whats wrong with Bentley??
 

My 16 week old baby boy was given to me by a breeder when he was 8 weeks old and for about two weeks I slowly mixed in the food i wanted him to be eating (avoderm) with his old food (royal canine). at first he had diarrhea but his poop slowly got a bit more solid. I was also crate training him the first week I got him and a few weeks after but he pooped in his crate 2-3 times a night with me even letting him out. His poop was diarrhea in the crate and it eventually got to the point where i had to stop crate training him and put him in the bathroom at night. he still poops the same amount and the same type. last week he had an upset tummy and the vet gave me some amoxisillon to give to him and while he was on that his poop was solid and he didnt go at night.

I know this is a lot of info, but im just wondering if i should try a different food or if that is just Bentleys body.

How does he do when he's eating just the Royal Canin?

Im not sure because i started mixing his food the day after i got him. He seemed fine. the poop was more solid and he didnt poop as much, but I am not sure it thats because he was so young or because he didnt eat as much.

should I just try the royal canine by itself? will that shock his body again too much?

It's interesting to note that he got better while on antibiotics, but the symptoms returned once off. Have they ruled out coccidia and giardia?

Excellent observation. :thumbup: I noticed that too.

That is interesting.

What did the doctor put him on antibiotics for? What was the diagnosis?

I thought that was interesting to! i took him to the vet because he threw up twice in one night and his diarehhea was worse that night with the vomitting. Being a new mommy with a baby pup I felt obligated to take him incase it was parvo. She did blood work and stool sampled and it turned out he probably just ate something that upset his tummy, (he was catching and eating flies that day). she ruled out parvo, worms and and parasites.

the amoxisillon smelled and looked like pepto bismol so it wasnt anything I couldnt buy at the store (they sell it over the counter). His baby sister is one of our close friends dogs and she is still on the same food they were on at 6 weeks and her poop is very solid (I baby sit her =])

Amoxicillin is not an over the counter drug like pepto. It is an antibiotic that is only prescription. He has to have a 'bug' ie infection in his gut I think since the antibiotic made the diarrhea better....but that is just my opinion. Good luck with your baby!

Wait~did you buy the Amoxicillin from the vet or did you purchase Pepto Bismol and give that to him instead? Pepto Bismol and Amoxicillin are 2 totally different drug. They are both pink in color and both have a smell but Amoxicillin cannot be purchased over the counter.

Her stool sample came back fine? My pup had giardia when she came at 8 weeks. Her poop was disaterousss... I agree with Rhettas Mom, you should get the vet to rule out coccidia and giardia

You said the stool sample showed no parasites. Was it a fresh sample or did you bring it from home or was it just a swab at the vets? The sample should be fresh and viewed on a specially prepared slide that will encourage the dried cysts to float. It may also not be shed in every bowel movement, so repeated tests would be a good place to start since this has been an ongoing problem.

One of my dogs (a pomeranian mix) had giardia when I first got him and his poop was pretty horrible and he was going potty multiple times a day. I took a sample right into the vet and they found giardia and gave him some medicine and a few days later he was better.

My fiance and I got a kitten in April and her stools were normal at first and then a few days later were runny, smelled horrible and her little box was full in a matter of a couple of hours. Her first stool smaple came back negative for anything and then we took another one in and turned out she had coccidia. Two weeks work of pills and she is doing fine now (we need a follow up stool sample done again in a few weeks ... they don't consider her completely clear until she has two negative stool samples).

Apparently, stress can be a huge contributing factor to an outbreak of coccidia and I'm not judging you about this but...your breeder let you take the puppy home way too early (again, not judging...I have had Sophie since she was 7.5 weeks...) and you tried to switch his food right away...it seems your puppy could be under a lot of stress right now - even 8 weeks after bringing him home.

I would definitely take a stool sample in at least twice (sometimes coccidia can be hard to detect) to rule out coccidia and giardia.

Hope your little baby feels better soon!

when I said it looked and smelled like pepto bismol, i wasnt saying it IS pepto bismol, i was just describing it to see if anyone else has had that for their pups.

I think I will get himm tested for that, he has had three samples of his poop tested, the first one was a 2 hour aged stool sample that i brought from home, the second was a swap that the vet took (Bentley hated that), the third was another stool visit for just a check up. All three came up negative.

I would think that me changing his food could be it, but I mixed in the new and old food over a week and a half time period and his stool was fine for about 4 days after I went to stricly the new food. His poop is very very runny and stinky but it is typically only like this at night when he is sleeping in the bathroom. He also poops like this when we take a 3 hour car ride and he sits in his crate in the back seat. We stop a few times to let him go but he doesnt, of course once we put him in his padded crate he does =] I have another vet appointment for him in about 2 weeks, I will ask the vet specifically about it.

Why let the little guy suffer for another 2 weeks? He needs to be seen again ASAP. If repeated stool samples are showing negative then he needs to be worked up for things like colitis and then food allergies.

Have you tried switching him to a bland diet for now?

You say the stools are only like this at night and during car rides. Are they normal and formed during the rest of the day?

until your vet visit i think you should put him back on the RC and see if that dosent help clear it up perhaps your dog is allergic to or is sensitive to avocado i used avoderm on my border collie and had the same result and let me tell you its worse with a 50 lb dog! now she is on authority lamb formula and thats working wonders!

i would imediately switch him hard swith to either home boiled chicken breast and rice OR a low residue diet.

i would give his tummy a chance to settle out on this and then after all the stomach bacteria is gone, meds are given, and his diarrhea clears then i'd slowly mix in his new food with the chicken and rice. go to the vet should any blood or dark colored diarrhea or vomitting occur or if it's constant as he might need fluids. if it's not a parasite have them do a fecal smear to check for coccidia.

hope that helps. the chicken and rice should calm his stomach until you figure this all out.

Penniesmom- that sounds like my problem, I will switch the food he is eating. Because when he was still eating royal canine his poop is fine. I will go do that tommorow and slowly change his food. I didn't think that his body may be allergic to avocado. He is a happy healthy guy with runny poop sometimes. =[

Thanks a ton. Glad to hear someone had the same issues with it.

I will try that chicken and rice thing to. I have heard about that option. His tummy seems fine but it's hard to tell Because he can't talk =[.

Definitely try the chicken/rice mix. Should be equal parts of each. Boiled chicken with no seasoning.

Also, he can become severely dehydrated if he has diarrhea and vomiting. If he's still doing that, you really should have him see his vet. He/she may want to put him back on the antibiotics. Also, just like humans, the pup must finish the antibiotics. Just because he starts to feel better, doesn't mean you should stop dosing him.

My Chihuahua has had gut issues a couple of times, and I've had to do the above each time. After one round of antibiotics and bland diet, she's always gone back to normal. The vet couldn't give a definite diagnosis for her either.

If he is fine on the RC, that is all I would feed him for now. If he continues to be ok on RC then you will pretty much know it was the other food.

Try chicken mixed with a little RC and then slowly switch to a different food other than Avodrem...Wellness works for my two. I haven't read of many
members who feed their babies Avoderm....maybe that is the cause. Hope he feels better soon. :(

I would also give him some unflavored, yogurt for the good bacteria. Mosey had stomach troubles after I got him, I fed him the chicken/rice combo for about 4 days and gave him a couple teaspoons of unflavored greek yogurt on top of that.

I agree with the rice and chicken diet. I remember years ago when I had puppy that had diarhea, feeding this diet.

I guess I am one that would prefer to keep a puppy on the diet that the breeder had them on. And if Royal Canin is not disagreeing with your puppies tummy, it may be best to keep on this for awhile.

I would definitely call the vet to let them know your puppy is still having tummy problems. Not something to allow to continue since a puppy can become dehydrated quickly.

I can't believe I forgot about the yogurt!

Sophie gets a tablespoon a day with some flax seed mixed in it (she has major issues with constipation and tummy trouble), but when it is just her stomach that is upset we give her plain organic yogurt with probiotics and live cultures and it seems to work well for her.

She very rarely gets diarrhea now and we even used it for our kitten when she had coccidia and it helped settle her tummy down really quickly along with her medication.

It can't hurt to try a bland diet of chicken, rice and a little yogurt to see if he helps his little tummy. (I used boiled lamb for Sophie instead of chicken, but if he likes chicken, it is cheaper...Sophie is just picky and doesn't seem to like anything chicken-related..)