Got my Henry and i have a couple of questions concerning stool/food.

[kevi204]

Here he is (Henry), He's almost 10 weeks old now, just picked him up on Wednesday. He's perfect. I'm glad i waited for him. I was supposed to pick him up at 8 weeks but he caught a little cold (upper respiratory issues) and was put on antibiotics for a week then for another week just to be on the safe side per the vet and the breeder. He was definitely worth the wait. They spent a lot of 1 on 1 time with him over the past couple weeks away from his litter so he has yet to have any separation issues. He acts like he's been with us for weeks now. The only drawback is getting up and having to stay up at 4AM the past couple of days, lol.

Onto the questions...
-His stool is mushy, very soft...Is this normal? He just got off antibiotics for 2 weeks this previous Wednesday if that makes any difference.
-His current diet is 3 meals/day of 1/2 cup IAMS Active/Healthy puppy, tablespoon (vanilla yogurt) and teaspoon of 9 lives Super Supper
-the kitty food (9 lives) is used for the fish oil per the breeder.
-^^this was the breeder had her pups on and said i could change it after a couple of weeks which i plan on switching to the Fromm Brand

He's pooping quite a bit, 5-6 times a day and of course peeing a lot. Luckily he has a give away when he's about to poop which is acting like he's caught in a spider web, which is extremely cute. Unfortanately he doesn't have to go at any certain times, he's gone poo in the middle of eating shortly after eating and didn't poo after his last meal last night at 6pm until this morning.
He has no problem sleeping in his crate the last 2 nights and hasn't wined/cried at all and follows me closely everywhere i go.

-He will have his initial exam at the vet on Monday having to wait due to the holidays.

My other question is to whether or not to bring up the upper respiratory issue that he had 2 weeks ago due to not wanting it to go on Insurance (trupanion) as a pre-existing condition. I'm worried about it being on his vet record, currently it was not listed on the vet history that i was given.

 

[Sherry]

when you change his diet do it gradually, in the mean time, give him plain canned pumpkin 1 tbs with one meal. This will stiffen up the poop. He is absolutely adorabull. Congrats to Henry.

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

Congrats on Henry! I do think the meds are affecting his poo.And even a change in his Enviroment can affect it. Puppies do poo a lot, but over time it gets to a much more manageable 2 or 3 times a day. Like Sherry said go slow on a food change..I would wait unil he's comfortably settled in and for sure over his illness. The canned pumpkin (not pie filling) will help greatly to firm up his poo. Buy. Few cans because you will use them!

As far as insurance..I would sign up today online. There is a waiting period anyway. I wouldn't want insurance company to know either! Good Luck and you are in for a fun ride!

 

[cali baker]

Henry's got a cute little face! He looks so tough

Like Becky suggested, you should sign up for Trupanion insurance online today, b4 the vet's visit. It's really very simple and fast.
Antibiotics are the likely culprit to his soft stools and I too would give a bit of pure pumpkin to help with that.

Have fun with your new little guy!

 

[Davidh]

Welcome and he is adorable, as others have said his soft poop is probably from the meds. Also soft poops can be from too much food. I'd keep feeding him the amount you are for a few more days and see if it hardens up a bit. I'd wait about a week for him to settle down before the food change also. FROMM Puppy Gold is a good food, that's what we feed our pups. I would do away with the cat food. Once he gets a few months older then you can get the wild salmon oil to add to his food if you wish. They do poop a lot, that's why I call them poopers, but this will get better as time goes on. Have fun with your pup, as they grow up too fast.

 

[Vikinggirl]

Hi and welcome. Henry is so adorable. I think the antibiotics are definetely contributing to his diarrhea , as it can affect peop,e the same way, some probiotics, or plain yogurt would help, as well as the pure pumpkin. I would also switch him from the Iams to a higher quality food, you can read the food ratings on this site. That's where I made my decision regarding my 2 babies food. You can also ask Desertskybulldogs , or Cowsmom , as they are both knowledgable, in food and nutrition, and were a great help to me. I switched from Royal Canin to Fromms Beef Fritata, when they were 7 months old. I would keep your puppy on puppy food until 6 or 7 months, for the extra calories, and vitamins in puppy food, due to the rapid growth and development at this stage. The Fromms has a puppy formula called Fromms Puppy Gold, then you can switch to Fromms Beef Fritata, or one of the other adult Fromms foods. The yogurt is good, but should be plain unsweetened, without the vanilla. Also I wouldn't give the cat food, as there is too much protein in cat food. My pups would always run to the cat food bowl and inhale it, I had to move it , and when I mentioned this to my vet, she said it wasn't. Good for them, as the protein is too high. Also he may be having diarrhea , due to too much food, I fed my two when they were younger 1/3 of a cup 3 times a day, until they were 7 months old, and then switched to adult food and reduced feedings to 1/2 cup 2 times a day. Try cutting back to 1/3 of a cup , 3 times a day to see if the poop firms up, and he poops less. As for the insurance, I wouldn't mention it , because your breeder took care of it, and it was before you took your puppy home, he is better now, and there is no record at your vet of this respiratory infection, so I would just sign up for pet insurance and treat it as a new puppy with no health issues, since he is fine now. Good luck with everything and enjoy your new baby. I have 2 new pups, they are 9 months old now, so I know what the training and getting up at 2 am for pee breaks is like, but it is temporary, and mine were totally trained by 5 months, so it does get easier. Looking forward to stories and pictures of Henry.

 

[mer55]

Hi there! I am a newbie here- we are waiting on our pup, Bogart, and I am soaking up all the info I can here! I could not get past the adding cat food to the pups food. I had a bullmastiff that was impossible to keep away from the cat food, but I always knew because his stools would get runny and eventually he started with skin problems. The vet was convinced it was the cat food ( 9 lives by the way). Sure enough we solved the stealing problem and everything returned to normal. I am going to change to Fromm when we get our little guy! Yours is adorable! Good luck!

 

[Vikinggirl]

I use salmon oil liquid in their food for the Omegas, as well as apple cider vinegar in their water, and cranberry pill for urinary tract health. If you go on the health and nutrition forum, there is a lot of food information regarding foods, and supplements.
For the potty training , I relied on a schedule, they went out at 6 am, ate at 8 am, in the crate for 10 mins to let their tummy settle , back out after eating, we took them out every hour or two, eat again at 2 pm , out every hour or two during the day , eat again at 8 pm , went for a walk around the block after dinner, and last walk around 11 pm. We take their water away at about 8 or 9 pm. We set our cell phone alarm for 2 am for a pee break, and our clock alarm for 6 am for morning duties. This worked really well, as time goes on each week or two, you want to increase the day time potty breaks by an hour at a time , so they learn how to hold for longer stretches. By the time my two were 5 months old, they no longer had to go out at 2 am, so we eliminated that, and they just went out at 6 am, now they can hold for 4 or 5 hours. They now go out at 6 am, eat at 7 or 8 am, out about 12 noon, again at 5 pm , eat again at 7 pm, walk around the block after dinner, and last walk at around 11 pm. They also go to the park every morning for a 20 or 30 min run. I hope this helps you. Good luck

 

[elearn]

Congratulations on getting Henry - what a cutie pie!!! I'll just reiterate what everyone else has said:

I'd dump the 9 Lives and get the wild salmon oil if you can. I'm not sure what age is good to start them on the salmon oil. What you're looking for in the fish oil are the omega3s/9s - so when you check the new food, see if it has that in there if he's too young to be on the salmon oil.

I'd stick with plain yogurt. I use plain organic whole milk yogurt. Many others use fat free. The flavored ones sometimes have additional sugars, etc in them.

Keep a few cans of pumpkin in your cupboard at all times, you're going to need it. But dont give too much because it can cause the runs!

Also, very important is to get him used to a schedule - even if he's gone already. You'll be taking him out every 2 or so hours. Just remember once he eats, he's pooping shortly after. Once he wakes up, he's pooping. So be there and ready for both occasions

I always keep many rolls of paper towels and some cleaning spray specifically for pet odors - you want to sop the messes up ASAP so the odors dont soak in. That will help too curb some of the urges once he gets a little older. Natures Miracle creates something called Laundry Boost - this will help with the odors in his bedding and toys to curb him from re-peeing on those LOL

Good luck!!!!!

 

[kazzy220]

Congratulaions .... Henry is completely adorable in every sense of the word!!!

I'm not sure I can add much more to what has already been said. I'd certainly get him off the cat food as soon as you can ... first time I've ever come across something like that!!!!!

 

[kevi204]

Thank you so much everyone for all the assistance. I took him off the cat food for his last 2 meals yesterday and this morning. I'm so thankfull i found this forum before i got my pup for all the questions i'm going to have.

 

[cowsmom]

aw just wanted to say congrats on your new addition. he looks wonderful. your in for quite a ride. :D