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?

I have to agree, we had stomach issues, and soft stools often, but feeding Acana Grassland has been a blessing.We haven't had any problems since we started 3- 15 lbs bags ago.

Good thing i don't have a thing for spaghetti.

Oh I'm sorry Sophie isn't feeling well. is it just her poop or is she lethargic as well? sounds like maybe just an upset tummy. When Uni has soft poop but she is still hyper I don't get as worried, but when she's all sad and lethargic that's when I know somethings up. That's when i took her to the vet last time and had her blood work done.... pancreatitis. :(

The daily recommended amounts listed on the bags of dog food are there bc dogs need specific minimum amounts of nutrients (proteins, fats, carbs, vitamins and minerals) to maintain life and health. As manufacturers products differ so much, bag#1 may provide 5 gms of protein in a cup, where bag#2 may only provide 3 gms/cup. The amount recommended to be fed is one of the things I do watch when buying dog food. I'm not saying it's not exagerrated, just saying it is there for a reason.

Some causes of chronic/recurring diarrhea: parasites, gastrointestinal disorders, food allergies, IBD, improper gut flora (after a course of antibiotics), bacterial infections, fungal infections, toxins, foreign body ingestion

Probiotics can help in most instances.

What is the medication? Honestly, I'd repeat the fecal. Giardia often hides under scope and can be missed many, many times. It is not all that uncommon for a dog to have 2-3 fecals before giardia is finally seen under scope.

Is there blood? Mucous? Is it grainy? Has she been around standing water, bird poop, other dogs, outside, anything?

How scary! Most dogs are always outside, around bird poop or other dogs. Why do dogs love to sniff bird poop so much?

oops i meant outside frequently, not always outside.

Puppies/young adults are much more vulnerable to giardia than adults. An adult could get it and they could have a day or 2 of funny or bad stools, and you'd wonder what was up, and then it may be gone. Or, an adult may have no symptoms. But, giardia can actually be deadly in puppies bc of the dehydration...the stools are soooo runny and frequent. Marcel had it twice as a pup, and it scared the, well, poop out of us both.

I don't know why dogs are so attracted to the bird poopery, I don't get it either. Maybe it smells like food still?

Hmm, Uni's been like that before, and yup you're right, gone in a day or so.

Maybe bird poops smells like the people food that's discarded that they frequently eat?

Is mucous significant? Like a sign towards something?

I think it's soft poop first, then soft with mucous on it, (the mucous lines the intestines) and once that's all stripped that's when it gets bloody soft poop. So this time is a bit worse than last I'm assuming, since you said last time she didn't have mucous only soft poop? uni's got to the point of a few drops of blood last time. I hope it's nothing too serious. :(

No blood, just pretty much soft poos, sometimes mucous. The medication the vet put her on is the vet equivalent of Flagyl. She continues to act her normal self. She is outside sometimes in our back yard and she will try to eat almost anything (except dog food!) she can get in her mouth.:eek: she is never unattended as I spend the entire outside time chasing her to get whatever she has in her mouth as she plays "you can't catch me".:mad:Any advise is greatly appreciated.

Oh the you can't catch me game. :( You have to work on the stop or stay command, and also the drop it and leave it command. Say leave it before she gets to it, so she can't start the can't catch me game. If she gets it before you see it, you have to get her to stop running with the stay or stop command, then drop it or trade.

It can be. Mucous at the very end of the poo can just be some anal gland emptying (a good thing, just cleanin' out). But if there is mucous around the poo, or just a lot of mucous overall - the digestive tract is pretty irritated and is struggling to get its job done. And when it's really irritated, argh, it can be tough to get back on track...especially in puppies or if giardia is present in puppies.

BlueBelle, glad to hear there isn't blood. I wonder, can you call the vet's tech and discuss a little? No telling if giardia is hiding, but I do know when Marcel had it, we had to treat longer than 5 days. So, I'm wondering if your kiddo just needs a longer a stretch?

Digestive issues can be tough, and sometimes it just really takes them more time than we think to get back on track.

Oh...do you have a PetCo near you (not petsmart)? If yes, you may want to pick up some BeneBac - it is a high potency probiotic paste that is meant for times like this, and sometimes it works little miracles. It's cheap, easy to give, and I always keep this stuff in my ER kit. I usually get the "ferret/small animal" size rather than the big dog size.

Thanks for the tip Ann. Is it in the ferret section then?

I had a pup who had changes with his stools. They were smelly, often were loose and had mucous in them. Thinking it could be IBD, we simply put him on Ultra ZD just to see if it would help...and it did! He is fine now.

I do agree with Ann...I would probably speak with the vet about repeating the fecal.