Change In Diet

[feathersfurfins]

Hi, just new here have done an introduction

My question involves the new family member, of an almost 5month old Beagle boy. I'm not sure what his previous owners were feeding him, forgot to ask and they weren't quite forthcoming in giving me any info.

We got him on Friday, bought him a bag of Supercoat puppy food, which he had Friday night and some yesterday morning. Yesterday I made up a pot of pet mince with rice, pasta, peas, corn, beans, carrot and grated potato, which he had for dinner last night and some this morning. He loves it as does our older dog.

Now his poo has gone from being an every 15-20 minute sloppy on Friday to an almost runny consistency yesterday, to a more solid consistency and has only been and done poo twice since his dinner last night.

Oh and when he has the homemade meal, it's only about a cup full and then a couple of handfuls of the dry stuff mixed in. I'm not sure if the ratio is ok, if his bowel movements are fine, or if he's now gotten a bit of constipation.

Any advice would be great.

[Gayle.]

The runs may have been caused by an abrupt change in diet.....with any dog, no matter the age, it's better to gradually introduce new food over the course of a week by mixing it in with the original diet.

No matter, it sounds like he's settled into it now.

My dogs have a combination of raw meaty bones, vegetables, cheese, eggs, Eagle Pack kibble, mince roo or beef and sardines. Their bowel movements are small, firm and infrequent...maybe once or twice a day. The better their diet, the less waste their is and the more efficiently their body uses the fuel.

[Crisovar]

Ditch the rice and pasta, combined with cereal content of the dry food it is probably too much. Dogs do not really need the cereal.

Any change of diet can cause tummy upset, so don't go introducing too many foods too soon.

Some natural yoghurt may help his tummy at this time.

[persephone]

Hi Dogs don't need much vegetable matter at all peas and corn aren't well digested... a lot of fibre. he also doesn't need the carbs in pasta and rice .

I will echo the comment about the amount of poo a diet which contains easily digested protein etc. will produce very little waste.

Have fun with your boy... and have a read here

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...hl=feeding+meat

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...hl=feeding+meat

and...

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...hl=feeding+meat

Edited July 6, 2008 by persephone

[Danois]

When my friend's dog was on supercoat there was a lot of mushy poo - this was because the main ingredient of Supercoat is cereal. Better off going to a premium food which lists meat (and not a meat by-product) as its first ingredient.

No need to cook up the mince either. Check what type of mince it is - some dogs have trouble with lamb and roo due to the richness.