5 month Bulldog Diarrhea constant
Submitted by rmcneill31 on January 7, 2012 - 4:43pmHi everyone,
I have a 5 month english bulldog that has been having really bad diarrhea. We had him on Taste of the wild and he was doing really well for a while. Then we put him on rice and hamburger for a while, vets advice. We changed him to Blue buffalo-limited ingredients about a week ago, still mixing in rice...and nothing has improved. He has a pretty hard stool in the morning after sleeping 8 hours, but then through the day it gets softer and softer. We are limiting treats to almost none and just giving rice and hamburg for treats. Anyone have this happen before or have any advice? He is acting completely normal besides the diarrhea, VERY active, same personality, tons of appetite. He does eat really fast, whole bowl in about 30 seconds, so we are trying to slow him down. Thanks for any advice expereinced bulldog owners might have!
That happened to us with Chester...
His breeder had him on Eukanuba, which I didn't like, and as soon as we switched him he had the runs. We gave him rice/hamburger and he would get better and as soon as we put kibble back in, he would get loose again. At one point our vet said we might have to feed him the bland diet forever, but he finally got over it. What flavor TOTW was he on? Our guys seem to tolerate the salmon best, but Chester does better on the lamb version. You can also try adding some canned pumpkin to his food, that will firm up the stools. Did your vet say you could give him immodium to try to stop the runs? When you start him on kibble again, add it in very slowly, just 1/8 cup at a time for a few days and then another 1/8 along with the rice. Hopefully, it will get better, Chester just suddenly stopped having diarhea one day and he's been fine for 3 years now. But do stick with a good quality grain free food.
Mine do this
Mine have that problem with anything with chicken. Check your bags and see if it has chicken. I know alot of bullies have problems with chicken. give him some canned pumpkin for awhile also.
Blue Buffalo has Chicken in all of their foods -
We were shocked (and so was the Blue Buffalo rep too!) when we started to compare ingredients and chicken, or chicken 'things' were listed in every flavor of their food - That is one reason why we went to the Salmon - to get away from the poultry (incase) that was Gizmo's allergy. We just got a bag of Taste of The Wild Salmon - no chicky there ;)
Last steps taken May 26, 2014 -- Been rolling along ever since . . . .
Stool test
Have you had his stool tested? Maybe he has giardia. I would rule out anything medical before I go changing his food.
Not Alone
Your situation sounds very much like ours. Sampson's stool was never very firm and we switched food several times. After he came home from the hospital at about 5 months (in for almost a week for HOD) it was a bit worse. We did the stool tests etc but there wasn't anything, and besides the runs he was a happy little guy. Vet figured it was a combo of the meds and his food not agreeing with him. So we used a 'tummy friendly' vet food for a couple of weeks to help with any inflammation and then switched to yet another food. Believe or not we're using iams puppy food and he's doing just dandy on it (it was NOT my first choice but we tried a number of brands which were vet recommended and we did a non-chicken too).
He's quickly approaching a year old and I suspect we get to start all over again :S