Squishy poos!

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Nettle
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Re: Squishy poos!

Post by Nettle »

JudyN wrote:Oops, meant to add - the kibble I use most is Burns Chicken & Brown Rice, which also has oats in. So I dare say I should cut that out. I also use Fish4Dogs which has no grain but does have potato. Should I cut that out?


As a sweeping generalisation :wink: dogs manage potato a lot better than they do grains.
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WufWuf
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Re: Squishy poos!

Post by WufWuf »

If it's any good to you it seems that dry food with rice gives Honey sloppy poos but potatoe or sweet potatoe does not.
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bendog
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Re: Squishy poos!

Post by bendog »

I don't quite understand them advising you to feed mostly mince.
If it was me I'd feed more whole bones but nice soft ones like chicken in order to force him to digest them. Otherwise his body may not even be registering that theres bone in the mince, and so isn't digesting it.

You've reminded me that I wanted to order some fish4dogs kibble to use as treats for ours!
JudyN
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Re: Squishy poos!

Post by JudyN »

bendog wrote:I don't quite understand them advising you to feed mostly mince.
I think the logic is that he's evidently not digesting bone well at the moment, despite him having it daily for months on end. The pancreas should encourage the digestion to work better, and then they could be reintroduced. Though I'm not going to stop giving them for now, and see how things go.

I wonder if less food overall would encourage his body to digest what it does get properly? I've read that that can happen, though that was in Call of the Wild when I was a child. Must re-read that book sometime...
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
bendog
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Re: Squishy poos!

Post by bendog »

The theory behind it seems valid. Though I'd be wary of going too far the other way and starving the poor lad! Since then digestion can stop/slow down due to the lack of food.

You may also find that if he does eventually seem to get better at digesting stuff properly then you won't need to feed him as much anyway.
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Re: Squishy poos!

Post by JudyN »

He already thinks he's starving, if I restrict his intake more than a smidge he'll make my life a misery. Or eat me...
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
ClareMarsh
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Re: Squishy poos!

Post by ClareMarsh »

I've just read your post re Jasper being about to count and it got me thinking. The chicken carcasses that you give him, how much meat is left on them and do you give him any extra meat with them? I suppose what I'm getting at is is the bone content too high for Jasper? I feed Ted parts of chicken carcasses as our butcher gives us them for free (after we've spent a fortune with him on other stuff :lol: ) but I always supplement it with some other meat. Various raw feeders will tell you different bone ratios but I think it's down to the dog so maybe it needs tweaking for him? Just a thought :D
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JudyN
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Re: Squishy poos!

Post by JudyN »

ClareMarsh wrote: The chicken carcasses that you give him, how much meat is left on them ...?
Ummmm, some? :oops: :lol: Not as meaty as the one on their website looks: http://www.nurturingbynature.co.uk/Raw_ ... arcx40.htm but not much less (I don't know what that price refers to - they work out as something like 60p each I think). I don't add any extra meat - the company advise that one carcasse is the equivalent of 200g meat. The thing is, though, that squishy poos would suggest he needs more bone, not less.

I think, yes, I need to do a lot of tweaking and a lot of poo watching. Maybe I should post pictures.... :twisted: :lol:
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
ClareMarsh
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Re: Squishy poos!

Post by ClareMarsh »

Yeah, typically loose poos (and your threat of photos doesn't scare me :twisted: :lol: ) does mean more bone. But I just wondered if there's so much bone he can't process it all and I know carcasses can vary from that lovely one that you posted the link to to little more than bones with some blood on! Plus if he's having too much overall I can see how he'd have a few "problems".
Proud owner of Ted and baby Ella
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Horace's Mum
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Re: Squishy poos!

Post by Horace's Mum »

Regarding guarding and RMBs, have you tried getting lots of big bones and giving him one every day for a while? I did notice that when I first gave H his big bones (we get what I call dinosaur bones from the butcher, they are massive cow legs, I know they are usually too hard but it is the only thing that gives him a really really good chew without too much calorific value and it is worth the risk for me) his guarding reared its head for the first couple of times, but now not only will he happily leave it in exchange for a treat if he hasn't finished with it, but he often walks away and leaves it of his own accord, and I can pick it up and put it in the fridge for another day's entertainment. As long as he has a good hour or so to eat his "dinner" from it first, then he is more relaxed, and becomes more so with each bone I give him. He is learning that they are frequent and there is no need to guard - he gets one once a week on average, and has it as dinner on the first day and just for fun on the second.

On a different note, H had been on fish4dogs for a year or so before swapping to raw, and there was hardly any difference in stool quality between the two, so I highly rate it as a dry dog food. Also for those who want to use it as treats, get the small bite version, they are just as smelly but you get a lot more treat for the weight, and they are perfect for clicker training!!
JudyN
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Re: Squishy poos!

Post by JudyN »

I'm not worrying too much about the guarding, HM, until I decide whether Jasper would benefit from regular RMB or not. We still keep out of his way when he has his chicken carcasses, not because we feel he will react, but just because it's not something we have to worry about, if that makes sense. Maybe it's a lazy approach....

But yes, if I felt RMBs were important to his diet, then I'd see if we could progress, though it's something that will be easier done when the weather's more reliable so he can take them outside! He was fine when I walked past him when he had the marrow bone in the garden, so I'd start from there. I'd just be concerned about forgetting that there's a bone around somewhere and going to make a fuss of him when he was lying on it....

I think I need to get some large kibble fish4dogs to replace the Burns - for general treats the small kibble is a bit too small, and it's a fiddle to give through a muzzle!
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
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