Any advice please..

Hi all, a few questions if you dont mind..
We have Buster who we have been told is about 2yrs old - theres some pics if anyone wants to look,
1st :- At what age are they no longer classed as a puppy. The reason i ask this is because when we got him from the dogs home we were given a starter pack - if you can call it that - which included some pedigree chum dry food. We were told to add this to about half a tin of normal dog food and give him this for his meals, which we have been doing. Not too much of it though i might add so as to not over feed him. What im leading up to with this is what happens when he is out in the garden and doing his business... I know dogs poo, some more than others, but is anything up to 8-10 times a day sometimes normal for a dog of this age? The majority of time with this aswel is very runny!! Am i feeding him the wrong food? Is it time for a change to try and find a happy medium for something that doesnt seem to upsetting his bowels?
During all this he is in no way affected by anything, he's still very playfull and full of loads of energy.
2nd :- he seems to have a lot of flem, especially during the night, kinda like someone who smokes 40 a day is the best way i can describe it, and he sounds like he's constantly tryin to get something thats stuck in his throat out. Like i say, it doesn't seem to bother him as he just coughs it up then carries on doing what he was already doing.
Thanks
Mark

Doesn't sound normal to me. If he is going 8-10 times a day he may be allergic to something in the food.

The 8-10 times isn't every day but it has happened on a few occassions

Have you had him checked by your vet since you've had him?
There are many tips on diet on this forum, I have not had any trouble with my two, so can't help except to agree with jstaff re possibly a bit allergic.
As for the "phlegm production, could he have a cold? Is he coughing as well?

No, not normal at all. I'm not a fan of Pedigree food, although I know people who use it & like it.

It sounds as though your dog is reacting to something in the food. I would try getting him on to something else such as James Wellbeloved hypo allergenic food & see if that helps. If he isn't used to dry food, then try addind a little tinned Chappie to start with. Again, I don't like tinned food, but Chappie is known to be quite good for dogs with a sensitive tum.

As to your first question, officially a pup stops being a pup at 12 months old! However, a staff won't be fully mature till about 2 - 3 years old. So, he's probably a bit teenagerish at the moment!

P.S. He's a gorgeous looking boy!

See the coughing, is he atually bringing stuff up? Buddy snorts and coughs and haks but never brings anything up. I asked the vet about it, because hes also a very heavy breather at times and can snore for the shire, so i was conerned he may have a blokage or something. Vet said if hes had kennel cough at some point that he ould have a kinda dry, sratchy throat as a result, and may just seem to be a bit congested at times.

Also, i was told that shorted snouted dogs can have nasal/breathing issues, like what wee pugs can get, my cousins friends stffy is a bit snorty too!

My other wonder abotu Buddy was that maybe he was a wee bit allegic or just not use to somethign in my house when he moved in.
x

As a pup Samson suffered with runny pooh's and going quite a lot but i changed his food and it stopped almost straight away
the coughing i'm not sure about but a vet check would be worth it for piece of mind

Time to change the food. Look for high quality with low or no grain. I think that if the cough is really that bad there might be reason to believe it is kennel cough as there are two types. The viral version is more like the common human cold and will pass without meds and usually the dog will have normal energy. If it is bacterial, meds are needed to break it (someone can correct me if I'm wrong).

bbimson wrote:Time to change the food. Look for high quality with low or no grain. I think that if the cough is really that bad there might be reason to believe it is kennel cough as there are two types. The viral version is more like the common human cold and will pass without meds and usually the dog will have normal energy. If it is bacterial, meds are needed to break it (someone can correct me if I'm wrong).

I think the immune system will get on top of it quite quickly with vira or bacterials kennel cough, however as you meantioned sometimes they can seem a little run-down. I have never vaccinated my dogs for kennel cough nor given them much else apart from children' benelyn when they have had it. I like them to try and build up an immunity on their own and also dont want to give my dogs to many antibiotics in case they become ineffective. Skibadee has had it twice in her life and Tali only once. If someone does a lot of competition and their dog is out most weekends it is worth getting a vaccine I guess though, like a human cold, there are many different strains.