How to appraise for "ideal" defecation.

[ManaSpirit]

Hi, i'm new! i hope this is the place to post this question.

i'll try to be a pc as possible and forgive me if i get too clinical. i've read people that a dog's doo (oh heck with pc i'll just go with cutesy teeheehee) should ideally be a certain texture and size and a certain amount of times per day. but i do not have a very firm grasp about what a "firm" specimen should be and i have no idea how to judge the size or how often.

mana is a 4 month old labrador pitbull (weighs 25lbs),. eats three times a day (1 cup each meal). she goes between 3 and 4 times. one in the early am. one after lunch. and twice after dinner. right now she is on science diet lamb/rice puppy (ps: our vet exclusively sells every formula available). (which will change as soon as her shipment of 100% grain free comes in).

here are some stats if it helps:

frequency: 3-4 time daily

texture/firmness: firm enough that i can pick it up without it sticking to the grass.

size: bear with me ... diameter: maybe 1/2in. length: 6-8 inches (if unbroken).

sorry for being so technical. if anyone has any wisdom or thoughts to impart. they are VERY appreciated!

[RawFedDogs]

You couldn't find a worse food to feed your dog except maybe for Ol' Roy from Walmart. The volume of your pup's stools seem huge to me. I have two Great Danes and their output is about 10% of your pups and they weigh 125 and 145 lbs. Poop volume is directly related to quality of food. Poop is nothing more that the food that passed through the dog undigested. Science Diet produces HUGE stools.

[malluver1005]

^^^I agree. 3-4 times a day is way too much for a dog to be poopin'. Like RFD said, it all depends on the quality of the food. My dog poops about 10% of what your pup does. He goes only once a day. Sometimes, but hardly ever, he'll go twice. And he's 115 lbs.

[ManaSpirit]

wow. I HAD NO IDEA! EEEK! now this is something i wouldn't have known! thank you. *sigh. to think i only asked because i was curious about comments made by other owners. thank you again! her diet will be changing very soon, if not by tomorrow.

note: at her first check up dh was asked if the stool was normal. and he guessed it was and that was the end of it. :(

[whiteleo]

Her stool is normal for a kibble fed dog that is full of inappropriate fillers that dog food companys like to cram in there for the sake of money making. Once you switch to a grain free kibble her stools will change to less frequency and amount, but your talking to people who don't feed kibble at all.

[RawFedDogs]

But the principles are still the same. The more garbage in the more garbage out.

[wags]

When I did not read ingredient labels and went by gee that bag looks so inviting(( the outside of the bag ))knew nothing I also at one point fed my dogs which I thought was wonderful science diet. I think a lot of people have been down this road not knowing it was an unfit choice of food. heck the commercials for Iams, & Eukenuba sponsors dog shows, Purina is out there promoting their junk & we all get caught up in the hype of televsion and the magazine ads! But then we learn! We start to go to sights that tell us gee just read the ingredient label find products that have meat in the first two three ingreditents of he list, not by products or soy or corn or wheat in the product. Garuinless is a great great choice for your dog! There are places on line that sell them and if you have mom and pop stores to supposrt.
Well from the others you can tell your pups eating not a great food and is doing way too much popping! So going on a higher quality kibble and you can top it at times with a high quality canned (wet) food. There is a lot of good foods out there!
Go to dogfoodanalysis.com and look at the better quality foods! You will be happier with the less pooping! and your dog will give you lots of kisses!

[SubMariner]

You couldn't find a worse food to feed your dog except maybe for Ol' Roy from Walmart. The volume of your pup's stools seem huge to me. I have two Great Danes and their output is about 10% of your pups and they weigh 125 and 145 lbs. Poop volume is directly related to quality of food. Poop is nothing more that the food that passed through the dog undigested. Science Diet produces HUGE stools.

Great synopsis!

Zio's "output" has decreased dramatically with him going on EVO Large Bites Turkey & Chicken (vs. a brand that shall remain nameless but is a big hit on some other forums).

Also, the quality tells in his ability to keep weight on with less food, even though he's so high energy.

[ManaSpirit]

all this insight is invaluable. and it makes sense to me that the less stool she excretes, the more she is keeping to grow off of.

i have stopped SD for two days now. My first choice was Canidae GrainFree ALS. But since I wanted to get her off SD immediately, I bought TOTW Wetlands formula because it is the most grainfree brand i can buy locally (and therefore immediately) and also the one with less protien (26%) as she is a 4mo old. The bag says it's for all stages. And I'd like to give it a try since it's stocked at our local farm feed store.

I proportioned her SD and TOTW, but by her second bowl, she wasn't eating the mix. so out of curiosity, i seperated a few bits of TOTW and SD ... she ingested the TOTW and completely ignored the SD bits. For the last two days, she's been on TOTW, 100%. No vomiting or leaky stool so far.

HOWEVER, her stools have not changed. They are a very good consistency, pick it up without it sticking to the ground, and nicely segmented. But they are still big.

Do I need to wait a bit more or can I try the rest of the 5lb bag? thanks!

[JayJayisme]

Before I started feeding my dogs raw meaty bones, they were on TOTW Wetlands formula and their stools were the biggest I had ever seen. They were good quality, firm stools, but HUGE!

Sure, TOTW Wetlands is grain free. But the primary filler is potato, which is just as useless to a canine as grains and very much the reason the stools are huge. Your dog cannot process potatoes, therefore they pass right through.