Advice needed... (Warning puppy poo talk!!)

[grracee]

My little girl, Esme, is now 15 weeks old. For the past couple of weeks I've had problems with her poo's! Basically, she went from doing perfect solid stools to diarrhea/very soft stools. To start with I thought perhaps it was just an upset stomach so did the usual bland meals, chicken and rice to see if it would settle it down. Well it seemed to just get worse so a trip to the vets. Temp checked, all fine. Esme is perfectly fine in her character, no change there. She was given a paste for the diarrhea to try and settle her gut down, (have used this before on Toby and worked well). A few days later, there was no change...it was still very loose and blood in it so off back to the vets! They thought it may be a worm that normal wormers don't get rid of as I'd wormed her the weekend before with milbemax so she was put on a course of panacur for three days, more paste and a G.I food to help calm the gut. Her stools did slightly improve but then went straight back to loose! I was advised (by other dog owners) that perhaps it was actually a dietary issue and that she may perhaps be intolerant to the chicken in the puppy foods and to try a fish based food instead. So I've started her on that, and it is improving slowly but not hugely. I just worry for her really as it can't be nice going to the toilet like that all the time, as I've said she's absolutely fine in herself no worries there it's jsut puzzling me as to what could be causing it! The vets said if it carries on that they will need to do a stool sample, I spoke to my breeder the other day and she said that she wouldn't worry about it too much and that she should grow out of it.
Just wondering whether there was any advice on what I can give her to 'harden' her stools up again if it is a dietary issue?
Thanks (apologies for long post!!)

[Patp]

What else is in the food that you are feeding her?  Some pups can be sensitive to chicken, but also the rice and other things that are in the kibble to bulk it out.

Why not just try some poached fish for a few days then introduce cooked chicken and go from there?  Nothing else added so that you can see what might be triggering this.

At least then you can exclude diet from the list of reasons.

[grracee]

Thanks for that. She's on JWB fish and rice..

Composition: fish meal* (22.0%), white rice (19.9%), barley, pea protein, brown rice (9.8%), olive oil, fish stock (3.8%), whole linseed, fish oil (3.5%),peas, alfalfa meal, seaweed, chicory pulp, sodium chloride, chicory extract (0.25%), potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, yucca extract (0.02%) * sustainably sourced, predominantly ocean white fish

Additives per kg: antioxidants: E306/Natural antioxidant, 202 mg, Vitamins: E672/Vitamin A, 15000 iu,E671/Vitamin D3, 1400 iu, Trace elements: E1/iron, 133 mg, E2/iodine, 3.3 mg, E4/copper, 20 mg, E5/manganese, 40 mg, E6/zinc, 385 mg,

Analytical Constituents: protein 30 %, crude fibres 2.4 %, fat content 15 %, crude ash 7.7 %, Vitamin E 180 mg/kg, omega-3 fatty acids 2.1 %, omega-6 fatty acids 2.1 %

I'll give the poached fish a go and see what the results are then. It's just so worrying!

[Patp]

They are a worry arent they?

Whatever you start feeding her, feed her for 3-4 days to see if things change - it can take a while to work through the digestive system.

[Archie bean]

Has she always been on JWB? Archie was on it as a puppy and never had solid poos. I've since discovered that several other dogs have been the same. It's a good food but just doesn't seem to suit all dogs.
The only other thing that may be having an influence is if she is teething? That can cause a bit of looseness too.
As it's been quite a while, I might be inclined to take a sample to the vet and ask for it to be tested, even if it's just to put your mind at rest.

[BobnDot]

When we first got Milly she was on JWB but with quite runny poos. We moved her gradually over to the grain free Orijen puppy and there was an improvement by the end of the following week. Three years later and she's on Orijen adult with no poo problems at all 

Bob.

[sue33]

have you looked at some of the treats you may be giving her, some are not suitable for pups under 4 months, those treats are a real minefield 

[*MaryG*]

we had the same problem with pepper, he is now on Royal Canine Sensible, which works well. as mentioned watch the treats........pepper can't take denta sticks, rawhide chews, cheese, all upset his tummy.