Just an update on my 2.5 year old female BC's issues.

[LindaWeasel]

What are you feeding her now? Including any treats/random additions.

How many meals a day?

 

[deka]

Shes been on same diet for a few months, changed her to Aldi working dog dry food about 3 months ago, and Asda tinned food, dry food in morning wet in evening.

She does get random treats.

As for drop it, she generally does know this, if I say it she stops first time and drops whatever she has 2nd time I say it the issue is when she is quick and/or it's hard to tell if she's just sniffing or wanting food, generally if it looks like shes digging with her nose I move her along.

 

[LindaWeasel]

As always, one of your issues is that, for some reason, you keep changing her food….

Can you find a food that suits her and stick with it. All dogs will occasionally get soft poops or diarrhoea and it’s not usually a reason to change food as their stomach will settle once the flare up (with or without medication) has passed.

Your best bet at this stage is to find a food that is of reasonable quality, and has none of the ingredients that she had previously eaten.

Check out James Wellbeloved. A 10kg bag usually lasts my 20kg dog about 6 weeks, so it doesn’t actually work out that expensive. We are currently on the grain-free Fish and Veg. I feed nothing else for his regular meals because he has a sensitive stomach; apart from a sprinkle of Pooch and Mutt Bionic Biotic supplement.

If he has diarrhoea for no obvious reason (which happens to all dogs occasionally) I put him on Chappie tinned for a few days then gradually reintroduce the JWB kibble. I give him a couple of doses of Prokoline, which I always have in the cupboard, for the first day (or second day if still needed) and that usually fixes things.

One other thing to bear in mind is that most poo issues in dogs are caused by over-feeding, and the ‘suggested’ amount on a bag/tin is not necessarily right for every dog.

 

[deka]

As always, one of your issues is that, for some reason, you keep changing her food….

Can you find a food that suits her and stick with it. All dogs will occasionally get soft poops or diarrhoea and it’s not usually a reason to change food as their stomach will settle once the flare up (with or without medication) has passed.

Your best bet at this stage is to find a food that is of reasonable quality, and has none of the ingredients that she had previously eaten.

Check out James Wellbeloved. A 10kg bag usually lasts my 20kg dog about 6 weeks, so it doesn’t actually work out that expensive. We are currently on the grain-free Fish and Veg. I feed nothing else for his regular meals because he has a sensitive stomach; apart from a sprinkle of Pooch and Mutt Bionic Biotic supplement.

If he has diarrhoea for no obvious reason (which happens to all dogs occasionally) I put him on Chappie tinned for a few days then gradually reintroduce the JWB kibble. I give him a couple of doses of Prokoline, which I always have in the cupboard, for the first day (or second day if still needed) and that usually fixes things.

One other thing to bear in mind is that most poo issues in dogs are caused by over-feeding, and the ‘suggested’ amount on a bag/tin is not necessarily right for every dog.

I don't change her food much, every 3 months or so as people recommend certain brands.

The amount I give her I have always been confused about, at last check she was 17kg and I give her 2 large handfuls of dry food and a tin of wet food but she rarely gains weight.

I also feel stupid, I forgot to say the day after her issues began i.e on a Sunday she was acting cranky and didn't want to poop after dinner, it was Monday she wanted an extra poop in morning and the lunchtime poop was very soft, mostly water and evening one was mostly watery and I gave her some leftover fish I had so that may of set her off, I did also give her some steak as it was her birthday and a tiny amount of dry food, Tuesday was watery each time she went, Wednesday was when she had her accidents, I took her out in morning and she did a half normal poop but partly water, Thursday and Friday was part solid part water.

Other things I forgot to say was about 2 and a half months ago I was giving her vitamins for a few weeks then stopped and gave her supplements instead for a few weeks, noticed her panting a little so stopped them totally.

 

[O2.0]

I don't change her food much, every 3 months or so as people recommend certain brands.

Every 3 months is pretty darned often! Especially for a dog who already has stomach issues. How are you supposed to know what triggers her issues?
Add in some vitamins, some supplements, fish here, steak there... You are all over the place with food and it's no wonder you have no idea what is causing her issues.

Do you know what an elimination diet it?

 

[LindaWeasel]

Don’t listen to people’s recommendation (including mine) if you’ve found a food that suits her.

And when you do, stick with it. My dog has had basically the same food for 14 years.

Dogs don’t need variety….its nice if you can give it but, in the case of a dog who has stomach issues, you’re doing them no favours by chopping and changing the diet.

 

[deka]

The steak was a one off for her birthday, and the fish was just leftovers and I normally don't give her that either I just didn't want to waste what I had.

The upset stomach seemed to occur the day before this it just got worse after so may of been a coincidence.

The vitamins/supplements go back to when she was younger she kept having accidents and soft poop, they helped when she was on them and each time I stopped or changed brands she had issues again and I decided to stop her fully.

I ended up with 1 brand of food before as it seemed to work best for her and she was on that at least 6 months except times when I ran low and was unable to buy more in time so bought a small bag from somewhere or when travelling and I forgot to bring some with me and I can get this with my normal shopping as it's heavy so it can get delivered.

The other reason for her being given supplements is she has always been one for quite soft poop unless it's first thing in morning or late at night.

 

[LindaWeasel]

The steak was a one off for her birthday, and the fish was just leftovers and I normally don't give her that either I just didn't want to waste what I had.

The upset stomach seemed to occur the day before this it just got worse after so may of been a coincidence.

The vitamins/supplements go back to when she was younger she kept having accidents and soft poop, they helped when she was on them and each time I stopped or changed brands she had issues again and I decided to stop her fully.

I ended up with 1 brand of food before as it seemed to work best for her and she was on that at least 6 months except times when I ran low and was unable to buy more in time so bought a small bag from somewhere or when travelling and I forgot to bring some with me and I can get this with my normal shopping as it's heavy so it can get delivered.

The other reason for her being given supplements is she has always been one for quite soft poop unless it's first thing in morning or late at night.

So, lessons learned..

Stick with one food. If it suited her for 6 months then there was no need to change.

Keep stocked up. Honestly, if I suddenly gave my dog a different food he’d probably have diarrhoea for days, possibly bad enough to be a Vet job.

Maybe cut back on supplements, other than a good probiotic and stick with the same one. Dogs need time to build good gut health. An adult dog shouldn’t need random supplements unless there is an obvious issue eg her coat looks a bit poor.

Don’t give table scraps. They will do her most good if you bin them.