Puppy food that's good for diarrhea (non-parasite related)

1009 Views 13 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Gibbta, May 28, 2022

Sparkles2022

Discussion Starter · May 5, 2022

My puppy was weaned onto Fromm Puppy Gold, with a little wet food smeared on it to make it tastier. Please don't laugh, but at her well puppy check last Friday, I told the vet she didn't have diarrhea, because I sincerely thought that puppies might be like humans & it was normal for me to clean up mushy poo 'round the clock - after all, dog people had assured me puppies were a lot of work.

Needless to say, I eventually got suspicious & looked this up. I called the vet back to correct my mistake. They said that her stool sample had been negative for parasites, which, given the number of deworming treatments she's had, didn't really surprise me. So they told me to put her on plain white rice & chicken breast. She's been on it 36 hours now. It turned her stools yellowy-orange, but they are still mushy. There have been three since the diet change; they used to be every 1-2 hours or so.

I've been told it can take up to 48+ hours to work. In your experience, how long does the chicken-rice diet take to not only reduce defecation frequency, but also firm up stools? Also, what puppy food brands would you recommend? There are so few compared to adult. I'm interested in wet & dry, but not in raw or 'all life stages' food (which make no sense to me). Thank you very much!

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Lillith

· #2 · May 5, 2022

Often, puppies have loose stools because you're feeding them too much. I would run it past your vet, first, of course, before I started reducing the amount of food I gave my puppy, but I might reduce by 1/4th cup first to see if that improved things. If you notice stool firming up, there's your problem.

And, sometimes the food you're feeding them just doesn't agree with them. That's not uncommon, either.

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LeoRose

· #3 · May 5, 2022

If a regular fecal test is clear, and reducing the amount you are feeding and/or changing foods doesn't work, I'd have them test for giardia and coccidia. Both of them can cause loose stools.

As mentioned, sometimes a food just doesn't agree with a particular dog. My SPoo was weaned onto a beef based kibble, and I continued to feed the same food after I got him. He never had a solid poop. About three weeks later, I made and abrupt and total change to a salmon based kibble, and the loose stools were gone within three days. At a year old, if he gets too much of anything with beef in it, his stools are looser than usual.

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Sparkles2022

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 5, 2022

Thank you both! It was a regular fecal sample, but I think you’re on to something with the quantity. I’m used to cats & rabbits, so, to make sure she wasn’t hungry, had been feeding her as much as she’d like. I stopped that at lunch. Neither her breeder nor her vet told me to do this. If quantity doesn’t work, I’ll look for fish based food.

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Toedtoes

· #5 · May 5, 2022

It's a bit more difficult with puppies, because they are growing, but you want to find a balance on food quantity.

You want to provide enough to ensure proper nutrition but not so much that they can't burn off the excess. I would speak to your vet about a good quanity to feed your puppy and how much weight she should be gaining per month.

Just letting the puppy eat til she's full can result in a dog who won't stop eating and has weight issues.

Also, you can feed more times a day so that she is eating less in one sitting but getting proper nutrition.

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Tashas_Mom

· #6 · May 5, 2022

In addition to the above, you may want to look into getting some Honest Kitchen Perfect Form. It shouldn't be used long term but its highly recommended for occassional upset and transitional use.

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LeoRose

· #7 · May 5, 2022

Sparkles2022 said:
Thank you both! It was a regular fecal sample, but I think you’re on to something with the quantity. I’m used to cats & rabbits, so, to make sure she wasn’t hungry, had been feeding her as much as she’d like. I stopped that at lunch. Neither her breeder nor her vet told me to do this. If quantity doesn’t work, I’ll look for fish based food.

Take the amount on the package as a starting point, and adjust up or down from there based on how she looks. IDK about her, but my dogs will literally eat until they couldn't eat any more if given the chance.

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Sparkles2022

Discussion Starter · #8 · May 7, 2022

She's on prescription gastrointestinal puppy food as of today. It seems to be working.

Things have never yet looked so close to normal!

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Sparkles2022

Discussion Starter · #9 · May 10, 2022

As of today, things are 100% normal. I'm so relieved. Sometimes the most important things are those we take for granted. Like normal defecation.

I hope to slowly reintroduce regular puppy food too, as I found some wet food brands with very good ingredients. But I think I'll wait 'till she's had more Forti Flora. I noticed that there's a refill on it, so after this week, I can go back if needed for another week's worth. For now, I'm sprinkling a little Fromm Puppy Gold on the wet food.

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Toedtoes

· #10 · May 11, 2022

Glad things are going better (pun intended).

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K9luv

· #11 · May 11, 2022

Hey don't feel too bad, I did the exact same thing with my 1st pup. I thought his less than firm poop was normal for a puppy! He was eating Royal Canin 🤮 (because also I didn't know better), but he ultimately was switched over to Fromm Gold. His poop went from mush to small round balls. For the record, I could have been absolutely over feeding him with the RC puppy food because he had gained too much weight and had to switch over to Fromm weight management at 8 months which he did very well on. I know all dogs are different, just relaying my own experience with it.

For my current pup, we fed the recommended amount on bag and adjusted ever so slightly depending on his body score. Basically it was the recommended amount. He is a small breed dog and we switched him to 'all life stages' at around 7 months old.

Good luck in finding the right balance for your pup!

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Sparkles2022

Discussion Starter · #12 · May 12, 2022

The food that helped my puppy go from in terrible shape to totally fine is, in fact, Royal Canin. The variety of wet food I had bought is much higher quality, but clearly didn't work! Sometimes you have to go with what works. Otherwise, it'd be like telling someone who was allergic to peanuts that they are an excellent source of protein. 🐕

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hanksimon

· #13 · May 28, 2022

I'm late to the show, but for future reference:
1. Whenever you change the diet or introduce new foods to your dog, he can get diarrhea as his stomach bacteria adjust.
2. Normal suggestion is to slowly introduce new foods, incrementally, over two weeks.
3. For non-bacterial diarrhea, a teaspoon to a tablespoon added to each meal of plain, canned pureed pumpkin with no additives or other ingredients in the can. I usually pick up a few cans around Halloween or Thanksgiving for about $2.50 each. As long as it has no sugar or other ingredients, you can give it to most dogs ... because it is just vegetable. But, it is high fiber and can help with diarrhea or constipation.
4. I have a Lab that is part goat [most labs are! ;-) ], and I usually see significant improvements within 3 days.
5. Added note for free - After your pup is cured and regular, you might consider a slow introduction of various 'foods'.

For the past 40 years, I've been feeding my Labs a little bit of raw carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, bell pepper or other vegetables or apples, or bananas, kind of like a 'dessert' extra with Vet's approval [Not onion, garlic, avocado, grapes, raisins, or other forbidden fruit, just to be safe]. And, I also try to slowly change to a different variety of food every three months. My goal is not to provide a "well-rounded" diet with this variety, but instead to provide a wide variety of healthy foods to help develop a variety of gut bacteria, reducing the chance of food-based diarrhea. I've had good results with my dogs, but I've never seen scientific studies about "variety" ...

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Gibbta

· #14 · May 28, 2022

If my Ponyo has such problem, I add a little of cooked carrot, sweet potato or squash to his meal.

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