Hi All,

Posting this as I'm a little worried. Nando is on a raw diet and has done fantastically on it, none of his old upset tums that he used to get.

This past week he has had loose stools. He is not going more frequently and he hasn't vomited, but i started out with solid stools and a bit of liquidy stools around it. Gradually the watery stools have increased and the solid once have been less formed.

We stopped his raw for a few days and started to feed him on scrambled egg (Rice goes right through him so couldn't do rice and chicken.) Today he had another loosely formed stool and then one which was almost liquid. He is now just on chicken as I think the egg made it worse.

He gets VERY stressed at the vets after one was very rough with him and muzzled him so I don't want to take him
there, especially as he's OK in himself and is drinking plenty.

What would you feed him if he doesn't cope too well with rice? I'm at a loss!

Try tinned Chappie (original not Chicken), an old favourite and one which GSD's do well on.

I'm loathe to try anything completely new as his tunmy doesn't take too well to new stuff.

Mashed potato and chicken or white fish.
Aileen

I may try the potato. Going to see how he is tomorrow morning after two meals of chicken. He does drink a lot of water on our walks, haven't found a way to stop him and I'm worried that this may have caused it?

Take a sample to the vet to have it checked. And I would try Chappie tinned original or one of the Invalid diet tins think Pedigree and Hills do them but I would use Chappie it is excellent for upset tummies.

Take it this is not a puppy, if it is then take him to the vet.

Just noticed this is a GSD well think it is if so defiantly try Chappie it is excellent for GSD trots.

He is 13 months so is a 'toddler' rather than a young pup. He is absolutely fine in himself. I am going to take a sample up to the vets tomorrow. I'm not bothered about price but any idea of what sort of tests I should be asking for? Don't want to spend money doing tons of tests that might be totally useless.

They can send a sample to check for infection, blood etc., the vet should know what is appropriate and also if there are any bugs doing the rounds in your area.

Hope he settles soon.

Just tell the vet the story you have told us and tell them you have brought a sample, normally it would be checked to see if there was an infection or any parasites so they can advice medication that may be required. GSDs are prone to stomach problems and the usual treatment with one who does is to feed Chappie, why it works I don't know but it does, the only other thing I found would work was horse manure and I don't think I would be advising that.

Try some natural "live" yogurt with his feeds or by itself, goats yogurt would be best although much more expensive, this helps replace good bacteria into the gut. Stick with your natural white meat, chicken, rabbit or fish.   But maybe a visit to the vet would be best!    Using using so many remedies and suggestions from everyone is enough to upset any tummy!

He must have heard me on the phone to the vets, this morning Nando has produced two perfectly formed stools. I think perhaps he had eaten something that didn't agree with him, and then the scrambled egg has just done him no good. It was great when he was younger and he had an upset tum, I suppose it must not agree with him if fed on an empty stomach.

Vet had said not to bother with sample just yet, sounds like it was the scrambled egg, and  to keep an eye on him and take a sample up to the vets if I notice any change.

> then the scrambled egg has just done him no good.

I'd agree.  A few days of loose ish stools are often nothing much to worry about (particularly in the summer months) and usually no need to adjust diet.  I'd generally just watch and wait for things to either right themselves or get worse.  I tend to be more concerned if diarrhoea comes with vomitting as well

Incidentally, eggs on their own are pretty rich and can cause loose stools in a well dog let alone one with upset stomach already.  Glad he's ok :)

I am glad he is better today..

I always have a few tins of RC sensitive diet tins in with FortiFlora Canine Nutritional Complement to add to it with some  tree bark powder if any of my lot have upset tummy .

Other than that a bland diet of potato and white fish.

Regarding the advice on Chappie, Zuma - also GSD - had stomach related surgery a few years ago and has also had acute Gastritis needing an overnight in Vet hospital, both times they put him on Waltham sensitive prescription to come home but were more than happy for me to use tinned Chappie as an intermediate before starting him gradually back onto his usual food.
Chris
PS you will eventually get used to 'Shepherd tummy' and the results

Yes, ever since I owned GSDs I have always kept a few tins of Chappie in the cupboard just in case no matter what the present breed happens to be. Have also used the Perigee (Waltham) but that is more expensive than Chappie and is not better for this particular use.

Glad to hear Nando is back to normal.

If he has a delicate tum, perhaps it might be worth trying him on it once or twice when his stomach is behaving, then when he has another upset you would be confident that it would be OK.

I have never had it not work for one of our GSD's.

I will try him on a tin or two for when he is better and then I'll be able to have a few in just in case! It is one food that comes up all the time! He has had a great tum since being on raw. It is the first month he has had tripe on it's own, so probably that combined with whatever gave him the upset tum has just tipped him over the edge.

He does have loose stools when on walks. No matter if he's on empty, he feels the need to go to the loo and so it comes out looking however it is.. Does anyone else's dog do this?

> Incidentally, eggs on their own are pretty rich and can cause loose stools in a well dog

Yep whole hard boiled egg given to each of my lot yesterday and Jozi (nearly 13) is loose.

He does have loose stools when on walks. No matter if he's on empty, he feels the need to go to the loo and so it comes out looking however it is.. Does anyone else's dog do this?

The second stool is always softer than the first in normal circumstances as they dry out in the large bowel over the hours and the less time the material is there the less they will dry. However GSDs are well known for having rapid transit so often suffer from loose or worse deification and because the more rapid the evacuation the more acid is in the material so it can become a vicious circle as there is damage caused to the bowel lining, mucus forms to protect the bowel and the stools become more unpleasant to deal with and bleeding can occur.

When I had the breed I found it important to keep them on a stable bland diet and not chop and change as every change seems to produce a bout of soft stools, once I learned this they were fed on Chappie and I have no more problem unless someone gave them a treat (need roll eyes here)

Yep whole hard boiled egg given to each of my lot yesterday and Jozi (nearly 13) is loose.

Was once told by a specialist in canine nutrition that it is fine to give eggs as the protein part of the diet but they should be raw and complete with shell. When I kept chickens the dogs would often come in for a special treat, a whole egg.

I often do that too.

My dogs don't come in for a special treat of a whole raw egg......they just wriggle into the chicken coop and help themselves!!!!!  Little blighters!

> He does have loose stools when on walks. No matter if he's on empty, he feels the need to go to the loo and so it comes out looking however it is.. Does anyone else's dog do this

Yep.  I have one that can go three or four times on a walk and he gets progressively loose (quite normal though as the material has had less time in the large intestine).  This is a dog that has to get moving to 'get moving' and if he misses a walk for some reason he'll hold on til he's uncomfortable - daft dog :)

On a walk, from mine I often get 1st poo firm, 2nd poo thinner and softer, 3rd poo tiny and slug-like.....

!!

Yep.  I have one that can go three or four times on a walk and he gets progressively loose (quite normal though as the material has had less time in the large intestine).  This is a dog that has to get moving to 'get moving' and if he misses a walk for some reason he'll hold on til he's uncomfortable - daft dog
A fellow dog walker stopped once and asked me if I had a spare po bag... when I pulled out two packets of tissue, some wet wipes, and THEN my roll of about 50 poo bags, she looked confused about why I needed so much stuff. Clearly her dog is sensible as she didn't know why I needed so many cleaning up materials!

On a walk, from mine I often get 1st poo firm, 2nd poo thinner and softer, 3rd poo tiny and slug-like.....
!!

I usually get 1/2 normal poos in the garden in the morning, second poo on the walk slightly sloppy, and third poo on his walk, a loose stool with a little bit of liquid.

Should add that 1/2 means one or two, not 'half normal' LOL

> she looked confused about why I needed so much stuff. Clearly her dog is sensible

My terrier type mongrel will poo twice in the same spot - he goes once, checks it, then finishes.  My two HWV are faaaar too busy to go properly the first time...

Oh and beware the roll of poo bags.  As I pulled one out yesterday it caught the wind and took off til I had a banner of bags about eight feet long blowing along behind me.  I know we on CD like to celebrate a good poo but this was going a bit too far methinks!!

I have them in one of those plastic roll holders as I too have experienced a celebratory ribbon of poo bags! LOL