Dog Poo

[bunnaaay5]

We have a 5 and half month old puppy and recently changed his diet to include puppy dog canned food. Now his poo's are really runny. At the moment I feed him half a can of meat with dried puppy food "liver and lamb". Should I take him off the canned food and keep him on dried food for the present time?

[JuliaSix]

Hello there, I have a friend who is a sheep farmer and values his dogs greatly. He reccommended to me years ago the benefits of dried dog food and I have given it to my dogs since. My last dog was 16yrs when she died and the one before 10yrs. Both died of old age and both were incrdibly fit up to their deaths. I now have another dog a 2 yr old Border Collie (like the two previous) He too, eats dried dog food and we give him any sutiable leftovers in his dish at his meal time. I'm looking forward to many years of healthy life in this dog.

[maggie01]

I am no expert but I wouldn't think liver would do a puppy much good. I don't feed my dogs liver now and they are 6 and 5 as it gives them loose poo

[bunnaaay5]

Great, Thanks for your help Julia. Is there any particular brand or flavor they prefer? Or is it just trial and error?

[sunnyside]

my experience with dogs, we have always had labrador retrievers, is that they have touchy stomachs. any change in diet produces runny poo in our dogs. We don't change their food - we feed them dry...but they get into our cat's food sometimes or get loose and eat some other dog/cat food or whatever they can find and it changes their stool for about a week. One time we changed the brand of food and they got "hot spots" so we switched back.

[drgnrdr]

Raw liver or too much cooked liver (three servings a week) can lead to vitamin A toxicity. This can cause deformed bones, excessive bone growth on the elbows and spine, weight loss, and anorexia. Check the label of your canned dog food to be sure that it does not contain liver if you are giving your dog liver also. Include those treats also.

Too much salt can cause kidney problems.

Too much fat or fried foods can cause pancreatitis.

Ham and bacon contain too much fat and too much salt, and can cause pancreatitis. Also, large breeds of dogs that eat salty food may drink too much water and develop a life-threatening condition called bloat. This is where the stomach fills up with gas and within several hours may twist, causing death.

this was off a great website about foods fatal or harmful to dogs.

Was there a reason you added canned? Don't feed table scraps, he doesn't need that yet he's still young and as such has a young stomach. Canned adds more water and not as much substance, the ingredients are not as good sometimes, you may have overloaded his system. Also you don't want to change his food all of a sudden, do 75% to 25% for 2 days then 50-50 for 2 days then 25% to 75% for 2 days on 7th day you're on the new food, if he is not quite potty trained I don't recommend switching foods until that time, for the exact reason you are having troubles with (the runs).

[JuliaSix]

My farmer friend uses Vitalin for is dogs - but I thinks that's a bit too basic. Iams is very good but alittle pricey. I gave my dog Bakers complete available from a supermarket, and reasonably priced.

[bunnaaay5]

Dad keeps moaning at me to add canned food - that is the reason!

[lankeela]

Puppies need a high protein complete food until they are at least 12 months old. I feed Eukanuba (which is made by the Iams company - Iams is available from Supermarkets. Any good quality kibble food is ok, (not the flaky ones with 'cornflakes' in them). I have seven small dogs and open a can of food and put in half between all seven so they all only get about a big spoonful each - they would eat it dry but being a soppy human I think they enjoy it more with a bit of meaty flavour! Invest in a plastic lid for the cans and only give the puppy a small spoonful once a day or cut it out altogether.

If the complete food is 'lamb and liver' then this is ok, but don't add liver to the diet more than a small portion once a week.

Chicken and rice or lamb and rice foods are the easiest to digest.

With the Eukanuba the poos are like little hard sausages - much easier to pick up and help keep the dogs' anal glands empty when they go to the toilet. They also digest more than they would of a cheaper food which is filled with bulky fillers to make them not feel hungry, but there is not much goodness in them.

[mw]

I have 2 collies and i have them both on complete dog food, this has meat and flakes through it. I would reccommend going to your pet shop and having a look at the complete foods as i think they are really good and the dogs enjoy the food. Dried /complete dog food gives them all the nutrients/vitamins they need.

Changing a dogs diet will give them the runs usually. They dont usually need tinnes food and it can be expensive aswell.

[drgnrdr]

Look at the ingrediants of your food, if it says Lamb meal or Chicken meal that is the part of the animal that we eat, but all the moisture taken out and turned into a dry meal, that is the best thing to look for. Any non-descript food, like "poultry meal" what the heck is that? Poultry is "bird" what kind of bird are they using? If it has Corn, maize, wheat, or by-products it is all filler, it helps the dog feel full but they'll not use much of it in the way of nutrition.

Some dogs develop allergies and the wheat and corn in food is usually the culprit. Also corn/maize has a tendency to cause flatulence in dogs. When you eat corn, what happens to it? The small percent of Protein in the corn, called corn"gluten"meal, is good, it's the liquid in corn, but the rest of it we pass out.

Eukanuba has Corn in it, maize I think is the word they use there. I never recommend Eukanuba/Iams, Science Diet or any Purina or Pedigree product. Look at the first 4 ingredients in your food, if these bad things are in it, they are using more filler than it should have.

Grains should not be given in large amounts or make up a large part of a dog�s diet, but rice is generally safe in small amounts. Dogs can't digest most vegetables (carrots, green beans, lettuce, potatoes or yams) whole or in large pieces. Potato peels and green potatoes are dangerous.
I use Nutro products, I use Nutro Ultra Adult for my GSD. I recommend Nutro or Blue Buffalo.

[drgnrdr]

Oh one other thing are you directing that exclamation point at me because I simply asked Why? or are you directing that exclamation point at your dad?

[bunnaaay5]

My Father! One day you don't walk him enough and the next you walk him too far!!!

[bunnaaay5]

I am very gratful for all your help. It is hard being a single parent. That is what it feels like!

[Tammera]

must agree wholeheartedly with drgnrdr i feed my animals nutro due to having real meat in it rather than the leftovers, a friend on mine managed a large specialised petfood chain and went to alot of petfood meeting etc and she told me all the nasties they reguard as deratives (not sure of spelling) or meal and she told me nutro is the best for proper meat. an example of ingrediants

this is eukanuba lamb and rice

Lamb (min. 14%), rice (min. 14%), fish meal, poultry meal, maize, dried whole egg, dried beet pulp, sorghum, animal fat, brewer's dried yeast, potassium chloride, chicken digest, sodium chloride, DL-methionine, marigold extract

this is nutro rice and lamb

Dried Lamb Meat (min. 27%), Ground Rice (min. 26%), Rice Bran, Rice Gluten, Rice Flour, Beet Pulp, Poultry Fat (min. 8%), Sunflower Oil (min. 2.5%), Potassium Chloride, Dried Kelp, Dried Egg Product.

also must agree with others on the changing foods thing. alot of animals get upset tummies when you change foods, what ive always been told is when you choose a food, stick with it for a week or two if they still have the squits try something else cause it clearly doesnt agree, an animal shouldnt have the runs for much more than a week. and the % change thing i was also told when changing foods.

back to nutro again im sorry but i cant sing its praise enough, it is very expensive per packet but it lasts longer because it has moree goodness so they dont need to eat alot of it. a �12 packet lasts my cat about 2-3 months thats very cheap compared to most foods, it just looks expensive due to the price per packet.

i would also like to thank drgnrdr as i didnt know that about liver, i feed it my ferrets alot but ill stop as it will probably have the same effect for them.

[denisegordon]

Please don't use Iams as they use very cruel methods in their testing (google it and you'll see!). Our dog does very well on Burns, it's very natural so good on sensitive tummies.