Raw Bone/meat Or Not?

[LeeJane]

I have a 11 wks old American Staffie, Cheska, who loves her food.

When I got her back from the breeder, I bought some minced chicken, pasta and vege mix to feed her along the biscuits that was recommended by the breeder (Super Coat for puppy).

She was alright till arppox. a week later, she ate some cat biscuits at my friend's place and had diarrhoea. She only ate around 10-15 pieces of the biscuits and they are tiny, but she had runny poo for over 24 hours. So I took her to the vet to find she had fever and upset tummy, the vet said there was nothing to worry about as she was still very active and had good appetite. After a week's medication, her poo was back to normal.

A week later, I cooked some minced chicken for her to mix with her biscuit and AGAIN, she had diarrhoea. Took her to the vet, the vet was puzzled. SHe did some tests on her (can't remember what tests as I wasn't there), the vet said everything seem normal. She wasn't given any medicine and her poo was back to normal within 3 days.

NOW, I have no idea if I should introduce her something different than her ordinary biscuits. I want to give her some raw chicken neck as this naughty puppy started eating her poo. SHe doesn;t eat her poo all the time but once in a while. I read somewhere in the forum to increase the raw bone/meat content in her diet to stop her from eating her poo but I am concern that she will get diarrhoea again.

Please advise

[ozjen]

I have a 11 wks old American Staffie, Cheska, who loves her food.

When I got her back from the breeder, I bought some minced chicken, pasta and vege mix to feed her along the biscuits that was recommended by the breeder (Super Coat for puppy).

She was alright till arppox. a week later, she ate some cat biscuits at my friend's place and had diarrhoea. She only ate around 10-15 pieces of the biscuits and they are tiny, but she had runny poo for over 24 hours. So I took her to the vet to find she had fever and upset tummy, the vet said there was nothing to worry about as she was still very active and had good appetite. After a week's medication, her poo was back to normal.

A week later, I cooked some minced chicken for her to mix with her biscuit and AGAIN, she had diarrhoea. Took her to the vet, the vet was puzzled. SHe did some tests on her (can't remember what tests as I wasn't there), the vet said everything seem normal. She wasn't given any medicine and her poo was back to normal within 3 days.

NOW, I have no idea if I should introduce her something different than her ordinary biscuits. I want to give her some raw chicken neck as this naughty puppy started eating her poo. SHe doesn;t eat her poo all the time but once in a while. I read somewhere in the forum to increase the raw bone/meat content in her diet to stop her from eating her poo but I am concern that she will get diarrhoea again.

Please advise

Hi, When introducing new foods do it slowly, if you want to go raw or home cooked add each new protein one at a time to establish that the pup is not allergic to any. Give perhaps 10 days on each new protein to ensure there is no issues, before adding the next . Chicken is a good start but perhaps there is too much fat in the mince or you are feeding too much too soon. Mashed steamed pumpkin is great to solve loose stools as long as the pup seems well in every other regard.

If she is eating her poo there is often a reason for it, she may be deficient in something or it is passing through her too quickly and food is not being digested properly so she's gving it a second go. There are other reasons too. Try to pick up after her staight away so it does not become habit forming. You could also add some pineapple pureed into her mince, something about the pineapple makes the droppings unpleasant and helps break the habit. Remember too that pups have a habit of eating anything and everything so the upset tummies may not be related to the food but to other things it is picking up and eating.

On one of the raw feeding sites that I am on it suggests that kibble and meat should not be fed together as the dogs system handles both at different rates and so it slows the natural process of the other making it sit in the dogs system longer and leading to digestion issues. You might want to keep the kibble meals seperate from the meat ones.

There are so many different views even when you join feeding groups so I don't think there is any one right way to go with feeding, just take things slow and work out what works best for your dog. The internet is great for researching your options.

Enjoy your pup, they grow up so fast.

[laffi]

First of all never cook bones. I don't what your chicken mince was .. was it a minced chicken frame? Chicken frames are rich in bones and therefore should never be cooked.

I would say raw meaty bones are much more nutritious than most of available dry foods (esp the ones from the supermarket) so I would not give up yet if I were you.

I would give her a chicken wings and see if she still has diarrhea. It's possible your dog can't tolerate chicken. If that's the case I would try raw turkey (turkey neck or wing) or raw roo tail...

[LeeJane]

Ok, it is the chicken mince from the butcher that meant for pets, so I suppose it had some bones in them. Maybe that's why she had diarrhea.

As for eating her poo, i think it could be that food is passing through too quickly, that explains why she needs to poo 10 times a day. Does she have straight intestine or what? The amount of poo she produce a day out beat the amount of food she has ( i think!)

Right, I will to give her some chicken neck/wings this Friday so I can observe her stool on the weekend.

Thanks for the advice

[WildatHeart]

I was feeding supercoat too, until i learnt better from dogzonline. My dog had dry, flaky itchy skin and pooped heaps and heaps. If you do a search on 'dry food' you will learn the pros and cons of every brand of dry food and then you can make up your own mind on what to feed. I feed royal canin and raw, mainly raw. Minimal poos, shiny coat

[LeeJane]

Cheska does poo a lot but her coat is pretty good, not perfect but I have nothing to complain about her coat.

Took her to her first puppy training yesterday and was told to give her some sardine, so I shall try it this weekend and some raw chicken neck. Finger cross....

[Joan of Arc]

Over many years I have tried Supercoat on many different dogs and a couple of different breeds and for the most part the all had the runs at some stage. there are some great dry foods on the market but myself I prefer a more natural diet such as good meaty bones and raw veges and or fruit.

The only extras mine get are an egg once a week and sardines once or twice a week - but would wait until stomach has settled completely before introducing sardines.

Edited February 10, 2009 by mercedes

[CavsRcute]

My girl has a sensitivity to chicken and can not eat it in any form. She has terrible diarrea?(sp)

[LeeJane]

Yay..! Cheska is getting better now. Took her to puppy training on Monday and the trainer gave her lots of chunkers and polony and I was sweating with fear that Cheska may get diarrhoea but it had been 2 days now and she is fine.

So I guess I can start to add some chunkers into her diet and use as treats to train her. Oh and peanut butter in her kong... she LOVES it

[luvsdogs]

That's great news. We use chunkers at my obedience club for training treats. The dogs love them. Raw meaty bones, which is the natural diet for dogs, will make the poo firmer & white. If the raw meat or chicken is fatty cut as much off as you can.

[LeeJane]

That's great news. We use chunkers at my obedience club for training treats. The dogs love them. Raw meaty bones, which is the natural diet for dogs, will make the poo firmer & white. If the raw meat or chicken is fatty cut as much off as you can.

Yes, I will try to introduce her meaty bones maybe next week, i want to take it slow. I added some pumpking into her diet and she loves them. Though, I believe she loves everything, include her poopoo....