Has anyone else had a problem with their dog not tolerating Salmon Oil?

Here is the problem: I have been feedling my 4 year old GSD on a raw diet with the help of this website for 2 1/2 years. I started by using Grizzly Salmon oil, but have used sardine oil too. My dog took to the raw diet very well and would only have diarrhea every once an awhile. I tracked his feeding and weighed food and read a lot on the diet to ensure I was doing the right things.

Within the last six months, I have had a few more problems with diarrhea. I decided to begin tracking input and output on the dog. I describe the diarrhea as being a peanut butter consistancy. Forms a poop shape, but is very soft. (Sorry for the visual) Approximately 1 1/2 months ago, I needed to use some antibiotics to treat a skin issue. Of course, antibiotics never help the output, so I would get more wet poop. After antibiotics, I decided to do an elimination of likely causes, since the poop was not becoming more solid.

I started out with chicken backs trimmed of fat and skin and chicken thighs. The I added prebiotics and enzymes (OptaGest). Then Vit. C(Halo Xtra-C) and 400IU of Vit E. I got good results step by step with each of those things. I got solid poops. Then, I added Salmon oil and got peanut butter poop. Grrrr. So, I threw out the 1/2 bottle I had left and decided maybe the oil was bad (even though it smelled fine). I went to my local pet store and inquired about Salmon vs. Sardine oil. The lady said she prefers Salmon oil because it has both Omega 3 and 6s. I bought another bottle (not expired) and went next door to a health food store and got probiotics too (Rhino powder). I added the probiotics and got solid poops. Then I started small, adding only 1/2 pump of salmon oil. So far, so good...the next day, one whole pump. That evening, peanut butter poop. Grrrr.

So, I didn't give any oil today and by this afternoons poop, it was solid again.

My dog is 68-74 lbs. normally and is a little overactive! Henever seemed sick (moapy, pick at his food, not eat at all, etc.) He loves to eat. I have fasted to to help clear out the system and rest the bowels. He also gets filtered water (Brita) because I though that might be the cause. The Grizzly oil says 3 pumps, so according to them, I am not overdoing it.

By the way, I have moved back to ground beef. Still solid poops. I used to keep the oil in a cabinet at room temperature. Now, it is in the refrigerator.

Any ideas?

Thank you in advance.

How many days was there between the addition of everything you mentioned?

You were feeding the trimmed chicken backs and thighs when you think the salmon oil triggered the soft stool again?

Kinda hard to tell with all the other things added before the salmon oil.

Has he always done well with the dosage of vitamin C that you give?

At least four days between each addition. I even went about 8 days with the above ingredients minus the salmon oil. He gets 1/2 tsp/day which is within the recommedations on the bottle which says 1/2-3/4 tsp per day. He gets fed twice a day. And yes, I was feeding trimmed chicken backs with chicken thighs. No skin or bone on the chicken thighs.

Vitamin C -- I would like to echo Michael's question (nice catch; C can be a diarrhea-trigger when the body has used what it can use and the concentration in the intestine causes temporary osmotic diarrhea). Did he have good poops on that amount of C before?

Also, there is so much in there (not bad - just hard to analyze)..... did you mean that you had very few diarrhea problems for over 2 years with salmon oil in the diet?

Even if that was not the case, salmon oil would be low on my list of diarrhea suspects.

I would start over (and you did a perfect job with that, BTW!) with the skinned poultry RMBs. After 3 days of perfect poops, I would add 1 squirt of salmon oil and part of the e-cap, and then observe.

This is going to give you clear answers on the item you suspect without a bunch of other stuff clouding the issue.

I would never listen to any nutrition advice from the woman at the pet supply store again, BTW. There is so much wrong with that one sentence....

We give Omega 3s because the modern diet is over-heavy in Omega 6s. Oils that are "balanced in 3/6/9" or "balanced in 3/6" are a marketing gimmick to sell the relatively cheap 6s (or they are just straight ignorance -- not sure). A dog eating poultry or red meat or a human eating any modern diet (with the possible exception of a person getting all their protein from fish every day and not eating any prepared foods or soy products or supermarket cooking oils or dressings) is eating a ton of Omega 6s and needs 3s because their balance of 3s and 6s is so skewed. There are several reasons for this recent disappearance of 3s from the diets of both humans and dogs, but we probably don't need to cover them again here.

Then on top of that, even if it was desirable to add 6s, salmon oil is not the place to look, with its very low 6 content.

Anyway, if you could re-do your elimination protocol as described, I betcha we'll know within 5 days whether fish oil is a problem.

And you do want to find out whether it's food or a needs-the-vet issue, so going back to perfect poops from poultry RMBs is going to reassure you on that point.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

I would start over (and you did a perfect job with that, BTW!) with the skinned poultry RMBs. After 3 days of perfect poops, I would add 1 squirt of salmon oil and part of the e-cap. Observe.

I'm nitpicking here, but I would think longer than 3 days. Maybe a week or so.

That way there would be adequate time to rule out that some other unknown didn't start the soft poop again.

I just want to make sure that the blame can be squarely placed on something.

Typically, I don't listen to the people at the pet food store. I used to live in the Denver Metro area and had a very good person in Longmont who provided me with natural diets information along with you guys. I get back there every three months, so sometimes I just need to do searches online to get the stuff I was recommended by her. I guess I wouldn't knock her too much because Grizzly is a good product and she was recommending them. It is kind of hard to search through what is right and what is wrong because there are vets or others with Dr. degrees that can tell you a good reason both ways. Anyways...

Do you want me to remove all supplements and go with trimmed chicken backs and chicken thighs? Then after 5 days of good poops, add a squirt of Salmon oil w/ vit E?

Yes, it is true he had done well on both salmon oil and sardine oil. That is why I didn't suspect it.

This is off topic, so feel free not to read if busy.

Don't get me started on the vet...they don't give me a hard time about raw. In fact, they seem facinated by it. They have spent a lot of time listening to me talk about it. But, you can tell, they haven't had much training in it. Of course, Madison, WI has one of the better Vet schools here. Anyways, I was a little upset because of the the antibiotic they gave me. I am well aware that those cause loose stools because they destroy the natural flora in your bowels. I became concerned when spots of blood began appearing, so I decided to look the medication up online. It frustrates me when the website warns you to contact your Dr. immediately if you see blood. Of course, I contacted my Vet and explained the information I read as well and the symptoms. Instead of trying something else, she wanted to give me another antibiotic so the one he was taking would be more tolerated. So now 2 antibiotics. I became a little concerned about that response and decided on treating it another way, which worked.

Thank you for all of your help.

 Quote: Heather Dzick

Do you want me to remove all supplements and go with trimmed chicken backs and chicken thighs? Then after 5 days of good poops, add a squirt of Salmon oil w/ vit E?

Check with Connie to be sure what she thinks, but I would say trimmed backs only.

She said 3 days and then add 1 pump of salmon oil w/vit. E.

I say 5 days and then add 1 pump of salmon oil w/vit. E.

If I were you, I would probably defer to her suggested time. I trust her more than me.:laugh:

Honestly I don't know if the extra time on backs only that I suggested would make much difference. My reasoning was to give the soft poop adequate time to possibly happen before the salmon oil was added. Just to make sure something unknown wasn't triggering it.

Your vet story does sound frustrating.:frown: Glad you were able to figure it out, though. Sometimes I wonder if vets may try to carry too much of a workload. In their work, they are pretty much asked to be jacks of all trades. Or maybe their days are stretched so thin that common sense doesn't have time to prevail in all situations.

I would go with just backs too. Sometimes thighs give my dog soft poops, but never the backs! The fewer test items the better!

Thank you all for the help. So far, solid poops. I have had solid poops since Wednesday morning so we will see. Feel free to add any additional information and I will let you know how it is going on Saturday morning(day 3).

 Quote: Heather Dzick

I have had solid poops since Wednesday morning.

I've had solid poops since the last time I had the stomach flu.