Stress or Food? :/ Grrrr.

[sweet_tikka]

So wow am I ever overwhelmed. I left my pom Pooter at a sitter over Easter weekend while we spent time with the family at a hotel in the city and picked up the new yorkie Tikka.

**THIS IS JUST BACKGROUND INFO SKIP TO READ ABOUT TIKKA's PROBLEM**
I was VERY strict with telling the sitter, also a friend, that Pooter is NOT allowed to have any table scraps, treats, bones, etc. Just his OWN food and water. So none the less... I got on facebook over the weekend and she had posted pictures of Pooter eating out of her dog's bowl, chewing on a MASSIVE treat filled bone, and told me she fed him her dogs food as treats because he just loved it! And continued on to show me the brand... Ol' Roy. UUUUGH! So now he is home for the past 5 days has had diarrhea and has to stay in his kennel due to his sensitive stomach that was obviously ignored. This was the first and last time I will leave him with a sitter if I can help it!! Pooter hasn't been this sick since Xmas when the mother in law wouldn't stop feeding his table scraps after I repeatedly told her what the consequences would be for her carpet lol

TIKKA's Problem...

She came home with us Sunday, as I've posted in training... she is potty trained to go out in a fenced yard to wander as she pleases, unfortunately our apartment's fenced in yard has a lot of walk way entrances for her to escape so she has to go on a leash like Pooter. But she so far has NOT gone potty outside on her leash, instead she goes by the door when we come inside.

Last night she had diarrhea too [for the first four days her poop was solid and quite dry]! I got up at about 3am to the smell of it... it was at the front door. Luckily my husband's nose isn't as strong and he's a sound sleeper lol. Then again she did it at about 8am. I managed to catch her this time and take her outside. So far I have shampooed my carpets 5 times in 4 days!

Do you think this could be stress from a new home and having Pooter being nervous as he's stomach is sick and her not understanding to go out on a leash yet and so she gets nervous. Or could it be her food? She came with her vet records and on it, it says this for her meal plan:

Eating: Science Diet Small Bites 4
Drinking: Tap Water ONLY

At our home she's getting Acana Small Breed [NOT found in walmart or any commercial chain it is a vet bought food also sold in some specialty stores it's ingredients are found here: Champion Petfoods | ACANA | Products - Puppy Small Breed
Acana is the ONLY food Pooter has been on that doesn't give him diarrhea. So I would think Tikka would be fine too as it's a good food for sensitive dogs. Although they never mentioned Tikka being sensitive and she seems to be a trained begger lol so I'm assuming they fed her from the table...which we do NOT. Every once in a while maybe a tiny snip of raw steak but that's like maybe once a week

It's been VERY nerve wracking having to watch them both so closely and cleaning up two sets of diarreah and her pee on top of it. Lol any ideas guys?


Also... Acana has a new Grain Free food coming out... would that be a good one? Right now their food is 60% meat [free range chicken and salmon], 20% veggie&fruit, 20% steelcut grain and brown rice. all natural ingredients.

[sweet_tikka]

Also: She just did it again at 9:11am. I didn't catch her as I was on the phone, it wasn't as much this time just a few little drops... it's almost like a snot texture! But she hid from me under the table like she knew she should have gone outside, but couldn't hold it. Should I treat her like a 8week old puppy and just take her out every hour or two and keep her crated?

She is still very playful, doesn't seem sick. She's been playing fetch, and whining the play tug o war with the tuggie in her mouth, running all over and giving kisses, she's not acting strange otherwise.

[AlicetheYorkie]

It could just be from the food switch, I wouldn't switch her again (although, you could pick up a very small bag of what she was on before and mix it in with the Acana just to help make the trasition easier), that could make it worse.
Try adding some canned pumpkin (UNspiced) to her food and see if that helps firm it up.
If it doesn't get better in a few days, talk to your vet. You should also have the vet do a stool check for parasites asap if you haven't already

[sweet_tikka]

Aw thanks, yeah I'm going to give her a week to adjust to the new food. I cleaned out the water dishes [no soap, just super hot water] and food dishes. Gave their kennel a good scrub and gave them both bathes lol.

I know Pooter's is just from the babysitter not listening to me as I saw the pictures to prove it... he came home with his collar on too, so he has mattes all around his neck that I have to trim out... NEVER leave a neck collar on a pom. GRRRR. I told her that too... yet when I pick him up his collar was on and mattes were forming.

Thanks for the advice, I will definitely check out a small bag of science diet to mix in, see if that helps her. And I've heard the pumpkin thing too! And I'm sure she'd gobble that up, about how much should I give her per day? I called the vet to get their pricing and available times I can get her in next week for sure if all else fails.

[sweet_tikka]

UPDATE:
I just bought a small bag of her previous food [her owners didn't give me any so i just put her on Acana like Pooter]
I mixed 2/3 s.d. and 1/3 acana... she scarfed it right up!
She wasn't scarfing the Acana... in fact barely eating it.

Hopefully this helps her transition better! Thanks!

[AlicetheYorkie]

Originally Posted by sweet_tikka

UPDATE:
I just bought a small bag of her previous food [her owners didn't give me any so i just put her on Acana like Pooter]
I mixed 2/3 s.d. and 1/3 acana... she scarfed it right up!
She wasn't scarfing the Acana... in fact barely eating it.

Hopefully this helps her transition better! Thanks!

Just keep gradually increasing the Acana amount and decreasing the old food.
For the pumpkin - about 1 teaspoon (start with a little less, definatly no more than 1 tsp.) for a small dog. Just make sure it's not the pie filling kind, just all natural pumpkin - that usually works within a few hours If it doesn't, you can do a few days of a bland diet of very lean ground beef or skinless, fatless chicken breast with white rice. Rice water works well too, but I haven't had luck in the past getting my dogs to drink it the handfull of times I had to try it.
As far as your question about the grain free in the original post, I guess I'm wrong, but I thought all Acana was grain free? I could be wrong (I know that company's Orijen is grain free). I personaly think grain free is best for dogs (and cats) since they're carnivors and have no use for grains in their diet and it's actually really hard for them to digest grains of any kind (their digestive tracts just aren't made for it) They get all the nutrients that would be in grains from the veggies in their food.

[sweet_tikka]

yeah right now Acana has 20% brown rice&steel cut grains. Mind you the other 60 is meat, and 20 is fruit/veggies. But I'm really excited to try the Acana grain free! I think it's a general food for all sizes/ages. It's called Free Range Acana I think. !

Thanks for all your tips!

[Buster Brown]

Originally Posted by AlicetheYorkie

Just keep gradually increasing the Acana amount and decreasing the old food.
For the pumpkin - about 1 teaspoon (start with a little less, definatly no more than 1 tsp.) for a small dog. Just make sure it's not the pie filling kind, just all natural pumpkin - that usually works within a few hours If it doesn't, you can do a few days of a bland diet of very lean ground beef or skinless, fatless chicken breast with white rice. Rice water works well too, but I haven't had luck in the past getting my dogs to drink it the handfull of times I had to try it.
As far as your question about the grain free in the original post, I guess I'm wrong, but I thought all Acana was grain free? I could be wrong (I know that company's Orijen is grain free). I personaly think grain free is best for dogs (and cats) since they're carnivors and have no use for grains in their diet and it's actually really hard for them to digest grains of any kind (their digestive tracts just aren't made for it) They get all the nutrients that would be in grains from the veggies in their food.

I have a holistic vet and she recommended this for Buster too but what she said to do was make the white rice with 4x as much water as recommended and boil it until you get a thick white liquid. It will become more like paste when it cools. Feed this paste to the dog, I mix it with Buster's food Orijen. The paste will help bind the loose stools. Also she said the pectin from apples is good too. I do remove the skin. Tikka is absolutely precious. I had to laugh after getting Buster I got a carpet cleaner as well. I made the mistake of getting one of the UV lights to show where stains are...DON"T DO IT!! It turns out all kinds of stains will show up. I was so freaked out a first I was thinking is there an untouched spot on my carpet anywhere? best of luck with your sweet furkids.