My Dog Has 'Loose' stools - Ideas?

MentalMinnie

Sorry! She's 13 and a half, in very good health in all other ways, and extremely active. However, for the last couple of months her poop has been loose/sloppy. It's not diarrhoea. It's not all the time. She'll go maybe 3-4 times in a day, the first will be fine, then anything else is 'loose' she also struggles a little. Nothing has changed in her diet etc. I'm wondering if there's something I can add to her food that is natural, to make it more 'solid', or should I just take her straight to the vets? She gets a wheatabix with a small amount of milk in the morning. She's been getting this for years though, but maybe I should stop giving her milk?

Bromley86

>but maybe I should stop giving her milk?

IANAdognutritionist. I just know that I use to get a wheatabix with milk every morning too and yet can't handle it now . AFAIK, dogs start off less equipped to deal with cows milk than European humans.

I'd just feed the usual dry food with no treats and see what happens. You might try reducing the quantity a little to see if that helps. If that fails, then welcome to the wonderful world of dog food surfing - I've been trying to find a food that works for both of our girls for two years now .

Dollardog

I give my dog natural yogurt for his breafkast (Sains Basics), He doesn't have any problems in the poo department, lol. You could try mixing the Weetabix with that.

System

i too was told that dogs have problems digesting cows milk (goats milk is better for them apparently). Your dog looks has though he has grown intolerant of it. You could try watering it down and see if that makes any difference.

elsien

Obviously the first port of call if you're seriously concerned is the vet.

Having said that, if you want to give her something extra in the morning you could consider a change from weetabix to porridge oats - recommended to me by my vet as a gentler alternative to bran as mutt has a sensitive stomach and gets colitis. Mutt happily eats the porridge oats sprinkled on her food (although it's a bit messy when she sneezes) but you could be kind and make yours some proper porridge with water not with milk, just in case there's some sort of reaction to the wheat going on.

krlyr

I would cut out any extras, including the Weetabix and milk, and if there was no improvement after a few days I would pop her to the vet. A couple of months is a long time for it to be persisting but if it is an intolerance to milk (many dogs are lactose intolerant) it's understandable that it would continue if you were still feeding milk (or another trigger to an intolerance).
Slippery elm is meant to be good for stomach upsets but as it's gone on so long, and given her age, I would be reluctant to suggest trying out home remedies, I think it's probably reached the stage of a vet trip if cutting out the extra foods doesn't sort it.