Our 5 month old half saint bernard puppy disappeared for 12 days in the wilderness. She basically didn't eat anything during that time. She found her way back home last Wednesday and we took her to the vet - zero problems, just needs to put on some weight. So my wife's been feeding her fairly well, and she's been feeding her cans of dog food once a day. I didn't realize she was feeding her a whole can of dog food every day on top of the Purina puppy chow she's getting, but I'm guessing this is the culprit.

She sleeps in a crate in the kitchen, downstairs at the back of the house. We sleep in the bedroom, upstairs and to the front of the house with our door closed. Our house is fairly small. Around 4 am, my wife awakened because of the stench coming from the kitchen. She wakes me up and tells me Shelby pooped in her cage, and I need to go put her out. The amount of smell in our bedroom makes me think something is wrong in the house, but I soon realize that has to be the smell. It's so strong that I wouldn't doubt she had pooped on my pillow. As I curse my way down the stairs, something seems to be pushing me back. Maybe it was the ghost of whatever she ate giving me fair warning. The smell started making me feel sick when I walked into the kitchen. I had no idea poop could smell this bad. Finally, I fought her and then her cage outside and let her run around for 15 minutes or so while I hosed out her cage and made sure she didn't get any in the kitchen. I put her back in her cage on the back porch because I can't just let her run around at night - she already disappeared once and she's not yet old enough to be trained on the dog fence. This morning I went to let her out of the cage and she's pooped again. It's very sloppy and stinks almost as much as the first time. I let her out and hosed her off this time.

Is it the canned dog food doing this? She's eating good, and very healthy and energetic. I can't handle another night of this.

We had a chocolate lab growing up that when given canned food he'd crap raw sewage - I'm talking baby diapers soaked in curry and left out in the sun kind of stench.

Can dog food, stress of being fed extra on GI, stress from not eating for 12 days, etc. All of these can be the culprit. Take dog to the Vet for quick parasite screen and diarrhea meds.

DVM

That's a whole lot of food to be giving a dog in one meal, especially after not eating/not eating enough for 12 days.

Make at least 2 meals of that and your problems will not be nearly as bad. Plus, feeding a high quality puppy food (both wet & dry) will make a big difference).

I dont want to be a dog food snob- but IMHO most dog foods that you can find in a grocery store are not quality foods.

I'm not a vet and didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night but I will say DVM I believe nailed it.

You sure it was poop?? Our dog has had a few episodes of "feculent vomit" which was pretty much the worst smelling thing I've ever encountered. We're talking open all the doors and windows in 15 degree weather (living in Kentucky) bad.

I've found that canned food = nasty WET turds. If you increase or decrease a dog's food to change it's weight, do it by 20%, not 100%.

Also, a puppy won't have the bowel discipline of an adult dog.

Trust me, your dog ate during those 12 lost days. It may have been garbage, or carrion, or even sweet smelling grasses. It ate something.

[This message has been edited by MouthBQ98 (edited 6/10/2009 10:36a).]

On that note, I'll head to lunch.

As far as overfeeding goes, I'm pretty sure she's only feeding her the canned dog food extra, which is a lot imo, but that puppy eats a lot. She's giving the vet a call, and may end up bringing her in today, but my feeling is that he'll say to keep an eye on her movements and bring her in if it continues.

I'm fairly positive she ate almost nothing in the 12 days she was gone. She may have eaten some insects, maybe some wood and a little grass. She left our house on a Friday afternoon toting a 15' cable after bending the ring apart on the stake that holds her in the ground with a spring on the end of it. This is the part I don't understand - I can't bend that ring with my hands, a 30 pound puppy bent it when it's rated for a 75 pound dog and I would have trusted it for over a 100 pound dog judging by the weight of it. I searched for her for several days on foot and on a 4 wheeler. My assumption is that she got hooked around a tree or in some brush and was stuck, and eventually got skinny enough and pulled out of her collar and came home. She lost around 25% of her body weight while she was out.

wunder-

I haven't had much experience with underfed/malnourished dogs, but I have had lots of experience with horses.

The biggest thing is not to give them too much food too fast. Of course we want to give them all they want to eat as you know that they are really hungry. Unfortunately that's not what is best for them.

I always start horses on a little bit of food many times per day (up to 6 times for really bad horses). I gradually increase the quantity of food and decrease the frequency until they are on 2 full meals a day.

Just my .02