[Boxermom]

Hey all,
I wonder if someone could advice-
I feed my dog 5 star dog food (Acana). I’m happy with it and I see a lot of improvement in his coat and stool since he eats it.
When he poops 3 times a day, his stool is usually nice and firm. However, if he gets the chance to poop more often, it’s very soft and sometimes running. For example on the weekend we let him out to the yard in the morning (say 8 AM) and the stool is firm. If we take him on a walk at 2 PM, his stool would be firm, but if we take him on a walk at 10 AM (2 hours from the first time), then it’s soft/ running. He doesn’t have to poop at 10 AM, because usually he holds for 9 hours, but since we’re on a walk he always have to go!
Same thing if lets say at 2 PM sometimes it’s too hot for a walk, so I let him out in the yard and he goes there, but then if I want to take him on a walk at 5 PM, then I know his stool will be soft/ running. I hate to be limited like that, trying to calculate the hours from his last poop, just so it wouldn’t be soft! And of course it’s very embarrassing I can’t pick up after him…

So I guess my question is- should I change his food? Can other food change this situation, or this is just the way it has to be if I don’t take him out on the same hours every day, or if I take him out very often?

Thank you!

[pugmomsandy]

The longer stool sits in the colon, the more solid it becomes as the moisture is absorbed from it. So frequent poop breaks will result in soft stool. You can not allow him to poop on the off-schedule walks if possible but that might be hard to accomplish. It almost seems to me that they are marking with their poop. They just gotta do it when we’re on the public walking trail in my neighborhood but if I don’t go out there, then they only go 2 times a day in my yard.

I have noticed however that when feeding raw food (either frozen or freeze dried) their poops are always in shape for pickup, no matter when they go. Maybe you can add a few pieces (like Vital Essentials freeze dried nibblets or the new Orijen freeze dried) to his food.

[Boxermom]

Thanks pugmomsandy!
I thought that would be the answer… 🙁
It does seem like they mark! So weird. Maybe I could make him not poop if I start a little jogging when I see he wants to go… But then again I can’t run more than a minute or so haha.
Sadly feeding raw, while seems to be the best option, is not possible for me (time & money). As to the freeze dried, we do have Orijen dog food here, but I don’t think the freeze dried arrived yet. Even so, I can only imagine it would be very pricey… Acana is also expensive here, I guess it costs more than in the US because of the long shipping. As to Vital Essentials, we don’t have it my country…

However, if you say that when feeding raw their poop are always firm, then maybe I do have a chance to find some other food that will have that effect on him. It’s a long shot, I know, but I just REALLY want to find a solution so I could be spontaneous and take him out whenever I want…

One thing I don’t understand, is this- if we know that soft stool means the food is not digesting well, does this mean that if I take him out often I damage the digesting of the food? Plus I always thought quality food meaning they eat less= have less poop, so how come he can still poop so often?? I would expect he won’t be able to, even if he wants to! 🙂

Thanks

[theBCnut]

I think for some dogs increasing their activity makes their intestines move food through faster, so they need to poop sooner than they otherwise would.

[Boxermom]

That makes sense Pattyvaughn… But still a bit frustrating 🙂
Do you think soft stool in this case means the food does not digest as well as it should?

[theBCnut]

No, but it could speak to the dog’s stress level. I don’t mean stress in a bad way so maybe I should say excitement instead. Gut motility is affected by how “on” a dog is, so when he is out on a fun or exciting walk then everything could be passing through his large intestine faster than it can draw the fluids out. Adding a little fiber to his diet may slow down transit and even everything out, but it might not. I would try sprinkling 1/2 teaspoon of plain metamucil or a generic equivalent on his food and see if that does the trick.

[Boxermom]

Thank you! I’ll think about it!

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