SOLID versus mushy poop

[jonmichael]

How's that for a subject line folks?

First of all, thanks to everyone again who contributed to this thread:

http://www.husky-owners.com/forum/index.php?/topic/6840-favorite-food-brands/

I have switched Wiley over to Taste of the Wild, and he DOES like it. I like the ingredients myself -- can't complain there.

He has been on it about 7 days now with a gradual switchover. Yesterday was his first day of Taste of the Wild only. (He had been on Kirkland before).

The question is, what's the deal with the mushy poops? His poops are *generally* pretty solid in the morning, and as the day goes on, they get mushier. By night time they are complete mush. Then the next morning, nice and solid again. This is the *general* pattern. But sometimes he has a mushy poop in the morning, and a solid one at night. Seems to be kind of random. He is 4 months old.

I have to say that this has NOT just started with the switchover to Taste of the Wild -- he's been like this since I got him, and I don't think he's ever had a day where there wasn't at least one mushy poop -- but what I do seem to have noticed is an increase in the quantity of mushy poops. But maybe I am jumping the gun, and it's too soon to tell.

Someone suggested to me that his digestive tract is still developing, and no matter what I feed him, he's going to have mushy poops for another two months. Do people think this is true?

Or maybe TOTW isn't agreeing with him as much as I'd like to?

Or maybe I need to wait another week and see if the poops get more solid?

I will say, they did seem to be more solid on Kirkland, but there is a lot of filler stuff in Kirkland, and there was A LOT OF POOP!

[lynnmw1208]

I had the same problem with Pongo as a pup. It turned out we were feeding too much. The reason it's more solid in the morning is the pup went all night without food and then during the day he eats more. huskies tend to do better on smaller portions. Now Pongo (at 8 months) only eats about 2 1/2 cups a day of food and he won't touch any more than that and leaves it in the bowl. (he does get cookies though too during the day).

[shedalot]

Or maybe TOTW isn't agreeing with him as much as I'd like to?

Or maybe I need to wait another week and see if the poops get more solid?

Stick with TOTW, it's a great food for him. Also, wait another week as well. How old is he and how much/often do you feed him? What other snacks does he get?

[valkyries]

Odin was the same but i as Lynn found i was feeding to much when i cut it to smaller amounts it got better, but i must admit even now at almost 2 year old Odin as always had mushy poo now and then, my other two are fine but they eat barf which is great for hard poo, unfortunately Odin wont touch raw, good luck xxxxxxxxxx try smaller meals xx

[magical Merlin]

i'd agree with the the others, you may be feeding to much. You can try cutting down the amount a little and soaking the food so that it is easier to digest.

You should get one poo per feed so if your getting too many and they are soft then its quite likley its too much food for your little one.

[Dunc]

The main reasons as I have said many times is over feeding and changing to different foods to often will both not help, its hard to get it right we know but from our experience it not something medically wrong with him its usually something us humans are doing wrong.

Good on you for taking the advice on board I think you just need to slow down a little it wont happen over night

[Sarah]

i agree with everyone else over feeding is the most common cause for runny stools

keep going and maybe reduce the food you feed a tad

[jonmichael]

Thanks everybody, the consensus is great.

Before I read these responses this morning, I actually *increased* his food last night. The reason for that is that he is looking a little thin to me (starting to see ribs a little, which I know you're not supposed to see). So I gave him 1.5 cups TOTW for dinner last night, instead of the usual 1.

This morning -- MASSIVELY runny poop, and a huge amount of it. The worst one yet. Common sense would tell one that this was from the increase in food.

The thing is, I am just worried about the thinness a little -- he's not a skeleton, but he's looked thicker at times. So I am hesitant to cut down. Here is the feeding regimen:

1 cup 6 AM

1 cup 1 PM

1 cup 6 PM

Last night's 6 PM was 1.5 cups. I had also added some rice to his meals yesterday.

He has hardly any other treats during the day. Bully stick, or boiled chicken breast in a Kong. I use very few commercial treats.

Do you think switching to two feedings (6 AM and 6 PM) might help -- of 1.5 cups each, thus spreading it out? Or do I need to go down to something like two cups? I worry because the TOTW bag guide says he should be eating 3 - 4 cups. Even if you err on the low side, that would still be 3 cups a day. He is 4 months old (on Saturday) and 25 lbs.

Thanks!

[jonmichael]

PS - Actually he is 22 lbs. not 25. He's gained a pound since last week. Not sure if that makes a difference, and not sure if he should be gaining more.

[Dunc]

Sorry m8 you are still over feeding him, let me try explain as you are seeing the more you feed him the more he gets the runs thats because its going straight thou him and hes getting thiner its a common thing to try do you see him getting thin so you feed him more he gets more runs and loses more weight and so on it goes......

Now what you need to do is starve your pup yes that what I said starve him for 24 hours then feed him 1 cup in the morning 1 at night forget the middle one its to much and don't forget cups are all different sizes just a normal cup. Now with there not as much going in it will stay there longer to digest in him system and he will start putting on weight but it will take time please be patient.

If you follow the above it will work out right for you if you don't he will continue to lose weight

[jonmichael]

Oooh, that is heartbreaking, but I can try that. He is gonna be MAD!

What you say makes sense. Have others tried this too?

[valkyries]

i did when odin was a pup i over fed him and yes it works, Dunc knows what he's talking about. Try it and let us know how you get on good luck xxx

[Dunc]

Oooh, that is heartbreaking, but I can try that. He is gonna be MAD!

What you say makes sense. Have others tried this too?

Your right about it being heartbreaking it always is but its gotta be done and yes over the years we have come across this loads of times and can honestly say yes it always works.

Just to add mine are full size huskys ( well look at the pics ) and mine are only fed twice aday morning and night 2 cups or less if there having anything like raw with it how do mine look to you ? and guess what happens when there over fed ?

[Hock]

Kaien is a week away from being 4 months old and I feed him only 1 cup of TOTW twice a day. Sometimes i'll feed him two chicken wings instead. You are over feeding your dog giving him 1.5 cups 3 times a day and like Dunc said, the resulting runny poo is making him famished since all his food is going right through and doesnt have enough time for him to digest and absorb the nutrition.

[Sarah]

I agree with what's been posted.

Starve for 24 hours then feed twice a day as already said - what you're doing at the moment is just going through so he doesnt have time to absorb what he needs, feeding less he will out more weight on don't worry, it's natural to worry about it but you've got some great advice x

[curtoise]

normally if a pup has runny poops, and is looking skinny its due to worms, when was the last time u wormed him?

also i didnt want to stave our pup for obvious reasons, just cut the dosage down and now there solid through the day, and we feed her 3 times a day.

we gave her some chicken with her 2nd meal and that firmed her poos throughout the day, and after she got rid of the worms, shes fine now and pooing 3 times a day, one for every meal.

hope this helps

[Alex T]

Isis was beginning to look a little skinny a few months ago - so we decided to feed her raw in the morning (either: 2 or 3 chicken wings/ 1 chicken quarter/2 chicken drumsticks/ 1 chicken breast) and a cup of kibble at night! She has since filled out nicely again!

[jonmichael]

normally if a pup has runny poops, and is looking skinny its due to worms, when was the last time u wormed him?

also i didnt want to stave our pup for obvious reasons, just cut the dosage down and now there solid through the day, and we feed her 3 times a day.

we gave her some chicken with her 2nd meal and that firmed her poos throughout the day, and after she got rid of the worms, shes fine now and pooing 3 times a day, one for every meal.

hope this helps

He had his last de-worming (of 3) last Saturday, so I am really hoping it is not that!

OK, 3:15 right now and someone around here is mighty hungry.

Will report back in tomorrow.

[jonmichael]

OK folks -- we've had two poops this morning -- one upon first waking (6:40) and one 30 minutes after breakfast (7:15).

I AM HAPPY TO REPORT THAT BOTH POOPS WERE SOLID AS BRICKS!

I am talking so-solid-that-they-don't-mash-if-you-squish-them poops. He has never had such solid poops since I've had him.

I have never been so happy about poop!

I have to admit, I did not entirely "starve" him last night. It was too heart-breaking and he was too nuts. I gave him a little (really tiny) handful of chicken and rice around 7 PM, but nothing else. And we had entirely skipped lunch yesterday too. His last poop last night was around 10 PM, and it had already started to firm up.

Breakfast today was 2/3 cup TOTW -- I am going to do the three meals for a couple of days, just to keep him on the schedule he's used to, and then I will go down to twice a day. So 2/3 cup for lunch and 2/3 cup for dinner will total 2 cups total for today, which is what everybody seems to be recommending.

Another friend said that she thought this food might be too rich in general. If his poops get mushy again on this smaller amount, I guess we'll know.

I will report back tomorrow.

THANKS SO MUCH DUNC AND EVERYONE ELSE!!!

[Benno_bro]

As for the being skinny, mine occasionally go like that. It's almost like they grow a little size wise resulting in being a little skinner, then they fill back out...then reapeat.

When I say skinny, most people wouldn't notice, I just do because i'm round them all the time..so it's nothing for me to worry about

[Sarah]

aww that's fab just reduce what you feed him a bit and they will more or less stay like that

My boys have the odd off day so don't expect them to be perfect all the time

[Dunc]

Your welcome and its nice to hear its going well, stick to it now and it should be fine if not dont be afraid to cut him back a little more dont forget the longer the little bit stays in better its doing him

[Smithy]

OK folks -- we've had two poops this morning -- one upon first waking (6:40) and one 30 minutes after breakfast (7:15).

I AM HAPPY TO REPORT THAT BOTH POOPS WERE SOLID AS BRICKS!

I am talking so-solid-that-they-don't-mash-if-you-squish-them poops. He has never had such solid poops since I've had him.

I have never been so happy about poop!

.

Only a true dog lover could come up with that statement...

[jonmichael]

Only a true dog lover could come up with that statement...

Well, guess I am part of the pack for real then.

We just had a softer poop, which had me a bit disappointed, but I am not going to expect perfection on Day 1 of the change. It was soft, but still had shape, whereas day-before-yesterday, we were talking pure mush pile.

The nice thing about today too is that the NUMBER of poops has gone way down, and I realize that's the point. It all makes sense.

If he stays "soft," how many days should I give it until we decide that TOTW is too rich for him right now? He was on an i/d bland diet for awhile when I first got him, and did really well on that, so it's possible that I might have to go with something not so rich. But I will stick with it for as long as people think it is healthy.

Also . . . CHICKEN WINGS? I realize I'm new, but that just intuitively seems dangerous. I guess it isn't?

[valkyries]

give it a week or so things will settle if you change food you could end up right back at the biggining, i was so scared of giving my dogs raw chicken wings at first, like you i thought was danerous but after being on this site and talking to people i gave it a try, i've never looked back they love em.

Try one xxx