'normal' Diarrhea?

[Jean26]

Hi All.

I have a 10 week old German Shepherd puppy. It's his 3rd week at home and he is the happiest, most playful pup in the world. He eats well, sleeps well, can already sit, stay, come and wait for an 'okay' before he eats his food. :p

The only thing that worries me at the moment is his constant diarrhea. I told the breeder and they gave me a tablet to give him for 5 days. No improvement.... I took him to the vet last weekend and he said my pup could either have worms or 'intusseption' which got me quite worried........ I got given antibiotics, worming medication and a probiotic liquid thingo.

After the vet visit i rang the breeder to discuss. They said that diarrhea is normal in GSD pups as long as it is reasonably thick like pancake mix. If its really runny like water, then its a problem. She said some of her older dogs still get 'pancake mix' like poo. I just wanted a second (or multiple) opinions.

He weighs 6.5kg.

Eats well.

Is happy and playful.

Any advice??

Edited April 17, 2007 by RiverStar

[cavNrott]

.

Edited June 7, 2009 by cavNrott

[Miranda]

Doesn't sound right to me, if a dog has runny or pancake like poo it isn't digesting its food properly and will be missing out on vital nutrients. What are you feeding the pup? Sometimes cheap dry food or canned food can cause loose poo. Giving pups cows milk will also cause diarrhoea in some dogs.

[Jean26]

I'm feeding him 'Natural Balance' for large breed pups. Its the one the breeder recommended and gave me a 3kg bag with him. I had been giving him chicken wings on occasion but i kinda stopped hoping his stomach will settle down. His temperature is normal.

[Jean26]

I was also told by the breeders that GSD pups eat a lot of food while growing up and their bodies cant always absorb ALL the nutrients from the food. They said that their pups also poo like that and i'm over-worrying....

I'm just worried that he may have this 'intusseption' thing that can stop blood flow and become badly infected, needing a costly and most importantly high risk operation..... :p

[Miranda]

Hmmm I see that the first ingredient is rice and the third ingredient is corn gluten meal, that's a fair amount of cereal, one of my dogs is very intolerant of any food containing corn, he develops loose poo and loses condition. Personally I'd be trying a different food such as Nutro Lamb and Rice, Eagle Pack Holistic or Royal Canin.

I wouldn't call diarrhoea in any dog 'normal'.

[Jean26]

Well, yeah. Thats what i thought.... When i researched the breed i never, ever came across ANY breeder saying that GSD's are prone to diarrhoea. I didnt think it was right either.

If a human child had diarrhoea for almost 2 weeks you'd take them to the hospital!!

So youthink its the food?? *sigh* I bought a 15kg bag coz i ran out last week.

Thanks for your advice.

[persephone]

Never had a shep puppy..but NO puppy 'should' have pasty or loose motions for so long.

Is there another vet you can see?

All puppies eat often..they need to. Just how much is actually absorbed depends a lot on the quality of the food given.

be guided as to diet by experienced people here, and maybe another vet :p

[Miranda]

Look I don't know what's causing it, but I do know that many dogs are intolerant of foods containing a lot of cereal. A dog's GI tract is designed to process low fibre animal products like flesh and bones, they can't digest carbohydrate well and most of the cereal content in dry foods is there as a filler, nearly all of it passes through unprocessed and this is what can cause the diarrhoea. If I feed my dogs a cheap food like Supercoat it goes straight through them, I get large piles of sloppy poo and my dogs lose condition, some dogs can handle Supercoat, but my dogs most certainly can't.

With a good super premium food (I wouldn't call Natural Balance a super premium food) you will feed less, your dog will be healthier and happier and you will have much less poo to pick up. I don't solely rely on dry food though, I also feed chicken wings and frames, meat, brisket bones, raw eggs, yoghurt, canned sardines/salmon/mackerel and occasional vegetables.

It MAY be the food, however I'm sure you'll get many more helpful replies :p

[Dogsfevr]

GSD can most certainly be diarrhea prone more than most breeds,food will go through like you wouldnt believe & they breed is often prone to mal absorbtion issues BUT if the runs persist then something isnt right.

GSD will also gets the runs like you wouldnt believe on beef.

If it was 1 of my dogs i would be cooking up some pumpkin or potatoe & chicken mince for a week & see if things improve(we never use rice )if it does i would continue for another week the keythe dog gt any other food,treats(pigears,schmackos etc )you need to see diet wise where you stand now so a suitable diet can be found so your pup doesnt suffer latter on.

I would also go to the chemist & buy some acidophilus tablets to restore the gut & lining.You could use yoghurt but we found some GSD seemed to not do well with the dairy side of things

I owned a GSD that diet was so important even with the boarding kennels when we get GSD we always meet the diet its sue too or the owners bring because they get the runs so easily.

Presuming he is getting no other foods than the dry & occasional chicken kneck then i would be starting to worry it really isnt normal to just have the runs & it isnt pleasant for the dog & makes toilet training very hard.

I know Royal canin do a specific GSD dry,i am not recommending this as such but it has been supposedly created due to the GSD stomach being so prone to the runs & absorpbtion issues.

It really is a case by case thing but i would certainly drop the dry at present & go bland & try to re establish the stomach lining

[Scales of Justice]

Constant diarrhoea or sloppy droppings are certainly not the norm for GSD pups. This may reflect some underlying health issue. Droppings should be dark brown and formed like a sausage. (sorry for the descriptives!)

I would be taking a number of samples of his droppings over a couple of days and having them checked at the vets for worms and I would ask the vet to check for coccidiosis. If the pup were mine I would obtain some Trizine from the vet and use it for at least 5 days.

Edited April 18, 2007 by Scales of Justice

[king]

I have owned many GSD and non of them have been prone to diarrhoea or sloppy poos...like any pup when you first bring it home it may get anxious and result in an upset stomach which i fixed with a few meals of boiled rice, boiled chicken (no skin) and a natural yoghurt all mixed together and things are generally back to normal in 24 hours.

If it was my pup i would be going to another vet it just doesnt sound right to me...

[Poodle wrangler]

He's wormed fortnightly? Vaccinated? Heartworm? etc?

Our pup's poo was getting sloppy and he was getting skinny (not nice and lean). I found adding a raw mince, rice, veg mix (70% mince) so that it was about 60% mince mix + 40% dry food + chicken wings/ necks/ raw bones really helped. You can still work your way thru that big bag of food (just slower) then reassess. I think the chicken wings would help, not be harmful.

Visited family recently and upped the dry food as ran out of mince mix--> instant sloppy poo.

Intusseption is protrusion of a section of bowel forward into another section of bowel. In humans you'd see abdominal pain and vomiting. If it occurred in your dog he'd be unwell. He's not, apart from the loose poo?

Pet nutrition is a minefield. Very confusing. I can't justify the approx. $9/ kilo you pay for some super premium dry foods. I can feed human-grade steak 'on special' at that price. My only advice is to read the ingredients of any pet food you buy and assess your dog's response to his diet. Pet foods don't have the same stringent regulations that are applied to human food.

Best wishes .