[rawfeeding] Re: GSD needs soft stools

"kim" <kimmnes@...> wrote:
>I haven't been able to make that happen with 100%
> raw, so he's eating commercial dog food too. I want him off the dog
> food, but can't risk hard stools. Any suggestions are appreciated.
*****
Good to see you posting!
My obvious suggestion is to get rid of the kibble and revise the raw
menu you had been feeding. Kibble--so that the companies can brag
about reduced stool volume and ease of clean up--include all sorts of
fiber to keep those poops hard. Since you are trying to avoid hard
poops, there is no point to going to kibble for a solution.
Additionally of course any dog with signficant health problems should
be eating the most nutritious foods available, not the most
artificial!

Since hard stools in a raw diet generally indicate excessive bone, my
first recommendation would be to reduce the amount of bone you feed.
A senior dog needs very little dietary bone, so you should not fear
chintzing him in that area. Any calcium you do need to add can be
provided either by a small amount of bone with his meat meals, or
with ground eggshell or a commercial calcium supplement.

You can vary the amount of fat to keep the stools soft (Lard knows
we've all been THERE before!); keeping the guy hydrated also helps
maintain soft stools.

Feeding kibble to dog that's been through serious surgery is like
saying to a recuperating person, "here have another bowl of Total."
How not healthy that sounds!

I hope we can help you find a solution to this.
Chris O

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