Is dry food causing poo problems

[Firestorm]

Hi thank you for letting us join your forum we are new to having an English working cocker spaniel. We are trying to find out if his food is causing a problem. We brought Max home at 8 weeks feeding him on Lily’s Kitchen dry puppy food, the next 4 weeks his poo’s were good. Over the following 10 weeks they have progressively become softer, more frequent and now some are very watery. He does one then moves does some more and then a third each time he goes. We first thought it was because he was getting more active and longer walks in line with his age. Then it may have been the treats used for training. We have eliminated both reasons. We asked the vet during his recent monthly check up and as he has no other symptoms he suggested it could be food related. Before we start to look at changing his food, has anyone else had the same experience from their puppy on dry food especially Lily’s Kitchen. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

[vixen]

I don’t have any experience with Lily”s kitchen dog food but when I first got my puppy at 8 weeks I continued to feed her with the dry kibble the breeder supplied.  Her poos were always soft and she used to leave a mound behind her which was difficult to pick up She does poo a lot usually about 5 times a day.  Since I changed her to raw food she still goes up to 5 times a day but her poo is much firmer and a much smaller quantity each time which means it is easier to pick up.
My previous cockers were fed kibble and their poo was firmer than Maisie’s was when she was fed kibble.  They also only pooed a maximum of 3 times a day.
I assumed that the new puppy would have similar toilet habits but I guess they are all individuals. Since being on raw she is doing really well and her coat is gleaming but raw isn’t for everyone. 

[bizzylizzy]

Hi and welcome!
Another raw feeder here -   _ I agree with Vixen, it isn't for everyone but certainly worth taking a look  at and has the advantage of having no additives which can often cause tummy problems.
There are some threads on here you can have a look at if you're interested and also lots of people who'll offer advice if you need it.
Best of luck!

[cazza]

Hi and welcome

I had similar issue with my dogs food, I didn’t want to go down raw food route for various reasons

I did a lot of research and eventually decided to put her on orijen ( as close to raw feeding as you can get in a kibble) but it is expensive at £69 a 11.5kg bag but it lasts her just over 2 months- she’s nearly a year old now and doing well on it and poos are easy to pick up.

I also use her kibble as training treats so just reduce a little of each meal and put it in the training bag and she loves it
I do use the occasional hot dog sausage and cheese for recall

I used this site.  https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/ 

Sorry no experience with lily’s kitchen, hope you get Max sorted and look forward to seeing how you get on

[Firestorm]

Thanks for the advice about trying raw food but we are not sure about raw, but will have a look at Origen. We know he picks up and try’s to eat everything he shouldn’t including small stones which we try and get them from him. But there is that worry that he may have eaten something causing a partial blockage.  Other than the runny poo he is not showing any other signs like vomiting, lack of appetite or pain around his stomach. Therefore before we consider a visit to the vet we are trying to eliminate basic reasons like food. He was also having more food than the recommended amount as he seemed hungry so we have now reduced it in case it is over feeding.  He has his final 6 month puppy check up with the nurse at the vets in 10 days so if no improvement then we will ask the vet to make sure no other cause due to foreign body or parasite from drinking dirty water whilst on walks in the countryside. Any other advice would be appreciated.

[sophie.ivy]

Hi Firestorm, we had a similar issue with our puppy on Skinners puppy food and have since moved her onto Burns dry and her poo is less frequent and more solid now. I read quite a few recommendations for Burns being good for high energy dogs, and as well as the improvement in her toileting, she doesn't get as hyper after meals as she did with the Skinners.

It is worrying when they have toilet issues, but I think runny tummies can be pretty common with active puppies. Even on the Burns, Ivy will have a loose poo when she's running around outside like a nutter (strangely, only after lunch and only when other people stop to talk to us...)

If you're seeing blood in the poo, I would take him back to the vets as that's often a sign of a stomach bug or bacterial infection. If it's a blockage, I believe there would be other symptoms. If you want to put your mind at ease, you could ask the vet for an x-ray? They can be very pricey though. They offered us an x-ray at our vets when we thought Ivy swallowed a cufflink, we didn't go for it in the end as my husband just got his metal detector out instead (no cufflink)!

[Mudmagnets]

If you are not sure about feeding raw food you could try wet food, I feed mine Forthglade, (link below) but there are other good ones about.

https://forthglade.com/collections/wet-dog-food/lifestage-puppy

some on the pages are complete foods and can be fed as per instructions, and the 'Just' range need something added to them like dry food or a mixer.

Hope this helps

[Firestorm]

Thanks for your replies, having read them we have started to change his food over and trying AVA puppy dry mixed with butchers puppy wet. His appetite has changed as before when we put his  Lily’s kitchen down he would take time before eating it and then often had to be  coaxed to finish it. Now he can’t wait and as soon as his food is down he eats it all straight away. We have also noticed a change in his poo although some still soft they are not watery and he is going less times. There is still a few days left before the change over is completed so will monitor how he goes on.