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[Bear]

My Beardie is going on 7 months. Bear one minute has normal stools and then the next diarrhea I have brought him to the vet I then switched his food and it stopped for a couple of week and the it's back. I don't give him and treats or any human food ..... Does anyone else have this issue?????? I really need some insight. Thank you

[Marlie]

I had this problem for months with my beardie too. I had him on chicken and rice because I thought it was the least problematic diet. The vet finally recommended I take him off all chicken products and switch to a fish-based diet. This did the trick immediately! I started feeding him the fish food from Orijen and he hasn't had diarrhea since!!!! I know another Beardie with the same problem and he's been fine on Acana Pacific, the less expensive fish-based version of from the same company.

I just met some very well-fed (ie. not skinny!!) beardies and when I heard they were on a raw meat diet, I gave my dog a couple tastes of it (lamb and turkey) and he took right to it with gusto (as you can imagine) and also didn't get the runs! So I'm thinking of trying either raw lamb or turkey but not sure which would be the best bet. I just read online that someone discovered their dog couldn't tolerate cooked chicken but didn't have a problem with raw chicken. I wonder if it might be the same with my beardie but I don't know if I want to chance it...

Anyway, if all else fails, try a fish-based food. Be sure to read the label carefully to make sure there isn't added chicken fat or other ingredients that are common allergens/irritants. Chicken fat is a common added ingredient.

[Marlie]

I would also beware of vet-recommended foods. The majority of the brands that I see sold at and recommended by vets had products on the recall list because of the Chinese gluten controversy awhile back. This tells me they are mass produced in factories that do not closely control the source and quality of their ingredients. I stear clear of them. If your vet recommends a specific brand of food, before following his recommendation, I would first ask what the vet's relationship with that company is. They could have a financial incentive to sell that food to you, making their recommendation very biased.

The Hill's foods, for example, are often carried by and recommended by vets, but are full of fillers and potential allergens. In fact, in the H/D and I/D foods, there are no whole-meat ingredients. Corn, a common allergen, is the first (and therefore main) ingredient--even in the 'hypoallergenic' food!--followed by rice, egg and/or pork fat, and then finally something meat-related, but not real meat--only meat 'by-products'. There are no whole-meat products in the food. How vets get away with passing this off as high-quality food is beyond me.
For ingredients and reviews and ratings of dog foods and their potential allergens, see:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/ Specifically:
Hill's H/D -- 1 Star
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?pro...
Hill's I/D -- 1 Star
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?pro...
Acana Pacifica - 5 Stars
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showproduct.php?pro...
(Scroll down to bottom of pages to see reviews.)

I don't have any connections with the company of the food I recommend. They just happen to be the only high-quality, fish-based once I have available where I live. (Truly high-quality dog food is hard to find.) There are also higher quality, 6-Star reviews listed (6 stars being the best) on that site.

If that site doesn't convince you, a quick search will come up with other similar review websites, but that one is the most throrough I've found. It's made by a Boxer-related interest group, so hopefully made with dogs' best interest in mind.

If the high quality foods are too expensive, a raw meat diet might be a cheaper route, but then a supplement of some kind might be needed and the question of ingredients and quality and quantity begins anew.

Good luck!

[Lubomira Juraskova]

After starting feeding my dog with Eukanuba - Lamb and rice - I have no problems!!!
Many owners of beardies in CZ prefer feeding their dogs with raw meat and they are also very satisfied.

[Bear]

Thank you for your reply. I'm into trying anything....Sam

[Bear]

Thank you so much for your help. I will try this asap, It's funny you brought up about the vets choice of foods . That is exactly what the vet tried to get me to put Bear on was Hills. I had a sneaky gut feeling that is wasn't for him so I didn't jump on the banned wagon. I have spent so much money on him at the vet in the last while trying to find out what his issues were with the diarrhea . Is your beardie fixed? or spayed. If so.... how long did it take for your Beardie to calm down? My Bear loves to jump and bark. He is in training twice a week with me and I'm seeing no difference in the his behavior.

[Marlie]

My beardie is a non-neutered male. He was alternatively calm and crazy as a puppy, with frequent wild antics while on leash regardless of how much exercise he was getting, until about 8 months when he started to calm down (with treats to encourage him to stay calm and heel while on leash). Now in most situations he's very calm--like an 8 or 9 year old dog--except when he has stimulus that awakens his herding instinct or when someone talks to him excitedly. We take him on an hour off-leash run in the morning and another hour run or even longer walk in the afternoon. If there's a dog to play with on his walk, then 20 minutes of hard play is usually enough. If for some reason we don't get him his exercise one or two times in a row, then he starts acting like a young puppy again and getting into trouble.

The jumping is a tough one since Beardies apparently love to jump. When my beardie is so excited to see someone he can't contain himself, I try to give him a ball or bone and that channels his energy away from jumping up and down. We also take him to agility, which helps to focus some of his jumpy energy and also give him socialization and play time.

My beardie is not much of a barker, thankfully. But whenever my beardie barks inside, I try to remove or hide the stimulus or distract his attention. He barks a protective bark on occasion outside if he sees something new and unusual. Distracting him or investigating it usually stops that barking. If he barks otherwise, somtimes outside with another dog, then it's usually out of frustration in wanting to run (herd) and/or out of excitement. If I keep a ball moving, then he and the other dogs are usually moving and there's not so much barking. But every dog is different though. But with all the dogs I've had, no matter what the breed, I've found sufficient exercise and play is number one for calming them and curbing behavior problems.

[Priscilla Potter]

My now 2.4 yr old beardie girl did the same thing for about 18 months. Suddenly this has cleared up, her stools are consistently solid -- I think it has to do with organ maturing -- I am not a vet or MD but it sure seemed that way to me. You can give him a tiny bit of canned pumpkin (1/4 tsp with his meal) and that might help.

[Meaghen B]

Hi my beardie is 5 years old. He had the same problem for about a year. I thought it was food as well. I tried everything. It turned out it was the city water. He is on bottled water all the time. He has not had the problem since.