Loose stool

My 5-month old Sheltie girl has loose stool quite often. Usually her stool is nice and firm in the morning. But in the afternoon or evening, it starts firm, then turns to mushy or loose at the end. Her fluffy pants often get stained. I’ve been feeding her Fromm Gold puppy kibble food because it was recommended by her breeder. I don’t think I’m over feeding her either. The instructions on the bag says 1.25 to 1.75 cups per day based on her age and future weight. I’m feeding her about 1.5 cups per day. I sometimes mix her dry food with boiled chicken breast or canned dog food. If I do that, I’ll reduce the amount of dry food. In the past several days, she was only given dry food, nothing else. But there’s no improvement in terms of her stool consistency late in the day. She’s very healthy and thoroughly checked out by her vet.

I’m considering changing her dry food and may try pumpkin too. I wonder if anyone else had similar issues with their Shelties and were able to resolve the loose stools with a different brand of dry food? I’m not considering a raw diet at this point. Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

 

Thank you for your input. My breeder also suggested 1 cup per day. However, when I sent my dog for checkup at her vet, the vet said she was under weight. She was 13 inches tall at that time and weighed 9.4 pounds only. She pointed out that her pelvis and ribs all indicated she’s too thin. So I started to feed her more and she subsequently gained some weight. Based on the growth chart, looks like she will be about 16 inches tall at shoulders when fully grown.

 

Giardia is one thing we didn’t test. I’ll get her tested. Thanks a lot.

 

Thank you all for chiming in. My puppy’s test result came back negative this morning. She doesn’t have any parasite or worms (including giardia and bunch of others). I decide to try a limited ingredient diet (lamb) to see if her stool will get better. I read some old posts in the forum. Some dogs with similar symptoms were allergic to chicken and once the owners switched their food, their stool firmed up. I’ll see how it goes.

 

I bought a bag of Acana Singles Lamb to try out. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.