# 8 months....still runny stool.



## EndersGame (Jan 13, 2013)

Ok Ender is now 8 months old...and doing great..for the most part....his training is going super well...doing agility to keep him occupied...stays out of trouble aside from the normal land shark behavior. But I cannot seem to win the poop battle...He has been on multiple top of the line foods...3 vets....and been tested for mulitple things...IE. giardia, EPI...had a full blood screen run....ive gone all over...and spent ALOT of money....but ill keep doing it if it is what is needed to keep him healthy....

currently he is eating 3 meals a day....close to 5 cups of dry and one can of wet mixed in spread out over the three meals. He is on wellness core puppy...and wellness turkey/sweet potato for wet canned food. I always get "youre over feeding your dog...your dog is skinny...he is sick thats why he has the runs all the time"...i'm really at a loss...as of now he is on probiotics and enzymes with his morning and nightly meal...from the vet...and his stool is soft serve at BEST....i have a hose out because picking it up is impossible :help:....we have another appointment at the vet on Wednesday because im worried that keeping him on so many supplements has underutilized his pancreases or something along those lines...

He is super active...he goes everywhere i go...great with other dogs and people....hikes swims and the works....any ideas?


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## trcy (Mar 1, 2013)

we tried pro enzymes and my GSD had soft serve or looser poo also. We put him on fresh digest and as long as he is kept on his normal diet he does well. He had a looser poo a few days ago, but he is back to normal mow.


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## Piper'sgrl (Apr 20, 2012)

stop with the wet food..he doesn't need it


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## dakotaandhearts (Feb 28, 2012)

Add some regular white rice to his chow helped mine right away!


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## The Stig (Oct 11, 2007)

Could it be colitis? It is diagnosed by colonoscopy and a biopsy. It is usually caused by IBD, but there are other contributors that might cause it. I am not very familiar with it, so it would be best to consult with a trusted vet. Also, have you thought about looking for a second opinion? I am not undermining your current vet, but sometimes it helps looking for a 2nd, 3rd opinion when it is a chronic issue and none of the prescribed solutions have worked. I have gone on for 2nd, 3rd opinions even though I loved my primary vet (when we lived in San Diego) at other respectable clinics for my GSD.

This is just food for thought, but have you thought about re-vamping Ender's diet completely? 

My friend breeds working Goldens in NH and has a male that developed dire rear issues since puppyhood (~ 12 weeks) and despite multiple vet visits & trying different high quality kibble, could not calm his digestive tract. Every time he came off the bland diet and back on kibble, the cycle would start. They had fair success with California Natural, but his system would still wonk out on occasion. 

Finally a friend suggested the raw diet. By then she was so desperate, she gave it a shot. It was 100% successful, even doing away with chronic ear infections & hot spots. Several months later, she converted the rest of her pack to raw as well and has been feeding that ever since. This was years ago, when I was still in college, but that story always stuck with me. The pup is still around, happy and healthy. 

I am not pushing for raw, but since there are similarities, that you would be interested to hear about it. 

Good luck, and I hope Endar and you find a workable solution soon. 

ps: Usually when my dog has runny stool, I put her on a bland diet with some pro-biotics till her system calms down. It is different for one whose dog has chronic diarrhea, but perhaps you can just do a burger & rice diet till his stool hardens up.. and slowly reintroduce the kibble.


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## mebully21 (Nov 18, 2011)

wellness is known for soft stools. and 5 cups a day is WAY too much and is part of the runny stool problem. switch him to another food and lower his food intake to 2 cups a day NO wet and see how it goes. the more food you feed the more he will poop and the more runnier it will be. and NEVER go by what the bag says to feed lol... some dogs dont do well on some foods which is why he isnt gaining weight and has runny stools. if all parasites have been ruled out even leptospiridosis then switch foods and only feed 2 cups a day no wet


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## mebully21 (Nov 18, 2011)

ps at 8 months old get him on adult food.. he doesnt need puppy food anymore, no need for top of the line food either, some dogs cant tolerate the richnesss of top of the line foods. put him on a middle road food like merrick, canidae, natural balance, something along those lines and cut the food intake back.


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## Neko (Dec 13, 2012)

prozyme, pumpkin and carrots helped us allot =0) + no chicken and all that other no corn, gluten etc..


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## WVGSD (Nov 28, 2006)

The Wellness Core Puppy formula is a primarily chicken-based formula and all of the protein comes from chicken and turkey. Have you considered that he may not digest chicken/fowl well or tolerate them? You could try changing him gradually to a beef formula, a fish-based formula or a novel protein as we are seeing in more and more dog foods such as bison, boar, rabbit, etc. His runny stool may be as simple as an ingredient in his food. Wellness Core Puppy is also 36% protein which I think is pretty high. I would look in to other options and, if he were mine, I would try a fish-based food. Read the labels carefully, however. Many foods have fish and novel proteins, but there is still chicken in the listing of ingredients. 

I hope this helps.


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## jafo220 (Mar 16, 2013)

EndersGame said:


> Ok Ender is now 8 months old...and doing great..for the most part....his training is going super well...doing agility to keep him occupied...stays out of trouble aside from the normal land shark behavior. But I cannot seem to win the poop battle...He has been on multiple top of the line foods...3 vets....and been tested for mulitple things...IE. giardia, EPI...had a full blood screen run....ive gone all over...and spent ALOT of money....but ill keep doing it if it is what is needed to keep him healthy....
> 
> currently he is eating 3 meals a day....close to 5 cups of dry and one can of wet mixed in spread out over the three meals. He is on wellness core puppy...and wellness turkey/sweet potato for wet canned food. I always get "youre over feeding your dog...your dog is skinny...he is sick thats why he has the runs all the time"...i'm really at a loss...as of now he is on probiotics and enzymes with his morning and nightly meal...from the vet...and his stool is soft serve at BEST....i have a hose out because picking it up is impossible :help:....we have another appointment at the vet on Wednesday because im worried that keeping him on so many supplements has underutilized his pancreases or something along those lines...
> 
> He is super active...he goes everywhere i go...great with other dogs and people....hikes swims and the works....any ideas?


I think with 5 cups a day your right at the upper threshold of daily amouts. I feed Blue Buffalo LB Puppy and they recommend 4 and 1/4 cup per day and 5 at the most. Tried 5 cups and he had soft to runny stools. I cut him back to 4 per day. 

What does the current food your feeding him now recommend?


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## jafo220 (Mar 16, 2013)

Oh and another thing I have ran into. Do you treat him alot while training? I had been using a certain training treat on a daily basis and it made his stools ten times worse. A day after keeping him off the treats, he was fine. I've seen it mentioned on the forums here that you also need to add the treats into thier daily food amounts. Something to consider.


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## ugavet2012 (Apr 15, 2010)

mebully21 said:


> wellness is known for soft stools. and 5 cups a day is WAY too much and is part of the runny stool problem. switch him to another food and lower his food intake to 2 cups a day NO wet and see how it goes. the more food you feed the more he will poop and the more runnier it will be. and NEVER go by what the bag says to feed lol... some dogs dont do well on some foods which is why he isnt gaining weight and has runny stools. if all parasites have been ruled out even leptospiridosis then switch foods and only feed 2 cups a day no wet


This is kind of ridiculous IMO. Some dogs need that much food period. I feed Fromm and my 1.5 yr old 60 lb Malinois needs 5-6 cups a day to just maintain a very lean weight (you can see almost all ribs). He doesn't have loose stools from it. I have checked him for intestinal parasites multiple times and he is clear. He's still intact which leads to a fast metabolism and he's super athletic and muscular, not a thing wrong with him. Even when I don't run him as much in the winter he still needs 5 cups a day. Even my spayed and neutered dogs that are over 2 yrs still get 4 cups a day to just maintain their weight, and they are not 1 oz overweight. I don't think the amount of food is the problem if the dog isn't over weight.


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## jafo220 (Mar 16, 2013)

ugavet2012 said:


> This is kind of ridiculous IMO. Some dogs need that much food period. I feed Fromm and my 1.5 yr old 60 lb Malinois needs 5-6 cups a day to just maintain a very lean weight (you can see almost all ribs). He doesn't have loose stools from it. I have checked him for intestinal parasites multiple times and he is clear. He's still intact which leads to a fast metabolism and he's super athletic and muscular, not a thing wrong with him. Even when I don't run him as much in the winter he still needs 5 cups a day. Even my spayed and neutered dogs that are over 2 yrs still get 4 cups a day to just maintain their weight, and they are not 1 oz overweight. I don't think the amount of food is the problem if the dog isn't over weight.


 
I don't see whats ridiculous about the comment. I've seen it first hand personally with my dog on several occassions. Over feeding food can cause loose and soft stools. Not the only reason, but it's one option to look at. As well as over treating going hand in hand with over feeding. Seen that first hand also. My dog now is around 4 cups a day. He carries good weight, energy levels are just fine. He just turned 7 months. He weighs in at around 65 to 70 pounds. If your Malinois eats more, then he eats more. But it doesn't mean every other dog can handle the same amount of food. 

It's just an option for the OP to explore. Cutting his food down a cup or half a cup per day will not starve the dog. It will either eliminate or confirm one more thing to finding out why his dog has the runs.


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