i have a 5 year old rottie he has been to the vets for test on his poo as more often than not it is soft, they could not find anything wrong,
He cannot have a raw diet like my others do as this makes him very lame so he is on chappie complete has been for a while, but i am having difficulty getting the amount correct, if i give him what it says on the bag he becomes very very soft and sometimes runny, if i give him not enough he will eat the other dogs poo as he is hungry, he is very active so if not fed the correct amount he looses weight very quickly i do not know what to do with him.
If i was to go down the route of changing his food as it took us a year or more to get the chappie food correct we found any food that had red bits of food in it i think it is the colouring red he would just stand in the middle of the floor and vomit his dinner back up no warning no heaving etc just projectile everywhere it took us a while to realise what it was causing this, i really do not want to change his food as he is looking fantastic just wonder if there is anything i could add to his dinner to help him have hard poo
Sorry to be so graphic about him but thought i would give as much info as i could to see if anyone has any advice thank you

My initial reaction is this food doesn't suit him and I'd be looking at changing it.In your position I'd opt for a grain-free food such as Acana. A friend's dog who had serious digestive issues on even prescription foods is doing really well on it. She started on Orijen but when the prices increased tried the Acana and hasn't looked back. Maybe your Rottie could do part raw, part kibble? How does the raw make him lame?

My boy had trouble with poohs at about 18months after trying allsorts inc chappie which was the best when having trouble changed to fish4dogs Salmon never had any problems in 3 years even after having a marrow bone the day before...

Have you tried the tinned chappie? try less of it. i find that if i feed too much it comes out looser at the poo end. i find the wet better than dry.

his lameness is a form of canine gout diagnosed at the vets

he will not touch tinned chappie

Is there any reason why runny bum is a big deal?  I would just feed the amount that he should be getting if he is looking good on it.  So long as it just means sloppy poos and not explosive, I don't see a problem.

Continually sloppy poos can lead to potassium loss, if not treated this can be serious http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypokalemia

Although tablets are available for this, they are not the route to take - they can cause severe gastric pain and other problems (as I know to my cost)

I'm wondering if the dog is intolerant to wheat or some grains?   Intolerance to one type of grain doesn't necessarily mean intolerant to all.  eliminating all but one single grain from the diet may help to discover this but can take months to do, working systematically through the different grains.

As an alternative, what about raw fed but with the addition of potato or rice - if tolerated?  Or maybe a food based on potato or rice with fish instead of meat if they haven;t already been tried?

Remember, where the gut is sensitised or damaged it can take 6 weeks, or more, for this to heal and show improvement in the 'produce' at the other end ;)

In the short term, green bananas (ones with green on the skin) can slow things down, as can cooked sweet potato or pumpkin. Grated Courgette are also good.

I know all dogs will react differently to foods, but I've recently ran out of complete for Buster and as a stop-gap I got a bag of Lidl complete dog food. Busters poops are normally a little on the soft side, on the Lidl complete they firmed up imediately. I've used this food in the past and had the same effect, however it doesn't suit Bust long-term as a few months on it as the main food will cause him a drop in coat quality.

It's a very cheap food,  could be worth trying some in replace of part of his usual food?

I've had this problem with two dogs and in both cases it's been an intolerance to grain, I know grain free can be expensive but I believe CSJ's No Grainer is very good quality for the price and well thought off.

Would a spoonful of bran added work?  I've read it has the opposite affect in dogs than humans, firming up instead of loosing if you know what I mean.

If it's gout then certain meats (red meat I think) will make it worse.

If he won't eat tinned Chappie (which is excellent for digestive issues) I would go for a fish based complete.

Fish4dogs is worth a try, both Arden Grange, Simpson's and a few others do grain free ones (using potato) without them costing the earth. 

Chappie complete does not have enough nutrition in smaller amounts that he may need, and as you find feeding more makes him loose.

I use steamed pumpkin to make poo more solid[ butternut squash apparently work too but not tried it] for the size of your dog I'd give 2 desert spoonfuls twice a day, it usually works within hours then wean him of it over a few days once he is back to normal.

I keep steamed pumpkin in the freezer, I put it into ice cube trays then into food bags, each cube equals a desert spoonful.

Some yoghurt may help get his gut back into working order too

Hope it is sorted soon

We have a right mixed bunch and different foods suit different dogs. Having read wonderful reports, I tried my show gang on fish4dogs, big mistake as they all developed itchy, greasy coats (wire coated breed) that looked dreadfully stary and in bad nick. A few weeks back on Skinners Field & Trial salmon and they are back to normal. We have working spaniels too and no matter what complete we try them on, they are loose on it unless they are purely on raw bones. I am thinking of trying Acana for them when we can't source raw.

I have a dog with a food intolerance. She can only have fish based complete. Also it has to be white fish (JWB do one) Salmon gives her the same problems as the meat based ones. Maybe try the ocean white fish and see how it goes.

My springer is doing better and more solid on csj champ than she has ever been on all sorts of premium food including jwb white fish and rice.  I was really reluctant to change as she was the best she had been on jwb but still not great.  Very glad I did now.  When it used to get really bad I would mix a crushed and moistened weetabix in her meal which would help slow things down a lot

I'd agree mine do best on white fish as opposed to salmon versions of fish based complete.

Would a spoonful of bran added work?  I've read it has the opposite affect in dogs than humans, firming up instead of loosing if you know what I mean.

Adding veggies to the diet could have a similar effect.  A friend of mine had a dog who had on-going problems with his anal glands and had numerous trips to the vets to have them squeezed.  They suggested adding veg to his diet and it firmed things up and eliminated the problem with his anal glands as they got expressed normally.

> Would a spoonful of bran added work?

I tried bran some years ago without success, output just as soft and much more of it!

Interestingly have just started to feed raw which they both love but although adding pulped veg, motions still far too soft. Must be getting the proportions or veg wrong. Though in the book, Work wonders (Tom Lonsdale) he mentions that indigestible veg fibre retains water keeping feces soft.

> Interestingly have just started to feed raw which they both love but although adding pulped veg, motions still far too soft. Must be getting the proportions or veg wrong

Lacy, you don't have to feed veg if it causes issues.  I'm a raw feeder and I don't routinely add veg however I do add it when I want softer motions - for example after a meal high in bone.  Liver and veg will both make motions softer which can prevent constipation after bone or simply see things through more comfortably :)  I find green veg the most useful for this - root veg, isn't so effective

you could try freezing it lololol,,, sorry hahaha im layed up and bored going a bit stir crazy now xx
i notice with my rottie that when i buy dry food no mater what brand, i xant get him beef flavors as he ends up with runny ones, always has to be chicken,

Try Fish4dogs. All my dogs have had firm poos since I changed them to this excellent food 2 years ago.

I have found the food from fish4dogs very good, we have an alaskan malamute with a sensitive tummy and it has helped him a great deal.

Add oat bran to his food. Just the simple stuff you can buy in the supermarket that you'd use to make muffins etc. HTH