Grain-Free food producing loose stool in puppy.

[RescueMe]

Im so glad you updated and everything is getting better

 

[Michael Prinz]

Yea I've always tried to feed these guys the best quality food I could find and after my parents got their bullie and the breeder advised grain-free, I really started doing my research. You're exactly right though. The food may look like it's more expensive but it goes a long ways.

UPDATE: Diesel (5 years old) has the best looking coat I've ever seen on him since switching him to the Acana Pacifica. Mack (now 7 months) is now having firm stools on a regular basis and is turning into one gorgeous bullie. I put thought into switching to TOTW Wild Stream, but I can't argue with results. These guys looks great and Diesel has never been so healthy and looked so good. Thank you so much for everyones help! You guys are all life savers. Unfortunately Mack doesn't have the greatest tails so loose stool isn't the greatest to deal with given how tight his tail is to his back end. Diesel has a corkscrew too but his is a lot higher and doesn't cause problems so I am hoping Mack's is just temporary and he grows into it as Diesel did his. Nonetheless I have two wonderful and health bulldogs which makes me very pleased and relieved. Thanks again!

 

[GatorRay]

I am glad to hear they are doing well now! I would stick with what works for sure! How about some more pictures of your guys?

 

[sweetpeasmom2008]

I agree!

 

[Michael Prinz]

UPDATE: I am going to upload some more pictures of the bullies here soon. I almost have to have a camera in hand 24/7 to keep up with their Kodak moments as all bullie owners understand.

So, Acana was working out great, but unfortunately, with their plant catastrophe, I had to switch to another food. Unfortunately, I chose to go to TOTW salmon, and though they didn't do bad, their tear stains were slowing returning, and they were shedding a little more. Secondly, Mack (my youngest now 1 year), is still having issues with his stools. Honestly, if we try and limit his droppings to a couple times a day, it will stay quite solid. But it seems as if he feels that he is capable of doing it every time he is let out. Both of these guys seem to be sensitive to allergies which I know is quite common with Bullies. After a Furminator bath (which does a wonderful job of removing the undercoat) Mack started to get these lumps on his skin under his coat. Nonetheless, with both of these guys having allergies and though the timing is rough because this is a typical allergy flare up time as one of my fellow bullie owners told me about theirs two days ago so it's hard to determine the cause.

I gave him a bath the next day because the flare up happened almost instantaneously, and used hypoallergenic and anti-fungal shampoo this time around. In addition, I am giving him a daily dose of Benedryl, Vitamin C, and Vitamin E and his coat is beginning to show improvement after about 4 days. This skin reaction is however something I have seen in Diesel during is allergy sensitive times.

So I am switching to the Natural Balance Fish and Sweet Potato, grain-free, limited ingredient diet because of some success stories read and the overall goal the food was designed around. I have switched foods from Blue Buffalo grain-free --> Acana Pacifica --> TOTW Salmon --> (Current Transition) Natural Balance L.I.D. Fish and Sweet Potato. I have cut his food portions down quite a bit to reduce looseness and with him being fairly active, he is thinner than I'd like to see him. This is only a problem in Mack and Diesel seems to be isolated to just allergies since he has recently been dealing with paw and ear allergies. I need to get the stool problem resolved with Mack and the allergies under control in both of them. I might try metamucil on Mack's food to try and firm it up a little. Also, I can say that when Diesel went through a bad allergy flare up while he was on Nutro grain-free, Missing Link Plus did WONDERS for his coat and skin. I might consider going back to that, but I'd like to get a food that covers it rather than buy two feeding items. Thanks for all your help. I've attached a photo of the skin lumps (getting better) and picture project I have been working on for the two.

 

[Michael Prinz]

After some immediate research following my post, I think rather than try Metamucil I am going to try Mack on some probiotics. I never thought of it before, but he had a couple early surgeries that resulted in some antibiotic treatment. He had an umbilical hernia removal and undescended testicle removal (unfortunately both within his first year). He had some antibiotic treatments after those so I am going to give this a try. The loose stool is a rough problem to deal with because his tail isn't the greatest so if it's loose, he pretty much needs wiped every time he comes in. If it's solid, no problems whatsoever.

 

[kristimorrill]

Ours had the same issue. A week ago switched to 1 cup in the morning and 1 cup at dinner...miraculously no more soft poop!!

 

[mer55]

Hi Michael ! Just had to chime in on this one. We got Bogey at 8 weeks old. Breeder had him on Eukanuba, which I immediately changed ( well slowly transitioned) to Fromms puppy. Formed stool first thing in am, loosening as the day wore on, and going 8-9 times a day! After MONTHS of trying different foods, all grain free, all with slow transitions, I would end up with the same scenario- formed first thing in the morning, soft serve by mid day, diarrhea by dinner. I tried Pure Vita, NVI, Earthborne and Fromms. This went on up til he was 11 months old! Then, my vet stepped in and put him on Hills Science Diet WD( for glucose and weight management) this happened when I was away and boarded him at the vets. When I got back and saw what she put him on, I went ballistic! OMG! Corn as the first ingredient! chicken! Really low protein and MEGA fiber(. 13 grams!!) I was like, " no way!" But, she asked me to work with her and give this a chance. She said millions of dogs, including bulldogs, do just fine on these diets. Well, gave it a week, and I have NEVER seen such solid poop in my life! I was not convinced though, so I challenged it without her knowing, and slowly transitioned him to yet another " good" dog food, and after 3 days, with only 1/4 cup of the new stuff mixed with his " junk dog food", the soft serve poop stared up again! So, I stopped it, put him back on the Hills, and he has not had ONE soft serve poop since! So, these good dog foods are not for all bullies, and you need to find what works for yours. I hope this helps. Her theory, by the way, was that Bogey has a very irritable bowel, and all the rich ingredients were just irritating him. The high fiber content in this food helps with the water balance, and there isn't a lot of " extras" in it! I DO give him a packet of Purina Fortflora ( probiotics) every am. He has not had any bacterial infection since I put him on this. I tried the human probiotics, but I noticed no difference. My vet told me to try the Purina brand because they are specifically made for dogs, and I noticed a difference right away. Good luck!!