# Soft Puppy poo!! (Help)



## FlyinBrian

Hi, my 14 week old Labrador's poo is always soft. It's not runny, but I know it ain't as firm as it should be. Usually at the end of the poo its softer. Now I've read that over-feeding can cause this.. but I know ge's not being over fed as I'm strict with the amount he gets. I always go by the feeding guide on the bag. I think I'm actually giving him LESS than he should be getting at his age, to see if reducing the amount will harden the stool up but it isn't. He has been wormed up to date.

I'm giving him 'Pets at Home' own brand of dry food (Puppy Large Breed). It's good quality food, with a good meat content. I'm beginning to wonder if it's this food, as his body just might not take to it. I've read that certain pups do better with less protein in their food.... I don't know. Can anyone give advice?


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## Guest

I'm no expert on the protein issue so cant really comment on that, you should get loads of posts on this one though.

You are right - over feeding will cause runny poos, we had that problem at around 12-15 weeks with zach. We were advised to reduce the amount and sure enough his poos became harder. Don't forget most puppy food brands advise you to feed more than necessary on the packaging to add to their income...


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## FlyinBrian

Well I know I ain't over-feeding. In fact according to the guide I should be giving him around 82 grams per meal, that's the mimimum for his age and weight. But I'm giving him around the 75 grams mark per meal. So I know it's defo not over-feeding.


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## Guest

FlyinBrian said:


> Well I know I ain't over-feeding. In fact according to the guide I should be giving him around 82 grams per meal, that's the mimimum for his age and weight. But I'm giving him around the 75 grams mark per meal. So I know it's defo not over-feeding.


Okey dokey, I'm not sure then, better wait for more replies


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## Bobbie

It could be the food as I have done all the dry foods with my dog when he was young. He is now on Burns this seems to suit him. They do have a help line if you have any problems they are only to happy to help. Google the site it's worth a read.


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## FlyinBrian

Ok thanks, I'll give the helpline a call. I was gonna call them just now but it closes at 5pm. Will do it tomorrow.


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## andrea 35

My first Lab Daisy had extreme soft poo as a pup from the day we got her so i know this is very frustrating . 
Food and what to feed often ends up being a matter of budget and whats available to you. 

Fistly any change of food must be done gradualy over a week or so , slowly replacing the old food for the new , eg if your feeding 200 gms a day then the new food should only be about 50 grms mixed into the other food and so on reducing the old and increasing the new till after a week your on all new food , this is because new ingredients added suddenly can cause upset .
Also yes your right to feed less than manufacturers guidelines they often over exagerate the amount needed . 
Are you splitting the feeds into 3 or 4 feeds , a young pup needs little and often slowly reducing down to 2 feeds at about 10 months .
Finally food its self is a minefield , often meat derrivitives are classed as protien this can be a generic term used for substandard meat substitutes or the bad parts like feathers beaks hoofs ect , also lots of dogs Labs included belive it or not have sensetive tummys and do not take well to digesting grain , often used to bulk out the dry food , wheat , beat pulp , corm , maise ect all can cause upset .While i was feeding dry food ( i now feed raw meat ) i found a great food by a company called Pero you can buy some of the foods they do from Pets at home but the best one for you may be the Labrador food only on the internet though its free delivery and costs about £30 for a 15 kilo bag , this is an adult food but im sure if you google Pero thier web site has listed all the foods they do and include a puppy food . Origen is another very good food its 70 % meat and 20 % veg and fruit and is a dry food . its a little expensive but may be worth it in the long run .

One last thing , when you got him what was he being fed and did you stick to what the breeder had him on or did you change him on to the food he is on now straight away,
If you did change him straight away did you do it gradually or not . hope this helps .


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## FlyinBrian

Hi, I know about doing change of food gradually over a week. His food gets split into 4 meals a day.

When I got him the breeder was giving him Asda's own puppy dry food mixed in with puppy milk as well as Weetabix. When I got him I still fed him Weetabix and puppy milk, but didn't do the Asda dry food as Asda is far from where I live. So what I did was put him onto 'Pedigree' puppy meat pouches and 'Pedigree' dry food. Actually while he was on this his stools were good and firm. Then I was told to ONLY give him dry food as it's better for him, and get him off the 'Pedigree' as it has a very low meat content and doesn't give him the proper nutrients he needs. So I was advised to try the Pets at Home brand of puppy large breed dry food. Its ingredients definitely look better than the Pedigree's. Hence why its more expensive. There are loads of other brands to try at Pets at Home, but thought I'd see how he got on with the brand he's on now. By the looks of things I may have to try something else.

P.S. Before I put him onto Pets at Home, I gradually got him onto the Hill's Science Plan dry food. I got a big sample bag from the Vet. Then while I was getting towards the end of the Hill's, I gradually changed him over to the Pets at Home... which he's been on now for roughly 4-5 weeks.


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## andrea 35

You seem to have done what a lot of people do and even i did the same , and thats to have changed his diet quite a lot over a short time scale considering he is only 14 weeks , i would maybe do one of 2 things either stick to what he is on now for a few more weeks to see if things settle then change him or change him now but give him longer before doing any more food changes in the future , sometimes you end up making things worse by swapping so frequently . One other thing has he been wormed with a vet wormer as shop bought ones are not as good .


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## FlyinBrian

Yes, I'm quite fussy with what he gets so I especially took him to the vet for his de-wormer.  I'll keep him on what he's eating now and see if there is any change over the next week or so.


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## Guest

Could be that your pup is has a slight intolerance to the scource of protien - was he on this food when you got him?
regards
sue


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## cynthia greenwood

I have the same problem with my 9 week old pup. I started him on complete food but on vets advice he is on scambled egg,boiled rice and once a day a little boiled chicken and it seems to be working


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## Guest

I would say it's almost definitely the food. The [email protected] brand food isn't great really. The first ingredient is fresh chicken which sounds great, but when the chicken is dried the percentage of meat is much lower. The second ingredient is maize which I would avoid like the plague in dog food - lots of dogs are intolerant to it and it is just a filler that goes straight through the dog. As well as the maize there is also rice, barley and maize meal, all of which are fillers of no nutritional value. 

I'd start him on a decent food (have a look at SixStar's dry food index sticky) and see how he goes.


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## Guest

Hi there,

I too have this problem, but it's intermittent. I have changed my pup very gradually from royal canin to orijen puppy food, supplemented with bits of chicken and carrot usually as a treat/reward. This morning poos were pretty solid, but then next were soft and lighter in colour. I too am not sure where I am going wrong - may be slightly overfeeding her so will reduce and see how that goes?
Seems to make sense for me, as if first thing she is ok (not having had food for a good while) but when i feed her in morning back to soft? Any ideas welcome.

Gavs.


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## Burrowzig

McKenzie said:


> I would say it's almost definitely the food. The [email protected] brand food isn't great really. The first ingredient is fresh chicken which sounds great, but when the chicken is dried the percentage of meat is much lower. The second ingredient is maize which I would avoid like the plague in dog food - lots of dogs are intolerant to it and it is just a filler that goes straight through the dog. As well as the maize there is also rice, barley and maize meal, all of which are fillers of no nutritional value.
> 
> I'd start him on a decent food (have a look at SixStar's dry food index sticky) and see how he goes.


There isn't a PAH anywhere near where I live, so never seen their products - but that list of ingredients sounds dreadful! Yes, maize is indigestible (barley no better) and could well be the cause of the problem. Rice is OK for many dogs - one of mine can take it, one can't.

As dry puppy food goes, Burns mini bites is one of the better ones.

And as for guideline amounts, just because you're feeding less than the guideline, it doesn't mean you're not overfeeding. Dogs as individuals vary hugely in the amount of food they need, sometimes as little as half the guideline amount, or double.


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## Loraine7

Gavs said:


> Hi there,
> 
> I too have this problem, but it's intermittent. I have changed my pup very gradually from royal canin to orijen puppy food, supplemented with bits of chicken and carrot usually as a treat/reward. This morning poos were pretty solid, but then next were soft and lighter in colour. I too am not sure where I am going wrong - may be slightly overfeeding her so will reduce and see how that goes?
> Seems to make sense for me, as if first thing she is ok (not having had food for a good while) but when i feed her in morning back to soft? Any ideas welcome.
> 
> Gavs.





Burrowzig said:


> There isn't a PAH anywhere near where I live, so never seen their products - but that list of ingredients sounds dreadful! Yes, maize is indigestible (barley no better) and could well be the cause of the problem. Rice is OK for many dogs - one of mine can take it, one can't.
> 
> As dry puppy food goes, Burns mini bites is one of the better ones.
> 
> And as for guideline amounts, just because you're feeding less than the guideline, it doesn't mean you're not overfeeding. Dogs as individuals vary hugely in the amount of food they need, sometimes as little as half the guideline amount, or double.


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## Loraine7

I've done the exact same as u as I thought orijen was better my dog AV soft stool s to ,,, what did u end up doing


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## Burrowzig

Loraine7 said:


> I've done the exact same as u as I thought orijen was better my dog AV soft stool s to ,,, what did u end up doing


I wrote that in 2011! Things have moved on. I now feed 2 of my dogs on Millie's Wolfheart Riverside mix, the other 2 are on Fishmongers white fish and potato from Pets at Home (one opened near me a couple of years ago) - one because she had pancreatitis so now needs a low fat food, and the other because she's prone to getting fat. I had a litter of pups and reared them on Barking Heads grain-free puppy food with some raw, as one was going to a raw-feeding home. It was the best I could find. I still only buy grain free food as a matter of course but I was running low one time and got some food with rice in to tide me over until my order arrived but I really noticed how much extra poo I had to pick up.


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## Loraine7

Burrowzig said:


> I wrote that in 2011! Things have moved on. I now feed 2 of my dogs on Millie's Wolfheart Riverside mix, the other 2 are on Fishmongers white fish and potato from Pets at Home (one opened near me a couple of years ago) - one because she had pancreatitis so now needs a low fat food, and the other because she's prone to getting fat. I had a litter of pups and reared them on Barking Heads grain-free puppy food with some raw, as one was going to a raw-feeding home. It was the best I could find. I still only buy grain free food as a matter of course but I was running low one time and got some food with rice in to tide me over until my order arrived but I really noticed how much extra poo I had to pick up.


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## Loraine7

Thanks for replying can't believe how much I've pick up today


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