# Dog poop...hard,dry and funny colour.



## loubyfrog (Feb 29, 2012)

Sorry for the title......

Just wondering why Bubs poop is a bit strange atm.

His poop is very hard (I can hearing it falling onto the decking from indoors) and comes out in round bits rather than one piece.

Its also a beigey colour and looks quite old even though it's fresh.

Do you think Bubs could be constipated (he goes twice a day) and if so what do you suggest. He has Applaws dry with some wet wainwrights mixed in.

For treats Bubs has the usual,pizzles,beef throat lambskin,fish skin etc.

any suggestions....Could it be because I don't give him any veg or could it be something else?

Thanks and sorry for the TMI on the poop description.


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## Jasper's Bloke (Oct 30, 2009)

Sounds very much like too much bone in a raw diet, pale, small, hard poops, no smell and seem to be difficult to pass. Although initially solid they appear dry/chalky and will turn to powder if left. Seeing as you are not feeding raw it must be something else he is eating with a lot of calcium in it, my guess would be the beefy treats or a variance in your current batch of wet food.

How long has it been like this and can you tie it to any changes in his diet, different treats etc. The normal remedy on a raw diet would be to cut down on bone intake and increase offal, there is a recommended amount but as with all feeding guides it is a balancing act, get it wrong and you jump straight to the other extreme (been there, done that).

Is he drinking plenty? It has been relatively warm this week and a touch of dehydration might also explain it. Wainwrights trays have veg mixed in them so doubt its anything to do with that.

Failing an obvious culprit you could try adding some oily fish like sardines to his dry instead of the WW, don't think there is a fish version is there (?) but Naturdiet do one and their trays are similar to WW, however, a normal tin of sardines or mackeral would do just as well to help, erm, easy the way.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

loubyfrog said:


> Sorry for the title......
> 
> Just wondering why Bubs poop is a bit strange atm.
> 
> ...


Hard dry poop can and especially if they are having a bit of a struggle passing it can mean constipation. Small round broken up bits or nuggets can be another sign too.

Perfect poops should be firm in one lump. moist and can be picked up easily, and just leave a slight moisture residue on the ground.

If he is on just dried food and dried type treats, and doesn't drink a lot of water then even that can cause hard dry faeces, because any moisture the body needs will be sucked out what moisture in in the food more.
You could try, adding water to his dry kibble or at least some of his meals and then feeding it immediately or let it soak up the water for a minute or two before feeding and see if that helps, if he doesn't drink as much as he should.

If you want too you can check if he is drinking enough and if that may be a cause. Text book water consumption for a dog per day is 20/70ml per Kg of body weight per day. You will get a variation with individuals, what diet they are on (dry fed should drink more then wet fed) temperature/exercise and how much they pant. That's the guide though.

If you know his weight, then you measure everything you put in his bowl or that you take out for him to drink if your going out. At the end of 24 hours you then measure and subtract anything that's left from the amount you have put down and subtract it. If you do that for a few days you should be able to tell how much he is drinking. If you change anything you are doing at the moment like adding water to his kibble first though obviously it will throw off the results you may have if you do it now.


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## loubyfrog (Feb 29, 2012)

Jasper's Bloke said:


> Sounds very much like too much bone in a raw diet, pale, small, hard poops, no smell and seem to be difficult to pass. Although initially solid they appear dry/chalky and will turn to powder if left. Seeing as you are not feeding raw it must be something else he is eating with a lot of calcium in it, my guess would be the beefy treats or a variance in your current batch of wet food.
> 
> How long has it been like this and can you tie it to any changes in his diet, different treats etc. The normal remedy on a raw diet would be to cut down on bone intake and increase offal, there is a recommended amount but as with all feeding guides it is a balancing act, get it wrong and you jump straight to the other extreme (been there, done that).
> 
> ...


He's been like this the last 10 days.I haven't changed his diet at all but have noticed in the last box of wet trays the meat has been a lot harder to mash up so wondering if they've changed the recipe.

A lot has changed at home in the last few weeks so wondering id Bubs is a little down and that could cause it.

Think I have some sardines in the cupboard so will try popping some in with his dry and see if they make a difference....thanks



Sled dog hotel said:


> Hard dry poop can and especially if they are having a bit of a struggle passing it can mean constipation. Small round broken up bits or nuggets can be another sign too.
> 
> Perfect poops should be firm in one lump. moist and can be picked up easily, and just leave a slight moisture residue on the ground.
> 
> ...


Bubs has wet and dry food and I also add cooled boiled water to his food too.

Will work out how much he should drink (thanks for the advice on how much he should be drinking) but he does drink 2 big bowls a day.... but maybe thats not enough....will use the higher ml of water seen as he's on dry food and see how much he drinks.

He does tend to prefer to sit out in the sun rather than the shade in the garden,even though I put his mats out in the shade so he pretty well could be dehydrated.....the silly sausage.

Thanks for your help SDH and JB....here's to softer and squdgier poopies.


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## Jasper's Bloke (Oct 30, 2009)

With wet trays I don't think it's the recipe that varies, but the source, so some batches could theoretically contain more bone. The best way to tell would be to cut out the trays for a period if he will eat the dry without it, or use a temporary alternative, tinned chappie is good for getting tums back on track.

I used to feed ww trays exclusively and still sometimes use naturdiet, and I know that poops do become smaller and firmer. 10 days is rather a long time for him to be struggling, but if he is otherwise eating and drinking normally and is well in himself I wouldn't worry about it. Might be worth switching to another batch of trays and seeing if that helps, you could still feed in the current batch over time.


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## Rafa (Jun 18, 2012)

loubyfrog said:


> He's been like this the last 10 days.I haven't changed his diet at all but have noticed in the last box of wet trays the meat has been a lot harder to mash up so wondering if they've changed the recipe.
> 
> A lot has changed at home in the last few weeks so wondering id Bubs is a little down and that could cause it.
> 
> ...


How old is he? Two big bowls of water a day sounds like an awful lot to me.

Something seems to be making him very thirsty.


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## Renata (Mar 18, 2013)

He needs more fibre in his diet. Try to add some vegetables to his food.


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## shinra (Aug 9, 2013)

I know the grain free turkey wainwright trays can cause poop like this as it does it to my dog also. Although it balances other foods out as he suffers with loose stools on anything else.


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## Jasper's Bloke (Oct 30, 2009)

How is Bubs doing? Any change?


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