# Blood in Stool?



## BrownieM (Aug 30, 2010)

Tonight I noticed that Henry had a drop or two of red blood in his stool. His stool was very compact, very firm (maybe even hard) and the blood was just like a drip on the top.

Should I be concerned?

Today is our 21st day of raw feeding and they have been eating chicken quarters almost exclusively with the occasional lamb Nature's Variety patty thrown in every few meals.

ETA: I am starting to think this might be caused by too much bone? Maybe he was straining and that caused a tiny bit of bleeding?

What does everyone think?


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I don't think you have anything to worry about, but you might be giving too much fiber with the added patty and that is causing the compact hard poos. How are the poo without the added patties?, it seems like there should be enough meat to bone ratio that the poo shouldn't be that hard with just the chicken quarter and if they are I'd add in more meat and take away some bone.


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## JayJayisme (Aug 2, 2009)

Are you sure it is blood and not undigested red meat? The first time I saw this in the poop of one of my dogs I freaked until I realized I had introduced beef to him too soon. He just couldn't digest all of it and some of it came out looking like blood in his stool. After I reset and got them stable on chicken before moving to pork and then later introducing some beef, everything was fine.


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## BrownieM (Aug 30, 2010)

JayJayisme said:


> Are you sure it is blood and not undigested red meat? The first time I saw this in the poop of one of my dogs I freaked until I realized I had introduced beef to him too soon. He just couldn't digest all of it and some of it came out looking like blood in his stool. After I reset and got them stable on chicken before moving to pork and then later introducing some beef, everything was fine.


Hmm...well I think it must be blood because it is not at all the color of the chicken he ate. Right?


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## JayJayisme (Aug 2, 2009)

You said they eat lamb occasionally, which is red meat. If they haven't had any in a couple days then it's probably not undigested meat but I wanted to throw this out there for consideration if the circumstances happened to fit (you didn't say exactly when the last meal with red meat was so I had no way to determine this). 

It could also just be from a strained bowel movement. Happens to some dogs who are new to raw as their poop is quite firm. They get used to it though and this is the very reason why dogs that eat RMBs generally don't need their anal glands expressed. 

The only other thing that has caused blood in the stools of my dogs has been parasites, like Coccidia and Giardia, which they haven't contracted since they've been on PMR.

Do you have an update since your first post? Is this continuing to happen?

Sorry, I have no additional suggestions for you but it seems highly unlikely that it's anything to do with bones, especially if their poop looks normal for a raw fed dog and doesn't contain any obvious bone fragments. I suppose it's remotely possible, but it's highly unlikely. I would eliminate other more common possibilities first.


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## BrownieM (Aug 30, 2010)

JayJayisme said:


> You said they eat lamb occasionally, which is red meat. If they haven't had any in a couple days then it's probably not undigested meat but I wanted to throw this out there for consideration if the circumstances happened to fit (you didn't say exactly when the last meal with red meat was so I had no way to determine this).
> 
> It could also just be from a strained bowel movement. Happens to some dogs who are new to raw as their poop is quite firm. They get used to it though and this is the very reason why dogs that eat RMBs generally don't need their anal glands expressed.
> 
> ...


JayJay - You're right - maybe it is the lamb, since that is red meat (although it doesn't look all that red in the patty! ) He hasn't gone #2 since last night so I will just keep an eye out today. I actually kind of doubt it will happen again. Probably either from the lamb or from straining.

I am not overly concerned but I did want to see if others here had any advice  Thank you!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Not something to worry about if stools are regular and it was only a tiny bit. It it were a ton with diarrhea then it would be an issue. Don't panic :wink:

But I do think it's time to start adding in a new protein like turkey necks...


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## BrownieM (Aug 30, 2010)

Thank you danemama! I will thaw out some turkey necks tonight! :biggrin:


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## BrownieM (Aug 30, 2010)

So do I just give a turkey neck and see what happens? What about turkey wings - can I try that too when I am introducing turkey? Or is that best saved for later?


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I suggest turkey necks since the bone is a lot softer. Maybe skip tonights meal and give one neck tomorrow morning. Then either skip tomorrow nights meal or feed a 1/2 portion.


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