Chronic Soft Poop w/ Itching

[Jeff]

I agree with ZoeysMommy, thats why i didn't address itching. Pups can just be itchy, growing skin, loosing puppy coat getting adult coat, winter dry skin, unless itchy biting feet and no where else then not really an issue.

[happy_blackbird]

It's interesting. Ellie "corn cobs" her front legs and back hips, has bitten all the hair off the base of her tail (underneath), and scratches mercilessly at her shoulders, but is not bothered by either her feet or her ears. Recently she has begun scratching at her mouth and she is beginning to have dark staining in her wrinkly jowls. Everything the yard is growing like mad right now here in Northern California and she loves to walk through the garden, so I am thinking we will experiment with fencing off where she can romp in the yard and see if that helps quiet her itches. She often cries while scratching, but she is very, very vocal dog to begin with, so I am not sure how much discomfort that indicates.

[Jeff]

That sounds more like an alergy, food mainly.

I would try a more limited diet for a while. It's worth a try. However you want to make sure the poop stabilizes.

[xracer4844]

Agree with Hemi - sounds like afood allergy. My inlaws lab had some allergy issues in regards to food - he is now eating Fromm Duck and Sweet Potato, and has been fine since the switch. He used to get his allergies the worst around his groin. It would get really red and itchy.

EDIT: I guess I should agree with Jeff unless Hemi posted that

[happy_blackbird]

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies! Our last lab, Stella, had severe food allergies and in the end did beautifully on rabbit as her protein source and potato as her carbohydrate (I wrote a post about her food allergy/inflammation issues HERE). In the end, I home cooked for her and we were lucky enough to be able to purchase locally raised rabbit for her.

So now we begin the slow transition from venison and potato to whatever protein comes next (just as we got her poop firmed up). I think we'll try the Fromm's Duck and Potato (depending on the fat content). I'll keep you poop posted!

[Jollymolly]

Just wanted to ask if she might be eating plants in your yard. Molly was having very loose stool and it ended out being from some aloe she decided to destroy. Took me a while to figure it out.

Good luck hope you get it sorted out soon.

[JenC]

Teething causes diarrhea.

If you think the dog has food allergies, though it seems a bit young, I would make sure you aren't feeding any chicken first.

[ZoeysMommy]

Personally I would hold off on the food switches and see if the itching is coming from an external source. You mentioned gardens and that the itching is primarily on the legs and tail area. Try wiping him down every time he comes inside. Hes young, I would doubt a food allergy at this point personally and rule out environmental

I have a corgi who has environmental allergies and that's exactly where she itches, legs and tail butt area

In my experience food allergies do not present with just itchy legs, they usually involve the ears, yeasty paws as well. You don't want to begin a food roller coaster if it can easily be solved just by wiping him off

[happy_blackbird]

Stella, our last lab, showed her food allergies as staph/pyoderma or her abdomen, yeast in her groin and armpits, and terrible interdigital pododermatitis, but really never scratched at any of it (though licked mercilessly at her foot sores, poor thing). It's true that we didn't see that develop till she was about 9 months old and Ellie is just turning 5 months old. We live in an area where things are growing like mad and she loves to walk through the garden, biting everything as she goes (we took out the sago palm and there shouldn't be anything flat out poisonous remaining), especially the nasturtiums. Today I took her old ex-pens and blocked off a lot of the greenery. We'll see if that helps.

The only other thing I can think of is that I built a pee station for her out the front door (our house in built into a hill and I didn't want a small puppy to have to walk through the entire house and down three flights of stairs to get to the backyard) that uses sod from home depot that I regularly replace. I can't even imagine what might have been sprayed on it as it was growing. But, again, she doesn't bother at her feet, just the base of her tail and her legs and rear flanks. I'll try wiping her off as she enters the house from here on out (that's going to take a lot of kibble!). Thanks everyone!