Hello

This is the 1st time i've posted on the forum and really hope that someone can provide me with some advice.

I have 2 Saints, one who is male entire 2yrs with no problems and the other is a 3yr entire male.  In the past 6 months or so we have noticed that he is suffering with loose stools.  Since a pup we have tried numerous foods, he came with Nutro as a pup, but as a youngster was extremely bouncy so we tried different foods with low protein, ie the nutro, RCW, Burns (which gave him horrendous d+) we then had him on Arden Grange and also Hill's I/D which didn't work then changed over to a new food called Simpsons premium c/r which is a food a friend of mine has manufactured, she was a distributor for AG but got fed up with the prices mounting so developed her own, the food is a great food, my younger dog is thriving on it!!

But Bobby we've really noticed in the past 6 months ish that he has pretty horredous d+, on walks he has been known to go 6 times, 1st one normal as can be, then gets looser and looser, 2nd is a massive cowpat then tiny little pools of water, he strains to go 4th 5th and 6th times (you get the picture)

We have taken in numerous 3 days samples of faeces to be sent off to the lab, nothing came back, in december we did a full blood profile including folate/cobabalin to check if his intestines were working ok, all came back negative, we had tried previously pro-fibre and normal pro fibre (no change), also we used to give natural yoghurt on their food, I had read somewhere that it may help to alleviate bloat, so we stopped giving him that in case he was allergic to it.

Once all the tests came back the vet prescribed metronidazole and steroids, they DID help but only at the high dose steroid but it was a nightmare, he drank soooo much and was weeing in the house all over, the vet said it is not worth replacing one problem with another and it was a huge problem!

He mentioned that we could open him up and take biopsies but i'm really reluctant to do that to him

I was in our local store for businesses the other month and saw they had the chappie dry, and it said no eggs or dairy so I thought maybe he is allergic to that and this might work, so have had him on that for a month or so, and yes the poos went down to 3, 1 normal, 1 normal ish and 1 squit.

The main problem is that he is really bony, at his heaviest he was 79kg, and yes he was a bit of a tub monster, he is now 72kg,I would really like him to be 75/76kg i'm not saying he is skin and bones and to look at him you would think he is fine but his hip bones are so prounouced, we showed him at an open show last week and the judge mentioned afterwards he really needs to put on weight, luckily we explained to her what problems we had, the embarrassing thing is when judges go over him and think we are starving him, at least we were able to tell her about it.  We won't be showing him until he we can get some weight on him.

She mentioned to try tripe which we did and he loved it but still wasn't really gaining weight, so then I decided to contact Simpsons and she said try the lamb, she has lots of GSD customers that have problems digesting the chicken the lamb seems to work better for sensitive tums, so we have tried that since Sat, he has been the same ish as the chappie, today he did 1 normal and 1 huge loose cowpat but none after that which IS an improvement.  It seems we feel his backend and think there may be a bit more substance there and then he goes on a walk and has the squits and he feels the same as before.

I just feel so sorry for him :0(, but it's the looking out for squatting and straining as he's trying to pass but there's nothing there, although the thing is once he's all squitted out he does seem pretty happy, trots along beside me with energy

Now i've bleeted on and i'm so sorry for the huge essay but the really ODD thing is, if he doesn't go for a walk if i'm ill etc, he doesn't get any squits at all, goes twice in the garden and it's normal as anything!!!
It seems the action of him walking and jiggling about makes him looser, my o/h suggested maybe when he's been for the 1st time (which is literally 5 mins after leaving the house) is to quickly find a place to stop and sit for 5/10 mins to give him a chance to rest his insides

Please please has anybody ever heard of this, trying to find information on the net is practically non-existant

I really hope somebody can offer any advice at all

Thanks
Vicki

I can't really give advice but I know when mine go for a run(as in running) in the fields/parks they always do a normal poop then 2 loose poos, however if they don't go for their run in the fields and are road walked they will still do about 3 poo's but all solid. So out of personal experience & 5 dogs its just they have a good clear out when out running. :)

Would changing the times of thier meal-times/walks make a difference so they don't need to poop while on a walk?

Are they on 2 meals per day?

Hiya
Thanks to you both for replying :0)

mastifflover, they get 2 meals a day, our 1st saint bloated and had a gdv so we are very careful about feeding/exercising, they get fed at 8am and 6pm and get their walk usually at noon or sometimes early afternoon, it is so hard trying to feed them and leaving enough time each side obviously whilst fitting in a job aswell lol (after monty bloating we now wait 3 hrs before and after eating, used to wait 2hrs) (the things we do eh!)

oh and btw forgot to write that bobby gets 720g of food daily split into 2 meals, our other saint only gets 650g daily and we have to watch his weight as he is fairly chunky and only 3kg less than bobby.  I don't know whether to up his food, then I worry that he will get d+ as have read that they can get d+ from an overload of food.

oh and I don't bobby could ever go on a walk without pooing LOL

How does that amount compare to what anyone on here feeds their giant dogs?

Thanks again!

> How does that amount compare to what anyone on here feeds their giant dogs?
>

Buster (English Mastiff) gets approx 350gms of Beta complete per day + the same amount of tripe. This is split over 2 meals per day (for the same reasons as you & I also leave a gap between feeds & excercise, but as Buster is not very active on walks I just leave a 2hr gap). So about the same Bobby :)

Sometimes the tripe is replaced with raw beef/white fish/tinned dog food (Butcher or Chappie).

I know, from experience, if I were to feed a complete kibble on it's own, Buster would be very 'runny' indeed. But as yours seems Ok if they have not been walked, I'm not sure that feeding them the same way (complete + wet/raw food) would make any difference?

Must be very frustrating for you. I hope somebody can offer some advice.

My golden retriever now 4 (enrtire male) was very like this as a puppy up to being about 2 years old.  I feed a raw diet and it always amazed me how we could take him for a walk and he would do about 6 poops the first couple were normal and  then they became progressively more and more loose.  The shorter the walk the less loose the poops.  He is fine now and only does 2 or 3 each walk but I think it is a habit thing, they are out and they have to go - even though there is nothing left! ??   Even though he has been out quite a few times today, I know if I were to take him out again he would have to do another poop :) 

I think my boy is really healthy and I think your boy is too!  (is it a man thing)?  I think it is a habit!!

Ditto--I got quite worried at one point when as you say the poo turned to sludge turned to water. He is better now at 2.5 years, and in the end I put it down to the excitement of playing with his friends out on a good walk, which invariably involves a swim in the river. I thought he might be picking up all sorts from the water, but he was always perfectly happy in himself (what a stupid phrase that sounds :)!) so apart from giving him a lot of rice and chicken, which never made much difference, I fed him tripe. Now he is finally a decent weight and I no longer have to worry about him.

Vicki.
Our elder BH was very much the same, he had the habit/symptoms when we got him at nine months. His breeder assured us it was normal! Like yours if he spent the day in the garden without a walk all would be well but the longer we were out the more times he attempted to go.  The first was 'normal' with then increasing fluid content which I understand is because the colon has not had time to reabsorb. Yes ,he strained and strained, paddling (as I called it) with his hind legs in effort to pass - finally water, mucus and occasionaly blood. Developing into Colitis which continued for a couple of years.

Whether it is 'a man thing' as Perry suggests, I don't have the experience to say. I went down the route of attempting finding a food which didn't irritate him - less fillers and grain. This was not quick, he would settle down for a couple of weeks, a few months and then it would start all over again. He was treated with anti biotics,
a kaolin paste and Salazopyrin. I was also given the advice that 'yes' he could settle on one type of food but then after about a year the intolerance would flare again and yes it did.

Now aged six he has been relatively free for the last two years, he still has the odd day but it nearly alway due to some rubbish he has managed to hoover up while out. He is fed Robbies, is healthy and looks great. It still has rice in it which I'm not keen about but he's doing well. Like any food it's down to the individual and he's tried many many brands, all of those you mention (except Simpsons) and more. So the route I took was to attempt to find a food he would tolerate, good luck.

Thanks so much to you all for replying, it really is a comfort to know we are not the only ones, I thought I must have the oddest dog in the world, as I couldn't find anything about it on the net, and all my vets that I've spoken to had no idea either!!

It may be a "man" thing as I do recall our 1st saint going through the same ish thing with slightly loose poos on walks, but not to the extreme that bobby suffers with, and as I remember he just went through a phase and then all of sudden he was fine and just used to do the one, oh joy what i'd give to only pick up one LOL

I have for the past day upped his food to nearly 800g and see how he goes with that, and trying the sitting down with him on walks to give him tum a rest, otherwise I think I will try adding the tripe to his meals again as he did really love it!!  The judge who recommended it said to give frozen green tripe, we bought some packs from pets at home but can't see that it says "green" on it, from our local pet shop we bought another type which also didn't state green on it, but the packaging was rubbish and kept leaking through the bag, which wasn't nice as it had leaked all over the fridge!!  do you think the pets at home one is good enough to use?

Once again thank you everyone for replying

Vicki x

> we bought some packs from pets at home but can't see that it says "green" on it, from our local pet shop we bought another type which also didn't state green on it,

Don't worry about the fact it doesn't say 'green' :) 'Green' means un-cleaned/un-bleached (the white tripe sold for humans has been cleaned & bleached).
So as long as you are buying raw tripe from a pet shop, it's the right stuff (the white stuff from the butches is of no benefit).

I use Prize Choice freeflow tripe, which is minced & comes in a 2kg bag, very easy to defrost te required amount that way and I find it less messy than the blocks. I also have used Prize Choice blocks of tripe (think they are usually in a 450g block). I get my tripe form pets at home, or the local small pet shop.

:)

I have a 2.5 year old saint. I always struggled to get weight on him as he is quite fussy about food and any change to his routine causes him to turn away from his dinner. He weighed 73kgs at a weigh in and I was beginning to give up. He is very active and thinks he is a spaniel I suspect as he walks the mountain etc every evening with me and my spaniels. Anyway the vets said he was perfect. You couldn't feel ribs or anything but it annoyed me. My gsd was similiar and after getting him neutered, he now looks stunning. So in January of this year, I had my saint neutered and he has thrived since. He would do a few poops a day and the last one is always loose. I think its just the way they are. He eats daily 700g of royal canin, 350g mince, fish oil and sometimes some chicken.

2 of mine are like that, the Yankee in particular used to be the king of doing 6 poos on a mile long walk! He does seem to have grown out of it somewhat, he's now 8 years old and although he nearly always does a poo when we first arrive at the place of the walk, he doesn't seem to need to go more than twice or so. :-)

hi we have 2 gsd bitches that get very excited when out on a walk lol ,and its alway sloppy when they poo ,we was told its just down to excitment.

It is probably just "excitable colitis." Nothing you can do and I doubt it will harm them. Just not easy to "bag it & bin it"!