Just to clarify:

He is now going, but straining? And is there normal poop when he does go? Or pudding or liquid?

OK.
He wont eat the corn food what so ever. I am taking it back tomorrow am and getting a refund from the vet.

He is going but straining. Example. He ate 1 cup of dog food between lunch (about 1pm) and dinner (about 5:30pm) yesterday and then breakfest this morning about 7am. He strained for 10 mins (not continuously mind you but squating and pushing then moving around and repeat.)

So I finally had it. I took our daughters infant rectal termomater with a soft rubber tip and got him to go. It only went in like not even 1/2 inch. I figure if its safe for babies its going to be ok for him. He went. It was solid and very hard at first then became pudding with fluids mixed in at the end.

For lunch today he ate 3/4 cup of Hills dog food (hubby grabbed the wrong stuff we went out of town for the day) and he fused with it a big. We ran him around my parents 1 acre lot about 3 hours afterwards and he finally dropped a large pile of normal logs.

We got home this evening (total today he's had 1 1/2 cup of Hills) and we gave him TOTW. He wont touch it either and is currently sleeping in his crate. He is pooped out.

Joyce- You hit the nail right on the head why I first asked the vet if there were other alternatives when I heard what was the ingrediant list! She claimed ohh we have wonderful results on this never had any problems etc etc.

We are switching his primary vet from the current to one of her co-workers who feeds grain free and raw foods to her dogs. Shes totally on board and was very informitive when she said (the co-worker) try a dog food with one to two proteins and one to two carbs. Keep it simple.

I picked up the TOTW Prairie mix with venision and bison because it state on the bag and the people at the natural dog food store that those two meats are very easy on the digestive tract.

So now I just have to wait to get him to eat the TOTW when he wakes up.. hes worn out... and see how this goes.

Am I on the right track now do you think?

Should I be worried if once he's totally on TOTW its a bit pudding like? I was told if that happens his body really isnt getting anything from it. Its going right through him.

I have to find a natural food store in my area. The local grocery stores are all out of pumpkin.

I would probably not make this cold-turkey switch from grain crap to no-grain at all when he has a GI history (and a gut that's not happy right now).

I'd probably want perfect poops first. Otherwise you have zero "baseline" for comparison.

I would start on loose (overcooked) rice gruel with some skinless white poultry until I saw perfect poop.

The vet who said that you can't continue with the bland food because he is a growing pup is 100% correct, IF you keep it up for many days and IF you don't supplement calcium while you continue it past two or three days.

I would cook up some very overcooked soupy white rice and some skinless white poultry poached in that soupy stuff. I'd give that for a day or so, and report back here how his poops are if you like.

I agree with Jessica's protocol and I agree with Joyce about adding some plain live-culture unsweetened yogurt.

And Michael is of course correct that "mixing kibbles" is far from a bad thing. It's one of the best ways to cover more nutritional bases.

For now, I would stick with the soupy rice and white poultry for a day and check the poop. Then, if the poop is better, even if not yet perfect, I would add the yogurt and plain pumpkin or plain canned winter squash, and continue.

If I had to stick to this diet for more than 2-3 days to get perfect poops, I would do so. I can easily give you the amount of calcium to add in that case. (Save up a few eggshells starting now, and you won't even have to buy a supplement, because I very much doubt that it would be worthwhile for the short time -- if any -- that you will need calcium.)

Then and only then would I begin to add the new kibble (gradually). I would stop and wait if I saw any signs of pudding.

Make sense?

"Should I be worried if once he's totally on TOTW its a bit pudding like?"

We won't let that happen. If adding it very very slowly and gradually still creates pudding, then I'd try another food. When there's a history of gut issues, a little shopping around among the good-quality foods is not to be unexpected. And it may simply turn out that TOTW plus another food mixed work fine.

For now, I'd just get perfect poops.

Yep. Total sense. We had logs today. That was from Hills. He's only been on hills. He ate the totw tonight just downed the food like there wasnt even an issue. Heh, he finally woke up.

I will take back that food tomorrow. Get some probiotic (I am thinking flogin (sp) they have it at walgreens would be ok to use because it helps humans with getting their gi tracts back in shape) I will ask the vet about how much to give him (Dr. Nikki).

Stupid question, but would activia help because it is yogurt (he loves yogurt) and has the probiotics in it already? I can totally do the chicken, but we are using instant rice.. add extra water I am thinking to make it soupy? I have boneless skinless chicken breasts that he can munch for a few days.

Does this sound like I have a good base line?

Now the hard part. How much and how many times a day am I feeding Finn. He's about 15 lbs right now.

If you can find no sugar added plain activia it would work, but so would any other no sugar added yogurt.

Kefir is even better if you can find it.

happy to quickly report: Finn just went #2. Normal logs normal color (for eating dirt today) and perfect softness. Formed but not hard. Yes. Do we still need the rice and chicken diet? Hes got normal stools. Wait till morning to see how the stools are from the TOTW?

 Quote: jennifer lee

If you can find no sugar added plain activia it would work, but so would any other no sugar added yogurt.

Ditto. Activia is probably not what I would choose.

Getting packaged probiotics is fine, and you could have them handy, but remember that in a few individuals, packaged probiotics can cause a little gas and even liquid poop at first. I'd probably go with the plain live-culture yogurt just at first (IF he has a history of tolerating yogurt very well).

I'm not sure what you mean about Activia having probiotics already. All live-culture yogurt has probiotics. Those are the cultures that you read listed on the container. That's why folks are suggesting yogurt.

Activia and Dannon have named their own strains of bifidus animalis things like "Bifidus regularis." Eh. I'm not convinced that they have anything special aside from marketing going on, and I am convinced that they have fewer strains than many other excellent (although maybe with less marketing money) brands.

My preference is to provide a wide variety of cultures in a live-culture yogurt so that the GI system that has been upset by diarrhea (from any trigger) can be replenished.

And I would start small.

NOT instant rice and NOT "converted" (Uncle Ben's) ....

... just plain white rice from a bag or from the bulk bins. You want the binding quality in rice, and it's almost gone in instant rice and doesn't release into the cooking liquid well in converted rice.

If you are seeing good poops I say wait, but probiotics/yogurt/kefir are always a good thing to add to anyone's diet.