# Too much poop!



## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

How old is she?

It may be worthwhile to check for parasites... but some dogs just tend to poop more than others too. My boy will go 5-6 times during off leash hikes. On leash walk days...only 1-2 times a day.


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## GoldenCamper (Dec 21, 2009)

Try adding some fiber to her diet. I get sweet potatoes at the market, chop them up in good size chunks (1"x1") and boil for 15 min, let them cool on a plate and put in a tupperware container. I put 3 or 4 chunks in every meal, it helps a lot for my 12.8 yr old. That will also help her gain a little weight.


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## Doodle (Apr 6, 2009)

How about trying a probiotic? That's supposed to help them get more out of their food and maybe she won't poop as much.


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## Maya's Mom (Apr 13, 2009)

RedDogs said:


> How old is she?
> 
> It may be worthwhile to check for parasites... but some dogs just tend to poop more than others too. My boy will go 5-6 times during off leash hikes. On leash walk days...only 1-2 times a day.


She will have her 1st birthday on Thursday. She has always pooped a lot and before we switched her to the Nutrisource, she had diarrhea off and on. I would be ready to take her to the vet, then the diarrhea would clear up. I assumed that if it were parasites, the diarrhea wouldn't come and go. And then the food change really helped with the diarrhea. Are there parasites that can cause frequent but not soft poop? I haven't really noticed a difference on days she gets to run off leash as opposed to not. We kept track of the number of poops per day starting a couple weeks ago and the lowest number in just over 2 weeks was 4, and that only happened twice. I think what concerns me most is that she can't make it through the night. What kind of parasites should she be tested for? She is on Heartguard.


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## Maya's Mom (Apr 13, 2009)

GoldenCamper said:


> Try adding some fiber to her diet. I get sweet potatoes at the market, chop them up in good size chunks (1"x1") and boil for 15 min, let them cool on a plate and put in a tupperware container. I put 3 or 4 chunks in every meal, it helps a lot for my 12.8 yr old. That will also help her gain a little weight.


I will try that. I honestly don't think she needs to gain weight. The way my vet said it, he was saying that he likes dogs to "have some meat on their bones," but he said that if his partner were to look at her, she would probably say that Maya should loose a few pounds! He said it is basically a personal preference. I think 58 pounds is a good weight for a 1 year old girl. It's within the breed standard for an adult, and she is just turning one this week. But I will try adding a little sweet potato and see if it helps. I have given her pumpkin before and that doesn't seem to do much. But I figure a little sweet potato certainly won't hurt anything.


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## Maya's Mom (Apr 13, 2009)

Doodle said:


> How about trying a probiotic? That's supposed to help them get more out of their food and maybe she won't poop as much.


Is there a specific probiotic you would recommend? One of the ingredients in her food is yeast culture, then in parenthesis it lists several things that sound like a probiotic. Is it one?


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## Doodle (Apr 6, 2009)

Maya's Mom said:


> Is there a specific probiotic you would recommend? One of the ingredients in her food is yeast culture, then in parenthesis it lists several things that sound like a probiotic. Is it one?


The probiotics added to the food are never as potent as the supplement. We give Brady Proviable. Many others on the forum like Nature's Farmacy digestive enhancer...Brady can't have that as he is allergic to eggs.


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## GoldenCamper (Dec 21, 2009)

Maya's Mom said:


> Is there a specific probiotic you would recommend? One of the ingredients in her food is yeast culture, then in parenthesis it lists several things that sound like a probiotic. Is it one?


 You mean this= "yeast culture (saccharomyces cerevisiae, enterococcus faecium, lactobacillus acidophilus, aspergillus niger, trichoderma longibrachiatum, bacillus subtillis)"

I'm no dog food expert, but those look like probiotics to me. I have no advice for you on any specific supplements for the stomach/intestinal tract, but have seen them mentioned here before. Try a search? Forgot to mention Tucker also gets 1 Tbs of non-fat yogurt in his evening meal, something you may want to try if your dog doesn't have any problems with dairy products.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

Maya's Mom said:


> She will have her 1st birthday on Thursday. She has always pooped a lot and before we switched her to the Nutrisource, she had diarrhea off and on. I would be ready to take her to the vet, then the diarrhea would clear up. I assumed that if it were parasites, the diarrhea wouldn't come and go. And then the food change really helped with the diarrhea. Are there parasites that can cause frequent but not soft poop? I haven't really noticed a difference on days she gets to run off leash as opposed to not. We kept track of the number of poops per day starting a couple weeks ago and the lowest number in just over 2 weeks was 4, and that only happened twice. I think what concerns me most is that she can't make it through the night. What kind of parasites should she be tested for? She is on Heartguard.


Heartguard will prevent parasites, but it won't kill some of them if they already have them. Has something to do with them being eggs or adults.


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

How often is she eating? Usually dogs that are fed one meal a day will have one or two poops, if they are fed 3 times a day more, and if it's free feeding then who knows. If you are feeding her multiple meals a day try reducing it to see. 

Lana


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## Maya's Mom (Apr 13, 2009)

Bender said:


> How often is she eating? Usually dogs that are fed one meal a day will have one or two poops, if they are fed 3 times a day more, and if it's free feeding then who knows. If you are feeding her multiple meals a day try reducing it to see.
> 
> Lana


She gets two meals a day. Just under 1 1/2 cups at breakfast (around 8am) and just under 1 1/2 cups at dinner around 6pm. So she probably gets 2 3/4 cups a day total divided into two meals.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

How late is she getting her treats? Maybe try no treats after 7:00 or so, so that way maybe she has fully relieved herself before bedtime.


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## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

How big are her bowel movements? Are we talking large and frequent or small and frequent? I can't imagine a year old dog not being able to not poop over night.

Have you explored other foods? Maybe a novel protein diet (like a venison/sweet potato or duck/potato)?

I'd add additional probiotics to the diet, usually the amounts of nutriceuticals in a diet are not nearly high enough to be therapeutic. I'd also talk with my vet about doing a round of metronidazole, esp. if the stools are large and frequent.


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

Maya's Mom said:


> She gets two meals a day. Just under 1 1/2 cups at breakfast (around 8am) and just under 1 1/2 cups at dinner around 6pm. So she probably gets 2 3/4 cups a day total divided into two meals.


I think some dogs just poop more! Flora is fed exactly the same way Maya is and the exact same amount, and on days where we're really moving, she can poop up to 6x. On quieter days, I'd say it's probably more around 3x a day. She's not sick, she doesn't really get many treats besides her glucosamine tablets, and her stools are fine. She just likes to poop!


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## Maya's Mom (Apr 13, 2009)

IowaGold said:


> How big are her bowel movements? Are we talking large and frequent or small and frequent? I can't imagine a year old dog not being able to not poop over night.
> 
> Have you explored other foods? Maybe a novel protein diet (like a venison/sweet potato or duck/potato)?
> 
> I'd add additional probiotics to the diet, usually the amounts of nutriceuticals in a diet are not nearly high enough to be therapeutic. I'd also talk with my vet about doing a round of metronidazole, esp. if the stools are large and frequent.


They are not especially large, but definitely not small. Probably medium to large. What would the metronidazole be treating? The only foods I have had her on are the Nutrisource Lamb and Rice that she is on now and Fromm large breed puppy, then large breed adult. She actually did pretty well on the Fromm puppy food now that I think about it. We started having problems when we switched her to the Fromm adult food at about 8 months, but it had the exact same ingredients, just in slightly different proportions. I don't remember how many poops a day she had on the puppy food, but she didn't wake me up in the night. 

I guess my biggest question at this point is whether it is worth trying a different food first or probiotics and seeing if that helps or just taking her to the vet. What kinds of parasites/other issues could cause this? How urgent is it? 

Also, what is a novel protein diet? Does that just mean a protein we haven't tried yet? The Fromm foods had duck, chicken, fish meal, lamb, cheese and salmon oil. Part of the reason I switched her off of that to the Nutrisource is that although I think the Fromm is a good food, it has so many protein sources that it makes it hard to know what could be causing the problem. Now she is on a lamb-based food. It also does have chicken fat in it though. If you switched her to a different food, what would it be? 
*
Fromm ingredients: 
*Duck, Chicken Meal, Chicken, Oatmeal, Pearled Barley, Brown Rice, Menhaden Fish Meal, Lamb, Potato, Tomato Pomace, Whole Egg, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Salmon Oil (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Cheese, Flaxseed, Brewers Dried Yeast, Alfalfa Meal, Carrots, Lettuce, Celery, Lecithin, Chicken Cartilage, Calcium Sulfate, Salt, Potassium Chloride, DL-Methionine, Chicory Root Extract, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Bifidobacterium Longum, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcous Faecium, Vitamin A, D3, E, B12 Supplements, Choline Chloride, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Riboflavin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Biotin, Zinc Sulfate, Iron Carbonate, Manganous Oxide, Copper Oxide, Cobalt Carbonate, Calcium Iodate, Sorbic Acid, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Sodium Selenite. 
*
Nutrisource ingredients*: Lamb meal, white rice, brown rice, barley, oatmeal, beet pulp, fish meal (a source of fish oil), flax seeds, natural flavors, sunflower oil, dried egg product, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), brewers yeast, potassium chloride, salt, proteinated minerals (zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, cobalt proteinate, selenium proteinate), yeast culture (saccharomyces cerevisiae, enterococcus faecium, lactobacillus acidophilus, aspergillus niger, trichoderma longibrachiatum, bacillus subtillis), choline chloride, vitamins (vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, niacin, pantothenic acid, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement), taurine, glucosamine hydrochloride, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), chondroitin sulfate, yucca schidigera extract, calcium iodate, rosemary extract.


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## IowaGold (Nov 3, 2009)

Maya's Mom said:


> They are not especially large, but definitely not small. Probably medium to large. What would the metronidazole be treating?


A bacterial overgrowth. If the stools are medium to large, I would suspect they have too much moisture left in them. They may well be formed, but the should be quite firm. A dog her age should NOT need to get up in the middle of the night to poop. The round of metro would simply be what I'd suggest to my client and what I'd try with my own dog.



Maya's Mom said:


> I guess my biggest question at this point is whether it is worth trying a different food first or probiotics and seeing if that helps or just taking her to the vet. What kinds of parasites/other issues could cause this? How urgent is it?


Changing the diet might take a while to see a difference. Probiotics would be easy enough to do, but probably won't be immediate either. To be honest, if my dog was getting me up every night to poop, I'd take her to the vet just so that I could possibly get the extra sleep quicker! Being a young dog, I'd absolutely take a fecal sample in for the vet to look at (it's recommended to have fecal checks twice yearly anyway). Heartgard treats/prevents roundworms and hookworms. Could you be having a problem with whipworms? Maybe. Coccidia or giardia? Maybe. You'll never know until you look!

I know a lot of people try to put off the vet visit as long as possible for monetary reasons, but often that means that you've already spent a bunch of money and time on different foods/supplements, just to still end up at the vet (and sometimes it ends up costing more if a problem gets itself more established).



Maya's Mom said:


> Also, what is a novel protein diet? Does that just mean a protein we haven't tried yet? The Fromm foods had duck, chicken, fish meal, lamb, cheese and salmon oil. Part of the reason I switched her off of that to the Nutrisource is that although I think the Fromm is a good food, it has so many protein sources that it makes it hard to know what could be causing the problem. Now she is on a lamb-based food. It also does have chicken fat in it though. If you switched her to a different food, what would it be?


Yep, you are exactly right. A protein (and ideally carbohydrate source) your dog hasn't seen before. With what she's already eaten, I'd go with a venison/sweet potato personally. The foods she's been on seem quite reasonable, but individual dogs can have issues with individual foods, so there is no perfect dog food for all dogs. And, yes, the multi-protein could be a potential problem in an individual dog. I'm not sure why the puppy food was OK and the adult not, other than she may have developed a sensitivity and it was coincidental that you noticed the problem when you switched to adult.


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