Frequent Runny Stools?
 

What could cause something like this? Just curious.

Like, how frequent? What food does he eat?

Runny stools are very often caused from over-feeding. I've actually learned recently how many dogs are overfed. The bag is usually a WAY over estimate of what a dog should be fed.

Jackson is 15-16lbs and eats 1/2 cup of Acana Grasslands a day. 1/4 cup in the AM and 1/4 cup in PM. A tiny bit of wet food is mixed in both times. Every bag suggests he eats 1 cup-1 1/2 cups a day and that would be way too much for him I've found out. He rarely has a problem with runny stools except when he eats too many treats or something nasty outside.

Not Kaji, I hope! Improper diet is the first thing that comes to mind.

I'm sure there is a long list of things that could cause this problem.

I know that my Ryder gets runny stools about once a week, he gets so nervous when things change and with my schedule fluctuating like it does he does not do well, but his is from nervousness. Hope you figure it out soon!

:thumbup::thumbup:Interesting...

Not not Kaji. He's fine! Thanks for the concern. I'm more curious as to what could cause something like that. Could it be an allergy? Could it be the food?

Interesting post. Kaji eats 1/2 cup of food too, but he eats Lotus. That was the amount suggested for a 5 lb dog. Kaji is 7 lbs. I feed him less now that he has less activity.

Lots of possibilities: dog food that is loaded with fillers...too many treats...table scraps or too much/wrong kind of fresh foods..perhaps an allergy.

Is there questions that a pet owner should ask to help find the problem?

I'm not familar w/ Lotus?? But different foods are gonna require different amounts. Looking at the kcal's will help determine. I think Acana is around 470 kcal/cup. However, the Acana bag says 13-22lbs should get 1cup-1 1/2 cup of food per day which is just too much.

Jackson used to free fed and never ate more than 1/2 cup a day. When I started scheduled feeding, I followed the bag and I'd give him 1/2 cup in the AM and 1/2 cup in the PM and he would leave most of it in the bowl... I just knew it was too much. I thought this woman in the pet store was nuts when she originally told me 1 cup was WAY too much food but she ended up being right :rolleyes:

I also bought a little 1lb bag of Go! Endurance to try and it states "a 50lb dog should be fed 1.75-2 cups" so it shows ya the difference sometimes in feeding a crappy food vs. a better food. Even though the inital cost is alot more than, say, Pedigree.. you're actually feeding less.

I think Lotus is only available locally to me for now. I know food portions differ from brand to brand. I didn't know overeating can cause runny stools. Kaji has thrown up from overeating. Not recently though.

Susi, who are you asking this question for? Not Kaji I hope? I've noticed with uni she gets soft poops if she overeats, and also overwalks, like she must leave her "mark" and isn't ready, but forces it out. Gross I know, but that's what i think. Is Kaji ok?

Analyze the diet -- what is the dog eating?

Stress is another possible cause of runny stools. Diet and stress will affect the bowel and the consistency of the stool, just like in humans.

My boys' poops are always squishier outdoors than the poops indoors on the pads. I often wonder if the dogs' anal glands secrete more scent juice outside, causing the poops to appear softer, more gooey.

Kaji is fine. He's got solid logs. :p

I've actually seen that marking with poop behavior. One of my roomies chihuahua mix loved to mark. She was obsessed with it! She would pee everywhere she could and when she ran out she would switch to poop. At first the poop looked like little logs, but she wouldn't eliminate completely. She'd actually save it so she could poop somewhere else. Eventually the poops got softer and softer until they were the same consistency of really soft spaghetti. Same size too.

I have been battling this with Sophie for a month now. Previously she was very regular and very solid. I was out of town and my DH was feeding her and I think he gave too much moist and she was getting a little soft. Then she got into a visiting dogs Pedigree coming in a pouch food which was very gravy like. She went right to seriously runny poos. When it didn't stop after having her on chicken & rice for a few days the vet said the fecal test was fine and it put her on an antibiotic for five days. She got better but as soon as she went back to her regular food it started again. It was even runnier. Back on the antibiotic but after being on it for one day she seemed ok. Afraid not to complete the treatment I finished out 5 days. Two days later back runny again.:eek: Another round of treatment. I have put her on chicken & pumpkin and some probiotics. She is responding well, but I am coming to the end of this course of meds soon and I am worried what will happen. I don't like her being on so much antibiotics, but don't know what to do.:confused::confused: Before this she NEVER had a problem and we could even change her food and it didn't matter. She is 9 mos old.

This kind of situation is the one I'm asking about. Any tips, help, or course of action BlueBelle can take?