Would a food change help?

[Ritz459]

Originally Posted by Sentry

Glad to hear she's doing better on the lamb and rice. If she continues to lose weight or stool still soft I'd have her thyroid checked. Hopefully she just needs the food change.

I'm going to try to shedule an appointment with the vet tomorrow for a checkup and her vaccs.

I thought all was going smoothly...her normal stool was much darker and firmer, she was pooping only about three times a day, she had switched over without any fuss or sickness to speak of...
Well, I guess not. She woke me up twice this morning to go outside and have massive dierreah. No throwup this time, though. I've also been struggling to get her to eat these past couple of days. She's only been eating about a cup of food a day, with the exception of two nights ago and then she ate her two cups. I've even tried mixing in some yummy tidbits and she still won't touch it.
If she didn't have all of her fuzz, she'd probably be Boxer skinny right now.

I want to say hopefully nothing is wrong, but if this is normal for her I'm going to go crazy. So let's just say hopefully nothing major is wrong and it will be inexpensive to treat. I was going to be doing good to just pay for her vaccs and filling up for gas in the same week that I need to buy more dogfood and things for the Guinea Pig. If I have to have her tested for anything, I'm going to go broke. And then if she is going to need treatment for something more serious than worms...I'm really going to go broke. But I suppose that is what living with your parents and working at the vet clinic itself is for.

[IceyBlueSibes]

Have you tried only giving her a certain amount of time to eat her food morning/evening?

My guys get about 1- 1 1/2 cups of food, twice a day. Morning they get fed, but if one of them is being picky, they have about 15-20 minutes to decide whether or not they're going to eat. If they don't, the food goes up until dinner time (around 4-5 pm). Same deal with dinner. If they don't eat within 15-20 minutes of the food being down, it goes up. Because all they end up doing is guarding the food and then that could lead to possible fights, so we don't risk it. Plus, that's where the whole "leadership" thing comes in. We control the food... you don't choose when you eat. You eat when we offer it, if not, you're out of luck!

Just a thought about her picky eating habits

[Sheltiemama]

Not all foods agree with all dogs. I feed Innova exclusively to the rescue dogs and home cook for my own dogs. Since I've been home cooking I haven't had one instance of soft or runny poo from my two. But I do when a new foster comes in without a bit of their old dog food or even sometimes if I open a new bag of Innova we will have very soft or runny stools.

Check carefully for the manufacturer and if you can buy the smallest bag of food you can find just to see if it agrees with your pup.

There is a rumor afoot that Diamond Pet foods is now making Canidae and Chicken Soup brand foods. I won't feed Diamond products at all because of the melanine found in the gluten from China in Menu foods and before that Diamond had a problem too. So they are off my list of people to trust.

Diamond dog foods,
Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul,
Nutra Gold,
Nutra Nuggets,
Premium Edge,
Professional Pet Food,
Solid Gold,
and now Canidae.
Oops forgot Kirkland Signature Brand

[Ritz459]

Well, the California Natural Lamb and Rice does seem to be working and since I don't feel comfortable home cooking, that is what I'm going to stick with. It is $30 for a 20lb bag, but oh well.

Just got back from the vet visit. I didn't get the results for her fecal, but her heartworm blood test came back negative for everything. She is physically in great shape. I got some meds for her that she will be on for the next week to clean out her system. They will take care of everything from bacteria to worms to God knows what else. Dr. Griese said that if she's still having problems after the meds to bring her back and they'll do a blood panel on her.

I did finally break down and buy her some canned food to mix in with her dry and she is downstairs happily chowing down. *shakes head* We'll see how long that lasts though. Let me tell you, trying to find a good canned food that wasn't expensive was hard. I bought this Natural Life Adult Lamaderm (Lamb and Rice formula) for a buck twenty per 13 oz can. The ingredients are Lamb broth, Lamb, Lamb liver, Brown Rice, Rice Flour, Peas, Carrots, Flaxseed Meal, etc., etc.

Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul

I'll have to see if Diamond really is producing that food, because that is what Blackie and Rose are eating. I'd hate to have them get poisening from their food when they've gone 12 years being happy and healthy with no problems.

My guys get about 1- 1 1/2 cups of food, twice a day. Morning they get fed, but if one of them is being picky, they have about 15-20 minutes to decide whether or not they're going to eat. If they don't, the food goes up until dinner time (around 4-5 pm). Same deal with dinner. If they don't eat within 15-20 minutes of the food being down, it goes up. Because all they end up doing is guarding the food and then that could lead to possible fights, so we don't risk it. Plus, that's where the whole "leadership" thing comes in. We control the food... you don't choose when you eat. You eat when we offer it, if not, you're out of luck!

I've been doing that since she was a puppy and it never really worked with her. Which was why I thought her lack of appetite was more health based than pickiness based. Now that I'm mixing canned food in with it (even when she is sick she'd eat food with canned in it) I'm going to start imposing a time limit again.

I'm also only going to start feeding her once a day (in the morning). Any left over food will be offered to her in the evening, but I'm not going to give her a seperate meal - mainly because I don't want to be using more canned food then I have too.