Hello everyone,
I’m here because I have a little problem with my new puppy and hope that your experience will help me get through it. Her name is Meg and she is a chocolate & white border collie and is nearly 11 weeks old. I collected her from the breeder last Tuesday who told me she had no problems and had been seen by their own Vet, having had her first vaccination the previous week. When I got her home she (almost) immediately passed a very loose stool on the carpet before I could put some newspaper down. I was given some BETA Puppy Food to give her, but she continued to pass very watery stools, so I gave her chicken & rice to help calm things down. She didn’t improve so I consulted my Vet who prescribed Pro-Kolin+ which seemed to help and who also advised me to re-introduce the BETA puppy food gradually over the weekend. Well, that didn’t work out too well, so on Monday I reverted to the chicken & rice only and her stools have firmed up somewhat even though the Pro-Kolin has finished.
Now I’m concerned that she is not getting all the nutrients her growing body needs just with the chicken & rice, but don’t know what to do next… She is happy and lively and loves her food (which she gets in four small meals a day), so I don’t think there is any underlying infection.
I really hope someone will be able to advise me,
With thanks,
Jill
Hello and welcome to the forum Jill,
I think that at this stage, I would be consulting the vet again. Even if she is having digestive upsets due to her diet, it is probably best for the vet to advise you and monitor. I hope it is a blip and she improves soon. It is probably quite a stressful time for her which could cause problems. Good luck. Let us know how she gets on.
Hello and welcome to the forum. Although your pup seems healthy, it might be worth considering sending a stool sample to the laboratory. This is to eliminate infection such as giardia. Also, has the puppy been wormed? If not, you need to do this asap. You are right about the current diet and you do need to get back on the normal food but clearly there is something wrong if your puppy cannot tolerate it. Beta puppy scores quite poorly on this website and I would advise that you look for a better product, particularly as your dog is so young. Please post back and we will try to help you find something better if you decide to change.
Thank you Dottie and Tinyplanets for responding - it’s much appreciated.
My Vet recommended that I try to re-feed the Beta puppy food because she assumed that Meg had been weaned onto it. I was and remain unhappy about this food, but complied and it caused the diarrhoea to return. My intention initially was to use the Beta and gradually wean her off it onto a grain/soya-free dry food supplemented with my own homemade food. I cannot do this until her bowels have settled down. Also the Vet strongly recommended feeding Hill’s Science Plan for puppies supplied by themselves.
At the moment it seems I need to continue with the chicken & rice (maybe oats) for some time - this is where I need your advice - then try again to introduce something that, hopefully, will not upset her digestion again. A friend has suggested I try Burgess, but I’m unfamiliar with it.
The Vet is of the opinion that only something like the Science Plan food is needed and is against any kind of home cooked or uncooked feeding regime.
I’ve had four border collies (and eleven cats) over the last forty or so years and this is the first time I have had to deal with this kind of problem - I’m stumped.
Hope you can help…
I can see why the vet advised you to go back to the food that the dog was used to. However, the fact that pup wasn’t doing very well on it seems to indicate that a change would be useful. I can’t really go against what the vet has said about Hill’s - that has to be your decision. However, if you want to try a different product I think that a good quality wet food would be worth trying, at least in the short term in order to get puppy’s bowels settled. There are quite a few excellent ones on the market.
I have just done a search on the website’s Dog Food Directory and under ‘Type of Food’ I selected wet. Under Rating I moved the slider to 4-5 stars. It returned four pages in the results. The reason that I think a wet food would be suitable is because they have fewer ingredients so less to go wrong. Also, they are easily digested. I find that poos tend to be small and firm when a dog is on this type of product.
Quite a few of the products that I found on the four pages can be bought in your local pet supplies shop so the other advantage is that you don’t have to shell out for a big bag of something without knowing whether pup will be OK with it.
After reading your response Dottie I, too, searched the Dog Food Directory for suitable wet foods as you suggest (choosing to show highest ratings first) and found enough hits for me to investigate. A trip to Jollyes today to see what they stocked resulted in only one product being stock, ie Natures Menu satchets of “Junior” food, plus a good range for older dogs and an even better range in their freezers, that I would consider. It didn’t rate as highly in the Directory as some others and I’m debating whether to try Millies Wolfheart which actually works out cheaper. I’ll think it over for a couple of days and perhaps give Millies a ring on Monday to see which one of their products would be suitable.
Meg is due her 2nd vaccine on Tuesday and I’ll have a chat with the Vet to see what she thinks.
I’ll let you know how we get on…
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The Natures Menu Junior pouch may well have been OK for your puppy. Usually the only difference between puppy and adult food is that the protein is higher in the former. NM products have good quality ingredients and are high in protein anyway. That is probably why they do not do a puppy version in that range. Millie’s Wolfheart is a good choice but be aware that the smallest bag is 5kg and there will be p&p on the top of that. It is a lot of money to spend if the dog doesn’t take to it so probably best to buy one of their smaller sample packs. If the vet is still insisting on the Hill’s one way forward is to go along with that for now as it will give you some breathing space to look for a more suitable product.