Have had my re-homed 5 year old for 3 weeks now, initially she had an extreme upset tummy, probably stress related. She has firmed up quite a lot and no longer poos in the kitchen overnight as she was doing to begin with but her poo is still very soft. She is on hypoallergenic food, fed twice a day, and nothing else, and is active and seems to be healthy in every other way, although today she has decided to start eating her poo - nice! She has been wormed as a precaution although she showed no sign of having worms. She is an extreme foodie and gulps her meals down in seconds.
How can I firm her up a bit, and why is she eating her own poo? I have tried putting her on boiled rice and chicken but it made no difference.  If I can't firm her up I will have to start with vet investigations which I would rather avoid at the moment as I would rather she had time to settle here before being subjected to tests. She was just coming out of a phantom pregnancy when she arrived here so could that be something to do with it? Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.

A food is only hypoallergenic if it is novel enough for the dog not to have eaten the ingredients before.

Now it could be that the dogs does not do well with the protein and or carbohydrate source.

For example chicken and Rice do not seem to help, so ti coudl be rice that's the issue and/or chicken.

Why not try white fish (you can buy the economy fillets in most supermarkets), steam, and give with mashed potato.

If this works, she may be better on a Fish and potato diet, though of course may be fine on Lam or whatever that she isn't having now, just the fish is probably gentler and less expensive to try home cooked.

As per Brainless, but also, have you changed the food she was on? If not do you know if she was firm on this food in the previous place. 3 weeks is very early days, so many things can contribute to loose stools, apart from food. Change in environment, stress due to change in environment, change in water, change in routine. If you haven't changed her food, then personally I'd stick with it another couple of weeks.

Re eating her own poo, there are all sorts of theories out there, such as not having enough nutrients in the food ... but then it can be a habit. Mum eats pup's poo as tiny pups, pups watch, copy Mum.

Boiled rice and chicken is the standard thing recommended, however, it can prove awful for some dogs, specially if they've not had boiled rice and chicken before. One of my girls has intolerances, if I put her on boiled rice and chicken she produces the most amazingly runny diarrhea ... as does the Hills Science Diet hydrolised protein diet :-O :-O :-O

If she has firmed up a lot to what she was when you initially got her, I'd just stick with her basic food for a little bit longer. The more you tinker and try her with different things the more it's going to upset her system. If in a couple of weeks' time she hasn't improved then I would think about switching, but give her chance to settle first. Plus if she's had a phantom, then her hormones will have been all over the place. Out of interest, what are you feeding?

My rescue dog that came to live with me recently also had a very runny tum, I put her on 4 days of Pro Kolin night and morning before food to try to line her tum and to settle any soreness/inflammation she might have due to the stress. In my case I also changed her onto Arden Grange Lamb and Rice, although this was my option ( I am not suggesting a change of food necessarily ) however I think the pro Kolin helped things a lot. You can buy it online and is something I always have in my pet first aid box.
My dog also ate her and the other dogs poos, I assumed it was because she had been abandoned and had to eat whatever she could find. I just go poo picking a couple of times a day to try and clear anything she might be tempted to eat, and now after a few months she is not so interested. I think the fact she now knows that she will be fed twice a day at a regular time and she does not need to scavenge has helped or perhaps my frequent poo picking has also helped.

BTW My tube of PK had been open for 6 months and I was unsure whether it would still be ok to use. I thought if I called my vet they would insist I bought a new tube whether I needed to or not, so instead I called the manufacturer of PK and they told me that it doesn't matter how long it has been open, as long as the lid has been replaced and it has been kept in a cool place away from sunlight then it would be fine until the expiry date on the box, so that is good to know.

What a useful bit of information sillysue. I hadn't appreciated what pro kolin was, so have just ordered some to keep in the dog meds box.

it would be fine until the expiry date on the box,

I tend to buy it at Crufts when you get the '3 for 2' offer, found I hadn't needed it and only had 2 new unopened tubes that were about 3-4 months over date when I needed some so I took a chance and used it. It worked OK with no problems.
I wouldn't advise this as a regular thing but I remembered that I had had a bottle of 'Collis Browne' Kaolin mix (older posters may remember it :-D ) that had been about -opened - for 7-8 years - from the days before they put expiry dates on everything and took some myself that was OK so took a chance with the PK

sams mum, what food are you feeding?

Skinners Duck and Rice, but am beginning to suspect that it is the rice she doesn't want as today I gave her potato and a little of the other dog's Royal Canin and she has not been quite as bad. It seems that each place she has been in recently has fed her something different, which won't have helped. Poor thing doesn't have a lot going for her just now but will steer clear of rice for a few days and see what happens. Thanks everyone for your help I really appreciate it.

Well Simpsons do a range with Duck and Potatoe, Salmon ans Potatoe, Lamb and potatoe and Chicken and Potatoe.

Just a pointer for anyone reading this, Pro Kolin contains soya oil, so if you have a dog sensitive to that it's a product to be avoided. I discovered this to our cost, an already bad bout of diarrhea became horrendously worse :( There is an alternative though can't for the life of me remember what it is just at the moment :(

diarsanyl is another one widely used for 'squits' but i don't know if that has soya in it

I have always used plain Kaolin suspension or Kaolin and Morphine if I can't get it plain. 

Just looked at my bottle of Boots Kaolin & Morphine, it does not say it ahs soya oil, peppermint oil, treacle etc but no mention of Soya.

It may help to add a small amount of steamed butternut squash to her meal if you believe it may be her tummy that is irritated. It is fantastic for helping upset tums(both if runny or constipated), and also add a small amount of live priobotic yoghurt to put the good bacteria back into her tummy.

thanks everyone, it was the rice that was causing all the trouble! have also found that even the smallest amount of pasta does exactly the same. She is now well established on Simpsons Salmon and Potato and doing well although still trying to eat everything in sight whether suitable or not.

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