Continual diarrhoea with food change

Hi

We have had our lovely CKCS pup for four weeks now (she is now 12 weeks). We have recently changed her food from Pedigree (yuk!) to JWB. We did it really slowly over the last 10 days changing the balance of old for new food bit by bit. However almost straight away she got diarrhoea and it has continued ever since to have very loose stools - sometimes mucusy but generally not. Most of the time she has been happy in herself and eating and drinking fine - although she generally doesn't eat masses and seems to only want two meals a day.

Yesterday she was very lethargic and was even not wanting to drink. Fortunately on a recommendation we gave her rice and boiled chicken which she loved and drank some more (mostly from our hands!) but still today she has diarrhoea. She is still eating the dried food in between. Not sure what to do?

Could she be 'allergic' to something in the James Wellbeloved? Should we just persist and this is relatively normal during a food change?

Any advice be much appreciated!

Thank

If you transitioned slowly I wouldn't think that she should still be having such loose stools. Is the protein the same in both foods? I found out (through a lot of trial and error) that Rylie can't eat beef. It took me awhile to figure it out because I've never had a dog that couldn't eat something. If she is doing well on the chicken and her stools are good you may want to look for a chicken based food and start with that.

If she has had diarrhoea for a few days you probably want to ring the vet. It doesn't take long for theses wee guys to dehydrate.

Agree that vet may be needed now...

She may have an infection and need to rule that out.
If not an infection, you may have to do long trial on what she can eat. Varies by dog...sometimes a few allergies and sometimes irritable bowel...or both. We had chronic diarrhea with Gracie for 6 weeks that was triggered by food allergies to several processed proteins...chicken, beef and any dairy. These are pretty common allergens in processed food...along with gluten and soy. All made her worse...not better.

Took several weeks but found out home-boiled lamb and rice worked great until I tried converting that to kibble lamb/rice. She just has trouble with processed food, even very high quality, grain-free kibble like the brand you use. The only thing working well for her is a raw food diet with a bit of hypoallergenic kibble. I buy the raw food medallions frozen...are already balanced diet with some healthy additives.

Good luck in getting this resolved but do make sure she did not eat something that is causing a bacterial problem and is hydrated.

Has she been dewormed lately? I know it started when the food changed but it could have just been a coincidence.

Thanks...

Thanks for replies so far.

She was wormed last week.

Food is turkey and rice so presuming that as turkey is so bland isn't likely to offend but then you never know. Might be that processed food is the problem. Not sure that having to cook for the dog as well as the kids would be great!! ;-)

Think a trip or call to the vets might be on its way!

sihalls said:

Thanks for replies so far.

She was wormed last week.

Food is turkey and rice so presuming that as turkey is so bland isn't likely to offend but then you never know. Might be that processed food is the problem. Not sure that having to cook for the dog as well as the kids would be great!! ;-)

Think a trip or call to the vets might be on its way!

Click to expand...

You can get the raw food diets premade I bet... you do not have to make it. There are options out there. The problem is that turkey and rice alone is not a balanced diet. You would need supplements. But ask around here on the board about options.

On the other hand if she was doing well on Pedigree you may want to go back to that for awhile and trying switching again when she is older. In the end the best food for the dog is the one it does well on. Commercial foods are formulated to be completely balanced so you won't have to worry that she isn't getting everything you need.

sihalls said:

Hi

We have had our lovely CKCS pup for four weeks now (she is now 12 weeks). We have recently changed her food from Pedigree (yuk!) to JWB. We did it really slowly over the last 10 days changing the balance of old for new food bit by bit. However almost straight away she got diarrhoea and it has continued ever since to have very loose stools - sometimes mucusy but generally not. Most of the time she has been happy in herself and eating and drinking fine - although she generally doesn't eat masses and seems to only want two meals a day.

Yesterday she was very lethargic and was even not wanting to drink. Fortunately on a recommendation we gave her rice and boiled chicken which she loved and drank some more (mostly from our hands!) but still today she has diarrhoea. She is still eating the dried food in between. Not sure what to do?

Could she be 'allergic' to something in the James Wellbeloved? Should we just persist and this is relatively normal during a food change?

Any advice be much appreciated!

Thank

Click to expand...

If the lethargy continues you would be wise to have such a young puppy checked out at the vet.

This reaction is not normal if there has been a carefully managed change of diet and you should not persist.

There is nothing wrong with Pedigree, and as Mindysmom says the best food for your puppy is the one that agrees with her digestion.

Hope she is better soon.

I know that this is (again) possibly an apples to oranges comparison, but on our boxer forum, JWB was often just too rich(? can't think of the right word) for a lot of people's dogs, and they had to go back to something with more fiber/filler (and a boxer with a torn up tummy is not for the faint of heart, lol). My mom's cat (again- apples/oranges) can only eat the grocery store brand food- when she tries to move him to something "better" for him, his tummy goes all to pieces. I'd also try going back to the Pedigree, and yes, if she continues to be lethargic, take her to the vet asap, she may need fluids. Hopefully the food change is all it is (((hugs))) and she's feeling better soon.

Perhaps as mentioned, look into the meat sources or think about a raw diet? My dog did awful on kibble (loose stool, tummy upset etc) and does awesome on raw. Not trying to create an argument here..I know its a matter of opinion..but I dislike pedigree with a passion LOL (along with most of the grocery store brand foods to be honest) I run a pet food store that specializes in more natural foods and spend a huge amount of time reading up on nutrition, articles put out by holistic vets, go to nutritional seminars etc and I'm such a huge believer in feeding your pets high quality food. When you start looking into what's actually in these foods (often diseased, sick and euthanized animals, artificial additives, added sugar etc :yuk it's shocking. The AAFCO trials that certify foods to be complete and balanced is sorely lacking IMO. Again..I know opinions differ on this and I'm not trying to create drama or anything lol. It's just a topic I believe strongly in

AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials) says that a maintenance dog food or cat food can 'pass' if they meet either the maintenance feeding trial protocol (26 weeks in duration) or the puppy/kitten protocol (10 weeks).

Next, 1/4 of the dogs starting the test don't have to finish regardless of reason and their results won't be included in the final results.

Pets need to maintain body weight (during the 10 week period) within 75% of control group. And pets need to pass various basic blood tests upon completion of the 10 week feeding trial.

Basically, in order for a dog food to pass AAFCO feeding trials claiming nutritional adequacy, 75% of the dogs that start the test must remain healthy...for only 10 weeks. Or to put this another way, 25% or less of the dogs that start the ten week test can become gravely ill and the food will still pass nutritional adequacy.

I don't disagree with much of what you are saying Erin but a grocery store dog food on which your dog thrives is probably better for your dog than a higher quality food that makes your dog ill. When Rylie had his stomach problems last year he had to go on a gastro diet that had corn as the main ingredient. I've spent 15 years NOT ever feeding dogs corn but I had to suck it up because although it was not great for his coat his tummy needed a period of easily digestible food and I do have to say it did wonders in that regard.. My goal was to get him off of it but also to have him go a good couple of months without tummy problems. For Rylie it was trying to switch to raw that set him off and now he can't eat any beef at all (although he used to be okay with cooked beef I've tried that since and he can't tolerate it anymore). Every dog is an individual. Max did fine on the raw. My sister in laws dog is on a prescription vegetarian diet because she can't tolerate any meat protein.

Update

Thanks all for the advice.

We did take Poppy to the vet in the end. Vet said that actually it was very common even with phased change. Wasn't even that fussed about lack of water intake. Apparently if you touch test the gums then they should be moist whereas if the pup is dehydrated then they are really sticky. Good bit of info worth sharing.

Plan of action is to feed her boiled chicken and rice for as many days as it takes to settle down (given that there is no blood in poo and is settling down). Then to slowly re-introduce new food in the chicken and rice. If diarrhoea kicks in again then change the food.

Vet gave pup some paste/medicine as well which is meant to also settle dogs stomach. So far diarrhoea has settled slightly (but not much) although vet thought it could take 5-6 days to do that.

Thanks for the replies and will post more if anything else changes but hoping all gets better soon!

Does the new dog food company offer different varieties (a choice of chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, duck) for you to try? I've been told by staff at a pet food store that it's OK to switch among flavors of the same food, so maybe you could stop and try a different flavor right away. I've heard of dogs being sensitive to chicken, turkey or beef. Mine does well on pheasant and duck but reacts to turkey and chicken. Or you could try the raw diet until you find a kibble that works for her?