Labradoodle & Goldendoodle Forum
Food Tranisition
Hi Everyone,
I am a new doodle owner! I just brought my puppy, Euclid, home about 2 weeks ago when he was 8 weeks old. He was on science diet I/D when I brought him home, because apparently he had a little upset tummy the week before. The breeder gave me a sample to take home and instructed me to slowly transition to Wellness Puppy. I started the transition after 3 or 4 days and his poops immediately got softer. I ran out of the science diet sooner than I expected, so made a rather abrupt switch and he ended up with some minor diarrhea that looked like soft serve. I brought him to the vet just to make sure everything was ok. They did a fecal test and said it all was fine and had me switch him to Royal Canin Gastro Intestinal Puppy just to get his system back in order. His poops immediately firmed up and he was doing great. They vet said that once his poop was back to normal, I could try the transition again, but more slowly this time. I had him on the vet food for 5 days although his poop was firm after just 1. I just started trying to transition to Wellness again the day before yesterday. For 2 days I replaced 1/8 of his kibble with Wellness kibble. That went well. I noticed the size of his poops increased, but they were still firm. This morning I swapped 1/4 of his meal and he had greenish, soft serve like poop 2 times. For lunch I gave him no Wellness, just the stuff the vet gave me and again his poop was not solid.
Did I do the transition too fast? Maybe Wellness just doesn't agree with my puppy? Is it a bad idea to keep him on the vet diet indefinitely? Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Karen & Jackdoodle on -
Caitlin, we don't recommend Rx food ever, there is a discussion explaining why in the FG discussion section. It is full of horrible and hharmful ingredients. There is no medicine or anything else therapeutic in Rx foods. Plain boiled chicken and rice would do just as much and would be a lot healthier and less expensive.
The fact that your puppy was on RX food when he came home from the breeder is troubling. I'm willing to bet that he was being treated for coccidia and/or giardia, as there would be no reason for a young puppy to have to be on Rx food for a "little tummy upset", and considering the cost of it, it's doubtful that a breeder would pay for it if that was all it was. Plus, why would a young puppy who is still home with his litter have "an upset tummy" severe enough to require an Rx food?
Giardia and coccidia are very common in new doodle puppies. It shouldn't be, but it unfortunately is.
Take several stool specimens back to the vet. Giardia has a 10-14 day incubation period, and the cysts are not present in every sample, so at the time the vet ran the culture, it may not have shown up yet, but I'm pretty sure that's the problem.
Yes, it's a bad idea to keep him on the vet food indefinitely, but that's another discussion. For now, we need to find out if this is giardia, because if it is, it's extremely contagious and he's going to need meds to knock it out. Hopefully you can get a culture done tomorrow.
In the meantime, I'd start feeding him a mixture of white rice and boiled white meat chicken diced up very finely, two parts white rice to one part chicken. get some plain pure canned pumpkin (NOT pie filling) and give him a tablespoon with each meal.
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Permalink Reply by Karen & Jackdoodle on
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Oh, and if it is giardia, ask the vet to give you Panacur, not just metronidazole. Most breeders only use a generic version of the latter, which is why the puppies still come home with giardia. :)
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Permalink Reply by Karen & Jackdoodle on
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