Food change resulting in major decrease peeing and pooping

[pd7]

Hi! We recently transitioned our 4 yo mixed breed to a different food at the urging of our vet. The reason was because our pup unfortunately fell victim to DCM from a grain free diet (Wellness Brand). She has not seen the cardiologist yet due to COVID and limitations in our geographic location.

For the last 3-4 weeks, she is now on Natural Balance LID, WITH grains (duck protein and brown rice) and also 1500mg taurine, 1500mg L-carnitine, and 2000 ug’s of B12 supplementation daily.

Her medical history is further complicated by well controlled EPI which she’s been on enzymes now for over 2 years with good stools while on Wellness Brand Grain-Free Wild Game.

She tolerated the change in food very well. But since we have changed her food, she is peeing maybe twice per day (still normal volumes, just much less frequent), and pooping very little (only once per day and much smaller volume).

On her old food, she had 2-3 poops per day and peed easily 3-4 times per day in addition to hiking her leg to mark (yes she’s weird like that).

I called our vet and he said to continue the supplements, but I’m a little worried about her kidney function due to decreased urine output. And also is it weird for my EPI dog to go from frequent, sizable poops with good consistency to pooping maybe 2-3 poop nuggets per day?

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@pd7 Depends on what she went on.

My dog (75 lbs mutt) typically eats Costco Adult (the green bag) and he has massive poops at least twice a day and more if we are running or at the dog park.

I switched him over to a hydrolized protein food when we were trying to figure out some other issues and his poops got a lot smaller and he didn't go as much.

Talk to your vet, but if the dog is active and everything else looks ok (no straining / blood / discoloration), it's probably ok.

 

[davidasj7]

@pd7 Grains tend to absorb more water in the digestive tract. She sounds constipated and not drinking enough for her new diet. Try giving her celery to chew on and see if the extra water and fiber help.

 

[thegirlwiththeed]

@pd7 r/askvet might help

 

[pd7]

@thegirlwiththeed No medical questions allowed on there

 

[daddylopez1963]

@pd7 This same thing just happened with my dogs. I usually feed them Purina One Healthy Weight and they poop like dump trucks on it (2-3 times a day; medium soft stools that are more light in color; no straining at all). But for their last 2 bags, I switched to Purina One Sensitive Systems to help with their seasonal allergies, and on that food they were only pooping like once a day (maybe twice on a good day) and the stools were way smaller, very dry/crumbly and a lot darker in color. They were straining a good bit as well. The amount of water they were drinking did not change.

I know some ingredients are more digestible than others, and fiber may also play a part? I had a friend that (with direction from her vet) sprinkled Metamucil on her senior dog’s food to supplement his fiber intake and that seemed to really help him.

Something you could do that wouldn’t hurt is to give your dog some fruit and veggies (i give pumpkin purée, canned green beans, apple slices, strawberries) to help get some more water in her body. That’s the only stuff that seemed to help my dogs when they were on the allergy food.