We have a 4-year-old German Shepard. He is not underweight and is gorgeous so some of his food stays with him but for the most part the same amount that goes in seems to come out. He also has a sensitive stomach so we have to be careful about what he is given as most things will give him a loose stool or diareha. He also eats his poop.

We've given him (switching properly) Eagle Pack Holistic, Nutro's Large Breed, Royal Canin (what a mess that caused although one of the dogs does great with it) and currently have him on Canine Caviar for sensitive stomach along with special enzymes and Olewa's Karotten. This last seems to have stopped the loose stool but he still puts out as much as he takes in and eats it if we don't get to it in time. We aren't convinced that the poop eating is behavioral as he seems to be constantly hungry.

We have two other Shepard's and dont have any of these problems. Any help would be very appreciated as our vet says there is nothing medically wrong outside of the sensitive stomach.

[reeskujo]

I would get a second opinion....It sounds to me like for whatever reason he's not absorbing his food and it's just passing through him....Those are all really good foods in fact my Akita and my Husky are on Nutro Ultra large breed and do great on it....Has the vet done any blood work or asked you for stool samples?...If not I'd try and get that done for starters.

I would agree - get a fecal done & make sure they check carefully for coccidia & giardia - they are often hard to find & cause from what you describe up to screaming diahrrea.

have you considered cooking for him? boiled rinsed venison, chicken or hamburg with rice, boiled white or sweet potatoes, yogurt, cottage cheese, pasta's, flaxseed oil, sun or safflower oil, canned mackeral or salmon. now, not all at one meal you understand.

there is tons of info out there. google homecooking for dog

I've not heard of coccidia or giardia so will mention those specifically to the vet. The vet has tested his stool for worms but nothing else. We've used the same guy for about 18 years so I almost feel like cheating going to another but it is a good idea. We have just started exploring the natural foods or cooking for them. I do give all of them chicken, rice, cottage cheese, pumpkin (not the for pie kind of course) when there are bouts of diahrrea.

Thank you both so much for your advice. I think this forum will be very helpful and with luck I'll be able to help others in return.

those are both dangerous parasites that are often difficult to find under a microscope. they also often take more than on course of antibiotics.

you may also want to check on holistic foods - the "natura" site has some good info - there is a comparison tab on the right

I would also give him some plain yogurt maybe 3 times a week to help the good bacteria survive in the intestinal tract.

I had a similar problem with one of my GSD's several years back. In the end what we did was remove chicken from his diet completely (switched him to lamb and rice + home cooked) and added K-Zyme to his meals. He did very well.
My current GSD had the same problem too until I switched him to a RAW diet. No more problems at all and he finally got his weight up.

I wanted to update this as we have discovered the problem. Turns out it isn't his stomach at all. He has a pancreas deficiency. We talked to our vet about him again and this time I guess we got the right info to him. The symptoms we never thought to tell him: loss of weight (new); stool is a yellowish color and smooth rather than normal stool characteristics - nooks and crannies (the vet's words). He did a blood and stool test to confirm. So we have to get Pancrezyme to add to his food. He should gain back the weight, stop the constant hunger, and stop (we hope) eating poop.

Thank you all again for your advice.

I am so happy to 'hear' you got your problem solved. It can be so frustrating when we are trying to do our best for our K9 companions and it isn't working. Hope he continues to have good health!

[lil mutt]

nice to hear that your dog is doing well now...

try looking into homemade foods for your dog. it changed my whole dogs health and disposition. this link has alot of great information. Healthy Dogs Treats: Healthy Dog Treats