Good Morning,

I have been having issues with my puppy, basically his stool has been pudding style for last few months. I took him to the vet, and we tried everything to help him along. I have tried Iams, Nutro, and Euk. But none of them worked to firm up his stool.

Three days ago, I started slowly switching him over to Eagle Pack, and his stool have become firm. But the eagle pack food i am feeding him is adult food, and he is only 6 months. Is this ok for the pup, or am I going to cause vitamin or mineral deficiencies?

Josh

Dude!! Your are a trip! You found food that works then question the manner of that food after you said you are working with a vet!! What did the VET!!! say about it!! Sorry for the rant but dang!!

quote:

Three days ago, I started slowly switching him over to Eagle Pack, and his stool have become firm. But the eagle pack food i am feeding him is adult food, and he is only 6 months. Is this ok for the pup, or am I going to cause vitamin or mineral deficiencies?

I'm a breeder and don't feed any of my puppies puppy food as it's usually too high in protein and fat and can cause both growth problems and loose stools.

I only feed good quality adult food. So, yes, the eagle pack is just fine.

Kathy Miller
Sandy Oak Chesapeakes

Feed him the cheap shit and you'll be happy. Or you can trade your dog in and get a lab.

at 6 months old and 4 different brands of food, I would expect pudding stool.

Just get him some good old fashioned purina dog chow and he'll firm up just fine....

quote:

Just get him some good old fashioned purina dog chow and he'll firm up just fine....

I raised my first chessie on Purina Dog Chow, but knowing what I know now, wouldn't feed that crap....it's all wheat and fillers.

But good points.....4 foods in 6 months, not a surprise you have puddles for poop!

If the Eagle Pack is working, stick with it and don't bother checking back into this thread or it will only confuse you further!!

Kathy Miller

Kathy, thank you for your years of experience and opinion. It is much appreciate. And thank you to all of those who offered true help.

For Moscowitz and Parkin, both of you can kiss my butt. Someone asks for opinions, and the must be fools! LOL, some of the people on here are a joke! I am in the healthcare field, and the truth of the matter is even if a doctor gives advice you still need to get a second opinion.

Once again, thanks for the true advice offered!

Josh

Honestly, the first pup I had a was worried about feeding the best. Same as the food we eat. Read the label and evaluate ingredients. I went through a phase when Kaie had a sensitive stomach. I started feeding her cheap purina food for a week and her stool firmed up. I slowly started mixing the controlled growth puppy food in which I fed her until she was over a year. I am in agreement with Kathy that Purina isn't the first choice but, many a dog has gotten old and been in good health eating Purina.

I have tried the high end all natural venison blend, duck blend and some other. the only difference I could tell was that Kaie seemed to stink more when she ate the expensive specialty foods. Maybe she produced more oils but, her coat didn't grow in any better and I didn't notice any performance changes.

I have always gone back to NutraNuggets High Protein. She is my second dog who I have fed them to with good results. Both my Chessies have been considered to be good looking, energetic working dogs. The nutritional value is similar to many other brands.

I am a believer that the Grizzly all natural salmon oil really helps with Kaie's coat. I put a few squirts on every bowl. It is a little spendy but, I am convinced it works. She is never dried out and dull looking unless I have run out of the oil for an extended period. Sometimes, it is hard for me to find in stores.

Also, don't switch foods abruptly. Always mix the last 1/4 bag of the previous brand of food with a fresh new bag. It is easier on the dogs stomach. Switching immediately to a new brand would be like you eating a bowl of smoking hot chili with a big cup of black coffee in the morning, it doesn't produce good results in the dogs insides.....just my thougths, Paul

Josh, sorry if you don't like my answer but take a look at your own post. You have been through 5 different foods, working with a vet, and went with what worked i guess. What Nutro did you try? What foods from other brands did you try? I am sure if you were working with a vet his opinion on basic food should be pretty sound unless you didnt tell him what you were doing. This board is always open for good questions and Kathy and CB (and even moscowitz) gave good answers. I personally would not take the advice from a message board over a competant vet that i have been working with for this particular matter. This is a great place to pick peoples minds for advice though. (Don't get me wrong) It just seems you have already answered your own question and looking for validation on cheap food. JMO John

Eagle Pack is 32 dollars for a 15 pound bag around here. It is far from cheap!!!!!! I used Nutro Large breed puppy, and and he was on it for a full 40 pound bag. That 40 pound bag cost me 30 dollars. He was on Iams smart puppy for over 2 months and I was paying 20 bucks for a 17 pound bag of it!!!! See my point, I could care less about the money. I just want him to be as healthy as he can be.

My vet advised me to change the food. And I introduced all of them very slowly. It seems like he might not tolerate chicken based food well, that might be why the duck and rice eagle pack is working so well!

And I am not comparing my vet to this internet source, I am only seeking advice from some of the breeders on here. The know the breed itself way better than any vet could!

Like I said, I just want whats best for my dog!

Josh

I am glad you found your answer! I still dont feel in this case a breeder would be of any help as this breed isn't so special that its eating habits are that complicated or special accept perhaps in the case of coat care. This would be entirely up to the individual dog, his owner and his vet. The way you phrased your question was really no different than this,
"hi im John and i am lactose intolerant, what should i do, I stopped eating lots of things but it wasn't till i quit drinking milk did i start to get better" Any way glad you found your answer and i'm sure the dog thanks you for it! Your problem is much easier to clean up now that you fixed it.

LOL! Actually I wouldn't take the advice of most vets on food as they usually recommend only Science Diet because Hills has gotten themselves totally locked in the teaching colleges, but that's another story.

Bottom line is that unless the veterinarians specialize in nutrition, they study very little on food and nutrition.

So, I don't know if that is good for a recommendation or not.

Food is confusing unless you make it a point to learn all of the components involved. I can say I have done this to the best of my ability! Most people don't know what to look for so they have to rely on recommendations of other people, the feed store, or their vet. And, will probably get about 20 different "expert" opionions!

Kathy Miller

And, then you have other things like intolerance to ingredients, possible low thyroid, too much protein, too much fat, too much soy, wheat allergies, too many calories in the food, and the list goes on and on.

Josh, it might not have been the chicken, but could have been anything else in the foods, including feeding too much at one sitting!

Kathy Miller

Kathy you are right! I guess my main point was he was doing trial and error with his vet. It worked! Then to many cooks in the kitchen. Why confuse a success? Vets like doctors push what the companies pay them to push! John

quote:

you are right! I guess my main point was he was doing trial and error with his vet. It worked! Then to many cooks in the kitchen. Why confuse a success? Vets like doctors push what the companies pay them to push! John

The Eagle Pack may also contain a high content of beet pulp which is a binding agent the put in some dog foods...doesn't mean the dog is properly assimilating this food though! It just stops the diarrhea!

Kathy Miller

Good point Kathy, In a post a couple years ago i asked about over feeding. (her weight) I have always used Nutro Natural. Turns out widgeon was probably suffering from a potential tyroid problem that no one caught. So... In comes the vet for evaluation? I would think a stool sample could help to remove doubt. Possible a parasite? Since this has only been a recent occurence. John

quote:

In a post a couple years ago i asked about over feeding. (her weight) I have always used Nutro Natural. Turns out widgeon was probably suffering from a potential tyroid problem that no one caught. So... In comes the vet for evaluation? I would think a stool sample could help to remove doubt. Possible a parasite? Since this has only been a recent occurence

For Thyroid, blood is drawn and sent out for testing....I don't know the mechanics, but Josh's dog is a bit young to be worrying about a thyroid problem. Allergies can also come into play, and hereagin, blood is drawn and sent out for blood allergy testing for either environmental factors, or food intolerances, or both. Again, Josh's pup is a bit too young to be worrying about this.

However food too high in protein/fat can cause diarrhea especially in pups, and I'm inclined to thing the large breed puppy food he was feeding is guilty of this.

Protein levels can ranywhere from 12% to 36% in dog foods and fat levels can run anywhere from probably 8% to 26%, and all within the same brands in many instances. Meat content can be Chicken, Beef, Lam, duck, venison, Salmon, buffalo or ?? you name it. Carbohydrate content can be corn, wheat, barley, white rice, brown rice, potatoe, or none at all if it's one of those new high protein foods. A food with 24% protein/14% fat can have a higher calorie content than a different brand of the same protein and fat levels. High calories can cause diarrhea. Wheat or corn can cause diarrhea! Too much food at one sitting can cause diarrhea. Ideally, a dog should be able to eat anything, but many can't.

Since most people don't know how to read the labels, they either just pull something off the shelf because of something in the packaging that catches their eye, or they get sold a bill of goods by a sales person who doesn't know what they are talking about and doesn't know the person's dog, or by a vet who thinks he knows because he's a vet, or by the breeder who may or may not have known what he was talking about!! I suspect that Josh and a lot of other people fall under all of these categories.

On another board, many chessie owners are pushing the new grain free foods. I don't know that's the answer either as I am not yet willing to concede that dogs' don't need carbohydrates in their diet. I know some people who've ended up with horrific diarrhea on these foods!

I won't feed foods with corn, wheat, soy or beet pulp, and prefer chicken and rice, or barley, oatmeal or potato, though do also like foods with either duck or salmon for the meat content. I don't feed lamb as I have two dogs that cost me a fortune in vet bills to find out they can't eat lamb!! I also like something in the 24%-26% protein range and 14%-16% in the fat range unless it's for an older dog, especially of it's a spayed bitch as their metabolism drops. So rather than to try to cut back on the quantity, I go to a lower protein/fat food (21%/11% or so) so I can continue on the same quantity without ending up with an overweight dog. It's been my experience that puppies can end up with growth problems on food higher than my average for most dogs.

What am I feeding? Well, just went off Canidae after Canidae changed/screwed their formulas totally up causing ongoing diarrhea in all my dogs, and I finally went back to the Chicken Soup Food. My dogs are doing well on it, the sacks are 35 pounds, and the price is reasonable....all factors to be considered when one is feeding 7 dogs on a beer income! I actually went to Prairie Chicken and Rice first, but at 30 pound sacks that run nearly $40 a sack I realized I couldn't afford that, so just switched again to the Chicken Soup food. They have a senior brand, an adult brand, and a puppy brand, though I only feed the puppy brand to my lactating bitches and not the puppies. The food is chicken and rice, with barley and fish as the primary ingredients, and the dogs love it.

Bottom line is that I'm tired of reading dog food sacks so I'll stick with this until I have a good reason not to.

Kathy

Kathy you are exactly why I wanted to get an opinion on this page!!! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with me. It is great to see someone teach their trade.

Kent I have no idea what to say about you. I have read other posts by you, and you seem so intelligent. Then you go and make another childish comment, you seem to have so much experience to share. Why not share it and stop slandering me! LOL your a joke, I don't need your advice nor do i want it! I am just hoping your brain grows up to be as big as your mouth!

Thanks,

Josh

LOL! JOsh, you probably got more than you wanted, but......it's all about food!

Kathy

quote:

Originally posted by gauge:
Good Morning,

I have been having issues with my puppy, basically his stool has been pudding style for last few months. I took him to the vet, and we tried everything to help him along. I have tried Iams, Nutro, and Euk. But none of them worked to firm up his stool.

Josh

Pick a food, any food! Add a little cooked rice until there is a firm stool.

JMO

Tim
(noy a vet but I've stayed @Holiday Inn Express)