he was doing ok on would suddenly give him diarrhea on a different day. How much are you feeding him? A lot of rich dog food tend to give dogs diarrhea if you over-feed.

My dog has always been on 30-40% protein foods and she has never had a softer stool because the protein is higher. The highest we've used is 44% protein and she still does fine.

I think no treats and no wet food would be a good idea for now. You could try adding some plain canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling!).

Also did you buy a new bag of food any time soon perhaps?

Recently Innova has switched companies and is no longer owned by Natura pets so I'm wondering if they changed the formula or something and it's upsetting your dog's stomach?
 
#6 ·
I would give him "all" dry for dinner and only wet or wet/dry combo for breakfast.

This might work,I do this with my dog when his poo gets a lil haywire or I'll give him rice mixed with wet food for dinner.

If he still has the problem with the dry food than it's the food.Like someone else posted might have been an ingredient change to cause the upset.
 
#7 ·
Actually, we did recently start a new bag of Innova. I did not know that they switched companies. Maybe that is the answer!

We will keep treats away from him and no bones/rawhide etc. and see.

Thanks... hopefully we don't have to report back here!
 
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