soft poo, hair loss and dining on other dogs' poo! Why?

[tstone28]

Hello all,

This forum is a great help, thank you!

Our 6 month black lab mix is on Candidae All Life Stages dry food. He doesn't love it, but he does eat it when we mix it with a little canned meat (or more rarely with an egg or some plain yogurt). He eats 2 coffee cups full twice a day.

He has constant soft-ish poo (similar to the consistency of soft serve--sometimes a bit more consistent). He has now started to lose (what I think is) a lot of his fur (he still has very thick fur though). We vacuum 4 times a week and still have hair all over the floors. (This could be normal given the change of seasons, I suppose). He's also started eating other dogs' poo (not all dogs--only some and he never eats his own poo). He does this regardless of if he's just eaten or if he is hungry.

I'm starting to think he doesn't have enough vitamins or protein or something in his Candidae ALS (even though it's thought to be a very good food for dogs!), which is leading him to feel ill (soft poo), lose hair and eat other dogs' poo for their leftover nutrients!

Am I on to something? What do you recommend we try for our little fella?

Thanks so much.

(We live overseas, and I don't have a vet I totally trust yet, so your advice is very much appreciated!)

[squashynose]

The soft stools sound like a food allergy, which could also cause hair loss and itching. Is the hair thinning, or just heavy shedding?

Do you know which dog's poop he's eating? Appetising poop can be a sign that the food isn't being digested properly. If it isn't one of your own pets' poop, it's just a case of training your own dog to 'leave it'.

[tstone28]

Thanks for the response squashynose.

It's just heavy shedding (you can't tell looking at him, but you can tell looking at the floors!).

How can you find out about allergies (i.e. what he might be allergic to in the food he eats)? Once I find out what could be causing it, I'll look for a food without that ingredient. We'll try this and see what happens (thanks for the direction).

You're right; I will work on training him to stop eating others' poo. (He just discovers other dogs poo on walks or at the park---no, not my dogs).

[squashynose]

I *think* it's just trial and error... Find a good food with a certain meat, and try it for a month. If there's no change, swap to a different food with a different meat, and see if it makes a difference.

Hopefully someone else can help you more, I've never dealt with a food allergy.
The forum usually gets busier later on in the day :)

[MandyPug]

Hello all,

This forum is a great help, thank you!

Our 6 month black lab mix is on Candidae All Life Stages dry food. He doesn't love it, but he does eat it when we mix it with a little canned meat (or more rarely with an egg or some plain yogurt). He eats 2 coffee cups full twice a day.

He has constant soft-ish poo (similar to the consistency of soft serve--sometimes a bit more consistent). He has now started to lose (what I think is) a lot of his fur (he still has very thick fur though). We vacuum 4 times a week and still have hair all over the floors. (This could be normal given the change of seasons, I suppose). He's also started eating other dogs' poo (not all dogs--only some and he never eats his own poo). He does this regardless of if he's just eaten or if he is hungry.

Canidae changed where they manufacture their foods to the Diamond plant i think before the new year, many dogs have been experiencing bad effects as the company also changed their ingredients. This is an issue that can be solved with a simple switch of foods.

I'm starting to think he doesn't have enough vitamins or protein or something in his Candidae ALS (even though it's thought to be a very good food for dogs!), which is leading him to feel ill (soft poo), lose hair and eat other dogs' poo for their leftover nutrients!

Am I on to something? What do you recommend we try for our little fella?

Thanks so much.

(We live overseas, and I don't have a vet I totally trust yet, so your advice is very much appreciated!)

You are definitely on to something, it is the food. While Canidae used to be an excellent food, i no longer hold it to the standard it once was. It's going the way of Nutro and that isn't a good way to go.

I recommend that you switch to A) A grain free food and B) a food with a more alternative protein source such as Fish. Depending on where you are there are 3 brands that you can choose from to try, hopefully you have them. In order of how much i like the foods:

1. Orijen 6 Fresh Fish (http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/products/ORIJEN6fish.aspx)
2. Acana Pacifica (http://www.championpetfoods.com/acana/show-product.php?formulation=pfd)
3. Wellness Core (http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/dog_wellness_grain_ocean.html)

These are single protein foods and can be used to determine if there is an allergy. If your dog is still reacting the same way on the fish based, there are other foods you can try such as the Acana Grasslands (http://www.championpetfoods.com/acana/show-product.php?formulation=gfd) which is Lamb based.

[tstone28]

Mandypug, thanks so much. I sincerely appreciate it!!

[tstone28]

MandyPug,

One follow up question for you. As my guy is still a puppy, I have read that I should not go for so much protein until he's a bit older. That's why I stayed away from grain free foods in the first place. Orijen seems to have a whopping amount of protein, probably too much (44%). Wellness Core Ocean and Acana have 34% and 33% respectively. How much protein is too much for a large breed puppy (in my case a 6 month old black lab mix)? And is there such thing as a grain free food without so much protein? (I am searching dogfoodanalysis.com but not answering this question definitively).

Thanks for all your masterful help on this question. I've read some of your other posts on this topic and it's helping quite a bit!

Thanks again.

[MandyPug]

MandyPug,

One follow up question for you. As my guy is still a puppy, I have read that I should not go for so much protein until he's a bit older. That's why I stayed away from grain free foods in the first place. Orijen seems to have a whopping amount of protein, probably too much (44%). Wellness Core Ocean and Acana have 34% and 33% respectively. How much protein is too much for a large breed puppy (in my case a 6 month old black lab mix)? And is there such thing as a grain free food without so much protein? (I am searching dogfoodanalysis.com but not answering this question definitively).

Thanks for all your masterful help on this question. I've read some of your other posts on this topic and it's helping quite a bit!

Thanks again.

Really, puppies don't need anything different than adults. When you look at a wolf pup in the wild, it would not get anything different than the adults.
The Acana Pacifica is an All Life Stages food, so i assure you it will be fine for your pup. I actually know many breeders of large and giant breeds do not even use a puppy formula because it promotes rapid growth. Many of those breeders also use Orijen. The main thing for growing large breeds is calcium phosphorus ratios, they must be as close to 1:1 as possible. Adult foods and all life stages foods usually fulfil that nicely.

[tstone28]

MandyPug, I'd love your opinion: http://forums.petlovers.com/vb/showthread.php?t=38877

I was bummed the store did not have any of the three you mentioned, so got this stuff. Then I stopped at another pet store and to my surprise, they had Orijen. I got a trial pack of the one you recommended.

In any case, I'm curious to know your thoughts on the stuff wrote about in the link I posted above. Thanks again for your direction. It's sincerely appreciated!