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Monday 7 November 2011

One, two, three - ugh!

I have a dog who every time I take him out he has to do his business at least three times. The first one is always normal but then following that he has explosive runs, if he hasn't been fed he'll just keep trying to go even if there is nothing left to come out! It doesn't matter if he is on the lead or off it. Obviously it's practically impossible to pick up and it means I have to be careful where I walk him, he can no longer come on the school run for instance. Has anyone got any ideas as to why he does this or what I can do to prevent it? It doesn't matter how many times a day he goes out either. My other two dogs don't have this problem and whether I take them all out together or him on his own it still happens
I haven't asked my vet. He is around 12 months old now. It's been going on ever since he has first been out on walks. He is fed dry complete twice a day, a couple of mug fulls in the morning and a couple of mug fulls in the evening. He was beng fed on another dry food previously and it happened then, too. It happens everywhere we go. It's impossible to train him at home as we don't have a garden. It doesn't matter where we walk, if he is on the lead or off it, how many times a day we go out, if he is alone or with the other two dogs I own, it's always the same. And it is at least three times, sometimes can be more. If ever he has an accident in the house, it's always a normal poop, and the first poop when we are out is always normal too. He is happy, healthy, wormed up to date etc. Look forward to hearing what people have to say about it!
Fizz Cashman, via Dogs Today facebook page

18 comments:

  1. Def. worth a visit to the vet....but could you perhaps be overfeeding?

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  2. It may be worth having a chat with your vet and asking him to check pancreatic enzymes, one of our Estrelas used to have a pancreas problem and explosive poos was a symptom. Good luck x

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  3. You may wish to increase the amount of fibre in his diet - it worked with my greyhound. There's a product - psyllium husks - that you can get from Holland & Barrett, under the name, "Colon Care" or check out cheaper suppliers on eBay. My 35kg dog got 1 rounded teaspoon twice a day, so pro rate that.

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  4. get your vet to do allergy tests, he could be allergic to some ingredients in the food, one of my dogs is allergic to loads of food stuff, including peas and peas are in most dry foods, just for an example.

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  5. Sounds like he needs a Gluten free diet. Sainsbury's do a Gluten free diet for humans you might find something you could give him to try it out as a big bag will be expensive but there are Dog Gluten free meal on the market.
    Gluten if you are alergic to it really gives you the trots, and his breeder did not try diff food and it does not get better, you just control it Best of Luck Rose

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  6. You don't say what breed and age the dog is but I have come across this one a few times and I, myself have a pooper !
    I have a cockapoo and he is exactly the same unless he is busy with agaility or his ball... I have spoken to other dog owners (particularly working cockers) And their dogs do the same thing.
    I have researched it down to the following things..
    A. Highly strung excitable dog ! Excitement and nervousness are very close in emotions and therefore when they are out they will open their bowels in such a fashion.
    B.. working dogs purposely empty their bowels completely so they can run faster.
    C..Some dogs grow out of it..My dog is 15 months and still does a few poops and then a couple of invisible poops ! He is 15 months but is not as bad as he was.
    My only advice to you is to perhaps feed him differently...some dogs are happy to have 1 meal in the evening ! This depends on his age of course.... My dog was so bad at one point I actually put him on Orijen (Grain free food). They need much less of this and so poo less ! The same may be the case if you were to feed raw meat.
    Good luck

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  7. I would begin by looking at the type of food you're feeding. It may be low quality feed, or contain things your dog is simply intolerant to. Wheat, cereals and even good meats such as chicken have been known to cause problems in dogs.

    When you change his diet however, do it over the course of a week, putting a little more in with his old food every day. The changing food can cause stomach upsets in themselves and give a false negative.

    Find a good hypo-allergenic dog food, preferably the best, most highly recommended one (sorry, usually also the most expensive), if that works then work more within your budget and find one you both like (you financially, him digestively and palatability)

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  8. You don't tell us the breed, or weight of your dog, or what brand of food you're feeding; but you could be overfeeding (unless he's 35Kg+), or you may be feeding one of the "complete" foods that are full of "complete" rubbish!

    I would firstly change what you feed, and feed the appropriate amount per day (my 1 year old dog gets about 1 cup full per day).

    When choosing a new food, stay away from anything that you can buy in a supermarket, and anything that has a budget for TV advertising, or is the only thing recommended by a vet who happens to stock that brand/type of food.

    It will take time to clear up, if the amount or type of food is changed, but if nothing changes in 6 - 8 weeks, then you need to see your vet.

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  9. Ask your vet to do an allergy test on your dog. This will come up with a definitive answer as to whether your dog has a food allergy or a physical problem for the issue. Otherwise a qualified behaviourist might look at possible reasons. Most common allergy is to grain/gluten. Sarah Morris DipCABT, COAPE Pet Behaviour Specialist

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  10. Can I just say to people suggesting it is diet... after giving my dog Orijen for a while and now he is on Burns Lamb and rice.... he still does it !

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  11. I suggest a vet visit. Tying to go when he doesn't need to could be a colitis symptom; you haven't said, but does his poop have a jelly like mucus in it?

    Also you may need to look at his diet and decide if that suits him.

    The first ingredient should be meat. Avoid anything with a high grain content(cereal free is best), colourings and anything artifical.

    Are the mugfuls weighed out? If you are feeding too much then he's going to want to go more as well.

    If he has the all clear from the vet you may want to look at how he feels about being outside. If all his house accidents are normal, no matter what time of day or if he's been out previously, then he might be finding something outside stressful. Try going back to some basic puppy training with short walks that are calm. Over excitement can cause excess gut action which in turn will have an effect on his toileting.

    Olwen Turns
    Dog Behaviourist.

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  12. Its quite possible its just stress when out.
    I use Burns dry food it is hypoallergenic and quite expnsive but having 12 dogs and fosters I am going to try Skinners salmon and rice also hypo. as above, I have heard good things about it, and cheaper than Burns. Not generally in shops but can be ordered in from some shops.
    www.skinnerspetfoods.co.uk
    Would also have a check up with a Vet first.

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  13. Hi, he is 12 months old now and is a Staff x, he is about the size of a Boxer. He does have control over his bowels in the sense if I am just whizzing him down to the grass to relieve himself he will do just a normal poo its when we go out for a walk which leads me to think its the excitement like Mand suggests. I will take him for some tests and see if that kicks up anything. He is now on Waag complete dry however he has been on Bakers and James Welbeloved previously which I changed over carefully but nothing made a difference. He does run around a lot when we are out, he's extremely excitable even indoors he is very bouncey. I will also explore the BARF diet. Thanks for your answers guys!

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  14. Sounds like straighforward stress pooping to me. Get his confidence up when out and about so that he can relax and it'll probably stop, no matter what you feed him. Take him for short training walks, where the emphasis is on him paying you calm, focused attention ~ basic obedience command stuff with positive reinforcement, lots of stops and sits, etc.

    With colitis pooping, this starts with a normal first poop of the day, then throughout the day any subsequent poops are looser, and are usually mucousy, sometimes with little spots of fresh blood.

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  15. There have been some excellent suggestions but I think following these combined with a check up at the vet is the best course of action.

    When we adopted Suki (a Staffie Cross) we were told she had a sensitive stomach and that she couldn't have any wet food. No matter what we fed her she made the most awful smells and frequently moved her bowels during the day. Like your Staffie, Suki was very bouncy and excitable too so this may definitely be a factor.

    Eventually James Welbeloved worked for us combined with lots and lots of exercise to burn of some of that energy. Once we had her spayed she calmed down a bit too. Eventually we couldn't afford James Welbeloved so we have now switched to Harringtons and she is as regular as clock work doing nice solid bowel movements twice a day!

    Good luck with everything!

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  16. Would get him off complete and onto something more natural, something that doesn't contain cereals, whic h most complete foods use as a cheap filler, and can have a lot of bad reactions in dogs.

    I know from past experience when I was still feeding a supposed good quality complete that my Goldie suddenly developed a reaction to something in the food, turned out it was rice. Avoiding this and the problem was sorted.

    Would suggest that if you don't want to feed RAW, then a cooked food such as Forthglade or Naturdiet may be helpful. You could also try putting a teaspoon a day of bran (from healthshop/petshop) into the food, as this should help get rid of excessive water in the bowel.

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  17. This sounds like a case of low-grade colitis. It is probably diet-related, but you really need expert professional assistance to solve it. I see one of your replies mentions that they tried Burns Lamb and Rice without unsuccess. It is not enough to try different foods randomly. That is why Burns Pet Nutrition has a Nutrition Advice team to assist.
    The problem may be due to food allergy/intolerance, over feeding or both.
    It may be necessary to try different varieties of Burns to find one that suits e.g. if a brown rice based food, fed correctly doesn't work we may suggest trying our Pork and Potato or one of our maize-based foods. This trial and error approach is actually likely to more accurate and effective than allergy testing.
    Best wishes
    John Burns BVMS MRCVS
    Burns Pet Nutrition - www.burnspet.co.uk

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  18. I think you should try a different type of feed, look for a hypoallergenic one, and one that is constant in its ingredients - many of the better-known foods aren't, and not only the cheaper ones either.
    I'd suggest possibly something like Fish 4 Dogs, which is made with a very hight proportion of fish, with potato. Any food you get should list a protein source as its first ingredient, and it should be named - lamb, chicken for eg, not just meat. It could, as somebody suggested, be the rice.
    A good tum-settler is Dorwest's Tree Barks powder.
    If you do decide to try raw, I suggest you join the Yahoo Britbarf forum - a mine of information!

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