Apologies in advance for the long post, but would appreciate some feedback.
My pup is 14 months old, and since he was about 3-4 months of age, has had ongoing issues with loose stool. It's not quite diarrhea (usually) but copious amounts of soft-serve consistency poop, multiple times per walk. You know, the kind that looks like it came from an elephant and not a dog, the kind you have absolutely no hope of ever getting off the grass. He came home at 8 1/2 weeks on Eukanuba large breed puppy, and my guess is that what I though might be a sensitivity to that food was more likely to have been overfeeding and/or too many rich training treats (chicken liver). He went through a course of metro and we added probiotics, and for a while he was on Royal Canin low-fat GI food. It was about a month or so, and it was just to get his gut calmed down, but he lost too much weight then as a pup, and there was not nearly enough protein, which is why we couldn't keep him on it and switched him to Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach salmon & rice. Well, that food did not agree with him at all. For the next 5 months or so, it was a constant struggle, and his poop was never good. More rounds of metro. Different probiotic. Poop was tested multiple times and came back clean. My vet did a fecal panel which tests for everything, came back clean. Tested for EPI. Tested for Addison's. All negative. Finally with nothing left to try, we switched him to RC hydrolyzed protein, and his poop improved within 24 hours. By a week, he was fine.
He has been on RC hydrolyzed protein now since the beginning of June. He's had the occasional issue, but never like before. However, I would prefer not to keep him on hydrolyzed soy protein forever, and my vet agreed. That said, any time I try to switch him - slowly - loose, voluminous amounts of poop again. My vet said to try a novel protein, which is the common recommendation after 12 weeks on hydrolyzed. So, since he already had chicken and salmon, I started with Fromm Four-Star Zealambder (lamb and oats). He seemed to be tolerating it well, but then at about a week in, when I was still at only about 60% hydrolyzed/40% Fromm, he went back to messy poop. I then tried Fromm beef. Same issue. Then Canidae Bison & Barley. I actually thought the bison might be working for a week, but no. When it got bad yesterday on the bison (still only feeding 1/4 cup for each of 2 feedings), I added some Tylan powder which firmed everything up quickly, but obviously I cannot use Tylan powder as a permanent food additive
I'm at a loss at this point. I had tried the Fromm beef because interestingly I had started to feed him steak as a training treat - just regular steak for stir fry, cooked in nothing and not seasoned - and it didn't seem to bother his stomach while on the hydrolyzed protein. So I thought hmm, maybe try beef kibble. So I wonder if there's not something in the fillers or grains in the kibble, and not the protein source, that is causing the issues? I've had him on chicken (Eukanuba), salmon (Purina Pro Plan), beef (Fromm), lamb (Fromm), and bison (Canidae), and all caused issues. It's hard to imagine that all of these proteins would be an issue. Also of note: none of his littermates are experiencing digestive issues.
My breeder thinks that maybe these foods are too rich for him, and suggested going "cheaper," like Iams. I'm not convinced that Iams is very good quality at all, so I'm a little reluctant. He does seem sensitive to fatty foods, though. I have always given him string cheese for training, which he has been fine with until I recently bought full-fat string cheese, and I noticed that his stomach is more sensitive to that. I also tried freeze dried cheese treats (1 ingredient only) since he seemed to normally tolerate string cheese, and his poop would get loose on that, too. And his first bout of diarrhea as a 3-month old, I believe was due to the Biljac chicken liver treats I was using for training. So the fat content, or maybe the source of fat, may be a component here. That said, of the different foods we have tried, the hydrolyzed has, by far, the highest fat content.
Two other things that came to mind: fiber and probiotics. Too much fiber can cause loose stools and diarrhea, and interestingly the foods lowest in fiber were the ones he did better on: RC low-fat GI (1.9%), RC hydrolyzed (3.1%), and Eukanuba large breed puppy 3.7%) vs the higher fiber ones: Purina PP SSS (4.75%), Canidae Bison (5%), Fromm beef (5.5%), and Fromm lamb (6%). It might also explain why adding plain steak as a training treat/toppers didn't cause him issues. Also, I give him a supplemental probiotic (Proviable), so perhaps food with added probiotics is overdoing it as well, since too much probiotics can also cause diarrhea and loose stool as well. From what I can tell, both the RC low-fat GI and hydrolyzed protein don't contain probiotics, nor does the Eukanuba Large Breed puppy. The Purina Pro Plan, both Fromms, and the Canidae all contain probiotics.
So any input here would be appreciated. It's getting expensive to buy different foods, because I try transitioning so slowly that I only end up using a few cups before wasting the rest of bag. I try to buy the 4 lb bags if I can find them, but even then we're still talking $20/bag. And some only come in 20 lbs or so. I will pay what I need to for good food, of course, if I could just find one that agreed with my pup.
My pup is 14 months old, and since he was about 3-4 months of age, has had ongoing issues with loose stool. It's not quite diarrhea (usually) but copious amounts of soft-serve consistency poop, multiple times per walk. You know, the kind that looks like it came from an elephant and not a dog, the kind you have absolutely no hope of ever getting off the grass. He came home at 8 1/2 weeks on Eukanuba large breed puppy, and my guess is that what I though might be a sensitivity to that food was more likely to have been overfeeding and/or too many rich training treats (chicken liver). He went through a course of metro and we added probiotics, and for a while he was on Royal Canin low-fat GI food. It was about a month or so, and it was just to get his gut calmed down, but he lost too much weight then as a pup, and there was not nearly enough protein, which is why we couldn't keep him on it and switched him to Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach salmon & rice. Well, that food did not agree with him at all. For the next 5 months or so, it was a constant struggle, and his poop was never good. More rounds of metro. Different probiotic. Poop was tested multiple times and came back clean. My vet did a fecal panel which tests for everything, came back clean. Tested for EPI. Tested for Addison's. All negative. Finally with nothing left to try, we switched him to RC hydrolyzed protein, and his poop improved within 24 hours. By a week, he was fine.
He has been on RC hydrolyzed protein now since the beginning of June. He's had the occasional issue, but never like before. However, I would prefer not to keep him on hydrolyzed soy protein forever, and my vet agreed. That said, any time I try to switch him - slowly - loose, voluminous amounts of poop again. My vet said to try a novel protein, which is the common recommendation after 12 weeks on hydrolyzed. So, since he already had chicken and salmon, I started with Fromm Four-Star Zealambder (lamb and oats). He seemed to be tolerating it well, but then at about a week in, when I was still at only about 60% hydrolyzed/40% Fromm, he went back to messy poop. I then tried Fromm beef. Same issue. Then Canidae Bison & Barley. I actually thought the bison might be working for a week, but no. When it got bad yesterday on the bison (still only feeding 1/4 cup for each of 2 feedings), I added some Tylan powder which firmed everything up quickly, but obviously I cannot use Tylan powder as a permanent food additive
I'm at a loss at this point. I had tried the Fromm beef because interestingly I had started to feed him steak as a training treat - just regular steak for stir fry, cooked in nothing and not seasoned - and it didn't seem to bother his stomach while on the hydrolyzed protein. So I thought hmm, maybe try beef kibble. So I wonder if there's not something in the fillers or grains in the kibble, and not the protein source, that is causing the issues? I've had him on chicken (Eukanuba), salmon (Purina Pro Plan), beef (Fromm), lamb (Fromm), and bison (Canidae), and all caused issues. It's hard to imagine that all of these proteins would be an issue. Also of note: none of his littermates are experiencing digestive issues.
My breeder thinks that maybe these foods are too rich for him, and suggested going "cheaper," like Iams. I'm not convinced that Iams is very good quality at all, so I'm a little reluctant. He does seem sensitive to fatty foods, though. I have always given him string cheese for training, which he has been fine with until I recently bought full-fat string cheese, and I noticed that his stomach is more sensitive to that. I also tried freeze dried cheese treats (1 ingredient only) since he seemed to normally tolerate string cheese, and his poop would get loose on that, too. And his first bout of diarrhea as a 3-month old, I believe was due to the Biljac chicken liver treats I was using for training. So the fat content, or maybe the source of fat, may be a component here. That said, of the different foods we have tried, the hydrolyzed has, by far, the highest fat content.
Two other things that came to mind: fiber and probiotics. Too much fiber can cause loose stools and diarrhea, and interestingly the foods lowest in fiber were the ones he did better on: RC low-fat GI (1.9%), RC hydrolyzed (3.1%), and Eukanuba large breed puppy 3.7%) vs the higher fiber ones: Purina PP SSS (4.75%), Canidae Bison (5%), Fromm beef (5.5%), and Fromm lamb (6%). It might also explain why adding plain steak as a training treat/toppers didn't cause him issues. Also, I give him a supplemental probiotic (Proviable), so perhaps food with added probiotics is overdoing it as well, since too much probiotics can also cause diarrhea and loose stool as well. From what I can tell, both the RC low-fat GI and hydrolyzed protein don't contain probiotics, nor does the Eukanuba Large Breed puppy. The Purina Pro Plan, both Fromms, and the Canidae all contain probiotics.
So any input here would be appreciated. It's getting expensive to buy different foods, because I try transitioning so slowly that I only end up using a few cups before wasting the rest of bag. I try to buy the 4 lb bags if I can find them, but even then we're still talking $20/bag. And some only come in 20 lbs or so. I will pay what I need to for good food, of course, if I could just find one that agreed with my pup.
