Q. For a few days straight my Beagle 11 years old. His stool was sand like mush. Then one day was formed with the sand like mush on top. Now al…

ANSWER : A. It would be important to find out what or where he has been eating in order to figure out what he is passing. Low grade dehydration could aggravate stool quality but watch closely to see what else he is consuming (sand, earth, bones?) to create a sand like consistency. If he is any discomfort or has caused any damage to his bowel and is passing any blood he will require treatment as soon as possible

ANSWER : A. I would highly recommend your dog see a veterinarian for a exam, stool analysis, and bloodwork. At 11 years old, dogs are much more likely to develop underlying conditions. Coughing can be indicative of heart disease or respiratory problems. Your veterinarian will be able to analyze these diagnostics and create a treatment plan to ensure your pet is provided the appropriate medical treatment.

ANSWER : A. If you are looking for a higher end food to feed your Beagle, there are many available now in commercial pet stores. Many brands such as Blue Buffalo, Nutro Natural Choice and others offer holistic foods that tend to be more meat based than carbohydrate based. Some brands such as Royal Canin also offer foods that are specific to certain breeds. This means the products tend to have more digestible ingredients in them rather than fillers. They may also avoid some allergenic ingredients such as corn, wheat and soy products which can cause digestive issues in some dogs. However, Eukanuba, Science Diet and others are a good mid-grade brand and many dogs do very well on it.

If you do decide to switch your dog’s food, it should be done so gradually to avoid digestive upset. A routine of 9 days is best for switching over. This involves 3 days of 25% new/75% old, 3 days of 50/50 and 3 days of 25%old/75% new before finally feeding only the new food. Also be advised that depending on the ingredient changes, foods that have different grains or fewer grains in them may slightly change the consistency and size of your dog’s stool.

ANSWER : A. When it comes to poop eating, you want to consider a few things. First off, what is his diet like? Maybe something is lacking in his diet that is causing him to want to eat his own poop. This is the most common reason why dogs eat THEIR OWN poop. Try a higher quality kibble like Taste of the Wild, Ziwipeak, Orijen.. and try feeding three meals per day, instead of the more common two meals per day. Remember to gradually switch his kibble. Add a little bit of the new kibble and reduce the old kibble very slowly.. little by little every couple of days until the bowl is mostly new kibble! You should also be cleaning up his poops IMMEDIATELY after he does them.. I mean like, you have a bag in your hand, and you are low enough to scoop it up RIGHT when he finished so he doesn’t have a chance to eat his poop.

When it comes to nipping there are a few things you can do. First, you should yelp as soon as the teeth touch your skin, stand up, cross your arms, and ignore the puppy until he is ignoring you. Once he is off doing his own thing, swoop down and calmly reward him by playing with him WITH A TOY so he doesn’t nip your hands. Whenever you pet him, or interact with him, you should always have a toy on-hand so you can give it to him. This toy should be a soft braided rope toy that YOU own. This means, your puppy is never allowed to have this toy on the floor, and your pup can never “win” tug games with this toy. This is YOUR toy that disappears when you’re finished playing, and reappears when you want to play. If you keep this up, in a weeks time, your puppy will be so excited to see that toy, that as soon as you bring it out, he stops nipping you because he wants to play with the toy. Another thing you can do is have two bags of toys. Bag#1 is full of chew toys/soft toys/squeaky toys/etc. After one week, Bag#1 disappears and out comes Bag#2. Bag#2 has the same types of toys as Bag#1, and it only stays out for one week. This keeps the toys feeling like new to your pup!

ANSWER : A. It’s used to be that dog years were 7 years to every 1. Now it normally around 5 years to every year as long as your dog is healthy and kept up with vaccines. So he’s about 68ish in dog years.

ANSWER : A. Chappie was the original name of the product that is now known as Pedigree. Pedigree is considered a “grocery” style food, meaning it may not be as high quality or include higher quality ingredients as other products. However, the Pedigree line has expanded quite a bit in recent years and now offers many products tailored to dogs of all ages, sizes and breeds.

If your dog has done well on the product, you may be able to just switch over to a variety that is geared more to your dog’s needs such as a large breed senior formulation. Senior formulations often have added supplements to help with joint pain and arthritis later in life. However, if your dog has been experiencing problems with the food product, switching to a higher quality food such as one without grains may help. Higher quality foods will often have alternate grain sources to prevent digestive upset as well as higher quality meat cuts listed on the top of the ingredient list.

if you do decide to switch foods, the process should be done gradually over 7-9 days. For the first 2-3 days 25% new/ 75% old should be given, then 3 days of 50/50, and 2-3 days of 75% new / 25% old before finally switching over. This will help minimize any stomach upset from changing to a different food too quickly and allow the intestinal bacteria to adjust.

ANSWER : A. Loose stools can be caused by a number of factors, and the first step is always to bring a stool sample to your local veterinarian to check for anything. Fecal exams can check for common bacteria and parasites in the stool that may cause chronic diarrhea.

Diet problems can also play a factor in loose stool as well as chronic illness. Dogs can be allergic to many different ingredients in the diet, however grains such as corn, wheat and soy products can be the most problematic. Adding a probiotic supplement can sometimes help such as a scoop of plain yogurt ever meal, or commercial product from your vet.

Illnesses and metabolic disorders may also cause chronic loose stools. German Shepherds are prone to a disease called Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency which is a problem with the pancreas (the same organ that dysfunctions in diabetes- however that is ENDOCRINE function in that case) producing enough digestive enzymes. This causes stools that may be loose, discolored grey or yellow and appear very fatty in color. Shepherds can also be prone to chronic small intestine infections that cause loose stool as well. Luckily, treatment for these conditions often just involves adding a daily digestive enzyme supplement to the food, or daily anti-biotic designed specifically for chronic bowel issues.

ANSWER : A. It’s a little hard to get specific about recommendations for you as I don’t know whether this is a dog or a cat, however I’ll see if I can give you some ideas. You said “thin” stools…do you mean diarrhea, or ribbon-like stools? Diarrhea in cats and dogs can be caused by parasites, food allergies or sensitivities (I know he’s been on c/d for years but they can develop food allergies relatively suddenly), inflammatory bowel disease, bacterial or viral infections of the gut, and dietary indiscretion. If you mean the stools are thin like ribbon I’d be concerned about a rectal mass potentially changing the shape of the stool on the way out. Either way I would get this checked out.