brihop Posted October 5, 2018 Report Share Posted October 5, 2018 Hi All, Just a quick question. My 5 month old is getting a handful and a half of Puppy food in the morning and again in the evening. When training or on our walk I also give treats which on occasion could be more than he gets in a full meal. He appears to be perfectly normal, even still on the skinny/leggy puppy stage. The only reason I am asking this question is he poops like a Great Dane, long and firm and usually in two instalments at a time. Makes me wonder where is he fitting that in his skinny tummy? Probably just being paranoid but wondered if anyone would have an opinion. Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy1961 Posted October 5, 2018 Report Share Posted October 5, 2018 My puppy Harry is exactly the same, I do wonder where it all comes from, he can poop in 4 different places when he only eats about 250 grams of food a day. I am still giving him 3 small meals a day which he eats it all straight away. He has just finished a 6 week puppy course where the treats and chicken pieces given were like an extra meal. He weighed 10 kilos at his last weigh in at the vets at 16 weeks, but he seems to have grown a lot since and is the same with long legs, he can now reach anything on the kitchen worktop and on top of my fireplace, which is just great!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted October 5, 2018 Report Share Posted October 5, 2018 As a direct answer to your topic question, it depends on the condition of the dog or puppy. If he's not pudgy, then he's fine. What some people do during the intense training stages of puppy- and early adulthood is to cut back on the regular food to compensate or to withhold a certain amount of the meals' kibble to use as training rewards so the puppy isn't being overfed. But it sounds like you're doing just fine as it is. Just keep any eye on how he's doing and if he starts getting a palpable layer of fat over his ribs cut back on the kibble a bit to compensate. You may have to increase his meals a bit after that as he learns and isn't needing as many food rewards during training. As fa as the volume of poop goes, that's the result of such a large amount of indigestible fillers in commercial dog food. What doesn't get digested comes out the other end in the same volume it went in. My dogs are raw fed and their stools are much smaller (and much less smelly) than those of dogs fed kibble because a far higher percentage of what they eat is actually digested. Dogs, unlike humans, don't require carbohydrates and fiber for good digestion. I pet sit and I'm constantly amazed by the amount of waste kibble fed dogs produce in comparison to mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brihop Posted October 5, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2018 Thanks both for your reply. 4 minutes ago, GentleLake said: As a direct answer to your topic question, it depends on the condition of the dog or puppy. If he's not pudgy, then he's fine. What some people do during the intense training stages of puppy- and early adulthood do is to cut back on the regular food to compensate or to withhold a certain amount of the meals' kibble to use as training rewards so the puppy isn't being overfed. But it sounds like you're doing just fine as it is. Just keep any eye on how he's doing and if he starts getting a palpable layer of fat over his ribs cut back on the kibble a bit to compensate. You may have to increase his meals a bit after that as he learns and isn't needing as many food rewards during training. As fa as the volume of poop goes, that's the result of such a large amount of indigestible fillers in commercial dog food. What doesn't get digested comes out the other end in the same volume it went in. My dogs are raw fed and their stools are much smaller (and much less smelly) than those of dogs fed kibble because a far higher percentage of what they eat is actually digested. Dogs, unlike humans, don't require carbohydrates and fiber for good digestion. I pet sit and I'm constantly amazed by the amount of waste kibble fed dogs produce in comparison to mine. Gentle Lake, What do you feed your dog as far as raw food goes? and what portions do you feel would be suitable for a 5 month old? Curious as I have never considered raw feeding. Thanks again Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted October 5, 2018 Report Share Posted October 5, 2018 LOL That's not a quick answer, Brian. You might try doing a keyword search here using "raw." I've outlined the basics and given some of my practices in other threads. One recently was I think in a thread about grain free foods. If you have any questions after reading what's already been written, feel free to ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rush Fan Posted October 5, 2018 Report Share Posted October 5, 2018 I feed Mancer Dr. Tim's Kinesis all life stages formula kibble (regular formula, NOT grain free). She typically poops twice a day in relatively small amounts. When I fed her Taste of the Wild she pooped considerably more. She was younger then too so thst could have been a factor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShellyF Posted October 6, 2018 Report Share Posted October 6, 2018 Our pup is nearly six months and we are now seeing him need less food (he stopped rattling his bowl at lunchtime so we knew it was ok to cut it out) but it’s still 2.5 cups of Acana large breed puppy food. He gets a cup for breakfast, a cup for supper and 1/2 cup are his training treats. Despite having the same each day, some days he can do two large piles of poop a day and some days we end up with four great piles! Mostly it’s firm/soft and occasionally it’s more soft/very soft. But then some days he finds a pile of rabbit poo to chow down on! i used to worry but he continues to grow properly and remains nice and slim. I guess some days are just super poop days haha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted October 6, 2018 Report Share Posted October 6, 2018 3 hours ago, ShellyF said: Mostly it’s firm/soft and occasionally it’s more soft/very soft. Soft stools can be the result of overfeeding. How's his condition? The volume is because of all the indigestible (and nutritionally useless) plant matter in the kibble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShellyF Posted October 6, 2018 Report Share Posted October 6, 2018 I agree that raw meat would probably be ideal but kibble is where we are at and the Acana one is pretty good. Even the soft poops are pretty well formed. The vet says he is in excellent condition. I hear what you are saying though re over feeding and I will keep a close eye to make sure he doesn’t have very soft poops other than on ad hoc occasions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted October 6, 2018 Report Share Posted October 6, 2018 I wasn't advocating for any style of feeding over another, just offering a possible explanation for what you're seeing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShellyF Posted October 6, 2018 Report Share Posted October 6, 2018 22 minutes ago, GentleLake said: I wasn't advocating for any style of feeding over another, just offering a possible explanation for what you're seeing. All good - I know you are being helpful and it is appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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