Loose bowels

Yakutian Laika, nearly 7 months old. Started on a raw diet a week ago. Had an upset stomach last Tuesday. Loose stools once a day. Cut down on sardines and oils for two days; stomach improved. I gave him 100 grams of sardines yesterday, and his stomach was fine this morning. I then increased the fish oil to 5 grams and the wheat germ oil to 5 grams. He had loose stools this morning. What should I do now? Can I replace the wheat germ oil with something else, or should I gradually increase the amount? He weighs 20 kilos.

• Hi Astrid! I’ll paste the answer here too, in case others are wondering the same thing. What you’re doing here is very good – you’re keeping an eye on things, making adjustments along the way and seeing the bigger picture. That’s exactly how you succeed in the long run! What you’re describing doesn’t sound like anything is “wrong”, but many dogs often can’t tolerate a rapid increase or change in fat, even if they generally tolerate both sardines and oils well. The gut just needs a bit of time to adapt, especially when several new fat sources are increased at once. The good news is that you’ve already found the key yourself: his tummy settled down when you reduced the amount. So now I would simply go back to the level where his stools were fine, and give his body a few days to settle there…