Best dog food for weak puppy with diarrhea: Drools or Royal Canin?

Bruno is old enough for a puppy formulated dog food. Brands I recommend including Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Purina ProPlan, and Iams. To help him wean and to get used to dry food, I would soak a high quality puppy formulated dry food in warm water until soft. Then mix that with puppy formula such as KMR to make a mush the consistency of oatmeal. Over the next two weeks, gradually increase the amount of dry puppy food and decrease the amount of water and KMR you use until he is eating the dry puppy food only. Best of luck.

You are correct that Royal Canin is a better food for Darcy, and it's a good you are making the switch to it. It could be that the combination of the Pedigree and Royal Canin is causing the diarrhea, and she's not eating because of an upset stomach. I wouldn't be worried just yet, and I will give you a home remedy to try before having to take her into the vet. Withhold food for 12-24 hours, then feed a bland diet of boiled white meat chicken (no bones) and white rice in small amounts several times a day for a couple of days. Then slowly add back in her normal diet, just the Royal Canin dry only. The diarrhea could also be caused by intestinal parasites, and I would make sure she is up to date on her deworming treatments.

It is a good sign that she improved with a bland diet, I recommend returning to chicken and rice with a probiotic such as fortiflora for 48 hours then slowly adding a sensitive puppy food (royal canin gastrointestinal junior or calibra puppy is my preferred option). Add kibble at no more than 20% every 2 days to allow the gut to adjust

Hello, any of these diets could be recommended by your veterinarian. If you feed the recommended doses as detailed on the bags then this should be sufficient for a puppy, however, in an older dog this may be too rich for her. If your veterinarian is recommending that she continues to eat a puppy food, then my choice would be a Royal Canin diet. Otherwise, you can feed a supplemented or bigger portion adult diet. Hope this helps and best of luck.

I'm not very familiar with Drools food, but Purina is probably a better food since it meets WSAVA guidelines (see link below for more information). For a Great Dane puppy choosing a food that is intended for large breed puppies would be best - these foods have an adjusted calcium and phosphorus content to help with bone and joint development. https://www.wsava.org/WSAVA/media/Arpita-and-Emma-editorial/Selecting-the-Best-Food-for-your-Pet.pdf

There are many causes for loose stool in puppies and in some cases the bowel is just slow to develop and adapt to the demands of a rapidly growing dog! My preferred option is royal canin gastrointestinal junor, which should be fed for at least 6 weeks to promote bowel development. Probiotics such as fortiflora can also be very effective and a fibre supplement such as profibre may be added alongside the kibble or wet food

At 6 weeks old, your pet should be well on puppy food with no milk. You should go ahead and go forward with Royal Canin regular puppy large breed food with no additives. If Arjun happens to be having a hard time eating the kibble, then you can certainly add in some canned food at this point, but most puppies this age can no longer digest milk or cerelac, so it should not be given to them anymore. If your puppy just seems to not like Royal Canin anymore, then some other suggested brands are Hill's Science Diet, Eukanuba, or Purina. The amount to feed should be based on the guideline on the back of the bag, but it isn't a perfect science. Pay attention to your pet and feed less than what is recommended if he seems to be leaving a good amount still in the bowl. A good rule of thumb here is that whatever is suggested on the bag is likely going to be an over-estimate of the amount of food he will likely consume. To help with the loose stools, you should add in a probiotic such as Fortiflora or over the counter Culturelle for the next 7-14 days. This should help resolve it, but if not, then a vet visit is recommended. I hope that this new formulation helps Arjun keep normal bowel movements moving forward. Best of luck and take care. : )