Dog Never Has Firm Stools

[BMAK]

yes sorry another poop topic

i have always fed my dogs kibble majority of there life and what i would consider quality kibble for the price i pay with the most natural ingredients as possible and the moment the past two months i ahve been road testing holistic select chicken and oatmeal i think it was they use to be on natural balance and previous to that pro plan S.S and Stomach one dog also gets bones galore of different types as the other gets raw as she won't eat a bone.

i have tried different brands, added foods thinking it would harden there stools but they alway seem soft.

they seem to have a sensitive stomach one more so then the other so i don't like changing foods to often even though i have.

i can only remember firm stools on hill.S.Diet but that has a lot of grain/corn in it which i avoid.

do you notice on certain food your dog will have soft stools/hard if so please tell me

[shelby-001]

we only feed raw here and their poops are always firm and for their size very small

[persephone]

with bones- stools are firmer .

[Tilly]

We feed Canidae Grain Free and raw - the youngest tends to get the runs if he is given any processed foods (other then Canidae) or foods with grains.

If the youngest eats something that does give him the runs I give him some streamed chicken breast, pumpkin, yoghurt and some Inner Health Plus ...

Edited April 29, 2011 by Tilly

[Akay]

we only feed raw here and their poops are always firm and for their size very small

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[Dxenion]

We feed Eagle Pack Holistic or Canidae Grain Free Salmon along with goat mince and dried seafood, goat and venison treats. If their stools start getting loose (generally due to a difference in fat content in the goat mince), we just add a probiotic to their meal for a couple of days - problem solved. If they get a dose of diarrhoea, we just skip a meal to give their digestive system a chance to recover and add electrolytes to their water. If it persists, then its off to the vet.

If they've always had loose stools, is there a common ingredient in the different kibbles you've tried that is not in the Hills Science Diet formula?

[Mason_Gibbs]

My dog has soft stools on all kibble, he is perfect on raw

[pipsqueak]

I have one dog who gets very soft stools when given bones or raw - but is fine on kibble only. I think the fat content of bones/raw upsets her gut, hence the soft stools. I know this is different to most people's experience, but thought it was worth mentioning.

[aussielover]

My dog has soft stools on all kibble, he is perfect on raw

Yes us too. Is Mindy like a clone of Mason or something :D

Some dogs do better a raw diet, or on particular brands of food.

I have heard that some people buy several different brands of food for their different dogs.

I think it doesn't necessarily have a lot to do with how much you pay, but more with the ingredients and what your dog tolerates best.

[Danois]

More than likely linked to the fact the dog is an allergic dog.

[RuralPug]

we only feed raw here and their poops are always firm and for their size very small

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x 2

I do watch RMBs that have a lot of marrow though, those are very rich and I usually remove most of the marrow, except in high growth stages.

[Rysup]

I have a dog who has chronic runny poops as a puppy, and into adulthood. It took me about 12 months to work out he was allergic to chicken, and it was chicken causing it. So now he is on Lamb & Rice kibble, with some beef/kangaroo/lamb mince and he is fine.

[becks]

Mine are also best on a lamb based kibble with tripe, if they get bones a couple do get runny tums/vomit for a day or 2

[BMAK]

hmmm might test out some foods, they are eating kibble atm but i went and bought some fish holistic kibble to add to there oatmeal kibble. it could be to do with my training treats? they have soft processed stuff for training sausages and frankfurts as it is easier for them to swallow and doesn't break down in my hands.

some days they are soften then others.

[JoeK]

My wife Labrador always a bit soft on the bum for 2 years from pup never nice in the poop. We test him at the vets a few times, we try the diffrent food but nothing is good for him to fixing the poop. We feed him the rice mince and vegetable home cooked meal we feed for many years on all our dogs no problems, but what happens is a girl on the vets we talk about the Shepherd Dog and she had this problem with her Shepherd and she tell us she feeding the Royal Canin in the morning with 2 big scoops of plain yoghut and give him home ccoking at night with the 2 smaller meals. We try this with the Royal Canin Labrador in the morning on the 2 scoops and is home cooking at night for dinner and within 3 day his pooping improving unbelievable!

Hes been over year now with this feeding and is pooping is beautiful and every time I walking him the bugger poops and I having to pick it up but nice firm and brown. Before is always yellow pudding causing worry why is happening.

Joe

[Swiss Girl]

we had a similar problem with our pointer boy, never could get a firm stool until he was about 18 months. We tried several vets and in the end he had 2 lots of antibiotics very close together, we then had him on human yakult, 1 bottle twice a day for about 2 months and he just gradually improved over time, it still took quite a few months before he was perfect, but now we can feed him anything and it doesn't bother him.

We also thought it was a food allergy and tried everything and found he was not too bad if we stuck with one brand of sensitive digestion, loose bowels but nothing worse, but he always had small runny poops and he seemed to strain a lot. I now believe he just had no good bacteria in his gut to help him digest his food, which is why he did well on easily digestive food. When he was on antibiotics it killed everything and we just replaced it with good bacteria. I also suspect he had an inflamed bowel or digestive system, which is why it took several months until he was 100% over it.

Easy once you have worked it out, but very confusing at the time and the vet's really did not help much.

[chran]

I use psyllium husk every 2-3 days. You can get it in human health food stores or supermarket health section. It's a gut cleanser. Don't put too much, I use 1 teaspoon sprinkled over minced beef for an 11kg dog. The stool should be firmer in a couple of days. If not increase the dosage little by little.

My boy eats kibble (nutro) in the morning, human grade meat (mostly beef mince sometimes chicken breast) at night. Depending on the rest of the diet you may want to increase/ decrease the psyllium husk.

[Kelly_Louise]

I have one dog who gets very soft stools when given bones or raw - but is fine on kibble only. I think the fat content of bones/raw upsets her gut, hence the soft stools. I know this is different to most people's experience, but thought it was worth mentioning.

I have the same problem with Sasha... if she is given raw meat - upset tummy and runny poos. She does have bones and is okay with them, but they are given sparingly and do not have much meat on them at all. I find that raw chicken is much worse for her, she can tolerate small amounts of raw beef, but not much more and not with regularity. Again, I know this goes against the grain of how a dogs stomach should work - but it's what we've identified.

She is now fed a combo of Advance Dry food, and Advance canned food - and we now have consistent, firm, normal poos (unless someone is naughty and gives her something they shouldn't).

Before we found this out, I also struggled with sloppy poos everyday and her being a poor eater - to the point where I was pulling my hair out... Now she is a great, consistent eater and we have nice firm poos everyday - much easier to pick up!!!

I should also say we added daily vitamin/mineral supplement to her diet to help boost her overall health and immunity, and for bad tummy episodes she is given active manuka honey to soothe it down.

Edited May 3, 2011 by Kelly_Louise

[BMAK]

thanks for everyones tips keep them coming.

i might try the yakult first

and raw meat for treats instead of processed.