Hi,
I own a bullmastiff puppy (he's now 5 months old). I decided to go on dry food and I chose Acana Puppy Large, as I thought it was a very good choice for my pet.
After a while, my puppy began to have loose stools (barely shaped), which is a pain in the neck trying to collect them as you know. I thought it was the food, so I changed into Royal Canin Giant Puppy, which was the breeder's choice, thinking that it would correct the problem.
In the begging he had a very small improvement, but after a while back to the usual to my great disappointment ! After the bag finished, I switched once again to Acana Wild Prairie, hoping that it would finally solve the problem as it is grain-free and of very good quality.
Guess what, nothing happened...!! I would be grateful if you could give me some advise, as it is very difficult to clean the outside kennel and dispose the stools properly. I should point out, that other than this problem, my little puppy is OK with full of energy and a nice coat.
Thanks in advance...

First it would be good to drop a fecal sample off at the vet.:smile:

I'm not a vet by any stretch of the imagination, this is my experience as a puppy owner and knowledge i have gained from this site it's DVDs and other resources and this is my opinion.

If there is any worry with a pup that young i would get a fecal sample to the vet (they will give you a collection tube.)

However, there can be many causes of loose stool. What you really need to be concerned about it really watery stool which shoots out like a hose, this can cause a dog that young to dehydrate in a very short time and die. Second is blood in the stool this can be caused by a number of things as well... no of them good. So in these cases i would go to an emergency vet if another wasn't available,don't wait from Sunday to Monday for the vet to open.

if it is just pudding stool this can be caused by many things; dietary indiscretion, over feeding, and sometimes puppies will have loose stool it happens and it's a pain to clean up such is the life of a puppy owner some times. This situation can worsen and turn into the above mentioned conditions so keep your eye his poops for the next while.

Take care and i hope he feels better

Rob

P.S if you don't already have it grab Your puppy 8 weeks to 8 months DVD from this site.

I shudder reading your post. In Cali's short nine months we we were on Wellness, Evo, California Naturals, and Orijen. Tiny little bits at a time to change from one food to another. NOTHING worked. Fecal sample after fecal sample at $43/pop. We ended up on some crap Rx food not knowing where else to turn, and that did nada.

After months, and months, and months of the pudding poop or looser, stench that would nearly knock me over (orijen was the worst), and 5-6x/day voids I switched to raw with the help of the wise people here. Her poops have been as perfect as can be from the third day after the switch to now--a month into it. She looks incredible, she's gained weight, her eyes shine, and I swear her jaw muscles and her shoulders are more built up. She looks buff! Her poops are small and formed. The quantity is a fraction of what it was, and she only goes 2-3x/day in much smaller amounts. Every time she goes I still tense up waiting for the mess. Finally, I'm starting to relax.

If you want to stay on kibble, I do hope you can find what works. I could not resolve it, and in the end am glad it led me to raw feeding. I know I'm never looking back. The poor thing spent way to many months in intestinal, gurgling, discomfort.

Thanks for the replies, I do not have the appropriate time to feed raw diet but if it is the only way to avoid loose stools I will give it a try.
I have seen the DVD puppy 8 weeks to 8 months many times, fantastic job I must admit. No, there is no water stools or blood in it, I am closely monitoring them.
Thank you all for the interest...!

Hi Tony, I just want to encourage you that feeding raw does not take an enormous amount of time. Perhaps at first it takes longer as you get used to the process and figure things out, but once you hit your stride, with a little planning it is a no-brainer. Once a month I spend about two hours in the kitchen bagging things up and getting them in the freezer. (I put two days worth in each large ziplock). Once that is done, I simply take out a new bag every other day. At first, I started bagging stuff "a meal at a time" and this is easy because all you have to do is empty the contents in the bowl, add the salmon oil, etc... I just found all the little bags a pain to wash and dry.

If you decide to go the raw route, you will have the support of some very knowledgable folks on this forum, and perhaps the little bit of time difference will be quickly balanced out by not having so many runny, smelly loose stools. Good luck with your decision and I hope your pup is feeling better soon!

Hi Tony,
If the fecal comes back negative, here are a few things you can try:

1) Reduce the volume of what you are feeding to see if maybe too much food is triggering the loose stools.

2) Add a probiotic like plain, unsweetened yogurt with live cultures in it to his food. Like a tablespoon or so per day.

3) Add a tablepsoon or so of canned pumpkin or squash (unsweetened), if you can find it. This can help to firm up stools.

4) Stick with one food for awhile, until you get good poops from him.

Well, I have to add my voice to the chorus. We got a puppy from a large kennel. She had the runs for weeks. I did everything, worming, tested for Giardia, etc. Tried all sorts of food plus yogurt, pumpkin etc. Even plain canned chicken dog food didn't totally clear things up.

Went to raw, and all is well.

Sigh....

Ditto on the raw diet here too. Kasey did EXACTLY as you describe your pup, with the addition of smelly gas! We tried a zillion different 'high quality' kibbles, Rx kibbles, etc. and NOTHING worked! Came to this forum, got instructed how to feel raw, and from the very first meal his poops turned firm and the gas went away. It was a miracle!

I also thought it was going to be really hard and complicated to feed raw, but everyone was right, after a week or so, you really get used to it and it's well worth it in many ways! Easy on trips too - just go to the grocery store! Check out Cindy's Q&A's on raw feeding on this website. She has sample diets you can just follow those!

Well, seems that I will give raw diet a try. I'll wait till the bag is empty to see if there is an improvement and then I'll switch to raw.
In the meantime I will have to educate myself about the raw diet, starting as of now !!
Thank you all for your interest...