Hi all
My dog is 8 months and since we’ve had her we’ve had problems with intermittent runny poo.
She’s fed Canagan and when it started she’d be fine for a few days, then a few days runny, then improve again.
We reduced the amount of food on advice of pet shop and it improved for a few weeks only to return.
We then tried probiotics and to my surprise it worked overnight - huge difference. She had those for a month before stopping them and after a further month the runny poo returned.
I’ve now started the probiotics again but unlike last time they haven’t worked.
Question is should i take her to the vets on Monday or try changing food first? The pet shop tell me Canagan is a great food and shouldn’t be upsetting her. What would you do? And if you’d change food what would you recommend? I want to keep her on a complete dry food.
Which flavour of Canagan are you using? Do you switch flavours? If so is it only on one flavour or all 3 that you have problems?
She has both chicken and salmon. I can’t say I’ve thought of whether she’s better on one or the other but I will check it out, thanks.
About 1% of dogs can be intolerant to chicken, I have one that doesn’t seem to do well on fish, so she gets a lamb and game recipe.
I would try the Salmon first and go from there. Also are you sure nothing is being scavenged on walks?
She’s a terrible scavenger - poo being favourite although she’s better than she used to be. She has Advocate monthly and Drontal every three months for that reason.
It can certainly be a trigger of tummy upset and diarrhoea
Hello and welcome to the forum. You are right in that Canagan is a good food. The only problem is that there is so much in the product that your dog could be sensitive to, peas being one of them. That being said, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the right food for all dogs. Some dogs do better on food that is not rated so highly.
I was going to ask if your dog was a scavenger because when I read your post and the history last night it was the first thing that came to mind. The fact that this diarrhoea is intermittent seems to point to it. Coprophagia is a horrible problem and it is unlikely that you will find a cure for it.
It may be useful to tackle this methodically:
- Continue with the Canagan and give nothing else - no family food or treats. Sea jerky should be OK.
- Try to stop the scavenging. Clear up poo as soon as he has done it. Consider use of a basket muzzle and put it on when he is in the garden or out on walks. Alternatively you can watch him closely to ensure he doesn’t clean up.
- Monitor for a few weeks and if the problem persists, then look at the diet.
As David has said, occasionally dogs have chicken intolerance and it is necessary to look for a poultry free food but it is difficult to say if this is the case with your dog. It would do no harm to have a word with the vet tomorrow but if you do, please take the dry analysis of the food he is on. This can be found here on the dials near the bottom of the page. If you feel that you would like to have his poo tested for infection then take a sample in a small clean container.