It's been four days now that I have been giving Levi chicken necks/wings. He has had the squirts the entire time. I thought it might be the veggies that I was mixing in so I stopped giving him those about two days ago. I have only been giving him chicken wings/necks for about two days now. He's had an accident in his kennel the last two nights and all of his stools are runny. I'm getting a little worried. The only other thing that he has been getting are training treats. I use natural balance treats (Dick Van Patten, all natural, turkey and beef, only been using the turkey) So this morning I gave him ground turkey with some pumpkin like Ed suggests on his site. Don't know if switchin him off of chicken was the right thing to do either but the poor little guy is having a tough go of it. I sure would appreciate some advice before our noon feeding today if anyone has the time. I'm about to switch him back to the royal canin. He isn't sick, he is good spirits and playful, not lethargic so I don't think Parvo or anything like that..besides if I call the vet to ask for help first thing she is going to do is throw a fit about me feeding him raw.

Generally when animals have diarrhea it's best to withhold the food for 24 hours and give his system a rest. Then you reintroduce bland food slowly and in small amounts.

You don't want to withhold water. He might be a little dehydrated due to the diarrhea. I gave my pup Pedialyte when he went through a long bout of the runs.

Hopefully this will resolve itself soon....diarrhea is no fun.

why are they going through the runs though? To withold food from a puppy is like asking a fish to breathe oxygen for 24 hours. lol. Do you think it might be the treats? Could it be the stuff I am cleaning his kennel with? There should be a reason don't you think?

Hi Robbin - there are far more experienced people than me around here, and I'm sure you'll get great feedback.

If I were in your shoes, I would first rule out other medical problems before just "assuming" it's the food. There are a number of things that can cause diahrea in young pups, and they can quickly get dehydrated in a dangerous (IMO) way. Since you say this has been going on four days, I would check it out. Don't get me wrong - especially with the dogs who are older than pups I don't go running to the vet over every loose stool.

I would also try to hunt down a vet who is at minimum "neutral" (or better yet, supportive) of raw feeding. I would hate to visit an anti-raw feeding vet who might be inclined to blame the food, and potentially fail to look at other potential causes.

Just my 2 cents..

Beth

I don't feed raw yet but I read every thread on this forum pertaining to a raw diet (educating myself to eventually make the switch)and I seem to recall that loose stools are not unusual when switching over. Some dogs' systems are more sensitive than others so this may be causing the diarrhea. The raw feeders here can best address this.

Witholding food for a day shouldn't hurt your puppy unless he is VERY young. I'm guessing that suddenly switching back to kibble might further irritate your pup's tummy...especially if he has a sensitive system.

There IS a reason for the diarrhea and doing a 24 fast will either show you the reason or eliminate the food as the culprit. Don't throw in the towel on the raw diet yet...He may just be going through an adjustment to it.

And if anything I've said here is incorrect or wrong someone PLEASE jump in and tell me.

The best thing you've said here is that your puppy isn't acting sick...That's good! If he were depressed and lethargic then he should probably see the vet.

Editing to add that if food is not the reason for the runs and there aren't obvious worms in his stool than think about a fecal culture at the vet. Fecal cultures uncover a lot more than smears do.

I'm with everyone who responded.

I'd suspect that I had been overfeeding. I'm not a puppy expert.... sorry. But I do know that overfeeding all ages is a frequent cause of diarrhea, and that people new to raw sometimes tend to feed in the old kibble amounts.

I would cut back on the food, fasting for a meal unless puppy experts disagree (and the ground chicken sounds perfect to me), adding a teaspoon or so of plain cooked canned pumpkin (not pie filling) and being very sure he was drinking plenty.

I too would be calling around for a supportive vet, not just for this instance, but to make a permanent switch and not have to hesitate about talking about my feeding ideas. And I would take him to the new vet (and I'll bet you can find one today with a few calls) and just check him out.

Robbin, sometimes changing diets can cause the runs especially if not done gradually over a period of time & especially with a young dog. Also, many dogs 'detox' when first starting on raw from kibble. This detoxification period can include having loose stool for a while. But with a young dog if it continues for even a short amount of time, it can cause severe dehydration & that is very serious if not life threatening. I would get the pup to the vets & take a stool sample with you. He could also have worms or someother bacteria infecton or virus. Also withholding food, but not water for 12-24 hours is not a bad idea to give his system a chance to heal a bit. Also feeding cooked rice & or cooked potato & maybe a little of cooked chicken all in broth might be helpful because it is very bland. Also, with the wings & necks are you feeding some ground meat with that also? You need to feed muscle meat along with all that bone. Too much bone to meat ratio can cause constipation. It is possible that he is not passing the more solid stool (constipated) & only passing liquid that can get thru due to too much bone. I would take the pup to the vet & mention that he has has alot of bone to eat & maybe constipated. Pumpkin can also help that as well as with the runs. I'd be careful about waiting too long to go the the vets with a young dog. Good luck & let us know how he does.
Edited to say that ....gad to see that Connie & others responded at the same time that I did. I do feed raw & watch carfully the meat to bone ratio..especially with my 5 month old pup. Just want to mention.....just so people, especially those with new pups, know that since we finally got some snow here in the North East....eating snow for young dogs especially pups, can also cause the runs & dehydration. You need to really watch them 'cause they really do like to eat it when out playing in it.

Robbin, You might want to do a search...Cindy has a topic going a while back about vets from all over the country that are into naturalist, hollisitc, raw feeding etc & people were contributing to the list with vets in their local areas that fit the catagories. You might find a vet in your area on that listing. Just a thought.

Make sure that you're not feeding him too much food. That seems to be the biggest mistake people make when switching to raw. Keep in mind that your dog will not require the same quantity of raw food as kibble, as raw is much more concentrated nutrition w/no filler. It's much richer, and therefore can cause diarrhea. I've never had any problems with introducing small amounts; diarrhea like you're describing should not occur unless there's something he just can't tolerate or he's getting too much.

Try adding a digestive enzyme like Prozyme to his food; this really helped my last raw convert. I also used THK to help get her used to this type of food. I made a mix of about 1/3 kibble and 2/3 THK for a few days and added Prozyme. Then I took away the kibble and made the same ratio mix with raw meat/meat and bones and THK, and added a little more Prozyme. Stools got a little loose, but not like you're describing, so I added pumpkin and a supplement called Perfect Form that THK makes. I learned that small meals work much better for her system, and that the loose stools were not so much content-related as quantity related.

The first thing I would do is cut the meal size and increase frequency if you're concerned about him not eating enough. I'd definitely add one of the enzyme compounds, and I'd consider using THK as your "veggie slop." It's sooo easy to just add meat and bones to an already good mix, and they do have one called Preference that has no meat in it yet. It may be a good stepping stone to "real" raw veggies 'n such, and it may help you curb your worries that he's not getting what he needs.

you are all awesome and I am grateful for you replies. I am going to try and find a vet in the area that is partial or at least tolerant of raw feeding. I guess the internet would be the best place to start. I did give him pumkin this morning..but I gave him about 4 teaspoons. I wasnt sure how much to give. and I don't think that I am overfeeding him. He is thin and lanky like they said to keep him (for hip issues) I only give him maybe 3 or 4 small wings per feeding, three times daily. Do you think this is too much? I am going to switch to feeding him ground with maybe one wing, see how that works. Finding a vet that is okay with raw feeding definitely sounds like a challenge but I'm up for it. Thanks for all your help all the time, you guys are awesome. I'd send you flowers if I could.