Nasty topic, but could use suggestions, at the end of my rope...

Runny dog poop, what more do I need to say? It's gross. And these days I spend alot of time cleaning it up off of my rugs. As you know Sasha is 14, she's on thyroid meds and metacam. More often than not she has runny poop. She goes outside alot. Problem is if I go out for an hour or if I sleep for 4 hours there will be poop on the rug. This might be bothering me more than usual because I was up at 12:15 to let her outside. I must have had a 4 hour sound sleep because when I got up again there was poop on the rug, it was cold so it had been there a while. Any thoughts on how to stop the poop??? I am at my wits end. I can't be here every minute, someone has to do groceries, and I certainly can't stay up all night. I will be calling the vet when they open for their suggestions.

For me I know that giving pumpkin in their food will stop any runny poop (except for parvo of course). If this is an ongoing problem you might try giving her pumkin as part of her diet. The canned kind, pure, not the pie filling.

I would crate her when you aren't able to be there or want some sleep, Maybe line the bottom of her cage with papers so if she has an accident it will be absorbed. Don't know what size your dog is, but you could try a large crate with papers in one end in case she has to go, that way the dog won't get soiled. Maybe you could lock the dog in the bathroom with papers in one spot for accidents also and a bed in another part of the floor.

What do you feed her? I've been having a similar problem with one of my dogs but he has been diagnosed with a disease that makes it difficult for him to control his bowel movements. But I did find that if I took away his wet food altogether and just fed him dry food, he was able to hold it until morning.
You might want to talk with your vet about it. There are some dry foods available like Medi-cal that has a high fiber diet, I think it's called 'Fiber'. I know that sounds like the opposite of what your dog needs but I think it also works to help 'firm' things up. Definitely give a vet's office a call and ask what they recommend with regard to diet. It would be a good place to start.

My other thought was maybe the dosage of Metacam is causing it? Maybe you could try reducing it slightly and as long as she is still managing fine with a lower dose, maybe her poop will firm up. My RB dog was on Metacam for a few years and I continued to try and lower her dose to the point that it was still effective but as low as possible since it's so tough on the organs.

Thanks for your comments. The vet gave us some meds to try to coat her tummy so she can still have the metacam. Vet suspects it might be irritating her intestinal tract. I have to monitor the color and consistency of her poops for the next few days and if it doesn't change in both we will need other meds. My poor old girl.

I did try cutting back on the metacam, but it really affected her ability to move around so we're caught in the middle.

Two suggestions:
1. canned pumpkin as suggested already. Make sure it is NOT pumpkin pie filling as that has other stuff in it!

2. to maintain your sanity, consider using a doggie diaper? Oh but if it is runny, you will need to be washing her butt. :rolleyes: Not sure which is more work, but at least it saves the rug!

Prayers that the meds to coat her stomach work! You BOTH need relief from this.

White rice is good too for runny stools. It should firm them up. You may want to feed her a bland diet for a couple of days. By this I mean, boiled chicken and rice.

what about probiotics? They may help get her digestive system back on track especially if she's on meds....Udo's oil has different probiotics for different purposes including digestion. I gave the Super one to my dog when she was on antibiotics....just opened the capsule and sprinkled it over her food.

I third the canned pumpkin suggestion. How are the tummy meds helping? Any improvements?

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Originally Posted by CathyBogart

I third the canned pumpkin suggestion. How are the tummy meds helping? Any improvements?

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The tummy meds are working great. Only drawback is that it takes 3 hours to get her all her meds each morning. Thyroid first, then tummy meds an hour later, then pain meds another hour later.