Orijen and loose stools

[Rudgeman]

Sorry forgot to mention, my guy was 41 pounds last Wed, so you are same as us. I have also been in contact w/littermates, all very similar in weight and size. I think you are fine.

[Nishasmom]

Well, you should probably have a recheck for parasites...those little buggers can be hard to detect .

We went through a phase with Nisha were she had off and on loose stools...not diarrhea, but 'soft'. She also couldn't keep weight on. Turns out, she had Giardia! It took three fecals to find it ! It can be very hard to detect and can also cause sporadic loose stools. I would have the vet check for that as well.

[brunie's mom]

Originally Posted by Barrie

Actually he has been tested for parasites. It was an early concern of mine, as the breeder mentioned that he had to switch him from Kirkland (eek) to Pedigree (double eek!) because he was the only one getting loose poops on Kirkland.

His poops were ok with Pedigree, but I wasn't ok feeding him that crap. So I VERY SLOWLY switched him to Orijen (took about two and half weeks before he was fully switched).

Vet checked back then, and at the time he was firming up so there was no further concern, but then he told me he looked too skinny and that I should feed him more (but only increased by 1/4 cup a day every two weeks until he arrived at this quantity)

At his four month check up he weighed 39 pounds, and the vet said was "borderline satisfactory weight".

If he was 39 lbs at 4 months of age and 45 lbs at 4 1/2 months of age, he sounds like the perfect weight for a male rottie puppy. Please do not let him gain weight too quickly. About 10 lbs per month of weight gain is a good goal to shoot for...and much better for him to be thin...then overweight.

Try 3 cups of food, and see what happens. If things are still runny off and on...then I would still suspect a parasite...as another member mentioned giardia is hard to find..but common enough.

Those chicken strip treats are from China, try to avoid any treats,etc. that come from China. You can use other things for training treats...cooked chicken cut into tiny pieces, turkey or chicken wieners cut into tiny slices, cooked meatballs, Rollover, cheese string,etc.
For a chewing treat....bully sticks or a raw marrow bone, or a filled Kong...are all great.

Gina

[adam8065]

I just switched my puppy to Orijen too and yes she also had loose stools for the first week. I've talked to my breeder and he said every dog is different, some puppies need more food than others..considering their activity, metabolism, etc. My little girl get's 3 and 1/2 cups per day. She is skinny as a tooth pick and yes her ribs are very visible; and she is only 4 months old.

Her Father is 125 pds and her mother is 115 pds so she is going to very tall and big. So Follow your instinict.

If you want to get rid of loose stools I recommend Olewo carrots that is what my girl is on and it helps a lot!

[blisscodisco]

I totally forgot about the Giardia thing. It is not fun and my mom's dog had it several times when he was a puppy. He would get liquid shooting stuff though and it was not pretty. But took him awhile to get back to normal after that...for treats I feed my grain sensative boy lamb treats and they work great. Come in big strips/squares but can be broken up into little bits. This is what I feed my guys
Merrick Pet Foods - Dog Treats
It seems pretty gentle on sensative stomachs. If I do that and the Orijen and cooked chicken as a treat then things stay pretty firm at my house. Thinking happy firm thoughts for you and your boy.

[IJF1]

Just to reiterate the quantities thing. I have an 86lb female that maintains a lean physique eating only 320g of Orijen a day - it is a very small quantity.

[gmo1379]

My 6 month female gets 3 cups/day of Orijen LB Puppy.

She weighs about 55 lbs, no ribs poking out w/ a visable waist line.

She still gets the occasional loose stool.

Take a look at this chart: dog weight chart - The Purina Body Condition System

If your puppy looks like 1-2 on the chart, he's underweight.

[Weltterr]

Originally Posted by Rudgeman

..... Does anyone have any information that feeding a puppy well causes any harm? I really am interested as I want the best for my pup as well. And Stinky? wow! The orijen is pretty bad I must say.

Feeding a puppy 'well' will not cause harm. But 'well' is a subjective word. What one person might consider 'well fed' could be considered over fed to someone else. Over fed IS harmful. It can lead to pano, and it can put excessive weight on growing bones, which can contribute to other bone related problems when the dog is an adult. SLOW and steady growth is the best. Our dogs do not fully mature until 2 - 3 years.

[Barrie]

Originally Posted by gmo1379

My 6 month female gets 3 cups/day of Orijen LB Puppy.

She weighs about 55 lbs, no ribs poking out w/ a visable waist line.

She still gets the occasional loose stool.

Take a look at this chart: dog weight chart - The Purina Body Condition System

If your puppy looks like 1-2 on the chart, he's underweight.

Thanks for the link! My pup seems to be between 3 and 4, stools seem to be firmer in the mornings now that I've reduced the amounts (1 cup per meal), but the evening stools still are mushy.

That combined with the wonderful "aroma" makes for not so relaxing meals outdoors (which we used to love to do). You can literally visualize the bugger licking his paw and sticking up in the air to calculate the wind direction to ensure we can benefit for full "aroma absorption" from where we're sitting.

We must love our dogs! He did that twice at my in-laws, and she didn't think it was funny (I and the kids, on the other hand, were laughing so hard, we needed to go inside to the washroom to avoid accidents on our parts)

[Zumie05]

My 80lb 10 month old rottie eats 3 cups of Orijen LBP per day. I would think that 4 cups for a 4 month old puppy is a little too much!