Soft Poo :(

[Candie]

My little guy Tucker has had soft poo for almost a week now. He's been to the vet and been given antibiotics. Tucker is still himself! He just seems to be going almost every hour on the hour. And his little behind is a little red and possibly sore. Is there anything that I can do for him to make him feel better?
Thanks

 

[sara]

First question: What are you feeding him? one of my dogs gets diarrhea from any food that's chicken based, so it could be an allergy.

If he's been on antibiotics, it's quite possible that his digestive system is off due to lack of probiotics. Did the vet tell you what was wrong with him?

When my dogs have diarrhea, I stop feeding completely for 24 hours (to give their intestines a break) but I do give them slippery elm bark 2x per day. The next day I give them plain yogurt (the stuff with probiotics) and slippery elm for their meals. The third day I mix some food in with the yogurt and slippery elm. the fourth day they get their normal meal with slippery elm. That clears up my dogs completely.

You can also feed mashed potatoes (or rice or pasta, but I dont like feeding any grains) with or instead of the yogurt on the second and third days.

I would also consider giving him something to help with the possible dehydration caused by constant diarrhea. Pedialyte is a possibility, as well as gatorade (yes I know, weird and full of sugar, but my vet recommends it with the rez puppies we get in that have bad diarrhea)

I always mix in water with my dog's food (wet and dry) as alot of dogs dont drink enough.

 

[tigerlily46514]

Yeah, that is great advice from Sara above there, she helped me when dog was getting sick from diarrhea, and i wished i'd asked her before on how to treat diarrhea before waiting a whole day or two. I waited TOO long to ask, or to begin treating diarrhea, and by then, my dog was in a bad way.

I'd really follow her advice above, if i were you, fast the dog for one day, (liquids only) and bland diet as she describes on second day, (i gave rice, and then, rice with 1 scrap of chicken for dinner) My dog gets gas off of too much potatoes.
and slowly advance along. I never did find the slippery elm she uses, but just resting my dog's colon for a day helped a lot.

I could NOT get my dog to drink Pedialyte, so i froze it in shallow dishes in the freezer.
then i took those lil slabs and broke off pieces and fed him the ice-form of pedialyte., every hour or two. Puppies can dehydrate easily, so i'd really get on this, if i were you. You CAN feed this pedialyte on the puppy's day of liquids only.

That Pedialyte (electrolyte replacement) really helped perk up my dog again, too. I bought the generic brand of it, it's sold in infant food area. I also used Pedialyte to make the rice on that 2nd day.

 

[tigerlily46514]

but yeah, Sara asks a good question, what dog food is your puppy on?

or, did the vet decide your puppy has some colon infection? did they test the stools?

 

[Dogster]

That is some GREAT advice. I also want to ask, what food is your puppy on???

 

[Candie]

The great thing is, he's still hyper and playful! Doesn't seem to be sick, just soft poo.
How much Pedialyte can I give to my little Tucker? He's about 3 months old and is about 4lbs.

 

[Candie]

Thank you so much for all of your help!!!!!

 

[jodetoad]

Let us know how he's doing! He's so cute.

Dogs are so tough, they won't act sick until it is very, very serious. So follow up... I had a severely allergic dog once, he never acted sick, just a collection of bizarre symptoms - then one morning he was BALD! and he was a GSD/Husky. He was about 8 mos. old then. It was mainly food allergies, the right food helped him tremendously.

 

[tigerlily46514]

// and a solution called Pedialyte are suitable for dogs. They are given ​

at the rate of two to four cc per pound body weight per hour depending upon the severity of the dehydration (or as directed by your veterinarian)//​

​

So, if this article is correct, you'd give 4lbs x 4 cc's =16cc's, (or about 1 tablespoon), per hour.

Or, if you want to use the smaller dosage, you'd give 8cc's per hour.​

​

which would be close to a teaspoonful of pedialyte, per hour. Like an ice chip or two per hour.​

​

Cc's are the exact same thing as mL if your measuring syringe uses mL's instead. There are 5cc's in a teaspoon, and 15cc's in a Tablesppon.​

​

http://www.doctordog.com/dogbook/dogdehyd.html

​

​

 

[tigerlily46514]

yeah, i think jodetoad's warning, don't be overly confident that your exuberance puppy is still lively, dog's can mask being ill.

Have you fasted the puppy off of solid foods for a day yet?? to "rest" his little inflamed colon?

 

[Candie]

Thank you everyone for all of your help. I did fast him for the day. Changed his diet to rice and chicken and tried pedialyte. He ended up with a Staph infection and was put on amoxycill. I switched his diet to sweet potatoes and chicken (rice was going right thru him). He had gotten better. His poo was solid again. I slowly tried to switch from a bland diet back to regular puppy food. I think that he may have a sensitive tummy because after a day or 2 of puppy food, he's back to soft almost liquid poo. Help please. He goes to the vet next week for the rest of his shots. And I did put him back on a bland diet, with sweet potoes and chicken. Is there anything else I could do to help more poor little Tucker? Thank you all again.

 

[tigerlily46514]

Again,
which dog food do you feed him, Candle? Like what is the exact name of the dog food?
It matters. It may be your lil Tucker can not tolerate that exact dog food..? Since Tucker was doing fine on the bland diet, and didn't get sick again til you resumed his dog food? Or, perhaps you even have a bag of contaminated dog food?
At any rate, i imagine you are beside yourself with this, and hope a solution is found quickly!! Poor lil dog!! Since Tucker did have some type of infection (?) i'd call vet, too.

If he has diarrhea again, fast him again, and when you do resume a bland diet after a day of liquids only,
i'd go for white potatoes, not sweet potatoes, though.
GOOD LUCK, CANDLE!!! HOPE TUCKER GETS WELL SOON!

 

[Candie]

Tucker is on, I believe, Pedigree Puppy food. He loves it but it does not love him. As for the potatoes, I feed him the sweet because he won't touch the white. He's a little picky and very spoiled. I will definately bring it up to his vet when I go. He is just a hyper little guy, so I don't know if he's really hurting.

 

[tigerlily46514]

Candle, you are just like how i used to be. I did same exact thing you are doing, i was accidentally feeding my last dog crappy dog food. I adored my last dog, but, i just had no idea how crappy dog food can be.
RULE OF THUMB---------IF YOU CAN BUY YOUR BRAND OF DOG FOOD IN A HUMAN GROCERY STORE==> IS ABOUT 99% CHANCE IT IS CRAPPY DOG FOOD.

Pedigree is one of the worst of all dog foods. Your vet might tell you "It's fine dog food", but, sadly, many vets don't know/care much about dog nutrition.

Pedigree is mostly a bag of corn (which is indigestible to dogs, it's just a FIBER, just a filler, and many dogs are allergic to corn)
with some byproducts (that is like, hooves, beaks, claws )
wheat (also a filler, and many dogs are allergic to wheat)
corn gluten (like rubber, is a filler)
and no meat at all in the whole entire bag.

dogs are designed to eat MEAT. And Pedigree has almost NO meat at all in entire bag, instead, it is just a buncha corn and bones ground up,

Don't feel bad, i did same thing, who knew? Who knew ppl can sell such crap to us?
Here is a review of Pedigree:
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/pedigree-dog-food-dry/


Here is another review. No matter WHICH dog food rating site you go to, they ALL hate Pedigree:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php/product/3



Here is another one:
http://www.petfoodratings.net/dogs.html#Pedigree


You can NOT find one dog nutrition expert to say anything good about Pedigree. If you do decide to swap out Tucker's dog food, you can donate the leftover Pedigree to the local dog pound, they'll be glad to have it.


IF YOU DO DECIDE to stop feeding your dog "Pedigree" dog food, here's how you can swap it out:
(this is super slow transition since Tucker's colon has been inflamed)

After a day of fast/liquids only for Tucker's diarrhea,
and then a day or two of the bland diet,---IF NO DIARRHEA HAPPENS,
then you may want to try
to add in A FEW kibbles of a better dog food, like just 5 or 6 lil kibbles of the new brand
JUST A FEW KIBBLES into his pototo/chicken mixture...

and then after a few days of only about 6 kibbles in each bowl,
then---if no diarrhea develops-------------then begin to add about 15 kibbles for a day or two, (going real slowly, since Tucker's colon might still be inflamed)
and then, after a day or two of 15 kibbles into each bowl,
then---------- make his bowl be about 1/3 kibble, 2/3 potato+chicken

then after a another few days of that mixture,
then advance slowly to about 1/2 kibble, to 1/2 'chicken + potato bland diet'.

and then, after another few days, if no diarrhea,
then try 2/3 kibble with 1/3 of his bland diet.

then, after a few days of that,
then, try 3/4 kibble with 1/4 bland diet....


might be worth a try??

 

[tigerlily46514]

IF YOU DO DECIDE you want to stop feeding Tucker that "Pedigree" brand,
here is pretty simple chart to look over the dog foods.

I like this one,
http://www.petfoodratings.net/dogtable.html
^as it also indicates PRICE as well as nutritional value:



I feed my dog "Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul"
which is cheaper than Pedigree, but way better quality. Drawback---it can be harder to locate who sells it. "Pet Supplies Plus" sells it, and "Pawmarts" sell it, but CS dog food is harder to find, imo. It's only a once a month trip, and you can take your dog in the store with you!!

"CS" is not the top, #1 dog food in the world, but, it is the best i can afford, and my dog gets gas on the "grain free" kind of dog foods.
If you are wealthy, or if your dog is small and won't eat much--------you might want to consider "Wellness" dog food, or look over the list in that link above, above for 5-star dog foods.

but my dog thrives just fine on CS dog food. It lists 4 meats on top of list (hard to find)
has probiotics,
no corn
no byproduct
no 'animal digest' (actual poop)
no wheat
no soy
no brewer's rice (which is NOT rice, but is like peanut shells)
no poisonous preservatives
just nothing really horrible at all. And it's made in USA, never gets recalled,
and
it's only about $1 a pound.

i also add in meat scraps every bowl for my dog. Whatever WE eat, we rinse off all spices, and add some to our dog's food----fish, beef, pork, chicken, turkey, eggs, venison, etc. OUr dog was SOOOOOOOoooo malnourished when we first got him, is how we started doing that. Now we still do, since dogs need meat.

BUT we are lucky,
as we ALWAYS have a few scraps to share with him . Now Buddy is so used to meat scraps, i doubt he'd eat a bowl without meat scraps!! but for OUR house, that is okay.
You may find your lil Tucker---------having been fed chicken scraps for so long in the transition process, *might* balk at a bowl of dog food without a meat scrap in it. Not sure, but, that could happen!!
who knows? could happen....IF IT DOES HAPPEN, that Tucker won't eat without a meat scrap in the bowl-----------and if you do NOT want to embellish his kibble with meat scraps, i'd wait til he is good and past this illness,
and then, sooner or later, he will give in and eat his kibble evne with no meat scrap, but i'd work on that later on==========right now, as Tucker heals,, i would not risk this sick lil puppy missing one meal til he is very very healthy and strong again...

 

[tigerlily46514]

HAS VET EVER EVER TESTED TUCKER'S STOOL FOR GIARDIA OR ANYTHING?

If diarrhea comes back, when Tucker is being fed better dog food,
you should probably bring in a stool sample to be tested....

 

[Candie]

Thank you so much for all of the info Tigerlily! I don't believe the vet has tested his stool for that. I know she tested for any parasites and something else. Not sure what. I will have to check his paperwork when I get home! If not, should I bring a stool sample and have it tested when he goes in next week?
Thank you again for all of your help!

Candie

 

[tigerlily46514]

Well,
first i'd try a 24 liquids only, to stop his current round of diarrhea, give him Pedialyte,
then, a day of bland diet,
and then, if no diarrhea after 2 days of bland diet,
THEN
I'd try adding in a very few kibbles, as carefully described, step by step, in reply #14.


and THEN, if diarrhea comes back, then i'd definitly get a sample and bring him to doctor.

 

[tigerlily46514]

and Candle, it was mentioned to you that dogs can hide how sick they are.

this is true.
It's actually true of most animals....it's a survival thing. Wolves, for example, study a herd, and target the deer who walks funny, or is slower/weaker than the others....one who appears injured is surefire target.................

.most animals do all they can to hide they are sick or injured.


And your lil Tucker may be a very energetic lil puppy, so it'd take a LOT to make him display he is sick.
but, for real, a baby dog with diarrhea IS IS IS IS sick,
and could become really sick very fast. Their electrolytes get thrown off by severe diarrhea pretty quickly, and that can impact their heart.

 

[Candie]

He does not like Pedialyte at all. What is a good way to give it to him? I've tried a syringe with him struggling.