Expert: Renee Cox - 10/24/2007

Question
Hi Renee,
I have a 5 mos. old male puppy that is approx. 35 lbs.  He is currently eating a very high quality "store brand" puppy food referred to as "ultra" However, over the last 4 weeks he has been bordering on diarrhea.  I know puppies can have the odd bout of the runs, depending what they have picked up in the yard or on walks.  Regardless, would you recommend changing the food at this point and monitoring or a trip to the Vets.

Thanks,

Gary


Answer
Hi Gary. I would suggest a trip to the vet first. Just to rule some things out before I changed his diet. The reason I suggest this is because this way, if there's something wrong, it can be fixed quickly. If you go ahead and change his food first, you won't know if there's an underlying problem. It very well may just be the food. I'd be more comfortable ruling out any other problems first. Especially since this has been going on for awhile. Sometimes though, you can cause diarrhea when feeding too much protein, or fiber. If your boy has a stomach condition, the vet should be able to find it and recommend a food that will help him. Good luck!:-)