Ask Me Help Desk - Dog Poop "Schedule"

Hi again,
Yet another pooping question... my dog (year old lab mix) always has to poop A LOT in the morning. Sometimes he squats 3-5 times! Is this normal? The poop is relatively normal looking--I was also the person asking questions about the Nutro food. You said this can produce large, loose stools. Is that what is causing it? Is this amount of poop normal? Also, after that, he usually doesn't poop for the rest of the day, even at his evening walk at 10 pm. Is THAT normal?

Sigh, the joys of a new dog owner...

It is the cheaper foods, not Nutro that should cause large soft stools. What you are seeing is not common, but may be OK. Part of the reason I cut my puppies back to one meal in the morning, it that they have their bowel movements over with by the time I take them out in the afternoon and evening. If otherwise things are working for you and the dog, I would stick with what you are doing.

This is just my experience, but the same sort of thing was happening with my lab. Ever since I got her (she's 6 months now, I got her at 6 weeks), she's always had a bit of runny and/or excessive stool problem. She's been absolutely fine in all other respects. She acts like a normal crazy lab puppy. I talked to my vet about it, and he prescribed her some Dapps and dewormed her. It helped, but when the medication was gone, her excessive stools came back. Then treated her for giardia. That medication helped also, but as soon as it ran out, her problem came back within a few days. So then he suggested I switch foods. I was feeding her Nurto Natural Choice, which I think is a really good food. My vet suggested I switch her to Pro Plan to see if it would help. Last week I mixed her foods, and this is the first week she's eaten just the Pro Plan, and it seems to be a lot easier on her digestive system.

I can guarantee that Pro Plan produces small, firm stools with most dogs. I have read many glowing accounts of Nutro, but have no personal experience with it or reliable information. How any dog reacts to a given food varies. I had to feed my Lucky 6 cups a day of Pro Plan, and he produced larger, softer stools than the other 10 dogs I fed it too.

Hi,
Other answers have been given in regards to stools color, consistency, etc. I would like to add that when you read the ingredients listed on the dog food bag or box, look at what the first ingredient is. If it says "corn", then you might want to look at another dog food. Normally, one that says maybe "fish", "turkey", or other substance is better than "corn".
If you think your dog is constipated, give a tablespoon or two of Mineral Oil. They like it, and it works!
Best of luck with your new dog.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fredg

Hi,
snip....
If you think your dog is constipated, give a tablespoon or two of Mineral Oil. They like it, and it works!
Best of luck with your new dog.

NO! Never give a dog a laxative without a vet examining it carefully.
If it is constipated because of a bowel obstruction, the mineral oil could kill it. Maybe his vet recommended it sometime after carefully examining his dog. It is extremely dangerous to treat your dog with what worked for somebody else's dog in what may be a very different case.

Dogs don't have that much problem with constipation, and it certainly isn't the problem in this thread. I have been around dog sites a long time, and never saw anybody that knew much suggesting medical tretments without a veternarian examining the dog first.

This is another outrageously dangerous post by somebody that gained his ''Ultra Expert'' status by posting many answers in subject areas he knows little about. Unfortunately we currently have a few trolls manipulating the new rating system to make themselves look good.