# Adding Sweet Potato



## macdougallph1 (Oct 13, 2013)

I was wondering if anyone adds in plain mashed sweet potato to their dogs kibble/diet on a regular basis? I have been adding about 1/4 cup to each meal (3x a day) for my 16 week old. He has had a lot of trouble with loose stool and I have come to the conclusion it is due to dietary sensitivities. I started feeding sweet potatoes and boiled ground turkey during one of his bouts of diarrhea and have since switched him to a grain free food (Fromm LBP prairie gold). This has been the only thing to give him completely solid stool since I brought him home. His stool continues to be solid on it mixed with kibble (I am still slowly transitioning). Is there any problem with adding sweet potatoes to every meal long term? He has a routine vet appt in 2 days and I plan to ask her as well, but wanted to know others opinions/experiences with this.


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## ggdenny (Nov 2, 2008)

For a puppy that is just 16 weeks old a vet visit is certainly a good idea. Until then a half tablespoon of pure canned pumpkin (not pie mix) is plenty to help with fiber and digestion.


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## Rundlemtn (Jan 16, 2015)

Nothing wrong with adding sweet potato. But, I also went with the half tablespoon of pure canned pumpkin puree. Far easier to add to their meals and works just as well. By the way that is a freaking cute picture!


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## LynnC (Nov 14, 2015)

I also opt for the pumpkin. My 12 YO has been having it since she was a puppy, 1 Tablespoon with each meal and I just started giving a teaspoon (just a taste) to my 8 week puppy.


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## GoldenCamper (Dec 21, 2009)

macdougallph1 said:


> Is there any problem with adding sweet potatoes to every meal long term?


Not at all IMO. Been there done that with home cooking for my senior boy. Sweet potatoes are very nutritious.


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## ktkins7 (Jul 20, 2013)

Sweet potato does the same thing as adding pumpkin. When Ella started turning her nose up at pumpkin my vet said switch to sweet potato and harden up her stool. Nothing wrong with giving sweet potato.


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## macdougallph1 (Oct 13, 2013)

ggdenny said:


> For a puppy that is just 16 weeks old a vet visit is certainly a good idea. Until then a half tablespoon of pure canned pumpkin (not pie mix) is plenty to help with fiber and digestion.



He has been seen and treated by the vet since 8 weeks for his diarrhea and soft stool. He has done several rounds of antibiotics, rx diet, he was dewormed by the breeder, and again by the vet twice. Stool samples have always been negative for everything. We have done a battery of tests and come to the conclusion he has food sensitivities. His appt is just routine on Weds as he has been doing very well on the diet with the sweet potato. Pumpkin for some reason didn't seem to have the same effect  The sweet potato has been a god send, but I just wanted to check in and see if I was causing any harm giving it as much as I have been and in the quantity I am? I wasn't sure if others give sweet potato regularly as well? I know a lot of people swear by the pumpkin.


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## macdougallph1 (Oct 13, 2013)

3Pebs3 said:


> Nothing wrong with adding sweet potato. But, I also went with the half tablespoon of pure canned pumpkin puree. Far easier to add to their meals and works just as well. By the way that is a freaking cute picture!


Thanks! I have been reading your thread and admiring Rundle since long before Mack came home. She is such a beauty and I love following along your journey with her! I'll be sad not to see it in the puppy forum any more and hope you keep going with her thread!


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

My two love sweet potatoes, if it's helping your little guy, I'd stick with it. Sweet potatoes are really good for them as well as us. 

What kind of treats have you been giving him? 

He's so adorable, great picture.


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## macdougallph1 (Oct 13, 2013)

"My two love sweet potatoes, if it's helping your little guy, I'd stick with it. Sweet potatoes are really good for them as well as us. What kind of treats have you been giving him? He's so adorable, great picture."

Thanks Carolina Mom! I've withheld all treats. I've only given him this diet I've mentioned for the past week. I've given a few very small bits of banana over the past couple of days during very short training sessions and this hasn't affected his stool. I am afraid to give anything that will upset the apple cart now that he is doing so well. I'm not masking anything by giving him the sweet potatos am I? He wouldn't become dependent on them in order to maintain solid regular BMs right? Sorry I'm a worrier lol!


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

I don't think so but I am not a Vet, so I can't say for sure. 
Both of my Goldens are adopted and they have sensitive stomachs. When I adopted my boy almost 5 years ago, he was 15-20 lbs. underweight and I was having a hard time finding a food that worked for him. He had soft stools, I had him at the Vet several times to be dewormed, stomach meds, etc. Several members on the board here recommended Purina Pro Plan for Sensitive Skin and stomach, I gave it a try and within a day or two his stools started to firm up and over the next three months he gained the weight he needed. He's a healthy 75 lbs. now. My two have been eating it for almost 5 years now. 

I give my two lots of fresh fruits and veggies, basically whatever is in season. Bananas are a favorite of theirs. Some members give probiotics, has your Vet suggested or recommended it? I don't give it to my two though.


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## macdougallph1 (Oct 13, 2013)

My guy has been underweight too. I have been giving fortiflora to replace the good bacteria since he was on 3 courses of antibiotics. Thanks so much for the pro plan recommendation. I have read a lot of good things on here about it. If the Fromm doesn't end up working out I think I will try that. It's sad that so many goldens have these sensitivities since they LOVE food so much! He is so food motivated and I love training with him. This has put a bit of a damper on things because I've had to limit how much he's eating and had to put him on such a limited diet. Hopefully we will find a happy medium somehow.


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## Rundlemtn (Jan 16, 2015)

macdougallph1 said:


> Thanks! I have been reading your thread and admiring Rundle since long before Mack came home. She is such a beauty and I love following along your journey with her! I'll be sad not to see it in the puppy forum any more and hope you keep going with her thread!


Thanks so much! Now that Rundle is 1 year and I have fewer questions/concerns I plan to update Rundle's thread every year on her birthday. But, I will keep her instagram updated regularly if you follow  (see link below)

I don't believe you will be hiding anything by giving him sweet potato. When Rundle had diarrhea for 1 week, which required meds to resolve - no amount of pumpkin/chicken/rice combos would help her. But, usually pumpkin just kept her a little more consistently solid with all the leaves/twigs/grass that she would eat off the ground. Hope this helps!


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## G-bear (Oct 6, 2015)

If you are looking for high value training treats for Mr. Mack I would recommend dehydrated sweet potato treats. I have never used the store bought version. I bought a food dehydrator and do it myself (that way I know that there are no chemicals or preservatives added to them). If you don't have a dehydrator you can make them in the oven although they do take a bit longer. Here is the "recipe": one sweet potato washed and sliced thin. I usually peel them but it is not necessary to do that. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Place cut sweet potato on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 3- 4 hours turning once halfway through baking time. For crunchy treats bake slightly longer. Cool on rack. Treats will harden somewhat as they cool. Refrigerate after they cool. They will keep for about 2 weeks in the fridge. I have never found a dog who doesn't like sweet potato treats. My own 3 dogs love them and will all sit next to the counter watching them as they dehydrate, no doubt to make sure I have made them properly


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## 3 goldens (Sep 30, 2005)

I make a turkey stew for my golden and my Pyrenees. Boil ground turkey, chopped fresh sweet potatoes and apples and frozen green beans. Mix it with their kibble at night.

Also, boiled chunks of sweet potatoes make a great treat. Mine think every time I go to the fridge I am going to give them a sweet potato treat. 

By the way, your little guy is sooo cute.


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## macdougallph1 (Oct 13, 2013)

G-bear said:


> If you are looking for high value training treats for Mr. Mack I would recommend dehydrated sweet potato treats. I have never used the store bought version. I bought a food dehydrator and do it myself (that way I know that there are no chemicals or preservatives added to them). If you don't have a dehydrator you can make them in the oven although they do take a bit longer. Here is the "recipe": one sweet potato washed and sliced thin. I usually peel them but it is not necessary to do that. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Place cut sweet potato on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 3- 4 hours turning once halfway through baking time. For crunchy treats bake slightly longer. Cool on rack. Treats will harden somewhat as they cool. Refrigerate after they cool. They will keep for about 2 weeks in the fridge. I have never found a dog who doesn't like sweet potato treats. My own 3 dogs love them and will all sit next to the counter watching them as they dehydrate, no doubt to make sure I have made them properly


Thanks again for this! I planned on trying this this past weekend, but ran out of sweet potatoes. I'm going to pick some up today.  I have no doubt he will love this!!


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Here's a chew recipe you may be interested in trying, it's very similar to the one G-Bear posted. 

Sweet Potato Dog Chew Recipe - Easy to Make Alternative to Rawhide

I have been thinking about getting a dehydrator, I should have put it on my Christmas wish list.....


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## macdougallph1 (Oct 13, 2013)

CAROLINA MOM said:


> Here's a chew recipe you may be interested in trying, it's very similar to the one G-Bear posted.
> 
> Sweet Potato Dog Chew Recipe - Easy to Make Alternative to Rawhide
> 
> I have been thinking about getting a dehydrator, I should have put it on my Christmas wish list.....


Thanks, those look awesome! He would love them and they would occupy him for a little bit.

It's funny that you say that! After G-Bear recommended the sweet potato treats in my other thread, I started wishing I had asked for a dehydrator too! I'll be on the lookout for one on sale


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

I was going to make these for my two until I saw they needed to bake 6 hours in my regular oven. We've been having temps in the mid to upper 70s for the last few weeks and I really didn't want to have my oven on heating up the house that long. 

I ended up just cutting chunks of SP for my two as treats.


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## G-bear (Oct 6, 2015)

Hi everyone. Thought I would let you know that you don't need to buy a high end food dehydrator to make the sweet potato treats. Nesco makes one that costs under $35 that will work absolutely fine for making treats for the pups. I believe Target sells it online. I have one (since I only use it for dog treats I didn't see much point in buying an expensive one)and have used it to make the dogs dried sweet potatoes, apples and bananas. I don't mean to sound like a commercial for this particular brand but it is modestly priced and is very easy clean up. If you decide to go with making your own sweet potato treats I would also recommend purchasing a mandolin slicer as I discovered sweet potatoes are not the easiest thing in the world to slice thinly. I'm pretty sure you can get an inexpensive mandolin slicer for under $25 at most stores that sell kitchen gizmos and gadgets. When you consider the fact that the premade sweet potato treats sell for about $10 a package (and who knows what are really in those?) it isn't such a large investment to make your own treats. And this way you don't have to heat up the house using an oven for a number of hours.


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## macdougallph1 (Oct 13, 2013)

OH...thank you! I'm going to check that out! I can only imagine using the dehydrator for the puppy so I don't want to spend a lot.


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

G-bear said:


> Hi everyone. Thought I would let you know that you don't need to buy a high end food dehydrator to make the sweet potato treats. Nesco makes one that costs under $35 that will work absolutely fine for making treats for the pups. I believe Target sells it online. I have one (since I only use it for dog treats I didn't see much point in buying an expensive one)and have used it to make the dogs dried sweet potatoes, apples and bananas. I don't mean to sound like a commercial for this particular brand but it is modestly priced and is very easy clean up. If you decide to go with making your own sweet potato treats I would also recommend purchasing a mandolin slicer as I discovered sweet potatoes are not the easiest thing in the world to slice thinly. I'm pretty sure you can get an inexpensive mandolin slicer for under $25 at most stores that sell kitchen gizmos and gadgets. When you consider the fact that the premade sweet potato treats sell for about $10 a package (and who knows what are really in those?) it isn't such a large investment to make your own treats. And this way you don't have to heat up the house using an oven for a number of hours.



Thank you so much G-Bear, I have been looking at the dehydrators and was hoping I could go with an inexpensive one since I only plan to use it for making treats for my two. 

You're right, SP are a bear to cut, thanks for the tip about the mandolin slicer too.


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## GoldenCamper (Dec 21, 2009)

If you cut them up and boil no need to peel first. Skin falls right off.


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## macdougallph1 (Oct 13, 2013)

GoldenCamper said:


> If you cut them up and boil no need to peel first. Skin falls right off.


Thanks! I did not know that...Saves a bit of time!

I talked to Mack's vet on Weds when he went in for his 16 week appt. He was 22 lbs and she also didn't seem to think there was any problem doing what I'm doing if it's working. The only down side is he's pooping like 5-6 times a day, but I'll take that if it's solid and much more predictable! Thanks for all of your help and advice. 

Happy New Year Everyone!!


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## Driggsy (Jun 12, 2014)

I feed our dog lots of sweet potato, both cooked and raw, as well as cooked squash, raw carrots, cooked potatoes and green beans. I use the cooked vegetables mashed up and frozen in a kong, he loves them. I started doing all the veggies because all his training treats were making him a little chunky, and he has slimmed right down. He also has great poops (sorry, didn't mean to brag  )

My dehydrator was under 30 bucks on amazon. I make treats using chicken or beef livers from the supermarket (usually 2 bucks a pound, which is a whole lot cheaper than any soft treats you can buy).


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## Rion05 (Jan 4, 2016)

What a CUTIE! OMG, you are giving me puppy fever!

My guy (now 12) had a VERY sensitive stomach until he was about a year of age and we found he did well on small frequent meals of Eagle-Pack Holistic Chicken and Rice. We have tended to stick with poultry diets (we tried beef as a pup, and he may have been sensitive to it), but we have switched to grain-free Merrick Chicken and Sweet Potato (higher protein, fat, less carbs and SWEET POTATO) since his recent cancer diagnosis (treated and he is doing well now!). Like others here, we have also found pumpkin to be a WONDERFUL addition to help get stools back to normal. Best of luck - your pup is adorable!


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## macdougallph1 (Oct 13, 2013)

Mr Mack has been on sweet potato and kibble for almost 2 weeks with perfectly solid stool. For an experiment I tried to swap the sweet potato out for 2 tablespoons of pure organic pumpkin with his breakfast kibble just to switch it up and the dog walker reported he had loose (mushy) stool at lunch time. What is the deal?? lol 

Back to the sweet potato and kibble only!


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

How's cutie pie Mack doing?


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

I would just caution you to be sure they are sweet potatoes and not yams. Yams contain phytoestrogens and could make a boy problem.


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## macdougallph1 (Oct 13, 2013)

I always buy the same bag of organic sweet potatoes. Thank you Prism Goldens because I never even realized there was a difference and at some point may have made that mistake.


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## macdougallph1 (Oct 13, 2013)

CAROLINA MOM said:


> How's cutie pie Mack doing?


Hi Carolina Mom! He's been doing great with the 2 cubes of sweet potato and his kibble (Fromm prairie gold LBP) 2 x a day with the probiotic in the am and nothing else lol. He's been perfectly consistent. :crossfing I did try to add 4 cut frozen green beans (they were like 1" long each so a very small amount) to his dinner a couple of weeks ago and he ended up with very soft stool in the middle of the night that night. It was quickly resolved by reverting to the small meals of sweet pot and boiled ground turkey for a day. So apparently my guy has a very very very sensitive tummy. Hope he grows out of it, but for now I'm just going to stick with whats working. He's happy and growing well! :


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Great to hear Mack is doing better, sorry about the tummy upset from the green beans though. 
Absolutely, stick with what is working for him. All pups and dogs are different just as humans are. 
Some foods work while others don't at all. 

My two certainly have sensitive stomachs, I am careful what I give them. Some treats bother them, think a few I've tried were too rich for them.


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