Low Stool Diet

[DogPaddle]

OK in the rest of the year its not so bad but now that its winter, I'm looking for any suggestion that will help "lighten the load" so to speak. Its worst when there is a missed poop that you find after a quick thaw and refreeze, you have to chip those ones out with a metal shovel. Oh well, at least they don't smell as bad in winter. So, anyone now of any paticular diet changes that may help - currently the boys are making 7-10 piles a day between the two but part of this seems to be because they go, wander and go again.

[MajiesMom]

That sounds like a lot of poop. You could probably get it down to 2-4 clean-ups per day for two dogs. Mind if I ask what you feed?
I find no matter what my dog eats if she is being very active that day, like when we're at the cottage (swimming/running all day) or I take her to work (kennel - running around all day) she poops 5 times per day!! A little bit here and a little bit there.
You should get less poop with a good quality kibble or BARF.

[DogPaddle]

Currently I feed either Canidae or Solid Gold Mmillenia AND a homemade diet. I feed these in seperate meals. The homemade diet varies but is usually at least half protien with some cooked carbs and pureed veg and a supplement from the vets - chelated minerals, enzyme, bone meal etc. The boys are very active - one walk a day, one outdoor play session a day, constant ball tossing if I sit still for them, and a great deal of the rest of the time the play tug or wrestle with each other. I do feed two meals a day and maybe this contributes to it but Zaphod (part lab) would go bonkers if I went to one meal a day I think. As it is he seems to think he should be having three meals a day - he knows how to ask for dinner.

[MajiesMom]

I don't think you could do much better?? though when I feed Canidae, Magic was pooping about 4 times per day. I know a lot of people who have also commented on the high stool volume from feeding it.
Very active dogs go more often and it could be that too.
You could just follow behind them with a plastic bag or pooper scooper and get it before it freezes to the ground.

[TDG]

you could leave out the carbohydrates from your homemade food, not just in the winter but period - dogs do not need high levels of them in their diet anyway and they are getting more than enough from the kibble. the mass for extruded dog food must have a certain amount of grains present or it will clog up the extruder.

just give meats and vegetables.

[MajiesMom]

TDG napisał(a):

you could leave out the carbohydrates from your homemade food, not just in the winter but period - dogs do not need high levels of them in their diet anyway and they are getting more than enough from the kibble. the mass for extruded dog food must have a certain amount of grains present or it will clog up the extruder.

just give meats and vegetables.

ahhh I was going to mention leave out the carbs but I wasn't sure. TDG you are very knowledgeable about diet. :wink:

[Black GSD]

I don't know about Canidae, but when I was feeding Solid Gold, I swear my pup pooped 3 times as much as I fed him. He was only getting 2 cups a day, but was pooping 6 cups! (Or so it seemed.) I changed to Natural Balance, (not because of the poops though, but because the closest place that sells SG is over 100 miles one way. And the "thousand" poops a day went down to 2 or 3.

I now feed him Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul. Same thing few poops a day and very firm. He just was increased to 3 cups a day.
Our other 4 dogs eat Nutro NC and they too only poop a couple of times a day each.

[DogPaddle]

Hmmm, maybe I'll try eliminating the SG and a chunk of the carbs from the homemade diet and see what happens.