Soft poo on Purina Show Chow?

[Olallie]

Any thoughts?

Rosco has been on this diet since end of june, and recently (for a week!!) has had very soft poo everyday around 5pm or so. Which is about the time he sits at his bowl and stuffs his face... >.>

Currently only feeding him hay, to see if that clears him up, so far so good.

 

[mishellyshel]

i feed all my boys PRSC and the only times i have issues with soft poo is if i introduce something new, be it a treat or a location change. usually with the treat the poo is soft for about 1 - 2 days and i give an extra of shredded wheat those days and with the stress of a location move, usually it takes about 1 week and they are back to normal. i give an extra shredded wheat during that time.

 

[Olallie]

Last week I introduced some Orchard grass hay. gave it to him one day, and then the soft poos started. Removed it from his cage and he continued to have soft poo, even with the pet pectillian, shredded wheat, and activated charcoal.
Just wondering if anyone else has experience soft poo with the orchard grass or PRSC??

 

[CTChin]

My chins have been on this food for about a year now. No loose stool ever compared to Mazuri. In fact I am amazed how big and beautiful my chins are. Even ones that came to me from show breeders obviously small and not show quality are now big, beefy with beautiful coats.

I don't know if this food is produced at one mill or several. We could be dealing with different quality control standards and, of course, how a grain store stores it grain can affect it.

 

[Olallie]

I actually got my stuff from my sister in California, this is all Rosco will eat, pellet wise, and im afraid it might be hurting him.

Do you think the introduction of orchard grass might have upset him? It didnt upset my other chins...

 

[mishellyshel]

every chin is different. if you look back and that was the only change than most likely that is what caused it.
recently when my one chin got the soft poop, i had given all of them the same thing and he was the only one it affected.

 

[Olallie]

The only thing that bothered me was the soft poo happening at the same time everyday. I knew when I went in the chin room at around 5pm he would have big soft poo. I figured it must be the pellets, because thats what he eats before I give them all hay at 7:30. The other chins dont eat the same pellets as he does. so I can't confirm the pellets with them.
I have taken away the orchard grass and I guess I'll go from there. It just worries me because he was sick couple months ago, i dont want anything else to happen to him.

 

[mishellyshel]

maybe it is time to get rosco back to the vet and get those skull xrays. i know you said before your vet wasnt willing to do anything, perhaps you can find a new vet.

since he has had problems before you might want to check his weight. the soft poo may be and indicator of things to come. hopefully it was just the hay. but better to be prepared..

 

[menagerie]

I have a couple here that couldn't tolerate the Purina Show Chow. So everyone gets Oxbow now.

 

[Olallie]

Yea I am going to weigh him tonight, I weighed him last week before this episode and he weighed 730g almost back to normal, i'd hate for this to side track him.

I'm going to give him the pellets again tonight and see what happens. He's been off the pellets for one day.

 

[Spoof]

Foods and hays fluctuate throughout the year. It's a constant battle to keep the chins happy and squishy-poo free.

Sometimes it takes a bit for the flora to reset. Acidophalus and a rosehip or two will help as well.

 

[Olallie]

Well he got soft poo again!

I took away the pellets sunday night. Gave them back to him Monday night. All day monday and tuesday no soft poo but his poops looked really malformed and hard. So tuesday night gave him pellets with acidophilus and rosehips, and later that night right back to the soft poo and there was no sign of the orchard grass in his cage!

*sigh* Looks like im gonna have to try a different food. Gosh i hope he eats it...

 

[Olallie]

Should I switch him cold turkey to the Oxbow? I found some yesterday and I mixed it in with his normal pellets, but he still has really soft poop. Poor thing, might take him to the vet this weekend.

 

[Sue]

It could be you have a bad bag of pellets or they're starting to turn bad. We had back about a year ago a bag of brand new pellets that gave some of my weanlings really bad diarrhea. Since it was warm (summer months) I just tossed the bag and they cleared up. I wouldn't cold turkey him, his system is already upset. Give it time, keep giving him the acidophilus and get a new bag of PANR if you can. If you don't want to toss the opened bag just see if the new pellets settle his system and then decide.