soft stools

shelbers

New Member
I don't know whats up with Loki. When we first got him his stools were soft to a diarrhea, I attributed this to a food change. His stools got hard after a few feedings. Now its back to very soft or diarrhea like. He's on pedigree puppy dry mixed with the wet. (not my choice of food.) Oh and hes a 9 week boxer. Also he seems so skinny, his ribs are almost always showing. Please help.
 

Jean Cote

Administrator
Staff member
Hi Shelbers!

So your dog is only nine weeks old? You must of gotten him quite recently. It will take some time for him to adjust to the food you are giving him. Usually, you are supposed to keep feeding him the same food that he grew up on at the breeder, and then to gradually wean onto a different food that you want. For example, you would put 3/4 of the food from the breeder, and 1/4 of the food you want him on, for a couple of days, and then to gradually increase that time. The same goes with water, I usually bring a big bottle of water to fill up from the breeder and then give the dog that water, and mix it as mentioned above.
 

tx_cowgirl

Honored Member
Staff member
First of all, Boxers tend to be skinny skinny till 1-2 years old, so that's not abnormal. Just my observation---I've never EVER seen a Boxer puppy that looked of healthy weight. Even Boxers on the very best of foods tend to be really scrawny, especially under 7 months old.

And of course, you definitely need to switch to a better food if possible. :)
 

shelbers

New Member
Yay! I'm not as worried any more. I visited with my aunt today whom is very good with dogs. She says he looks good. She suggested that i take him off the wet food, seeing as MIL paid for it, I don't mind not using it up. Plus she explained how bad pedigree is to hubby so were going to look and see what we can afford that is better for him. (My parents dog eats blue buffalo, I'd love to get him on that, but cant afford it, bummer). If we do switch, I was planning on doing it like you said Jean. I do have food that he was eating at MIL (she took him and his sister at 6 weeks :dogdry:) but I really rather not give him that because it is even worse of a food. Old Roy or some c***. :dogdry:

I've only had him for about a week now, but he seems to be growing so fast!
 

parlance

Well-Known Member
I'm a great believer in training your dog's palate so that later in life he'll be willing to eat a wide variety of foods. If you do that when he's young he'll be more adaptable. So how about adding a little bit of this and that to his meals, doing what Jean suggested and only adding a little of the new food, mixed in with what he's used to.

For instance, my dog eats kibble, canned food, some vegetables, beef, some fish, rabbit, venison, eggs, kidneys, chicken, turkey, lamb shanks...Oh, I could go on forever.

I'm not suggesting you give him a big lamb shank, at this stage, but you could add a little lamb meat to his diet now and then.

I have a friend whose dog is a terribly picky eater, won't touch most things - it causes her a lot of worry. I sometimes wonder whether it's because he was raised on only one type of food when he was young.

Anyway, I think it's boring to eat the same food every day. I wouldn't want to do that.
 
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