Pumkin, How long before you see results?

[bears_dad]

We have been having some issues with Bear's digestive system, considering changing his name to "Running Bear". He has had diarrhea for about a week now. In the past this has happened off and on for a couple of days seemingly around large growth spurts. I had been reading about the canned pumpkin and tried it at the beginning and it seemed to make it worse. Well maybe not worse just pumpkin color, the odor was better though. My question is, does anyone remember the first time they fed canned pumpkin in this type of situation how long in took to see results?

So far we have had two fecal test, and bear is eating boiled chicken and rice. He gets a Flagyl pill twice a day and FortiFlora powder on his dinner. He has been on meds for a couple of days and not really a change. Poor guy has lost 5-6 pounds this week.

 

[nowhavethreebears]

Poor baby Bear. Usually I see results right away, like with the next bowel movement. Are you absolutely sure you got the pure canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mix?
With Flagyl I usually see results with Sophie within a day, too. If the pumpkin is not getting you results, try putting some plain unflavored metamucil powder on his food. This will form bulk in the stools. It won't fix your problem, but may help relieve the symptoms a bit.
Hope you get some answers and he feels better soon.

 

[4ondafloor]

You can do a number of things but I've had extremely good results with using barley.
Pumpkin didn't work all that fast for me when Pae was a pup. It worked mind you but it was not immediate.
The barley is something that I will always keep on hand now. Especially for rescue related stress poo's which can be really, really messy.
I use 1/2 cup of cooked barley to 2 cups kibble and moisten with water.

Boiled chicken and rice should help you too. You can also use cooked ground sirloin and rice too. These two, I learned about here on NN. They have both worked for me.
Have you thought about aversions to chicken? Maybe that's the culprit? What are you feeding him?
All of the great threads in the archives contain valuable information from long time breeders/owners etc.. If you have time to sit down and search through them you'll see what has worked and what hasn't.
Good luck. I know its a frustrating time. I've certainly been there.

 

[nowhavethreebears]

Debra makes a good point...It could be a problem with chicken. Lean ground beef or even ground turkey could be other options.

 

[victoria1140]

Try a different food source, also what food is he on as that can make a huge difference. We have started feeding pumpkin here too, also if he can tolerate it oatmeal/porridge can help . Feeling for you as it isn't nice

 

[bears_dad]

He has been on chicken and rice before, so I don't think its a chicken problem. He has been on the chicken and rice(no kibble) for about a week, so I don't think it's his kibble brand. Which is Wellness Large breed adult. His poo's have never been solid but have had form. I think we are going to add some barley to his chicken and rice today and transition back to the kibble with barley over the next couple of days and see how that works for now.

 

[4ondafloor]

He has been on chicken and rice before, so I don't think its a chicken problem. He has been on the chicken and rice(no kibble) for about a week, so I don't think it's his kibble brand. Which is Wellness Large breed adult. His poo's have never been solid but have had form. I think we are going to add some barley to his chicken and rice today and transition back to the kibble with barley over the next couple of days and see how that works for now.

Wise choice..let me know how you make out. Good luck!!

 

[twins2again]

I truly wonder if somethings going around or what with this issue. Ive had it with the loose stools, I didnt even bother to post about the pumpkin cause I havent been feeling well myself and am so frustrated with this business. He is doing ok, just ok with cooked rice added to TOTW prairie. stopped the nat bal fish even tho I thought it was ok ,he went loose on me again. the pumpkin only seemed to add color and make him looser and have more movements. I fed him at 4 in the afternoon and he had 5 bowel movements during the night after that. I fed him 2 1/2 cups of the mixture. stopped the pumpkin and gave boiled rice and just TOTW and movements are pretty good and only a few a day BUT all of a sudden I will see him have a looser one with like 4 spoonfuls dropped around. The next will be normal. Its crazy, the rice works tho for me better than the pumpkin, still struggling tho, dont feel in the clear yet. Miss Minnie on the other hand has perfect normal movements.

 

[Erika]

Debra makes a good point...It could be a problem with chicken. Lean ground beef or even ground turkey could be other options.

After gandolphs bouts with Giardia and coccidious when we got him from rescue.....he still had the pancake poos.we found that chicken and lamb were both no nos. Hope your luv is better soon

 

[4ondafloor]

Nothing has helped me as much as the barley has. the rice was ok..the pumpkin was ok but the cooked barley worked so well for me that I keep it as a staple now.
I'e alos been told oatmeal is good to use too but I'm not trying it. I'll stick with what works.

 

[SunnyD]

I truly wonder if somethings going around or what with this issue. Ive had it with the loose stools, I didnt even bother to post about the pumpkin cause I havent been feeling well myself and am so frustrated with this business. He is doing ok, just ok with cooked rice added to TOTW prairie. stopped the nat bal fish even tho I thought it was ok ,he went loose on me again. the pumpkin only seemed to add color and make him looser and have more movements. I fed him at 4 in the afternoon and he had 5 bowel movements during the night after that. I fed him 2 1/2 cups of the mixture. stopped the pumpkin and gave boiled rice and just TOTW and movements are pretty good and only a few a day BUT all of a sudden I will see him have a looser one with like 4 spoonfuls dropped around. The next will be normal. Its crazy, the rice works tho for me better than the pumpkin, still struggling tho, dont feel in the clear yet. Miss Minnie on the other hand has perfect normal movements.

Carol,
How old is Mickey? I would pick one food & stick to it. I would also make sure that you feed the same thing every day for a few weeks. From what I understand, jumping from food to food is enough to upset their still developing systems. I would try one kibble & make sure it isn't too much. By that, I mean overfeeding. Rosie couldn't handle more than 2 cups total of Orijen 6 fish. Too much kibble can set them off as well. Pick one thing to add, if it is pumpkin be sure not to give too much as this can cause the runs as well. I would not give pumpkin, rice & change the kibble all at once. His system needs to quiet down & get used to one thing. It might mean a few loose stools as it gets readjusted to one thing then should even out. I have had numerous vets as well as breeders along with stuff I have read that really stress keeping change to a minimum. Plus allowing a few weeks to adjust to food. Perhaps for now, since his system seems so sensitive, take a step back from premium dog food and try something a step below. A lot of Newfs do well on Pro Plan. Perhaps this might be something for him to try until he is producing consistent poop. Then you can think about switching him to a higher quality food.
I know you probably have had lots of advice so I am sorry if you have heard all of this before. What kind of poop did he have at the breeders?

Hope you are feeling better

 

[4ondafloor]

I guess I should stress here that I completely agree with Tircia in that you should not be jumping around testing one food after another while all this is going on.
Might want to pick a kibble and stick with it.
There are transitional kibbles out there too. Ones that you can feed and use to move over to a new one. I wouldn't try to do a cold turkey switch. That might be half your lost battle.
I still say that to firm up a stool, use the cooked barley.

 

[R Taft]

Nothing has helped me as much as the barley has. the rice was ok..the pumpkin was ok but the cooked barley worked so well for me that I keep it as a staple now.
I'e alos been told oatmeal is good to use too but I'm not trying it. I'll stick with what works.

Oatmeal is good too for loose stools, but we also use steam rolled barley, which looks just like oatmeal for humans.......it can even be put uncooked in the dogs food, but cooked is fine.
We feed RAW now , so our grains are also RAW.........The rolled oats or steam rolled barley has a great absorption in the gut and therefore helps with making stools more solid.
Our dogs love eating our horses feed ( grains etc), and we have just always good stools. With lots of visible undigested grains.
Annabelle had shocking loose stools when she arrived, but our diet here has changed that dramatically. I also feed more bones if our stools are at all softer. I am the local stool observer here :lol:
we used to have a boarding kennel and that is where I discovered that grains could help dogs stools. We however never feed dry kibble or canned dogfood.
We feed pumpkin too, but ours is cooked fresh from the garden.
I personally think you have to be very careful with preservatives. I think a lot get blamed on particular foods, when it is more likely to be the preservatives used. And what you have to realize is that preservatives can accumulate. So a food that caused no problems can suddenly cause problems. The same happens with some kids/adults

 

[twins2again]

Tricia I am using just TOTW right now with the boiled rice added and hes been good,even only got up once when minnie barked every two hrs to go out{her stools are fine by the way}Im holding my breath on it but hes been doing good for a few days. Debra , I will get the barley too after Im sure hes good for a while. One thing Im worried about having to add the cooked grains is Im taking the kids to disney the first week in Dec and they will be at the vets,{they have a beautiful boarding facilility and I know the manager} He wont be able to have cooked rice or cooked anything in with the TOTW so Im hoping to be able to wean off the rice before then.

 

[Tricia2]

Tricia I am using just TOTW right now with the boiled rice added and hes been good,even only got up once when minnie barked every two hrs to go out{her stools are fine by the way}Im holding my breath on it but hes been doing good for a few days. Debra , I will get the barley too after Im sure hes good for a while. One thing Im worried about having to add the cooked grains is Im taking the kids to disney the first week in Dec and they will be at the vets,{they have a beautiful boarding facilility and I know the manager} He wont be able to have cooked rice or cooked anything in with the TOTW so Im hoping to be able to wean off the rice before then.

Excellent! Glad to see you have decided to stick to one food. It will be so much easier for you to eliminate what is contributing to Mickey's food intolerances. I wouldn't change anything for a few weeks.

 

[twins2again]

well went to the vets with minnie and told the Dr about what happened,{shes been his vet but was out when he had to be seen earlier in the month] she gave me two weeks of flagyl and also a dewormer that does everything she said, even tho his stool was neg when he came in , in case something was brewing that didnt show when he was in earlier.

 

[4ondafloor]

If your ver will allow...precook the barley and ask them to add. it will stay good in the fridge for a week. I cook fresh daily now but that's because mine are rotten, rotten spoiled rotten (all three). I've been known to cook up a whole batch and stick it in the fridge to use only as needed. Maybe that's an option for you? I know some vets will charge a dollar or two a day to do little extra's. Just a thought..
Good luck!! I sure do sympathize. Been there. Sooooo been there.

 

[twins2again]

Thanks debra, I cook the rice for a couple days ahead so yeah I can cook the barley too gonna try that next week,give him some time to rest on this rice/ TOTW

 

[SunnyD]

I am so glad he seems to be holding his own!

Perhaps Minnie is asking to go out every two hours because she saw that Mickey got to do it? They don't know why he went out, right? Only that he went out frequently so she thinks she should too! Plus she gets the added bonus of getting to see you. If she has been going longer stints before this barking every two hours, I would try your best to ignore her. She will stop the barking if she doesn't get the reward! (a midnight visit from you) Rosie has learned that if I get up during the night, this is not the signal to visit. It took a few times before she realized I wasn't going to let her out. She now ignores me and goes back to sleep. We have to be careful with these guys. They get us trained before we know it!

 

[twins2again]

you are right tricia, thats what I tell my husband, we have to let her bark a bit when we know shes all set and doesnt really have to go out, but you know what she might be uncomfortable a little because when we went to the vet ,she said she had a little ear infection, a little bacteria but also some yeast but it wasnt too bad at all,still, maybe it was bothering her.