# Extreme Diarrhea!



## Alayna (Jan 9, 2011)

Hi there,

We just got Thor, our new GSD pup, on Sunday. The breeder was feeding him
kibble. We wanted to do raw, however. Unfortunately around here, it was
immpossible for me to find chicken backs. (I don't know why, but I searched high
and low, never had so much trouble looking for that.) So, I grabbed the next
best thing. Chicken quarters with half the back attached.

He took to it so well! We were excited about that. However, his poo is just like
water! Literally, "the squirts". It's terrible. Especially when he has accidents
in between going outside (but who doesn't, when they have diarrhea?). The smell
is.... no words. Lol. O_O

Is there anything I could be doing to help remedy this? I don't want to feed him
kibble, but if it helps his poor bum, I will. But wont mixing kibble with raw
upset his stomach and cause possible vomitting? Should I cut off the excess meat
on the chicken quarter so he's getting a little meat, but more bone?

Any advice is appreciated!
PS. Also posted this in a Yahoo Group. Just trying to get the best solution.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

How about buying a whole chicken and cutting out the back and rib cage and feeding that to him. You can save the breast meat, legs and thighs for him later or have for yourself. You might be able to get turkey neck but I am not 100% that would be enough bone to start with. If he were mine I would fast him about 12 hours before feeding again - sometimes that old kibble just needs to get through. Oh, if he has the runs you may want to take the skin off the chicken.


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## eternalstudent (Jul 22, 2010)

You can also go for wings, so long as your pup is good with chewing. I agree with liz and you can have a few chicken dinners out of it is a good way. 

I can not get backs as such, I use chicken frames / carcasses instead which are nearly all bone. I get them from the wholesale butchers that supplies the catering trade. They are sold commercially to make chicken stock. It might be worth even asking your local places where they get there meat from (places like Chinese takeaways usually have a roaring in strange meats  )


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## Alayna (Jan 9, 2011)

Hmm, you think the chicken skin is aiding in the diarrhea? I didn't think about that. Someone mentioned putting him on rice and cooked chicken for a little while and then reintroducing him to raw. That I introduced him to raw too quickly. But I thought dogs couldn't digest grains? O_O

I have a whole chicken in the freezer. I'll thaw that out and cut out the back and ribs like you mentioned. Even if he doesn't eat them until a couple days from now.

@Eternal- Good idea. Didn't think about that. I'll have to check around. Though, the butchers here don't process their own chicken (have no idea why not). Will have to ask around.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

He has had a lot of changes. Just the stress of a new home can cause diarrhea. How old is he? Maybe you can fast him for one meal and then try the bony chicken with no skin. You might want to look for meat packagers or processors and see if they sell to private parties. You can also check ethnic grocery stores - they will usually add a case of food for you if you ask. Asian markets will commonly get the bacs, frames, and necks while spanish markets are real good for heart, beef neck and pork neck. I hope it helps I don't really know about Canada but its worth a visit. Good luck and don't worry he will even out.


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## Alayna (Jan 9, 2011)

@Liz- Unfortunately, in this area (5 hours north of Edmonton, AB), there's no "ethnic grocery stores". Lol. I miss the Asian & Spanish markets back home in the states! The extent of ethnic cooking is split into half of one isle at the regular supermarket. Smh. I think there's a meat processor or packager in the next town over. Will have to check the yellow pages. The pup is 10 weeks old. You're right about the stress of a new home. I think he misses his littermates a bit. Only has a couple cats to play with and they're too occupied with sleeping to be bothered with him. Lol. Poor guy. Thanks for the advice! It's much appreciated.


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## _Trish (Jan 31, 2011)

If he's having very smelly diarrhea then I'm wondering if it's not a parasite or virus like giardia or coccidia, which are common in puppies. Puppies have a sensitive digestive system, and it doesn't take much to set them off (in my experience). Whenever I brought home a new puppy, I fed them what the breeder was feeding them, even if I didn't care for the ingredients for a minimum of 4 weeks. I let them have a chance to settle into their new home first before changing things up on them too much. I would take in a fresh stool sample to the vet and have them test it, to rule out parasites. Whenever one of my dogs has an upset tummy (diarrhea) I feed them a bland diet, and also give them Diarsanyl, I get it from my vet but it's available over the counter.


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## schtuffy (May 17, 2010)

The chicken skin/fact could definitely be contributing to diarrhea. Try trimming all of that off as a precaution. When he starts to have consistent firm poops, then you can start adding it back in. As for the attached back, sometimes there may be a bit of organ like kidney stuck on it. You want to make sure you scrape all of that off too. The cooked chicken and rice thing is a stomach remedy for kibble fed dogs :smile: Maybe try fasting your pup for 24 hours before you start up again without the skin and fat. Hope he gets better soon!


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## _Trish (Jan 31, 2011)

He -WAS- being fed kibble by the breeder, though. My dogs are both kibble fed and raw fed, but more raw then kibble lately. There's nothing wrong with feeding him chicken and rice (I use lean hamburger and oatmeal, with a little pumpkin, though) even if he is raw fed. My dogs have no trouble going from raw to kibble to canned, they don't have any digestive upsets from it. I often eat raw meat and cooked food in the same sitting, and have not suffered any ill effects from it - for example with sushi I'm eating raw fish with cooked rice. I also eat my steak rare, but often times eat a baked potato with it. I know dogs and people have completely different digestive systems, and dogs digest things much more quickly, but.. just sayin'! 

Also keep in mind that not all dogs can tolerate raw, most can, but there are the occasional few that cannot. I had a foster dog that could not tolerate raw, period. Got nasty diarrhea and kept regurgitating and vomiting, this went on for over a month, so we went back to kibble with him and he did fine. My dogs tolerate raw pretty well for the most part.


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

Your new puppy is too little to fast. So I wouldn't do that. What I would do is up the bone content of his meals. If all you are able to get is chicken quarters, I would remove all fat, skin and organs from each. I might also remove SOME of the meat in order to increase the bone. But make sure and keep the bones completely covered with meat. I would only only give him half of his daily ration today, though.

How much are you feeding? It could be you are feeding too much. That is also a main diarrhea contributor. 

I would for sure get him checked out at the vet.

Hope he starts to feel better soon! Poor little guy!



_Trish said:


> He -WAS- being fed kibble by the breeder, though. My dogs are both kibble fed and raw fed, but more raw then kibble lately. There's nothing wrong with feeding him chicken and rice (I use lean hamburger and oatmeal, with a little pumpkin, though) even if he is raw fed. My dogs have no trouble going from raw to kibble to canned, they don't have any digestive upsets from it. I often eat raw meat and cooked food in the same sitting, and have not suffered any ill effects from it - for example with sushi I'm eating raw fish with cooked rice. I also eat my steak rare, but often times eat a baked potato with it. *I know dogs and people have completely different digestive systems*, and dogs digest things much more quickly, but.. just sayin'!


The bolded section is the key here.



_Trish said:


> Also keep in mind that not all dogs can tolerate raw, most can, but there are the occasional few that cannot. I had a foster dog that could not tolerate raw, period. Got nasty diarrhea and kept regurgitating and vomiting, this went on for over a month, so we went back to kibble with him and he did fine. My dogs tolerate raw pretty well for the most part.


I'd be interested in how you transitioned. As far as I am aware, EVERY dog can handle a raw diet. Saying that they cannot is like saying not all cows can tolerate grass. That doesn't mean there truly aren't any. There are anomalies in everything. So I am genuinely interested in what was being fed.


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## _Trish (Jan 31, 2011)

I feed pre-made raw for the most part, I'm just now getting into prey model raw, I mostly order it in bulk from Hare Today, Gone Tommorow but also sometimes buy commercial raw, Bravo, Primal and Nature's Variety if I'm in a pinch. 

I ordered the fine ground chicken, turkey, beef, and rabbit. The dog was pulled from the pound, so who knows what he was used to eating, the pound was feeding a "mixed barrel" of food, it was different bags of food that were donated, all poured into a giant barrel. Once I pulled him from the pound for rescue, I had him taken to a vet, and had a vet check performed, and he was tested for HW, and had a fecal done.. he had already been vaccinated at the pound. He tested negative for hw, and fecal also came back negative for parasites. But anyway, I was feeding the hare-today when I brought him home, so gave him his first meal of raw, and fed 2% of his body weight, he was 25 lbs so I gave him 4 oz. in the AM, which he happily ate, and then about an hour later started having violent diarrhea, so I chalked it up to nerves, fed him his second meal, 4 oz. (it was chicken, if that matters) and he again had diarrhea shortly after. We kept him on the chicken for 3 weeks, but he started vomiting a lot, and he quit having complete liquid diarrhea but it was still very runny and he was losing weight. We thought maybe he had an issue with poultry so we then tried beef but after several weeks of not doing well on that, we went ahead and started feeding him California Natural grain-free Venison Meal and Potato and he did very well on it, had nice firm stool his first night of eating it, and did not vomit. So we continued to feed him the CN, and that is what he went to his adoptive home eating, and as far as I know that is what he is still eating, his new owners never reported him having any further issues.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Maybe this dog was intolerant of the processed raw diet you were giving him?


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## _Trish (Jan 31, 2011)

It's a possibility, but all it is, is meat, bone, and organs ground up, and then frozen.. with nothing else added. 

http://hare-today.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_31&products_id=115

http://hare-today.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_32&products_id=61

Some of the commercial raw ( the kind that is sold at pet stores) I've used has contained vegetables and fruits, so I know sometimes dogs can have issues because of that, but the hare-today raw doesn't include either of those.

Who knows what it was, maybe it was the particular food I was feeding, but none of mine have issues with it, and I know quite a few people that order from that company. Louie had a real tough time when I started feeding him raw, but from reading some of the posts on here, it seems like it was normal.. he would regurgitate his food pretty often (but did not eat it back up), and would vomit white foamy stuff or bile. He always had very hard stool though. The worst thing was that he had rancid breath, smelled like a rotting carcass on a hot summer day.. it was awful. I think it might have been acid reflux? Not sure. He hasn't had any of those problems lately, must have just been his body adjusting to the new diet.


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## Mia (Oct 4, 2010)

Yikes! I hope you guys are doing ok! Scary. I would have to agree with Nat on her comment.


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## Alayna (Jan 9, 2011)

*Update:* Thor is doing much better! His diarrhea is clearing up. It's just a bit loose, but not liquid any longer. Fasted him for 12 hours, like suggested. Then fed him half his ration without fat/skin and organ meat. He's pretty happy at the moment. Probably because he doesn't have a sore bum anymore. Lol.


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## Mia (Oct 4, 2010)

Yay!!!! Awesome! Happy to hear.


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## schtuffy (May 17, 2010)

Yay! 

BTW, I love puppies and their oversized paws!!!


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## Boxers&Pom's Mom (Jan 17, 2011)

Just make sure the chicken that you feeding him is not enhanced.Some of them had added chicken broth and it has a lot of sodium.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Thanks for the update! Glad to hear that all is better with little Thor!!!! Keep up the good work...


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## Spoo&two (Feb 15, 2011)

Our new puppy went through that. I was discouraged and it was awful. I really thought that I had killed him. I won't even go into the gorey details - however I've read enough to know that it happens enough to those switching to raw. It seems to be an initial reaction. I'm glad your puppy is better. What a darling pup. Our dog is doing pretty well with the raw feeding now. We've been raw feeding since January first. Take it slow and don't get too discouraged.


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