Digestive question???

J

jgarrett

Forums Regular
I have a 3 year old female with a bowel problem. Every 2 or 3 days she has a loose bowel movement, not diarrhea more pudding or peanut butter consistancy. Strange part is the next movement will be perfectly formed normal movement. Nothing in her fodd seems to trigger it. She is fed dry "Blue" food and cooked fresh chicken with a little burger mixed in.. She is a healthy, happy little girl with no other problems.
The vet suggested a Probiotic and Pro-Pectlain. Seems to work but gets expensive after a while!!!
I'm not crazy about our local vet but I live in a small town and would have to drive a ways to see another.
 
I agree with your vet. Every dog should get a probiotic daily IMO. There are some very good ones available that aren't expensive, especially if you're only feeding one dog. Chewy and Amazon both offer a wide variety. FortiFlora is the gold standard and the best one around but both Zesty Paws and NutriVet offer excellent daily chews that are much less expensive.

ProPectalin is my go-to remedy for the runs, but I only use it when there's a really loose stool. It also has probiotics in it. I wouldn't give it daily unless your girl has the runs every day.

You can also add a teaspoon on canned pumpkin every day to her food. It's a wonderful superfood and very good for their gastro system. Be sure to buy plain, canned pumpkin and not the pumpkin pie stuff.

What I might consider is a change of diet for her to see if that stops the occasional loose stools. There may be something in the food she's eating that's causing it. Maybe try her on a limited ingredient food and see if that helps.

I've been through the same thing occasionally with my dogs, and a combination of these things usually solves the problem. Good luck and please let us know how she does.
 
You’ve gotten great advice from Ann! I’ll just add one thing…has your vet checked the stool for parasites? Giardia is one that can cause intermittent loose stool. But I definitely agree with Ann on changing out the food, especially if you’ve had the stool checked and there’s no issues with that.
 
As others have said, a stool sample check should be the first action for a definitive yes/no on infection.

If its negative for infection that considering it Blue Buffalo, right? If so, it seems like they have always been either having a recall or had one the past year anytime I've looked in the past 12+ years.
I think there are a number of excellent GF/Non-GF quality foods with long historys and few if any recalls.

Our guy is very food motivated as expected, and we've been giving him Costco/BJ's Broccoli/Cauliflower/Carrot Medley well ground at about 1/2-2/3 cup per meal to both bulk it out so he's satisfied and keeps him very regular and non-runny. Had a couple Giardia/etc, but aside from that never any issue unless I feed him a can 15oz can of Sardines or Mackeral..... Don't.
Dogs are Omnivores, but do have a short GI tract. A $30 Walmart food processor will grind frozen vegetables very fine allowing a massive amount of surface area for a not insignificant amount of vitamines/minerals to be absorbed. You can kill 3 birds with one stone by doing this:
1. More natural non-synthetic vit/min
2. Fiber to help keep things both regular and a little more absorbent
3. You have the ability to tweak the carbs a bit without him/her thinking they're getting shorted
4. Best- You friend will be very, very happy to get a much larger amount of nom-nom each meal
 
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