I have a female one year old Husky, Cheyenne. For most of her life, she has had bouts of reoccurring diarrhea. Other than this, she always seems very healthy. very active. Loves to run and play. Eats 2 cups of dog food twice a day. I say that it comes and goes. But it seems like it has gotten worse, since the weather has warmed up. Warm weather, outside playing in the yard, she drinks more water. We've wondered if that could be the "simple" issue. We've tried changing dog food to "mix" things up. She always seems healthy, happy. But when she poops, sometimes soft stools, sometimes diarrhea. Caught her off guard a few days back, and actually had an accident in the middle of the night in the house. That was fun for all. ughh. I try searching online for help. But all searches end up being about this sickness or that sickness. I've taken her to the vet, and all seems good, other than this. I've never had a dog with this kind of issue before. Not sure what to do. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with this, or any suggestions ?

Sounds like spider if she gets certain food or dog food that isnt grain free. She has a very sensitive gi system. From there i was able to narrow it down to the specific probiotics. As long as the food lacks the probiotic and she doesnt eat something she shouldnt poops are almost always solid.

The bad news is it took me like 2 years of trial and error to find the few dog foods that dont bother her.

I’ve been hoping if the right diet could
help. Just don’t know where to start
Or what might help.

What are you feeding now?

We were feeding her ol Roy.
It’s what our other dogs have
Always ate. A few days ago we
Switched to a Purina chicken and
Rice. Thought we were seeing an
Improvement. Then not so much.

I'm an old old-school and have fed my dogs Purina Dog Chow for years with no problem. Now I have two who will squirt (literally!) on Purina anything.

Switched over to Fromms Weight Management Gold (one of my two has has a weight problem) and everything's back to normal.

It seems as if Huskies are more apt to react to a lower grade dog food than most others I've had. ( and I've had Labs, Setters, GSD's, Spaniels ... argh! )

I would look into a better quality food and lessen how much she is getting. 4 cups a day is too much. Most huskies are just fine on 2 cups a day. Mine get a cup mid morning and a cup in the evening. Slowly lessen her feeding amounts until you are down around 2 cups. Over feeding can cause soft stools. So can intolerance to ingredients in food like corn and grains. Start by weening her off so much food and then if things don't clear up then you can start experimenting with food ingredients to find out if she has an intolerance to something.

wow. I'm surprised to hear about them just needing the 2 cups of dog food a day.   It's what we've been feeding our 3 year old Lab as well.  Although that dog will play fetch all day long, keeping him fit.   Cheyenne, the husky in question, sure does eat those four cups a day.  We don't leave food about all day.  Feeding our dogs in the morning, and again around 6pm.  Searching around online this morning, I certainly do see the recommended amount of food for an adult Husky is 2 cups a day.   Will certainly start doing that. Hope it helps.   Cheyenne say Thanks y'all

When you feed low grade food with a lot of filler such as corn then they will eat more as there isn't much useful content in those foods. They will poop more on those kinds of food as well because they aren't processing it. When you step up to a higher quality food that is higher in useable protein you will see that they need less food and they will poop less as well. Dogs that eat full raw hardly poop at all because what they take in their body actually uses and absorbs most of. Labs are just bottomless pits. lol. They eat simply because it's there in my experience. Many huskies as they get older will self regulate. There are days my female will skip a meal and be perfectly fine. 3+ cups is normal for a growing pup to eat, but after a year their growing is slowed and finished and they no longer need that much food.

I don't mind paying something extra for some dog food for Cheyenne. Anyone have any suggestions for some dog food that isn't "low grade" but something better or "premium grade" food that would be available at the grocery store or a walmart ? Don't trust myself to try and shop for it, and not be able to see past the marketing hype.

Walmart here sells pure balance. It's a good food. Apparently some walmarts are starting to sell Taste of the Wild and Diamond Naturals. I've seen Nutro at a couple stores. It's a pretty good food too. Grocery stores don't usually carry the high end food but they are getting better at carrying decent options. If I have to opt for getting my stuff at walmart I pick up the Pure Balance. The rest of the time mine get Taste of the Wild or 4 Health if you have a Tractor Supply near you. In general when looking at food we look to get something that is grain free, or at least doesn't use Corn in any form. that's always a good starting point. Purina does have some decent lines, you just have to read the ingredients and see how yours stacks up. dogfoodadvisor.com is a good resource to see ratings and reviews on different dog foods. Best bet is to see what you have available in the price range you need and look it up on dogfoodadvisor. At the end of the day though what your dog does well on is what you need to feed.

Merrick is now part of purina. Everywhere here has blue buffalo (walmart/safeway/citymarket) kroger brand stores usually carry i and love and you which is way good

Growing up my dogs always ate science diet. Not because it was cheap or even good dog food but because its the best dog food out there thats kosher. I still do not know why it was important for the dogs to keep kosher, it was just easier to not argue about it.

@Lostmaniac - I have had many Jewish friends, many of them had pets, mostly dogs ... and NEVER have I heard them say anything about "Kosher for my dog" so I had to go take a look.

Okay, no question that any dog food that contains grain probably also contains Chametz which would make it improper to have in the house during Pesach - no problem.  Grain free is better anyway, yes?

Granted that Deuteronomy 14:21 suggests that meat cooked with milk is forbidden, it doesn't explicitly say that (English translation "thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mothers milk), but the Rabbis have extended it to mean not to cook / eat / benefit from that.  But, then we know that most dogs loose the ability to utilize milk shortly after they're weaned so NOT having a milk product in our dog's food is good anyway, yes?

With that bit of foolishness out of the way, I was surprised to find that there are, indeed, several Kosher (for Pesach) dog foods this list from Feed Bag Supply lsits many but then misses the obvious Evangers!

Lostmaniac wrote:

Merrick is now part of purina. Everywhere here has blue buffalo (walmart/safeway/citymarket) kroger brand stores usually carry i and love and you which is way good

Growing up my dogs always ate science diet. Not because it was cheap or even good dog food but because its the best dog food out there thats kosher. I still do not know why it was important for the dogs to keep kosher, it was just easier to not argue about it.

I just changed dog foods on my two, again, Mishka was having the same issues with her soft poop/diareah every 3rd to 4th day and wicked farts, Mishka is now on a prescribed diet, which I REALLY didn't want to do but, it's been a month now and she's doing awesome. So, I wanted Kohdi back off of Natures Domain, although I think it's decent food, I noticed certain things that I accepted as normal when I hadn't tried other foods, that aren't so normal to me now. I went with Merricks and it was a BIG mistake (which really surprised me!...the recipe I bought him is 4.5 stars on FoodAdvisor) it made him sick and ultimately not eat and Kohdi has been bullet proof with food. I now have him on Zignature and he really really likes it, and through researching all the different foods (I didn't want to go back to Acana because of what it was doing to both of their coats and because of the juniper berries) I grew to really like the ingredients and how they are utilized in Zignature.

The last 2 months i have had them on earthborn and my German shepherd has chewed his nails completely off in the front and his back ones are splitting so about to go back to merrick backcountry raw and see if it doesnt resolve.

Spider needs high protein grain free, which kind of cuts alot of brands and recipes out and it was way too difficult to give everyone else purina proplan and spider special food without spider getting into it.

My vet recommended mazuri exotic canine for spider, i had to order it... spider didnt eat for over a week and i gave up on it woth her. The vixen that lives in the yard loved it though

There a re a lot of great food out there designed for dogs with sensitive stomachs. I would look into Blue Buffalo, Nutri-source, Taste of the Wild. Anything but Purina. If you think you are saving money you're not because you are making things worse on your dog. If you feed it to her because your other dogs eat it, that's not a good reason. Siberian huskies are notorious for sensitive tummy's. Go with a food that is either chicken or turkey base and pick a brand that doesn't use any fillers etc. Chicken and Rice is good. Within a short period of time she should be back to solid stools and feeling even better!

Once you decide on a food you have to gradually introduce your dog to it. go with a 3:1 mix 3 old and 1 new (in cups) then go 50/50 and last go 3:1 but 3 new and 1 old

Purina funds almost all the nutritional studies in dogs has alot of lines and quality varies within the different lines ie dog chow vs instinct vs proplan. They unlike boutique brands actually have the money to do the reaserch. Most husky and primative type dogs cant handle the grains and yes rice is a grain. I feed merrick which is now a nestle purina line and very high quality dog food.

Blue buffalo isnt that great they just have a really great marketing strategy... and are also owned by general mills now.

And then comes in the new fda research about grain free being connected to dcm. I talked to a vet about it and its partly brand specific but they arnt sure what is the actual cause yet. He wouldnt tell me the brands because its not yet published.

I personally trust data backed science over a cute commercial comparing your dog to a wolf. If you really want to feed your dog like a wolf stock up on game tags and dump the whole animal in the back yard. Or better yet let them kill it themselves, a goat costs the same as a bag of high end dog food.

Oh and spider my husky wolfdog wont touch any blue buffalo lines or flavors and neither will my other 3. I find that funny

kansast - whatever you do don't feed your dog Purina!!! Purina is a complete joke! It's like you or me eating fast food everyday. It's not a good quality dog food and I agree BB was bought by GM so I would stay away from it. More often than not when a company sells the new company that bought it will change the recipe hoping to save money. There are so many better brands of food than Purina. The only reason Vets push this food on their pet owners is because they get kick backs from the company! It's like feeding your dog Pedigree. Same thing. If you don't believe me just read the label on some of their dog foods. They are filled with crap! You may spend a little more on a quality dog food, but in the long run your dog will be healthier and happier and you will have less visits to the vet.

Look up Nutri-source, Zignature or a half dozen of different recipes you can find on Chewy. You can shop online read the labels and reviews. I can't believe how many people feed their dog crappy food and wonder why they have stomach issues? OMG!!!

Bottom line be your dog's advocate! Research the dog food and read the labels!

Purina Beneful - This is one of their better kibble recipe - Notice the whole grain corn and wheat which is more difficult on a dogs digestive track. This is why you stay away from crap like this!

Nutritional Info


Ingredients

Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, Whole Grain Corn, Soybean Hulls*, Barley, Whole Grain Wheat, Corn Gluten Meal, Soybean Meal, Rice, Poultry By-Product Meal, Glycerin, Egg and Chicken Flavor, Beef Fat Naturally Preserved with Mixed-Tocopherols, Poultry and Pork Digest, Oat Meal, Calcium Carbonate, Salt, Dried Apples, Dried Carrots, Dried Green Beans, Mono and Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Iron Oxide (Color), Minerals [Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite], Vitamins [Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B-2), Menadione Sodium Bisulfite (Vitamin K), Biotin, Folic Acid], L-Lysine Monohydrochloride. J-4091.

Uhuh and now go look at merrick and castor and pollux (bought by purina in 2015) i avoid shipping because fedex cant find us and leaves our stuff in creede which is about 20 miles away ups has no issues and usps if it wont fit in the mailbox i have to go into south fork and get it there so im basically limited to tractor supply walmart the grocery store and the way way yuppie expensive pet store in pagosa springs and the pass is not always open in winter so throws that store out the window.

We have a local dog food mill near la jara. Its gross they buy horses at 38 cents a lb. They also use downer cows.i guess thats why a 100lb bag of it costs $15. It makes ol roy look like decent dog food

Late to the topic but you have a classic case of Ol' Roy crappies. Loads of corn wheat and soy but not much animal protein. Huskies are also notorious for chicken and turkey allergies avoid poultry. Huskies do best in my opinion on fish based diets like salmon or whitefish. You won't break you bank account if you try the 4 Health brands from Tractor Supply. Remember to break them in slowly on different brands.

A great reference that I use: https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

Ol roy..... the number 1 selling dog food here. And according to my vet the #1 reason dogs die early. Im in a tourist town so people here have money. The rest of the valley is dirt poor and the dogs suffer from it. Colorado now has doggy food banks, and they exclusively use ol roy

I did not take the time to read everything that was said here, but I just wanted to share my experience with this.

I had Kai, my husky, on a Chicken based food and for some reason that was causing him all kinds of GI issues. Took him to a vet who did a million other things outside of looking at his food. I figured I would change his food just in case, and almost over night the GI problems went away. Originally I switched him to taste of the wild - high prairie (which is buffalo based, I think?), but just to be on the safe side with TOTW having the second highest level of DCM in the report that is being talked about, I switched him to Diamond Naturals Large Breed Puppy - Lamb based. This has resolved his GI issues. I'm not saying this is the food you should use, but I am saying that you should consider his diet. Look at changing his protein first, and then changing the grain.

Our guy eats Nature's Domain (it's a Costco brand) and we "add" plain cooked chicken/fish/beef and plain Greek yogurt as well. There are several different kinds of protein within Nature's Domain (lamb / beef / salmon ). He has been doing fine (nice poop)...but every dog's digestive system is different!!

In the rescue he was eating Iams Pro-health and we kept feeding him that for a few months. His poop was always a yellow puddle back then, very hard to pick up!

Anyway Nature's Domain has been affordable...affordable enough that we can afford to buy chewies too!


PS Why I began adding few spoonfuls of plain cooked meat sometimes...for instance, we had the salmon kibble where it had "salmon meal" as the main protein ingredient. Well, I was standing at the oven broiling salmon fillets for the family's dinner! It seemed ridiculous to me that he would eat dried salmon meal while we ate the real thing, which is probably a lot more nutritious/good for him. So, I broiled one small plain fillet for him and chopped it up and mixed it in his dogfood. I figure if they are going to skimp on something in the kibble, it will be the meat/protein (most expensive ingredient), and this would make up for it a bit. Anyway it's not scientific but it makes me feel better, and he is doing fine (although a bit spoiled foodwise, yes!).