Thanks Betty for that great information, I'll take her to the vet soon to get this squared away.

I'm vaguely familiar with the diet (just boiled chicken and overcooked rice right?), but last time I sort of winged it. So, is there a certain amount of each that is beneficial? Or how many cups total per day she should get? That information would help. Should I keep her on the vitamin C, E and salmon oil?

Thanks again everyone I really, really appreciate it.

Claire, how is the poop now? The instructions are going to vary a bit depending on that. It it almost formed?

Yes for the fish oil and E, no for the C.

Do you have regular white rice (not par-cooked like Uncle Ben's and not instant like Minute Rice .... just the plain white bag or bulk rice)? Do you have a little skinless white chicken (maybe a couple of breasts)? A can of plain pumpkin (not pie filling)?

The chicken makes it palatable and adds a little protein, but the main idea is the binding quality of rice, and particularly the rice water (so you want it very overcooked, like gruel). Muscle meat, including chicken, is not at all binding, and in fact is the reverse when it's boneless, so I either add very little and keep the protocol short for a mild bout or I add more but also use calcium to make up for the missing bones (which are, of course, binding because of the calcium).

(No need to won't worry about calcium yet. Just keep the food mostly soupy white rice, with 1/4 or less skinless white chicken, for a few days after the fast. Then we can go from there. )

So I would gather those items and post back just how soft the poop is, and I'd start a short fast.... again based on how soft the poop is ..... to give the inflamed gut a break. (I'd be certain to encourage water intake; diarrhea causes dehydration and even more so if no water-containing foods are being given. If you have to bait the water, I would do it.)

 Quote: Claire Milliken

Thanks Betty for that great information, I'll take her to the vet soon to get this squared away.

You might also want to drop off a fecal, per vet instructions, to get the ball rolling.

Take however many cups you give of Kibble and it will be about the same amount of the gruel.... but not to start. Start with small (1/2 to 1/3 cup frequent meals, after the fast).

so i think you said you fed 4 or 5 cups per day? (this still seems a bit high to me for a 50lb dog...but i could be wrong)

So you would make the sloppy watery gruel of just chicken and white rice. And we mean sloppy...put way more water in than the recipe calls for and really really overcook it so it very mushy.
I just throw the chicken breast in the pot while the rick is cooking and kill 2 birds with one stone.
If you check it while it's cooking and it looks like all the water is absored, add more. You really want it to be a somewhat watery mushy mess.

once it's cooked take the chicken breast out (if you cut it into chunks before throwing it in the pot it will cook better) and cut it into very small pieces and add it back into the gruel.
If/when I have to do this with my dog I always cook a huge batch and then keep it in the fridge. When it's time for a meal I just take it out and re-mushify it with some warm water.

The quanties are the same (like I said above) so 4 cups spread out as often as you can during the day. Im not sure if you work during the day. But if you don't, i would split it into 4 or 5 small meals over the course of a couple days until you see firm poop.
If you aren't home during the day, split it as well as you can between 3 meals (morning, when you get home and then later in the evening). Smaller meals are best right now.

Once you see firm stool (more than one would be best) you can start to GRADUALLY add Kibble back in. Gradual as in a few kibbles added into each broken up feeding. You don't want to rush right back into kibble otherwise you will have the same reaction all over again.

But still definately visit the vets and get that sorted out.

You can also try adding in some plain natural yogurt & some pumpkin (not the pie filling but all natural plain pumpkin). Both will help with the digestion upset. But again, small amounts.

*whew*
lol

***damn you Connie!!...lol...all that typing for nothing!

PS

Claire, we're on top of the fact that this is a growing puppy.

So there are limits to the basic soothing diet for a puppy because it's unbalanced, but if you tell us when you start, I'll put it on the calendar and we'll make sure you don't keep the dog on an unbalanced diet longer than a week. Even then, there are ways to balance a soothing diet if it's still needed.

(Unbalanced meals staying in there to provide nourishment trump balanced food that rushes through, causing gut inflammation and providing no nourishment.)

 Quote: Wendy Lefebvre

...all that typing for nothing!

Not at all!!

THANK YOU!

"Do you have regular white rice (not par-cooked like Uncle Ben's and not instant like Minute Rice .... just the plain white bag or bulk rice)? Do you have a little skinless white chicken (maybe a couple of breasts)? A can of plain pumpkin (not pie filling)?"

Yes to all of these, I went out to get it and the only thing they didn't have was bone-in breasts, random. So they're boneless skinless. And yes, she loves the pumpkin which I've used in the past, how much should I mix with the meal?

"so i think you said you fed 4 or 5 cups per day? (this still seems a bit high to me for a 50lb dog...but i could be wrong)"

Yes, that's what the bag says for puppies her weight. She's mainly only eats 4, still too high?
Okay so I'm starting her on this tomorrow (after she fasted today/tomorrow morning) with 4 small meals. I'll let you know about the improvement. Also I'm dropping off a stool sample tomorrow too. Will update asap.

I would start with just half-size frequent meals. Too much food at once very frequently exacerbates diarrhea. I would start with just the very soupy rice with a tablespoon of plain pumpkin stirred into the meal (with a very small amount of white chicken cooked in for palatability). The goal is to calm the gut and solidify the poop. Rice and pumpkin are both poop-normalizing. The faster the gut is calmed and the poop is normalized, the faster the diet can be balanced again.

Then check the resulting poop from the day of half-size frequent mainly-soupy-rice meals. Post back -- additions are made based on the results.

PS Use twice the water the rice says so you can cook it for a long time. That resulting rice water in the "gruel" will both hydrate and help bind.

Sorry, forgot she was only 7 months old.

It's been a loooong time since i've had a puppy, so im not going to chime in and say it's too much.
Im sure if it seemed like and abnormal amount someone else would've pointed it out.

let us know how it goes today with the poop!

 Quote: Wendy Lefebvre

im not going to chime in and say it's too much.
Im sure if it seemed like and abnormal amount someone else would've pointed it out.

Not necessarily. I'm not at all a puppy-kibble expert.

But whatever the amount was, I'd cut the the meals in half at first. Smaller and more frequent is way easier on an inflamed gut.