Welcome brian

Hi brian and welcome to Whispers. We are a friendly bunch of people who all love to talk about our furbabies. We look forward to hearing about some of the things that you get up to. We also love to see photos of everyone's Shih Tzu's so please feel free to upload some of yours.

Hi and welcome from us too

Hi there and welcome from us too

and a very warm welcome to Whispers

My 10 week old puppy has trouble doing his poos, he strains and strains for about 5 mins with no result, when he does manage to go the stools seem normal.Any one else had this problem.

Hi Brian,

can I ask what you are feeding him/ her, we had the same problems with Charlie...................he has Nature's Diet in the morning and Pets at home Puppy dried food in the afternoon......................he is fine now, apart from missing a muscle to help him go that is LOL

hi brian and welcome to the group my 7 month old girl had that problem back in november i have since changed her food to natures diet meat and a natrual based biscuit and it has worked atreat xx

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brian wrote:My 10 week old puppy has trouble doing his poos, he strains and strains for about 5 mins with no result, when he does manage to go the stools seem normal.Any one else had this problem.

What are you feeding him? If you are able to add a little bran to his food this might help - though if he is on dry food this might be a little difficult. Make sure his bottom is clean and there is not a little poo stuck to the fur as this can cause them to strain. He should not need to strain for this long and usually this happens if the poo is a little too hard or it can't get out easily (hair stuck over the hole or a bit of dried poo) The bran helps the consistency of the poo - I am saying this because years ago when it was recommended to me I panicked thinking it would make it even harder.

If this doesn't work and he is still straining I would have a chat with your vet for them to just check that everything is OK and there is not a problem.

BTW does he go after exercise?? Is he running around a lot? Some of mine have had to jump up and down on their hind legs up a wall before they manage to go - its a funny ritual and almost like they are shaking it out.... but if they are out running around they seem abekl just to go straight away. Let me know how you get on xx

Thanks Simbalove,will remember what you have said ,he is visiting the vets on monday so will mention it to her and let you know how it proceeds Regards Brian

That is the best plan as she can see what is what and [probably be able to put your mind at rest.

Bran is great though as I said and brilliant for keeping gthe trousers clean - I don't use it now as my dogs eat raw but I always used to

Any pictures by the way??

Thanks again Simbalove will remember the bran addition.I did try to put a picture on the forum yesterday but had no success i'm a bit rubbish with computers,it must be my age.regards Brian.

I did see that you had tried but not sure what you used to try and upload it.

Can you email photos?? If so I will send you my email address in a private message and I will put it on for you.

There is a set of instructions on here for uploading photos if you want to have another go yourself

First you need to make sure your preferences are set right click here to see how to do it.

then you can use servimg to post your photos - click here fro step by step instructions

By the way - if you want to put a picture where your user name is you do that in preferences too and go to the AVATAR section click the browse button, find the picture on your computer and click upload

Hi again simbalove,thanks for your offer ,have tried to send you picture via forum for your kind offer to insert in my profile for me but i'm useless at this and just can't crack it .if you could reply to my email address at briantrudyvilla@googlemail.com i will try and send you the picture by return to your email address,Sorry to be so dumb but although i'm useless at computers i make a fantastic curry.Regards Brian.

Have sent you an email. I don't think you are useless at computers - you can post on here (it took me ages before I worked out how to do that when I first joined a forum )

Pity you can't post your curry - wouldn't mind trying it

OMG he is gorgeous and looks like he is going to be wicked Love the name Toby btw - the first shih tzu I ever met was called Toby and because of him I fell in love with the breed xxxx

simbalove wrote:That is the best plan as she can see what is what and [probably be able to put your mind at rest.

Bran is great though as I said and brilliant for keeping gthe trousers clean - I don't use it now as my dogs eat raw but I always used to

Any pictures by the way??

Lesley I know you feed Josh & Isabella raw meat as I do now. Do you give chicken that way because I have always poached the chicken a little first, but minced meat I give them raw.

I poach the chicken if they have an upset tummy but don't keep them on it long as they do better on raw. Introduced Isabella to chicken wings this weekend she loved them and ate two but Josh has got lazy since he has had his chicken minced in the natures menu th elittle monkey!

OOOOOOhh I still haven't had the courage to give tuppence a chicken wing. She will eat raw though and I do get her a meaty bone from the local butchers. This is awful really as I am doing Complimentary Therapies for Pets with the Animal Care College at NVQ level 2 and one of my study books is Give Your Dog a Bone by Dr Ian Billinghurst.

simbalove wrote:I poach the chicken if they have an upset tummy but don't keep them on it long as they do better on raw. Introduced Isabella to chicken wings this weekend she loved them and ate two but Josh has got lazy since he has had his chicken minced in the natures menu th elittle monkey!

Thanks for that Lesley .I just wasn't sure about giving Chicken raw
Carol