chronic loose stools in young dog

Question
QUESTION: My 7 month old springer spaniel was eating medi cal puppy food with no problems. I switched her gradually to medi cal adolescent at 6 mons on my vets advice . She began  refusing to eat issues - but would eat with the incentive of added  cheese or gravy - and vets advice was to not give in which worked in a way. After her spay operation, June 16, she had very soft stools  but i thought that was a side effect of the anesthetic. She was also on 4 weeks of anti biotic because of a ruptured ear drum discovered at the time of her operation. Because the stool continued to be soft the vet gave her 2 weeks of tylosin and  a week of medical gastro and rice. When the stool did not change they did a dna panel( ? ) which came back negative . As of Thurs. night we are on no medication and  medi cal adolescent food ( with rice to keep her eating it. Stoolis still very soft  (custardy) Tomorrow I will be hearing from the vet again -- any ideas on the next step ?

ANSWER:  Hi Lorraine,

For me, the very best next step for you would be to move to a personalized dietary plan of home made food - much more digestible than MediCal and we can work towards a  improved gastric health as well. For more information please check my website at www.thepossiblecanine.com under Services - I'd be happy to work with you toward optimal nutrition for your dog.

After working with hundreds of cases like this - IBD, allergy, and numerous other gastric and related issues - by far the best results come from working with home made diet. I'm very concerned about the needs of a growing dog here, as well as the chronic stool problem. Let me know if I can be of any ongoing help, it's just so difficult to recommend a commercial diet in cases like this. I really do not have a lot to go on here and even if you upgrade the food to one with better ingredients than MediCal, you may still have problems due to the sensitivity.
All the best, Catherine

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: what does a home made diet entail ?


Answer
Hi again,

Generally with a dog like yours, we would start with a limited ingredient and possibly novel protein diet - I can't say what I'd use until I see the full profile. Some dogs like yours do best with restricted fat/higher fiber and others quite the opposite. The amount and type of each nutrient needs to be estimated to start with and then adjusted as we go according to the results. Basically we strive to find a few recipes that you can make a week at a time, and add the essential supplements, and that will control the problem. You fill in a questionnaire for me and I start sending you recipes based on what I assess about your dog. Then we correspond via phone or email about the results.

Ultimately you can expect to be making batches of food using  whatever ingredients agree with your individual. For example, I make a recipe for my guys using brown rice, squash, turkey (or chicken) eggs sardines and liver. Add supplements and we're good to go. It's to difficult but it does take more time than opening a bag of kibble, no question. Then again, you save a lot at the vet. If your dog proves to do best on a novel protein such as venison, it can be costlier, but again, save money in veterinary bills and medications.

:) That's the idea!

Catherine