If your Goldendoodle has been dealing with loose stools, don’t panic. I hear this question from Goldendoodle owners a lot, and it’s almost always something we can fix.
Understanding what sensitive stomachs really mean
When someone asks me why their Goldendoodle has loose stools, stress is number one on my list, especially if it’s a puppy that just went to a new home. But even with an adult, if anything unusual has happened that would cause them to be stressed, that’s usually where I start. If it persists past that, I’d say do a parasite check. It could also just be the food. Chicken in the food, for example. It could be needing a switch of food, or probiotics.
So how do you tell a temporary upset stomach apart from something that’s actually food related? I’d just say give it a few days. Don’t freak out and think you have to fix it the day it happens. If it doesn’t go away after three, four, or five days, then you have to start trying something else.
The quickest way to correct the problem is a bland diet. There are different ways to do this: boiled hamburger with rice, boiled chicken with rice, or boiled salmon with rice. Some people add cottage cheese to it. Adding pure pumpkin onto their food will sometimes take care of it too.
The bland diet is usually a good, quick way to get the stools back to normal. Once they’re back to normal, you can slowly bring the same food back, mixing it in with the bland diet, or try a different food and slowly mix that in the same way, just to slowly transition over.
If you go back to the same food directly and it happens again, there’s probably a good chance that your dog needs a different food.
As for when to take them to the vet, it’s not something I’d get too concerned about right away. If you do the bland diet, slowly go back to food, and it happens again, then I’d take them in and do a parasite check.
If it’s an adult, a lot of times they can get a parasite like giardia or coccidia and still often have normal stools. A puppy is a little different. If they get giardia or coccidia, they usually do have soft stools.
Goldendoodles are quite prone to sensitive stomachs. I’ve heard that a lot from Goldendoodle owners. There’s a lot of them that end up having to go on a sensitive stomach food.
Food triggers and ingredient red flags
Chicken would be the most common meat sensitivity for your dog. Beyond that, you just don’t want a lot of junk in the food, like bad grains. You don’t want your first ingredient to be corn or some other bad grains, which a lot of your cheaper foods are. You want your first ingredient to be a meat.
High fat foods, dairy products, and certain plant-based proteins or cheap grains are difficult for dogs to properly digest too.
Choosing the right food
I would always recommend Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Stomach. It’s specifically formulated for sensitive stomachs, it’s got salmon in it, and that’s the one I’d recommend. A lot of people use that, and it usually works.
Salmon would be the number one protein source to look for. It seems to work the best. Lamb would be another one to try. I think salmon is kind of the top one if you’re having sensitive stomach issues, but lamb should probably work pretty good too.
Fresh food is probably the best fit for recurring stool problems. You probably can’t really go wrong with it, it’s just a lot more cost. Some people will get something like The Farmer’s Dog and mix it in with a kibble to save on cost.
Age wouldn’t matter much when it comes to sensitive stomach issues. Those tend to come as they grow up. They might be fine as a puppy, and then six months to a year down the road, all of a sudden they form a sensitivity to something.
Switching foods safely
Start with a bland diet. Once the stools are normal for a few days, slowly mix the kibble in, and keep adding more kibble until you’re over to full kibble again. You should see a difference pretty quick, within a couple weeks, if it’s going to make one.
The biggest mistake I see is people making too many changes at once and not having the patience for it to change. If you make three different changes and things improve, you don’t really know what the problem was, because you don’t know which one worked.
Make one change at a time. If you go on a bland diet and it changes it, then you start going back to kibble and it comes back, as soon as it comes back, try something different, maybe trying a new food in with the bland diet.
When it’s not just the food
Stress, overeating, treats, and things dogs shouldn’t be eating cause loose stools pretty often. I’ve had people with Bernedoodles tell me their dog’s stools are normal until they give them one or two treats, and then it’s an issue.
Now, the Farm to Pet treats we give people a discount code on are strictly meat, so a treat like that shouldn’t cause any issues. But some of the other treats you buy at the store have a lot of other junk in them, and some doodles just can’t even have them.
Vomiting is one warning sign that it’s time to call the vet, or if you’re going weeks with no change. Vomiting can happen with stress, though not quite as common. It can also come with giardia, an internal parasite. If they’re vomiting with giardia, it’s a little worse case of it, but I wouldn’t say it’s anything to be super worried about. Just get them on meds as soon as possible.
In closing
If you want a simple, realistic plan for getting your Goldendoodle’s stools back to normal, start with a bland diet this week.
Basically, if your dog gets diarrhea, don’t panic. It’s not the end of the world. Our vet kind of laughs at people who come in in a panic because their dog has diarrhea. He says, “What do you do when your child has diarrhea? They don’t run to you in a panic.” Your dog is the same way. It’s likely very minor. Don’t stress over it.