dog diarrhea/Soft Stools, Anal Sacks

Sorry to bring up this conversation, but all my dogs life he's had fairly soft stools. The past week or so, however he's been waking me up every couple of hours during the night to go out, and has diarrhea sometimes. He does drink alot of water (always has) and seems fine otherwise and doesn't go out that much during the day - only when I'm trying to sleep.

One day I tried emptying the anal sacks and the next night he slept through the night. I've been giving him some pumpkin which seems to have helped the diarrhea - wondered if giving it to him right before bed is a bad idea and what's keeping him up and needing to go out. Maybe I should try again to empty?

Any way you can tell if it's worked? Any other suggestions about the soft stools - good foods to try? He gets Chicken soup for the Petlovers dogfood dry food. In the past I've used Sensible Choice, Eukanuba, Iams - maybe another - not all at once, but tried these different things and nothing seemed to make any difference. He is getting older - nearly 12 or 13. I need to watch better what he's actually doing when he goes out at night but I did do him doing dog doo last night one of the times (or at least trying - I was inside).

Meg

I tried Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul,Canidae, Wellness, Eukanuba, and a few others. He was constantly on pumpkin, some dogs just can't handle the pure premium food. I tried him on Purina One Natural Blends Chicken and Oatmeal and he seems to be doing pretty well on it, I rarely have to use pumpkin. I was trying to avoid corn and wheat because they can be allergens, but I'd rather have a dog with more solid stools.

At least I don't have to drain his anal sacs. My dog is such a wuss, that when I take him to the vet and the vet comes in the room, he clamps down and "expresses" himself. So he gets expressed but I don't get charged extra by the vet for it. :)

acidophilus capsules to his diet with each meal.
You calso try Slippery Elm and L-Glutamine. They helped my Shepherd when he got the runs.

Here are a couple of sources for info..
http://onibasu.com/archives/kn/123132.html

http://www.irritable-bowel-syndrome.ws/l-glutamine.htm

You can try googling L-Glutamine, canine diarrhea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamine
Aiding gastrointestinal function
There have been several recent studies into the effects of glutamine and what properties it possesses, and, there is now a significant body of evidence that links glutamine-enriched diets with intestinal effects; aiding maintenance of gut barrier function, intestinal cell proliferation and differentiation, as well as generally reducing septic morbidity and the symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. The reason for such "cleansing" properties is thought to stem from the fact that the intestinal extraction rate of glutamine is higher than that for other amino acids, and is therefore thought to be the most viable option when attempting to alleviate conditions relating to the gastrointestinal tract. <2>

These conditions were discovered after comparing plasma concentration within the gut between glutamine-enriched and non glutamine-enriched diets. However, even though glutamine is thought to have "cleansing" properties and effects, it is unknown to what extent glutamine has clinical benefits, due to the varied concentrations of glutamine in varieties of food. <2>

Thanks for your suggestions. The pumpkin did to the trick and I'm still giving it to him. I will look into the Slippery Elm and L-Glutamine as well. The other thing I am wondering if there are any other sources of fiber that might also help once the can is gone - any other sources of fiber such as high fiber treats or supplements - something that might be a little easier if I'm giving it to him fairly often?

I decided to try wellness dog food. I actually bought the purina one then started doing some reading and decided I really want to use a better quality food since he's getting pretty old. The wellness has sweet potato in it also - I wondered if that would do a similar thing to the pumpkin.

Meg

Do you think something like this dog treat recipe from http://home.gwi.net/~seadog/pumpkin.html would be as good as the raw pumpkin? I thought with something like this I might not have to worry as much about it spoiling. I'm not really sure how long a can of pumpkin will stay fresh in the refrigerator. Editing to add, does anyone know how long it will keep in the refrigerator if if you can freeze raw pumpkin?

Meg

Ingredients:

1 15-oz. can of mashed pure pumpkin (not spiced pie filling)
3/4 cup Cream of Rice cereal
1/2 cup powdered dry milk
Mix all ingredients. Drop cookie-sized spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.

Suggestion: For bite-sized treats, make cookies about the size of a quarter.

Editing again - I did some research and found this page
http://www.earthclinic.com/Pets/constipation.html
that suggests you freeze the pumpkin in an ice cube tray so it doesn't spoil and you can thaw out one at a time. Sounds like a good idea.

I open a fresh can every day or two, and keep what I don't use in the fridge. A couple of heaping tablespoons twice a day (once with the AM meal and once with the PM meal) uses up the regular cans in two days.
Over Thanksgiving I was able to get the REALLY BIG cans..and kept the pumpkin in the fridge for four days or so. No problem with that. Empty it into an airtight container. Do not keep it in the can.