Hello all, this is my first post on Leerburg forums although I have been reading for a couple of weeks. I just wanted to get an opinion on something that is going on with my 7 month old Boxer.

I have fed her a raw diet since April, and she never had any problems (aside from the initial detox). She now eats chicken, turkey, pork, beef, eggs, and canned fish on occasion. She is vibrant and totally nonsmelly like she should be

At the beginning of July, she started having some loose stools. She was playing and eating/drinking fine, so I just chalked it up to something she'd gotten into, but after a week she was getting worse and it turned to watery stool. I took her to the vet with some stool samples. I found out nothing. He just said it's probably coccidia or ghiardia but nothing came back on the stool test. After a few days on antibiotics, she was good as new. I continued them for two weeks as perscribed and she was having normal stools until this past weekend.

She had watery stools all weekend. Because of the symptoms, I didn't wait to take her in on Monday. Big *shocker* nothing on the stool sample. Vet finally asks what I feed and after saying "raw" he goes on with his "Science Diet is the best food" speech and said the raw could be causing her bacterial infections.

I know it CAN be the raw, but to happen twice in a month...I think probably not. Has anyone had experience with this? I am now freezing everything first just in case. I feed only human grade food because that's all I can find anyway. Everything has been "tested" i.e. not scraps. I don't know what to do but now I'm scared to continue feeding her this way even though it's the right thing to do. I have all these doubts in my mind, someone help!

Hi Rachael,

Did the vet do a fecal float or a fecal culture? A culture is sent out and takes 72 hours to complete. I ask because cultures often uncover things that a float will not.

i dont kno what the other ppl might say but it sounds like an imballance in diet...do u feed any kind of veg?
try and give her a blander diet...i went thru the same with my little pup...the diet was too rich too quick...but since i balanced out the diet no problems...try feeding some pumpkin!! works for loose stool or constipation..its like the balance maker of diets for dogs!
i kno i make sure i feed pumpkin in the diet!

Do you feed liver? How much, how often? I've noticed if I overdo at *all* with liver, my pup will get loose. Just wondering...

I agree with the fecal exam/culture vs float stuff if this diarrhea continues.

Thanks Sarah, he did the first time and called me to say it was normal. He didn't mention doing one this past time. I hope this will be the end of it. He gave me methro something and endosorb to absorb toxins. She is doing better. Stool this morning was soft but not watery.

She eats no veggies, I could add them though. I guess I am under the impression that loose stool is one thing, but watery stool...and I mean it's water-like squirting out, is only caused by an infection. Mr. Leerberg says in one of his ebooks that watery stool always required a vet trip and will not clear on its own. I have read that other places too. So that's why I didn't really look at what's in her diet, but rather what kind of bacteria she is getting into. Know what I mean?

I feed liver, but not very often. Maybe once a week? She has started eating kidneys in the past 2 weeks, but didn't have loose stools at all. So unless the kidneys were "bad"..I don't know??

I have used pumpkin before, it is great stuff! I don't think it's richness in the diet though because I worked up very slowly to the variety she eats now. Do you feed pumpkin on a regular basis or just when stools are loose/constipated?

well..i only feed muscle meat from beef with bonemeal mixed in it...and thats for breakfast..for supper i feed a veggie soup(pumpkin, carrots, cabbage, sometimes potato, and some celery..boiled up for a little while just to soften the veggies then served with the sauce)

no stomach problems..in fact they have grown a lot and they are extremly strong...i way 70kg(140lb) and they are only 7 months..way around 20kg(not fat and round they big and tall) and when they pull when wanting to chase something i hav a hard time keeping them back. i kno they shouldnt be pulling on the leash...they still in training!

My GSD Carbon would have serious problems with high fat (too much skin would do this to him, while my Corgi could probably handle a vat of lard with little effect! )

Also, check his environment. Carbon recently had another bout of serious diarrhea, with a couple of trips to the vet that were useless, and it turned out that the stinker was eating massive amounts of seed from the bird feeder. It was behind a thick bush that I thought he was sitting under for shade. (He was very stealthy about it! )

I finally busted him, changed the seed to something he wouldn't eat, and we've had no more problems since then. The seeds also had a high fat content, so I just have to stay aware that his body is sensitive to fat.

Try keeping a food diary of what you're feeding him and also write down the...uh, "results" of the food and maybe you'll find the culprit. Then begin a process of elimination. So to speak. The diary would also be handy if you wanted to post it here to check for any imbalances.

Just for clarity, when the diarrhea returned, it was immediately after the antibiotics were stopped, right? I'm wondering if they either didn't fully kill whatever was causing the problem, or if they were constipating so they masked the real problem. I still think that if there was some little nasty in the stool, then the tests should have picked that up.

Any possibility of an impaction?

In the meantime, pumpkin really does work wonders. I feed plain yogurt, too, to help out the digestion.