# Oatmeal Fixed The Ongoing Soft Poop Problem!



## FLgatorgirl

Not sure if it is coincidence or not, but out girl got diarrhea right after a lepto shot at 4 months old and had gross super loose stool for a month or more after she got past the runs. We tested for parasites, did the bland diet, FortiFlora, etc. We started feeding sweet potato or pumpkin at every meal and that helped. We switched to a lower protein formula of Taste of the Wild and that helped a bit more. Her stool still seemed a lot softer than it should be and she sometimes had anal gland discharge issues. I was also amazed at the large quantity of poo coming out of this dog! 

I started giving her prunes a few weeks ago based on advice on the forum. It helped some, but I was afraid to give too many as the breeder and my vet are still not convinced that prunes are okay for dogs. I could tell with each change we made that the increased intake in fiber was helping, so the breeder suggested buckwheat. I mentioned that I knew our girl was okay with oatmeal (I make treats with it) and she said just sprinkle some uncooked oats in with her food. WOOOHOOO!! Problem solved! She loves the oats and for the first time in months, her poo is normal and the quantity has gone way down!


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## Oquirrh the V

That is great news! You may still want to look at the kibble you are feeding her. If the kibble is too rich the runny stool will be on and off. I tried many different things to get Oquirrh's stool firm and finally have succeeded with an off-brand, but good quality kibble. Just a little food for thought.


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## FLgatorgirl

We are stuck with the Taste of the Wild puppy for awhile as I have about 75 pounds of it. She loves it, but we will probably switch to something lower in protein and higher in fiber when we finish off what we have on hand. She has been great for the last two weeks with the oatmeal addition unless she gets into something she shouldn't in the yard or drinks a bunch of pool water. She also tends to have soft stool if she gets really over excited from playing hard with one of her buddies. The breeder said that is kind of a typical bird dog thing.


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## LifewithLouie

How much oatmeal are you sprinkling on the food and are you just using plain oatmeal (Quaker's)?
This has been a bit of a battle with Louie, so I'm willing to try it.


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## Rudy

'ALL THE BEST'

PET CARE 

GOOD DIGESTION

DIGESTIVE ENZYMES, GREENS AND PROBIOTICS DONE

POOR DIGESTION, LOOSE STOOLS ESSENTAIL TO ALL LIVING THINGS DURING AFTER ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT

WE ALL EAT IT DAILY WITH MEALS

DONE NEXT TOPIC?  LOL ;D


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## Darcy1311

Rudy said:


> 'ALL THE BEST'
> 
> PET CARE
> 
> GOOD DIGESTION
> 
> DIGESTIVE ENZYMES, GREENS AND PROBIOTICS DONE
> 
> POOR DIGESTION, LOOSE STOOLS ESSENTAIL TO ALL LIVING THINGS DURING AFTER ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT
> 
> WE ALL EAT IT DAILY WITH MEALS
> 
> DONE NEXT TOPIC?  LOL ;D




Ah my friend that's because it's SCOTS porridge oats, it's a Caledonian national dish, along with haggis and whisky of course...............it helps me cope with a Vizsla.. ;D


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## FLgatorgirl

LifewithLouie----Yes, just regular Quaker oats (not the quick oats, although I doubt it matters). I typically just sprinkle some in with each meal and kind of mash in with her sweet potato or canned pumpkin mixed in her kibble. Probably about 1-2 large soup spoon sized amount on the oats. We also give her Greek yogurt a few times a week for probiotics. She loves it, but only the 2% for some reason. 

On an interesting note, she is at the breeder's home right now and has not had an issue with soft stool even when they ran out of sweet potatoes for her. They have not been feeding her the oats at all. The breeder gives only filtered water from the refrigerator and suggests that I try the same. If it is not that, I am going to try eliminating her treats and bringing them back in one type at a time to see if that is the cause.


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## FLgatorgirl

Kevin,

She is very treat motivated and I like to mix it up to keep her interested. We rely on a lot of treats for training, otherwise we really don't give treats randomly. The breeder is also using a lot of treats for training with our girl as well.  

I will probably cut back to the basics, freeze dried lamb lung, string cheese, dehydrated sweet potato and chicken jerky.


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## FLgatorgirl

Just lots of obedience training right now. She is still a pup.


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## Kamikaze6rr

So, what was the final on getting rid of excessive loose stools? mine is on Blue wilderness and suffers from soft excessive amounts of poop.


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## datacan

LID (limited ingredients kibble) kibble did it for us at the time. 

Blue is OK but with ingredients from China, I was told. 

The topic is as big as it is important, but stopping loose stools is rather important as it has the potential to dehydrate.


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## FLgatorgirl

Kamikaze66R---

What our vet and breeder told us was that some dogs just take a bit longer for their digestive system to mature and get sorted out. What worked for us was first, change to a lower protein kibble, I think we went from about 32% to 26%, that helped some. We also cut way back on peanut butter in the Kong. Next, we added about 1/4 cup or a bit less raw steel cut oats (just regular Quaker Oats), that helped substantially. Then, at the breeder's suggestion we started using filtered water from our refrigerator instead of tap, this helped as well. We were able to stop the oats many months ago, but still do the lower protein kibble (Pacific Stream TOTW) and filtered water. 

You can also add canned pumpkin or mashed sweet potato to the kibble and it helps a lot to firm up the poo.


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## MCD

Seems to me a couple of these threads are really similar..... I am afraid to give the puppy anything human due to the digestive upset Good to know though that your breeder said that sometimes it just takes time for their systems to mature. Hopefully this will resolve in time with us. It's like no yogurt, no peanut butter, no rice, definitely no bananas and I wonder if even sometimes pumpkin does her in. She is only 15 weeks old so........ Should I try just basic oats on top of her kibble to see if I can fix the inconsistent stool?


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## FLgatorgirl

Our breeder gives Greek yogurt for probiotics and I am pretty certain we started that right after our girl got home. She still eats it every morning and loves it, although only the Fage brand for some reason! It should help with digestive issues. Also, I would try the oats as I suggested earlier. They are already in a lot of dog food, so I would not think of it as much as "human" food. 

Sweet potato and pumpkin were suggested by our breeder as well as the vet for soft poo or constipation. Our kibble already contained sweet potato, so again we were not introducing anything new. I think sometimes on these low or no grain diets maybe they are just getting too much protein and need a bit more fiber to bulk up the stool. 

I don't know where you are at on your vaccines, but our major poo problems with our girl started right after a round of vaccinations (Lepto, I think).


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## MCD

Last set of shots on Monday(coming up). I have given her the odd spoonful of Biobest probiotic plain yogurt. It is 90% lactose free. She just gets worse rather than better stool wise.


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## FLgatorgirl

If your pup maybe has lactose issues and cannot handle the yogurt, our vet had some stuff you sprinkle on their food that is full of probiotics and digestive enzymes. I cannot recall the name of it, but I will try to look it up. I think it is only sold by vets. Our girl liked the smell/taste of it.


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## FLgatorgirl

MCD--

The sprinkle on probiotics was Fortiflora and it is available online. We battled the nasty soft poo for months with our girl (again started literally the day of her lepto vaccination). It took a long time to get sorted out and she still will sometimes have soft poo, but not like it used to be. Something the breeder mentioned and we have seen this with Ellie and her playmates is that bird dogs have a short digestive tract and if they get super wound up and excited, they will have soft poo at that time. 

Have you tried the oatmeal yet? Also, filtered water seemed to help.


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## MCD

I just dropped a handful of dry oats onto her kibble tonight. Maybe giving her water from the fridge dispenser will help too. Need to try this.


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## Kamikaze6rr

I have noticed firmer smaller stools as I decreased the amount of kibble and increase the exercise. Did notice the dog is way more thirsty on dry dog food, where as on raw she never drank water even after long trail runs. 
Choices choices.


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## MCD

Dharma just had her last needles today. Vet said she is too thin. She is worried about the omega acids in the kibble. We were given a week of fortiflora to see if this helps her. Vet said too young for any human foods too. Now I am worried about her being too thin and digesting her food properly. We may need to go to a food formulated for digestive problems if she doesn't pick up. Her kibble is high quality.


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## FLgatorgirl

The Fortiflora did help Ellie some when we used it. This sounds like the same thing we went through right around the exact same time and in conjunction with vaccinations. However, there was never an issue of our girl being too thin and the vet did not have a problem with us trying a bland diet (rice and boiled chicken) for a few weeks when she had super loose stool and then back to kibble. Vet was also okay with the pumpkin or sweet potato to firm up the stool. We were also told we might have to get special food from the vet if problems did not clear up. Because the stool went from loose to soft within a few days and then just stayed soft for a month or so, we just tried dealing with it on our own instead of changing to a food from the vet. However, our girl was not thin. 

Have you contacted your breeder? We found the breeder's suggestions to be more helpful than those of the vet in eventually clearing up the soft poo problem.


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## MCD

She is a young vet. Dr Cox has not said anything to me in the twice that he has seen her. There are at least 3 different vets in this office. Dharma eats at least 11/4 cups of kibble 2 times a day plus kibble in her kong. and kibble as training treats and freeze dried chicken. How can she be thin? She is a Vizsla for crying out loud and she is a puppy. I will try anything but give her food from the vet's office though! We gave her a dose of Fortiflora and a handful of dry oats. We are giving her filtered water from the dispenser in the fridge. May try a spoonful of pumpkin.(but that makes me nervous) human food definitely does not agree with her. I am not to fond of what her breeder feeds her dogs. I haven't heard good things about it. Back to the drawing board!


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## Carolina Blue

Give this a try: http://greendognaturals.com/products/whole-dog-daily/
K gets a sprinkle in her breakfast and it has made dramatic change in her gut. No soft poos, and not as frequent. she is digesting better too as I see way many less carrots coming out.


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