my dog is eating 2 1/2 cups of food each day, and night. she continues to excessivly poop, and get thinner. what can i do to fix the problem? she is a 7 1/2 months black lab puppy on adult nutro max food. i dont know what to do. ive tried everything!
please help.
LabLover

i am worried that she will start to get sick. she has been acting normal, and not acting hungry at all. i truly dont know whats going on.
-LabLover

You should have a vet check him/her.

I'm thinking at 7 1/2 monthes, 2 1/2 cups might not be enough food. My young dogs that are growing usually eat more than my mature adults. I would have a vet check though, to rule out a medical issue.

Mike

Try deworming... Has your pup been dewormed since you got her/him? Deworming and a trip to the vet might be in order.

My Murph is not yet two, he is well exercised and eats two cups in am and two cups in pm. I would also check with the vet first. Good luck, let us know how it goes.

Definately rule out worms or other health issues by visiting your vet. When my puppy was that age I had to increase him to 5-6 cups of food for a couple of months. Give her some pumpkin (100% in a can) - may firm her up a bit.

thank everyone very much. ill try to get her dewormed and then the vets. what kind of pumpkin? and how much?
thank you all
LabLover

My young male at one point had to be fed 6 - 6 1/2 cups of food per day. He has always been on a good quality food but that is what it took when he was going through a growing spurt. He is now on 5 cups per day.

I would definitely take him/her to the vet and then increase the food if all is well.

A

Once you rule out any intestinal issues i.e. worms giardia etc. Consider that your dog may need a different food. I have a dog that does the exact same thing on any chicken based / performance food. He would have 6-8 BMs a day and go in his crate too. He now eats a salmon and rice based food and is doing well. Good coat and he maintains a weight that I like on 4 cups a day. (he is not a show dog.)

I would have a vet check the stools and maybe go to a low-residue food if she is loose. Sounds like she might need more food, but if it's going right through her - more won't do any good. Maybe she needs a different food if there is nothing else going on?

First of all, 2 1/2 cups is not enough for any of my 7 month old Labs. I feed Purina Pro Plan and most of my young dogs get 2 heaping cups twice a day moistened with water. I have had dogs who ate as much as 3 and 4 cups twice a day and still stayed trim. This is especially true of the more active ones. I just lost a 12 year old dog who has eaten between 2 1/2 cups and 3 cups at each feeding. My girls who are spayed and just sorta hang out are eating about a cup twice a day or maybe a heaping cup. But some of the boys we have had eat as I said and none were fat or out of shape. Now, if your dog is outside, it is another story and those dogs need more as they use a lot of the food for warmth. If you want to do all of the test, go ahead but I feel that, if she is a normal, active Lab, she needs more than and she needs to be fed twice a day not once a day. That is my opinion. Ellie

Try feeding your youngster a top notch dog food like Natural Balance by Dick Van Patten and see if she still has loose stools. Also, plain yogurt is soothing to the stomach/intestines when the dog is experiencing loose stools.

I switched my 11th month old over to Natural Balance last month because she was having runny stools. She was on the Pro Plan Chicken. I wormed her with Safeguard which covers a variety of worms and I treated her for Coccidia. Her stools back to normal for the most part.

Good luck with your girl. Definatley start feeding her more amounts of quality kibble until she starts filling out and maturing more. My 11 month old girl and her half sister can eat 4 cups of kibble a day, on top of their healthy snacks during the day and still stay slender. Some dogs have higher metabolism so maybe your girl is like this.

Pump up the food,My pups are eating 6-7 cups a day at 7 months,

I agree with a vet check and make sure to bring a stole sample.
may need a different formula of food too but check with your vet first.

as i noted, she is getting 2 1/2 cups twice a day so in total she gets about 5 cups, sometimes a little more per day.

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Replying to:

First of all, 2 1/2 cups is not enough for any of my 7 month old Labs. I feed Purina Pro Plan and most of my young dogs get 2 heaping cups twice a day moistened with water. I have had dogs who ate as much as 3 and 4 cups twice a day and still stayed trim. This is especially true of the more active ones. I just lost a 12 year old dog who has eaten between 2 1/2 cups and 3 cups at each feeding. My girls who are spayed and just sorta hang out are eating about a cup twice a day or maybe a heaping cup. But some of the boys we have had eat as I said and none were fat or out of shape. Now, if your dog is outside, it is another story and those dogs need more as they use a lot of the food for warmth. If you want to do all of the test, go ahead but I feel that, if she is a normal, active Lab, she needs more than and she needs to be fed twice a day not once a day. That is my opinion. Ellie

i am going to the vets this week, either today or tomorrow with a stool. its isnt very loose, but slightly. im going to give her about 3 cups tonight. thank you for the suggestions. ill give her a little bit of yogurt, regular vanilla, right? i just dont want her to get to much food and become bloated from it.thank you
LabLover

I agree with a parasite/worm check.

If her stools are not soft (you don't mention this in your first post) I would go easy on the pumpkin as it could bind her.

And increasing the food too quickly can cause loose stools as well.

Take a look at the ingred. in your food. Does it start with corn (not a good source of protein - a filler in my opinion) and may be why she is not putting on weight. Protein source (chicken, lamb, etc) should be first and 2nd, 3rd, or 4th ingred. listed.

If stool checks out clean a food change may be in order.

Don't forget you have to know the calorie content of the food before you can compair volume fed. I have a young bitch that I could not keep weight on. Inceased food volume just made cowpie poops. I tried a box of FortiFlora made by Purina at the sugestion of a vet friend. It is a sourse of live naturally accurring microorganisms to help digestion. I rolled my eyes at first, but it worked really well! My girl is actually gaining weight and has had nice solid stool after trying it for a month.

i went to the vets and the stool sample was negative and they said that a labrador puppy should be as skinny as her. she is far to skinny in my opinion. i have other labs and never have any of them looked like this. the vet has a friend with labs (field style though) and they said all labs should look that thin. i didnt know what to say besides, none of my dogs have ever been that thin and for a show dog, this is extremely bad.

Try adding enzymes to her food. It helps her to digest all of the nutrients out of the food. Here is an excellent one:
http://www.thewholisticpet.com/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=603&CFID=15410120&CFTOKEN=65557584

She may do better with a little puppy food mixed in with the adult food...as long as she doesn't start to grow too fast. Or try breaking her meals into three/day...give her 2 cups 3x/day...that gives her body a better chance to digest what she eats.

I use plain yogurt - not flavored and not the low fat or non fat variety.

Sometimes even show dogs go through a "skinny minnie" phase and then bulk up later. It depends on the lines.

also, try satin balls. they add weight. here is a site to try:
http://www.njboxers.com/satin-balls-recipe.htm
good luck