Hi, I have a 7.5 month old female Husky named Kairi (Kai for short). When we first brought her home, she had terrible diarrhea. I think it was the food she was being fed, but regardless I had her checked out and slowly began transitioning her to Blue Buffalo. Still after a while she still had soft stools/diarrhea. I switched that Blue Buffalo to another formula, again slowly. Still the issue persisted. My vet and myself after some searching, think it was too rich for her stomach. So I did a little more googling and decided on Purina Pro Plan Focus for Puppies. Then the issue cleared itself up and I was happy. Now I am on my 2nd back of it, and all of a sudden the diarrhea started again. Its no so much diarrhea, but it's extremely soft stools where I cannot pick it up but have to scrap it up or take some dirt with it.

I have no idea what to do or how to help her. I have given her a 24 hour fast, and a bland diet while reincorporating her food, but the problem just kept happening. She is healthy and is her usual self. I cut out treats to see if maybe that was it, but it was not the treats.

Can anyone suggest a food or a remedy?

Have the foods been grain free? Different proteins?

Sometimes huskies have a very sensitive stomach to grains and others can have issues with certain proteins. Though it is odd that she did good on the Purina and on the second bag started having issues again. Sometimes the formulas can vary and that could very well be a cause.

I would try a very limited ingredient food and go from there.

Thank you for the reply.

When I was using the 2nd bag and it started again I was at a loss. I brought her back to the vet and ran through more tests. She is positively healthy and is still the same pup as before. I will check to see if the Pro Plan is grain-free, but I don't think it is. I know the one of the BBs was limited ingredients and grain free and she did horrible on it.

Can you recommend any foods to try?

Also a completely different question but at what age should I transition from puppy food? I keep getting answered that are completely opposites.

@ndura1 The other reason that puppies (huskies in general) have loose stools is that they're getting fed too much. Most vets go by what's on the bag and waht's on the bag is invariably too much.

So, how much are you feeding her??

aljones wrote:

@ndura1  The other reason that puppies (huskies in general) have loose stools is that they're getting fed too much.  Most vets go by what's on the bag and waht's on the bag is invariably too much.

So, how much are you feeding her??

I feed her 2.5 cups split over twice a day, but now she grazes. So I give her the same amount and she eats when she is hungry.

Al, thanks, I didn't even think of overfeeding.

At 7.5 months you can probably cut back her food. I actually feed a few different types of kibble and also feed partial raw. Taste of the Wild, Diamond Naturals, and Fromm are a few of the ones I will rotate through.

First, I love your sig - that center "Sunny Sibe Up" is really cute. She is really quite a good looking girl.

In general, Sibes don't free feed well. They tend to eat too much - resulting in what you're seeing. Also, 2.5 cups is possibly about a half a cup too much, my full grown Sibe gets about 1 3/4 a day.

From your pictures she looks alert, healthy and not overweight but you might want to try cutting her back on her food a bit and see how she does. Why she did well on one bag of food and not well on the next ... even though I feed it, Purina is not quality food - the mix may have changed enough to upset her.

@simplify - I will look into those foods and give one a try. Up until about 6 months, should used to inhale her food so I got her a dog bowl that slows her down. After that she eats when she wants to and never finishes her entire meal. I had her on a schedule and am now considering to just keep the food bowl full and let her eat as she pleases. She never eats more than 2 cups every since she started it.

Ditto what Al said - also, when we first got Ami from the shelter, he was on Iams but constantly had what I call "Pudding Poop." He wasn't digesting the corn, I think. I changed him first to tractor supply 4Health grain free turkey than to Taste of the Wild, High Prairie and cut his portions. Also, he gets a beef bone a day (local butcher bags up waste bones - lately it has been a LOT of small rib pieces which are the perfect size for Ami to hold, gnaw on and chew up for about an hour) and now poop is wonderfully easy to clean up.

I would first go to a grain free food, cut his portions a bit and then add a bit of raw bone (NOT marrow bones - those suckers can give you whopping diarrhea they are so rich ). But not so much bone he gets hard stool.

The only reason I changed from Tractor supply 4 Health to TOTW is that Ami found a lot of deer bones from hunters and loved them - the High Praire has a wiff of venison in it so I thought I would treat him.

Good luck with your pup.

Just so your last post - how much does your dog weight. Ami is large - 72 pounds, he gains weight at 2.5 - 3 cups per day in summer (winter he is outside a lot and it gets really cold here.) Most people here, I think, with a 50 ish pound husky are feeding 1.5 to 2 cups total per day. Correct me guys, if I'm wrong.

@aljones I never wanted to feed her Pro Plan but the sample bag proved it stopped her soft stools. I will pay anything as long as she is happy and the gifts have firmed up. I just came to the conclusion that BB was too rich for stomach.

I dont want to free feed her either, but she maybe eats 1.5-2 cups a day and its over the course of the day. Her schedule doesnt exist anymore so I thought it was better to just let her graze.

Are there any supplements to add to her food. I was thinking of a pumpkin based supplement with urinary tract kicker. She also currently has an ear infections and I thought maybe that may of caused diarrhea, but that has cleared up already

Try a spoonful of food grade bone meal...

@amymeme thank you for the suggestions. I will try and incorporated bones into her diet. One of my friends is actually a butcher so I see no reason why I cannot get some.

She is currently about 35 lbs. Judging by her mom I think she will top out at about 45-55 lbs. The mother and father were very lanky and slim and dont have a very bushy coat.

Also the brands you mentions, should I be looking at puppy food?

I went ahead and purchased TOTW grain-free to give it a try. My only other question is since she already has diarrhea should I slowly transition her into this food? The last time this happened, the vet said just to switch because she already had diarrhea. Would love to get this forums input.

Again thank you to everyone for the suggestions. I will make sure to give an update in a week or two!

To be honest, I never make switches gradually anymore. When I went from Iams to other foods, I tried slowly and it did not make a difference. Now, if I run out and completely change brand because I can't get to a store that sell TOTW, I just get a small bag of anything - does not seem to make a difference.

Just out of curiosity, and to dot the "i's" and cross the "t's", have you done a worming...just because? Eggs and other worms do NOT always show up on the fecal tests, sometimes you just have to treat empirically. I am not wholly ruling out that worming Ami stopped the pudding poop, though I really do think it was the change of food. You could just see all the undigested ground corn in his "treats"

When Okami was about 7.5, we had the same issue... Are you still feeding "puppy" food?
We switched to Adult dog food and that solved the issue, also eliminating grains as well.

Leo when through a smiler issue as well, i did try reducing the food but it was still a bit on the loose side. so i diced to mix in adult dog food with his puppy food. that seem to do the trick.

some dogs like my chihuahua for example can't have chicken or he has very loose stool, i would try to food that have no grains and chicken.

when Leo was bout 7 months i feed him taste of the wild high prairie puppy and dr tim's kinesis all life stages. now he eats dr tim's and home made food since my chihuahua not long like any dog food that I've tried   .

i have also herd some people with dogs that are sensitive to the preservatives used in dry dog foods    and then they switch to home made dog food or raw diets and most issue clear up. .

@amymeme I usually just make the switch too. I had several worming test done, and that isn't the issue. I just made the switch to TOTW and mixed in some pumpkin/cranberry supplement, and lowered how much I fed her. Immediately everything firmed up way more than it has been the past few months.

I don't know if it was the food, the amount of food, the meat bones or the supplement. She is now on TOTW Puppy food. I hope that is okay. I hear people say cut puppy food after 6 months and others say transition in a year. I just bought 30 lbs of TOTW puppy food so I really hope its not the former...

By the way she isn't 7.5 months, I miscounted. Her birthday is Christmas so she is a little over 6 months.

I believe the recommendation is puppy food until 1 year.

Now that the poop has normalized, you really don't know for sure what did it...you changed a lot of variables at once.  I would start with JUST TOTW at reduced amounts for a couple of days maybe even a week,and see how that goes.  If the poop starts to "pudding-ize" I would add the bone and wait a week.  You want to find something that will be a steady regimen, not always having to play around with her food.  You can always add the pumpkin cranberry later (what is the cranberry for?)

When trying to fix a problem, changing 1 variable at a time and giving it time to work is preferable - more for you to know what is working and what is not than anything to do with the dog. Also, patience - though that is NOT my strong suit

Glad things got better.

@amymeme Well it got better once I started the new food at a reduced amount.

I added the pumpkin/cranberry a few days later. The cranberry is just for bladder health, she's had trouble with a few urinary tract infections.

I only gave her the bone yesterday, so I think the biggest variable was changing the food which leads me to believe she has a grain issue like you mentioned I think.

We have a steady schedule for food, but before I switched she wouldn't finish all of her food. I didn't know if I should leave it so she can graze or take it away. She usually eats at 8am and again at 6pm. Should I not leave it on the floor if she doesn't finish. She now gets about a little over 3/4 cups twice a day.

Whatever she doesn't eat, pick it up and give her a smidgeon less next time.

I cannot fathom the grain/corn thing - I could SEE the undigested corn in Ami's "presents" But I am gluten intolerant and have to eat a 100% corn based pasta - and Ami loves to share pasta with Dad. No issues, unless I give him corn kernals (as in frozen corn) so go figure

i second that, picking up the leftover food and not letting her graze.   they tend to over eat . some dogs are sensitive to different grain.
I've heard that over long periods of time of feeding corn every day causes some type of stones, i forget exactly were but it dose cause problems . but not sure if they have some every once in a wail its okay.

I read somewhere, I wish I would remember where, that these foods nowadays that are all natural, no preservatives, etc. really shouldn't be left out all day because they go *bad*. If mine leave food behind, it gets thrown away

not all companies use natural preservative, which is strange that there are no standards to how the dog food is preserved .
i also toss the food thats uneaten or left behind, which only happens on rear occasions.