So, Eli has ben having some issues when it comes to the number twos.  When we brought him home on Nov 30th, that week he seemed okay and was eating the breeders Diamond puppy food. They were slightly wet but still had form. I started transitioning to Taste of the Wild when that supply had run down and they got much more loose, mostly to the point of diarrhea. We had a vet visit with vaccinations and their stool sample results came back with coccidia...three days of meds, 10 days off, and another round of three days (which will be tomorrow). After a couple days from the first round, no sign of improvement had occurred, so the Vet gave me some Purina Pro Plan Gastroenteric and that made it much worse. I switched to a bland diet of ground beef and rice. He loooved that! Finished every meal I gave him and sat around for more each time, unlike any dry food where he'd maybe eat only half. The poops firmed up a lot! After two and half days on that, I started the transition back to TOTW, they got runny again. Then, one day back to fully bland and tried adding a little of Ideal Balance the vet had also given me. Immediately started to get runny again.

I feel so bad for him When they are firm, potty time is quick. When they are not, he sits out there for a couple minutes and looks so painful.

Any thoughts on what to feed the little guy? New vet? Back to the breeders Diamond puppy food? Raw diet?

Ah poor baby. I think much of this is a combo of switching from 3 different kibble and the coccidia. I have great success with TOTW with both of my girls. If he is clear of coccidia, I would stick to the bland diet for a good week. Then slowly add back TOTW. The purina is really junk food except for gastro issues. TOTW is made by Diamond, so there is only slight differences to the make up of the 2 kibble. The biggest issue with most new husky owners is switching food too often and to quickly. It takes their bodies some time, up to a month to get back good gut flora. I would add 1 tablespoon of pure can pumpkin (not pie type), and a tablespoon of plain greek yogurt, daily while on the bland, and continue adding the pumpkin and yogurt with the transition, and you may continue with the two add ins while all on TOTW. slowly take away the pumpkin, so once on just kibble, give pumpkin every other day, for a week or so. Then stop pumpkin all together, continue yogurt. See how the poops are, then do the same with the yogurt if the poops are consistent. Pumpkin is something I keep on hand, it firms the poop, and also loosens should they have constipation. The yogurt is to give good gut flora, it is an extra dose since TOTW has it in the food, but after all the issues his gut is probably all out of whack and the yogurt should get it back on track. The total time for the switch over may take 3-4 weeks, so be patient.

The only other thing I will mention, is how much kibble of TOTW are you feeding per day? Sometimes, it is a matter of overfeeding that causes the continuous loose stool. I personally feed a partial raw diet, so for my puppy she gets 2 meals a day of TOTW, and one meal of raw. For now, I would get his stomach back on track before making another change. For tummy help and excellent way to clean teeth, feeding a raw meaty bones is a huge plus. If you do start in on the RMB's wait til all is good, and watch how he handles a bone. Does he just gnaw on it great, if he break it a part, watch that he doesn't just swallow big pieces of bone, other issues with that, if he actually chews them down like kibble he'll be fine.

I hope that helps more. I know the frustration, it took me almost a year to get my Miya in a good poop routine.

Thanks for the input! I had been feeding the TOTW for about a week and half when the vet recommended using something different. I have heard a lot of great reviews on the TOTW so I'm just going to disregard that and stick with it for awhile longer. I was adding in some yogurt (which he loved) with the bland diet, but I'll add some pumpkin as well now!

As far as quantity, he doesn't like to eat a lot of the kibble. Maybe two cups or so for the day, but very very small amounts at a time. With the bland diet and yogurt, he would devour all of it quickly even when I started adding some of the TOTW back in.

It is frustrating, but I'll just be more persistent with the TOTW, pumpkin and yogurt and see how he does!

I would, if possible, stick to 2 cups max a day on kibble, spread over 4 meals, if you are not doing so already. Miya was the same way, she isn't into eating. At 4 months you can go down to 3 times a day. My Sofie, will be 5 months old on Monday, and she gets 2.5 cups a day, in 2 meals, and then some raw for her third. Miya at 3 years old gets 1.5-2 cups of kibble once a day, and then raw for one meal. Some days Miya will eat all her kibble other days half and some days none at all. Some huskies self regulate, I know it is strange to think a puppy can do this, but some do. Keep us posted on how things are going.

In addition to Renee's advice, if you are giving Eli bottled water, try not too and see if that helps. Both mine have loose stool when I give them bottled water for whatever reason and when I mentioned it in here, several others noticed it with their dogs as well. I know, it's weird but...

Also, with both mine I used Blue "Freedom" puppy food when I got them and it didn't give them soft stool at all while the food the breeder had them on caused mushy stool. Some here don't like the Blue brand but I never had any issues with it, I was even still mixing it with their current food for a long time. Freedom is free from grain and all that stuff. I like it.

I agree with Jimmy on bottled water, I think that was the cause of my younger ones soft stool issue.

The Blue, hmmm, not all huskies do well on it, with this forum more have had problems, then I would have thought. With Jimmy being one of the few exceptions that his dogs did do well.

I am no longer, ever, going to say Blue is a quality food. They are currently being sued by Purina, of all companies, because Purina has found proof that Blue has outsourced their meat outside of the US, yes, China, and that the quality of the meat is/was a lie, in that Blue states their meat is of the highest quality, when in fact from Purina, they are using the lowest quality of meats. Until the lawsuit is resolved, I will not suggest Blue, and for comparison sake, Purina.  I find it quite odd that Purina decided to sue, and I have read their allegations, they produced info from the inside on Blue's practices. Purina does not produce quality foods, but I think they decided that they would expose one of the leading grain free brands, as being deceptive to the consumer, at least Purina has never said they put the highest quality ingredients into their grain inclusive foods.

BTW, Jimmy, that is not a bash on you, when you fed Blue you had no idea, nor any other consumer did. This lawsuit started this year, and for the most part Blue has desperately tried to hide that this lawsuit is currently going on. If I see a resolve in the lawsuit I will be sure to let others know on the forum, but until then I would not feed anything being produced by Blue. To me, that is far worse of a violation in my trust with a company, than a recall from 4 years ago, which is why so many will never feed a Diamond product.

We have very good tap water and that's all I've been giving him, no bottled water.

Intersting information on the Blue brand! The food industry can be such a skeet place, for dogs and humans. As soon as I opened the bag, and after the first time he pooped on the Purina, I knew I didn't like it. Just went with what the vet gave me, cleared it up with the bland diet, and will be on TOTW for the next couple months to see how he does!

MiyasMomma wrote:

I agree with Jimmy on bottled water, I think that was the cause of my younger ones soft stool issue.

The Blue, hmmm, not all huskies do well on it, with this forum more have had problems, then I would have thought. With Jimmy being one of the few exceptions that his dogs did do well.

I am no longer, ever, going to say Blue is a quality food. They are currently being sued by Purina, of all companies, because Purina has found proof that Blue has outsourced their meat outside of the US, yes, China, and that the quality of the meat is/was a lie, in that Blue states their meat is of the highest quality, when in fact from Purina, they are using the lowest quality of meats. Until the lawsuit is resolved, I will not suggest Blue, and for comparison sake, Purina.  I find it quite odd that Purina decided to sue, and I have read their allegations, they produced info from the inside on Blue's practices. Purina does not produce quality foods, but I think they decided that they would expose one of the leading grain free brands, as being deceptive to the consumer, at least Purina has never said they put the highest quality ingredients into their grain inclusive foods.

BTW, Jimmy, that is not a bash on you, when you fed Blue you had no idea, nor any other consumer did. This lawsuit started this year, and for the most part Blue has desperately tried to hide that this lawsuit is currently going on. If I see a resolve in the lawsuit I will be sure to let others know on the forum, but until then I would not feed anything being produced by Blue. To me, that is far worse of a violation in my trust with a company, than a recall from 4 years ago, which is why so many will never feed a Diamond product.

What kind of problems have people on the forum had with Blue, Renee?

Blue has always rated quite high on food advisor, I'm wondering if I should even trust them anymore while I don't feed them Blue anymore as far as kibble, I do still almost exclusively buy Blue Wilderness treats.

Internet has been wonky. Let's see if I can get this to post.

Jimmy, Blue had a recall in November with their treats. Even tho food advisor will list a food as a 5 star, does not mean they take into account lawsuits, nor recalls, otherwise TOTW and other Diamond products would not be rated so high. They only take into account what is in the food.

Many people have came onto the forum and mention their new pup is on Blue and have sever loose stools, also in the long thread 'what you feeding" many have said Blue doesn't agree with their dogs. Miya is one of them, tried Blue and diarrhea, so something in Blue that doesn't agree with many huskies, hence my statement saying so. You are one of the few that never complained about Blue, so you were lucky. After my issue and have read of others with the issue of digestive complaints, then the lawsuit, then the recall, for me personally I will not feed anything with the name Blue.

Oh, ok Renee, I had to look up the dog treat recall (wow the recall list is long! With a lot of big name manufacturers !!!) the Blue brand recall was voluntary, discovered through their own routine testing of their products, and limited to a certain dog chew (bone) within a certain batch. No other Blue products were affected, and no illnesses to date. So I'm good with the treats I've been giving my two (duck biscuits and salmon biscuits) but thanks so much for the information, you had me worried. I can't really comment on the lawsuit since Purina is only alleging things so far (?) doesn't really matter, my two don't get Blue anymore since they do well on the food they're on (you don't think highly of that one either though, haha) I do know when giving Mishka the Blue Freedom puppy kibble, her runny poop cleared up with no issues ever again (and she was having runny poop everyday to every other day for a little while as a puppy,) so yes, for my two the food was good, may have been luck but I don't know that for sure. Anyways, thanks for all that information Renee