Desperate , Please Help.

[redfoxsocks]

Hello fellow dogzonliners,

I am in a desperate state here and am turning to the DOL community for some well needed help with my great dane.

She is 9 months old and eats 9 cups (per day) of Advance dry doog food, white rice, table scraps and rabbits, my problem is

her bowel movements are VERY VERY runny, to be honest they look like I have a potty calf in my backyard not a dog.

Can someone PLEASE tell me why this is happening when she is on a premium dog food and how I can fix it???

Any help is highly appreciated.

Kind Regards

RFS

[Red Fox]

Hi RFS,

Have you changed her food recently? If so that could be the cause. If not it could be a tummy bug? Try fasting her for a day and then slowly introducing some bland food ie. rice and boiled chicken breast and see if that helps.

If it's an ongoing problem you should contact your vet for a check-up

[poodlefan]

It could be too much fibre. I'd be inclined to remove the white rice and table scraps and see if that makes a difference.

[Kirty]

Just becuse its super premium, doesn't mean it agrees with her system. Some dogs have intolerances. My dog had chronic runs when she was a pup and we tried everything - the only food that didn't upset her tummy was Supercoat. It worked for us, so we used it.

I would be starting an elimination diet. Cut out everything but the dryfood and feed her only dryfood for a few weeks. See if there is any change. If not, you know its the dryfood. I personally have had good experiences with Supercoat and also Bonnie and Cobber. Yes, I know they aren't the fanciest foods, but they work for my dogs.

[rijbiz]

Has she always had the runs or just lately? Maybe its just me but 9 cups a day sounds an awful lot, even for a big dog - maybe she just can't cope with the amount.

Again, just because its Advance doesn't mean its right for your dogs, I took both of mine off Advance as neither did that well on it and swopped them over to Eagle Pack which they do great on. That's just what works for me.

Maybe someone like Sway who has danes could give advice on feeding quantities.

[Kelly_Louise]

Yes would be interesting to know if anything in the diet has changed or not, and how long it has been going on for?

Some food just doesn't sit well so if a tummy bug gets ruled out, I recommend the elimination diet as well - keep a diary of what you are introducing, and what the poos were like.

Sasha gets upset tummies very easily - we tried her on raw at first and we just couldnt get consistent nice firm poos - it was getting quite worrying at one stage I thought it was red meat that was upsetting her, but we ruled that out with elimination. At the moment, the only things we have found that keep her poos lovely is Advance dry food, Advance/Optimum canned food and the VIP roll with vegies. And we have tried nearly everything. That would probably not sit well with some who would never feed VIP rolls or canned food, but what can I do, it's the only food that agrees with her that I've found so far.

I am going to slowly try pet mince with blended vegies soon, see how she goes on that. It's one of the last things I can try.

Maybe a trip to the vet first to see if there is a tummy bug? Then go into elimination diet and see how your big girl goes?

ETA - that does sound like alot of food (9 cups) - I"ve never owned a dane but that just seems way too much to me??

Edited June 17, 2009 by Kelly_Louise

[puggy_puggy]

Rabbit is a rich meat. It could be causing the runs.

I would be getting rid of the rice and table scraps. If you want to feed things other then dry food try chicken necks, chicken carcusses or other raw meaty bones.

[persephone]

The first step would be to gather up a sample ,and head to the vets....

Failing an infection or digestive problem....

then as said- do a good look at the diet, and eliminate food which upsets her....but this has to be done in the correct manner,and over some time.

[stormie]

The first step would be to gather up a sample ,and head to the vets....

Failing an infection or digestive problem....

then as said- do a good look at the diet, and eliminate food which upsets her....but this has to be done in the correct manner,and over some time.

Agree this Persephone. You could be dealing with worms, tummy bug etc etc. First things first - rule out any of these by taking a stool sample to your vet. Once that comes back all clear, you could then start looking at potential food intolerances.

Being a young growing dane, where possible I'd try to stick to a giant puppy food to encourage proper growth.

[Rappie]

It could certainly be a dietary issue, but I would rule out a medical problem first.

Drop a faecal sample in to the vet - they can do a faecal flotation and rule in or out any intestinal parasites as a cause for the chronic diarrhoea.

If that is negative and your vet doesn't feel that any further investigation is necessary then I would look into changing the diet.

[all that glitters]

9 cups sounds like heaps to me too, but it depends what the guide on the bag says in terms of what she should be getting.

Have u recently increased the amount of food she gets? Sudden increases in the amount of food being given or being given too much can cause runny poos easily

[doglova]

One of mine just had chronic diarhea after waiting and first fasting her then feeding rice still no improvement this dog wasn't flat or quiet just pooing very runny vet did a faecal float and yep shes got worms i have a rigorous worm routine but our new puppy came home with worms yes great and so looks like the older one caught it so everyone will be wormed tommorrow as vets given the said dog meds today to slow her bowel so she said worm everyone tommorrow YUCK!!!I'm freaking out. We worm religiously every 3 months so now we will be doing it every month for the next 6 months to break the cycle. Better result as i was thinking she had parvo!!! even though they are all vaccinated they are due in JUly so was getting worried.

[laylatheprincesss]

Hello fellow dogzonliners,

I am in a desperate state here and am turning to the DOL community for some well needed help with my great dane.

She is 9 months old and eats 9 cups (per day) of Advance dry doog food, white rice, table scraps and rabbits, my problem is

her bowel movements are VERY VERY runny, to be honest they look like I have a potty calf in my backyard not a dog.

Can someone PLEASE tell me why this is happening when she is on a premium dog food and how I can fix it???

Any help is highly appreciated.

Kind Regards

RFS

I had a post on here a week ago about both of my dogs having runny and STINKY poos and VERY stinky farts, one was a great dane x bull mastiff, whom I had recently acquired, when I got him I had fed him the "woofbix" brand of dry dog food that he came with for 3 or so days and he had good poos and no smelly farts, then I swapped him gradually (over a week) onto advance large/ giant breed growth dry food and within 3 days he was as stinky as my other dog who is also on advance So i am just guessing that food doesn't agree with them? I am sorry I know this doesn't help your problem and I would do what other people have suggested re a stool sample to the vet as a first thing, and then the elimination diet, I am currenty in the process of changing my dogs diet to a kibble meal in the morning which is 2/3 premium food and 1/3 cheaper brand (with no artificial colours, flavours etc) the cheaper brand has a lesser protein amount, in an attempt to make their meal not so "rich" for them, I am also going to incorporate the night meal being ground up chicken carcass mixed with rice as this has a soothing attempt on the digestive system while still offering nutritional benefits of the bone etc from the chicken.

In the end I will just have to tweak it until I find what works for my dogs but i do not want to completely let go of the super premium food at the moment as the dogs are only 8 months old.

Good luck and I hope your girl feels better soon

P.s (is there any chance she could be eating anything else? in the backyard etc?, mine will eat horse poo, sticks, grass, vinyl off my chairs outside and the pedal of my bike has also had a chmp which could also upset her tummy.....they have a million toys and now the bike, chairs and all the sticks i could find are gone so I am HOPING they just chew the toys.......but i doubt it )

[Danois]

Around 8-9 cups of food (premium kibble) is about standard for a growing dane.

My 10 month old gets 8 cups a day - he's 56kg and lean.

[sas]

9 cups sounds like heaps to me too, but it depends what the guide on the bag says in terms of what she should be getting.

Have u recently increased the amount of food she gets? Sudden increases in the amount of food being given or being given too much can cause runny poos easily

For a growing Dane that is normal.

[Guest Ams]

One of my dogs had giardia when 6 months old. No amt of treatment or diet was helping stop runny poos. Under vet care he was on chicken and rice for nearly two weeks with no appreciable difference and we were getting worried that as a puppy he was not getting sufficient nutrients.

I finally got the s**ts (metaphorically speaking) and gave him an Inner Health Plus tablet... next day poos were much better. A second tablet on the second day and all was absolutely fine. He just needed his gut flora replenished.

[rijbiz]

I finally got the s**ts (metaphorically speaking) and gave him an Inner Health Plus tablet... next day poos were much better. A second tablet on the second day and all was absolutely fine. He just needed his gut flora replenished.

As soon as mine get a little loose, I put them on the Inner Health too. Definately seems to help.

[all that glitters]

9 cups sounds like heaps to me too, but it depends what the guide on the bag says in terms of what she should be getting.

Have u recently increased the amount of food she gets? Sudden increases in the amount of food being given or being given too much can cause runny poos easily

For a growing Dane that is normal.

Wow! Incredible hey They are massive though! (and beautiful)

[TigerJack]

My Dane was constantly getting diarhoea but then he was 14 and did have multiple cancers. He got the runs for about the last 3 years of his life and it was always after the slightest change in his diet. I couldn't let him eat anything other than the nutro lamb and rice for sensitive stomachs. I had to watch him like a hawk so he didn't get any treats or scraps from anyone.

My vet put me onto a product called Peptosyl which is a pink coloured liquid that you add to their meals as soon as you see runny poos and you keep adding it to their food until the runs stop. I think it is a bit like mylanta for people, quite soothing to the gut. Worked for Sam but it took about 3 days each time. My vet sold it in tiny little 250ml bottles and Sam needed about 30ml per dose (twice a day) so I started buying it online and then you can get a one litre bottle for not much more than the vet charged for the 250ml. Think it was vet products direct that I got it from. Word of warning, a Dane who doesn't want medicine squirted down his throat with a syringe is going to leave you wearing alot of pink sticky goo. I just tipped it onto his kibble and he ate it no problem.

I echo what others have said though, I first had him checked by the vet and the stool sample checked for bugs etc. It was just Sammy's dodgy old sensitive gut and was likely from metastases from his cancers. I wasn't putting him through any more major surgery as he was 14, pretty amazing for a Dane. I miss my Sammy but I don't miss cleaning up those gigantic poopy puddles.