Poop Issues

[Guest Fluffy]

Badger's been having some pudding poo issues, and I wonder if I can get some opinions on whether this is something that's fixable and if so, how to fix it. I wasn't sure if this belonged in Health or Food, so my apologies if this would be better where I didn't put it.

 

The saga so far:

 

In the six weeks I've had him, Badger's poo has generally been either of the "shaped but mushy" (SBM) variety or the "soft-serve" (SS) variety (yes, my dog's poo now has acronyms. Someone shoot me). He came to me on Pro Plan, and while he was on mostly that, things tended more toward the SBM. I then transitioned him to Kirkland Chicken & Rice, with goodly dollops of yogurt and canned pumpkin added to each meal. He was on that for about 4 weeks, during which the poop began to be consistently SS, despite the pumpkin. Recently, I started adding some uncooked rolled oats to each meal, too, based on advice someone offered here in another poop thread. That helped some, but not completely. Figuring that the Kirkland just might not agree with him, I picked up a bag of Taste of the Wild High Prarie and have been adding that into his meals slowly. Between the food switch and the oats, things are firming up nicely and he's producing more nice, solid poops. The exception is...

 

He's only good for about one solid poop per 8 hours. Any more than one within an 8-hour period reverts to icky soft-serve "how the hell am I supposed to pick that up" poop. So his morning poop is fine. In the afternoon, we do our daily walk, which generally consists of 2-3 poops. First poop of the walk, pristine, solid, easy to pick up. Any further poops...complete mess. I know that multi-poops will always tend to become less formed as they progress, but I'd really like to find a way to make his even least-formed poops still...pick-up-able. I do know that in the worst case, if I can't get the poop firmed up, I can always go the "catch it coming out of the chute on some folded up newspaper" route, but given my lack of dexterity, I feel like it'd be safer for both my clothing and Badger's fur if I could just make the poop itself pick-up-able instead.

 

I'm hesitant to add more firming stuff to his meals, since the single poops seem to have achieved optimum consistency and I imagine there is a danger of getting the poop so hard that he becomes constipated. Is there anything else I can do here? So far politely requesting him to hold his poop for 8 more hours until it firms up is finding little success I don't want to start limiting walk length to optimize poop production, because the walks are really his only energy outlet most days.

[2ndChance]

I thoroughly enjoyed that....I laughed so much b/c Chance is THE EXACT same way. Poop one is gorgeous....the rest...SS.

 

I'm interested in what the expertise of GT will provide, but I'm guessing there may not be much b/c it sounds like you exhausted all good options. I'm doing the same thing...switching him over to TOTW (Taste of the Wild), however I'm not at 100% with TOTW. I'm still converting him from Whole Earth Farms. Have you finished transitioning?? If not, maybe give it more time. I am.

 

Seriously...I can't stand the "you-seriously-think-I-can-attempt-to-pick-up-that" poop! I find those poops only happen on walks and the dog park b/c they are so happy and excited. Turnouts are decent poops most the time. Not all though, so that statement was probably pointless... I'll shut up now...

 

good luck!

[PrairieProf]

I think that's pretty normal, unfortunately. After the morning poop, the consistency here entirely depends on how long it's been since the last one, and the afternoon/early evening "installment" is always mushier than the morning. It is also universal that in a series of poops done on a walk they get progressively worse. One solid poop per 8 hours seems entirely predictable, and you may never be able to "fix" it with food or additive changes.

 

Some folks here have recommended carrying some newspaper or a paper plate and holding it under to catch the loose ones.

 

I don't see much purpose though in feeding a grain-free food and adding oats -- that sort of defeats the purpose! You might want to give TOTW Pacific Stream a try -- I think that's the firmest-poop variety for a lot of dogs. Or just get rid of the oats and see if it really makes a difference. Or, eventually, try something else. It took many of us quite a few tries to find the best food for our dogs, and Badger is still very new.

Edited May 26, 2010 by PrairieProf

[Guest Fluffy]

I think that's pretty normal, unfortunately. After the morning poop, the consistency here entirely depends on how long it's been since the last on, and the afternoon/early evening "installment" is always mushier than the morning. It is also universal that in a series of poops done on a walk they get progressively worse. One solid poop per 8 hours seems entirely predictable, and you may never be able to "fix" it with food or additive changes.

 

Some folks here have recommended carrying some newspaper or a paper plate and holding it under to catch the loose ones.

 

I don't see much purpose though in feeding a grain-free food and adding oats -- that sort of defeats the purpose! You might want to give TOTW Pacific Stream a try -- I think that's the firmest-poop variety for a lot of dogs. Or just get rid of the oats.

 

Ah, so soft-serve second poops aren't that odd. I guess I'll be investing in some cheap paper plates in the near future!

 

I actually didn't realize that one of TOTW's selling points was that it was a totally grain-free food...I just opted for it because I had read a lot of success stories on GT about feeding TOTW to dogs with poop/stomach issues. I noticed that the High Prarie bag said it was grain-free, but I really picked it because it was a brand people seemed to trust and hey, pretty yellow bag and "bison and venison" sounded super-yummy. I also hadn't considered that grains might play a part in the poop issue, since the oats seemed to be helping while he was fully on Kirkland. Once I've got the transition to TOTW finished, I might phase out the oats just to see if things get any worse or better without them. Same with trying out Pacific Stream.

 

Man, owning a dog is like running a constant poop-based science fair project!

[MaryJane]

Try cooking the oatmeal (1/4 to 1/2 cup each time) and adding it to both meals and see if it improves.

 

You mentioned that the oatmeal helped before so I'm not sure why you want to remove the oatmeal now..... maybe you should try an allergy dog food like the Natural Balance Limited ingredient. I especially like the Venison and sweet potato (for my fosters with poop issues) but, others on the forum have used the NB fish successfully also.

[DustysMom]

We've been struggling with poop issues also (for 6 months and so far 4 foods). The vet said to add Metamucil to her food (1 - 1 1/2 TABLESPOONS per meal). It has made the poop more gel-like thus a little easier to pick up. Hasn't solved the problem - just made it easier to pick up.

 

Oh - he said to use the unflavored one.

 

Good luck!

[Guest amour]

We've been struggling with poop issues also (for 6 months and so far 4 foods). The vet said to add Metamucil to her food (1 - 1 1/2 TABLESPOONS per meal). It has made the poop more gel-like thus a little easier to pick up. Hasn't solved the problem - just made it easier to pick up.

 

Oh - he said to use the unflavored My boy also came with the chocolate pudding. Tried different things like you are doing. Switched him to Purina One Sensitive Stomach and Skin and "bingo" no more pudding.Hope this helps. :

[Guest 4dogscrazy]

All four of mine do best to TOTW Pacific. We have the high prarie right now, second bag, and I'm getting nothing but SS and it stinks too! I have a yard though, so I can let the sun do some magic, I truly can not imagine trying to hold something at that end while that SS is coming out! It's a great solution, I just don't think I have the stomach for it.

 

I also noticed that my fawn, Piper is really (and I mean really) blowing her coat. I've had her for almost 2 years and I've never seen her shed this bad. I think it's because of the food switch, I'm going back to Pacific, and if I want variety, I'll change up the add-ins, instead of the kibble.

 

So...another vote for Pacific here

[greyhead]

Spencer had soft-serve for pathological reasons, and two vets recommended giving him the supplement glutamate. Along with treatment for the pathology, it worked! (I stopped using it because I didn't think he needed it anymore, but I'm about to start it again.)

[PrairieProf]

Folks, this dog has normal morning poop, so I think some of you are rather inserting the assumption that Badger has food issues.

[Guest Fluffy]

I truly can not imagine trying to hold something at that end while that SS is coming out! It's a great solution, I just don't think I have the stomach for it.

 

This is pretty much what I feel like too! I am not the most coordinated person in the world, and the thought of trying to lean down and slip a plate/paper under the butt of a pooping dog in time to catch the, um, ...ick. I would probably end up with poop on my hands, poop on my shoes...

 

Maybe I should get one of those butt-bags like they put on horses in some parades. Harness it up to him and let him poop into it to his heart's content, lol!

Edited May 27, 2010 by Fluffy

[arandomchic]

I have the same issue with Molly some days. During our 45 min morning walk, she usually poops twice. The first is perfect, and usually the 2nd time, it varies between slightly less firm to pretty mushy. She's also on TOTW (wetlands).

 

After awhile, I just chalked it up to the walks moving things through her system a little too quickly to firm up appropriately. I don't know if any additives would really make a difference.

Edited May 27, 2010 by arandomchic

[mom2four]

We feed First Mate Fish and Potato Large breed (=herring and potato) and our greys have good poops. They are out a lot during the day (hubby is retired) and even subsequent-to-first-of-the-day poops are good.

(The only exception is Jamey who is on veterinary kidney diet food and his are always soft serve).

[Guest Fluffy]

Sigh...no sooner do I get done telling you guys about how his poops are firming up than he goes and makes me look dumb (again). Today's poops were both soft-serve, but much reduced in volume from what they were when he was on pure Kirkland. I guess I really ought to give myself permission to not start worrying about it in earnest until we're fully transitioned to TOTW - THEN if the poops don't improve, it'll be time to start brainstorming my next move.

 

In the meantime, I will spend my time dreaming up poop-catching methods that are less likely to make me dirty. Maybe a plate tied to a stick...or a poop bag inside a fishtank-cleaning net...lol!

[Guest dogdaze]

A plate on a stick. Now that's ingenious. I'll be laughing about that for the next few days, trying to picture it. I think it's fairly normal for a dog who is on a walk to have one fairly solid poop initially and then progress to soft and mushy. It must be the activity that gets things moving. I pick the first ones up and after that just let er rip cause they're way too liquidy. All my dogs are the same and so are my friend's dogs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest KennelMom]

Stop slowy transitioning the food. If you've been mixing them for a while, just cold switch him now. Sometimes I think mixing foods creates a bigger problem than just switching straight away. Some people will fast the dog for 24 hours before cold switching. We just switch. You can get a tube of pro-pectalin for the first few days of the switch and that can help soothe stomachs and firm poop.

 

Don't mess with yogurt and pumpkin and oats. You shouldn't have to add anything to a healthy dog's food for it to agree with them.

 

Also...with the SS poop later in the day, you may just be overfeeding. How much does he weigh and how much are you feeding him per day?

Edited July 1, 2010 by KennelMom

[Guest Mommydog]

Well I'm something of a poop expert, unfortunately! Having had severe problems with Joe for the last year. However, we've recently discovered that he has quite bad IBS which is triggered by emotional upset/stress, and believe me anything and everything can set him off. Amazingly Tramadol has provided the solution, as after some research I discovered that it's also used for anxiety in humans.

 

But it doesn't sound as if Badger has IBS. The first poop of the day is usually good, as the colon absorbs more liquid through the night, or so my vet tells me. I also use a breakfast cereal called All-Bran as a mixer in his food, it's little sticks of bran. It doesn't cause constipation, in fact it tends to have the reverse effect, which may sound strange, but at the same time it absorbs liquid and so firms the poop up. You can feed it completely dry, but I tend to wet it a little.

 

I can certainly sympathize with the cleaning up problem! Good luck, I hope you manage to resolve the poop problem.

 

Oh, and we don't have pudding poop, it's porridge poop here:lol