Kibble Questions

[kenm]

Hi there! Since a young puppy my now almost 2 year old has always had on and off soft stool/diarrhea. When he was a puppy he was on Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach Salmon. We tried the adult food, didn’t work. We tried Natural Balance LID we had great success for about 2.5 months. Then, he got a bout of gastritis. So he was on prescription Hills I/D for a bit then and PPP. Soft stools prevailed. Then we tried Acana Wholesome Grains Sea to Stream. Amazing results. His stool has been perfect for the last 6 months.

Fast forward to last week. He had liquid diarrhea in the middle of the night 2 nights in a row. Giardia came up in the antigen test, negative in the actual fecal. The vet said this could be the cause or his food. If his stool doesn’t return to normal we could do a full GI panel and put him on prescription Hills I/D and figure if he’s allergic to anything. He’s been in chicken and rice for almost a week and I’m slowly introducing his normal Acana back in. He been on metronidazole for 6 days. He’s been having 1 BM a day, that’s biggish in volume and softer than normal. He’s definitely not back to his regular perfect poops 2-3 times a day.

I have 2 questions:
1) Has anyone else experienced kibble completely stop working for their dog suddenly? Is this a thing that can happen?

2) Are there alternative to a hydrolyzed prescription kibble? My guy is almost 80 lbs and it’s extremely expensive. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with any alternatives to prescription diets?

Obviously I’m going to talk to my vet about all of this. I’m just wondering what other’s have experienced who have been in similar situations. Thanks in advance!!

 

[kenm]

UPDATE: Moose had his first “normal” stool this evening. It seems as though the more and more kibble I add (from a new bag) is firming up his stool. I’m wondering if the older bag of kibble was just a bad batch. I also think the chicken and rice gave him softer stool than normal. I’m cautiously optimistic his stools will continually improve.

Thanks for all the tips!!

 

[nlu]

@kenm did you add any probiotics ? or just changed the food ?

 

[kenm]

@nlu Yes, he’s on Forti Flora. He’s on the same food he’s eaten for 6 months, I just got a new bag on the chance the other one was bad for whatever reason. So he’s been eating that with the Forti Flora. I also add Bernie’s Perfect Poop. So hopefully he’s back to normal!

 

[nlu]

@kenm you have several changes / hence its difficult to pinpoint the issue

 

[kenm]

@nlu I agree. That’s what’s frustrating. At this point, since his stool seems to be normal now that he’s back to his regular, I’m leaning toward the diarrhea being caused by the Giardia. Hopefully the metro worked and it’s gone!

 

[savedwretch]

@kenm hey, i’ve had this happen to a customer of mine who fed acana. what could have happened is- Acana and Orijen get the freshest fish and meats that they can. which means what the fish and other meat ate and how cold or hot they were or even the time they were killed can all have an effect on a dogs digestive tract. it could be that the specific meats used in the batch just didn’t agree with your dog and getting a new bag of food will solve the problem. my customer did just that and he hasn’t had a problem since and he’s been feeding acana for YEARS. also you can always try adding some kind of probiotic or gut health treats/ supplements. even human grade keifer is a great probiotic.

 

[kenm]

@savedwretch Thanks for the insight. At first, I did think it was the bag of food bc I had just opened a new bag when the GI issues started. I got a small new bag to reintroduce the kibble with the chicken and rice. Hopefully we don’t have to find another food yet again!

 

[savedwretch]

@kenm good luck!

 

[nlu]

@savedwretch our current pup had watery stool (with a sheen) and resolved with Probiotic - FortiFlora. And now 2 TBS / day of goats milk Kefir - and doing wonderful

 

[kenm]

@nlu Thanks for the insight. He’s on FortiFlora right now.

 

[nlu]

@kenm Keep us updated in a couple days. I assume pup not on antibiotics while on fortiflora

 

[kenm]

@nlu He just finished metronidazole yesterday. He had more kibble today than he’s had in a week. Had one BM, a little firmer than yesterday, still soft, still not back to normal. Fingers crossed it keeps getting better.

 

[nlu]

@kenm I have confidence with forti flora but i wont like it for long term so i am adding 2 TBS / day kefir (goats milk)

 

[chloejm]

@nlu Another option besides forti-flora is slippery elm! My parents used it for their dog that has an autoimmune whenever he gets a bad stomach. It normally firms him up with in 2 days. It can be a bit pricey but you don’t have to use a lot.

 

[nlu]

@chloejm

slippery elm

good to know

I would try it but i would not recommend to a pet as its not made for pets and if the pup develops issue i wont want to have that burden.

 

[chloejm]

@nlu Slippery elm is recommended by my vet and my parents vet for a natural route for clearing up diarrhea.

 

[nlu]

@chloejm U do U

Read the warning label

 

[nlu]

@kenm We had this happen and last option for a 14 year old dog was to go to a home cooked recipe diet - took 3 months to get a balanced diet and lived 2 more years and those 2 years were very healthy and perky like a 6-8 yer old dog

 

[kenm]

@nlu Thanks for the response! Did you work with your vet to come up with a balanced recipe?