Hi all,

I made the switch cold turkey 5 days ago with my two, 2yr old standards and I've found very little poop. But what I did find was full of fat and STANK like rotting meat. (I have been feeding leg quarters. Wanted to start with backs but had to special order) The other couple of stools were mushy, but not like the pudding poop you'd get with kibble. A little solid and then just mush. When I pick it up it smears all over the grass and smells really gross. So my question is, what is RMB poop supposed to look and smell like??

And to top it off, I just brought in a puppy and the stool sample came back with coccidia, I went ahead and switched puppy to raw anyway and giving her albon. Vet says no need to give it to the adults. Probably a bad time to switch foods but I was out of kibble and didn't want to buy anymore!

Really excited about feeding raw, when should stool be normal and should I buy some pro-biotics? Poodles are known for having sensitive stomachs.

THANKS!

Raw-fed poop from a healthy dog is not like that.

Have they all been tested for coccidia? Sounds like they should be.

Yes, I agree that this is not the best time to make a food switch because you have no way of knowing what's doing what.

But healthy raw-fed dogs do not have poop like you described, even if they react very poorly (say, with too much fat all at once) and have diarrhea.

Hi Vanessa,

I am not the expert here, but have been raw feeding for about one year now. My experience is that there was a drastic reduction in smell and bulk of the waste when switching to all raw.

I would suspect the coccidia as to why it smells so bad. That and a possible detoxification from the dogs prior diet.

When I switched mine a year ago, I also did cold turkey and had noticed immediate improvement of both the smell as well as the bulk.

It is always advisable to get your dogs on pro-biotics as it will help with the transition and help build the good intestinal flora. I also supplement with some plain Kefir or good quality yogurt which many dogs really love to eat. That is another way to get some good types of positive bacteria introduced to their gut.

Hey, great job just making the decision to go all raw. It is something that once you start, becomes a fascination waiting to see all the positive effects it will have on your dogs!

Just make sure that you are also giving the diet a chance by adding slowly, the fat off the chicken or other RMB's, as well as go slow when adding organ meats such as liver.
It is helpful to cut off much of the fat at first, then adding it back slowly once you have firmer poops.
If you add too much fat all at once, or too much liver, you can expect a runnier stool.
But I really wonder about the coccida could be making some trouble for you. I am sure that once the Albon kicks in that it should help diminish some of your problem.
Good luck to you!

I would definitely make sure the other dogs don't have any parasites or anything else too. When we switched cold turkey, this board told me to go with backs and plain chicken first. Kasey still gets loose poops with leg quarters even though we've been feeding raw for 1 1/2 yrs now. They have more fat and harder to digest bone pieces (the leg bone) than backs.

But the smell shouldn't been that bad on raw! I would suspect something else.

Welcome to the clan of raw feeders and poop experts.

I've been raw feeding for umpteen years but can't recall the smell getting anything but better from the start. Both dogs are having the same problems with smell and form? As others said, I'd suspect the foul smell is related to some other health issue. As for form, you should get reasonably formed poop after their systems make the adjustment to the diet change. That's quite a change for the system of a kibble-fed dog to suddenly go raw - it just takes a little time. You're starting off with leg quarters which take a little more internal processing than the softer-bones backs. I would expect to see an improvement within a few days and/or by adding backs - but that's assuming a vet has cleared them of other issues.

That said, even though it's my GSD's standard diet, there are times when things come out real soft for a day or so, but it's always gone back to normal. I prefer not to make too many changes of any kind too close together - adding more organ meats, supplements, veggies, etc. - because it makes it more difficult to know what may have caused a good or bad result. I've used probiotics for some time for allergies (yogurt, kefir, capsules) and they are good in general for the gut microflora, but I don't think they'll help much with digestion per se. OTOH, digestive enzymes could be beneficial. I've never used them, so don't have any recommendations other than these.

I think when you get the backs, you'll see a positive change, but I'd also want to be sure there wasn't some other contributing problem.

Mike

Thanks guys, the backs should be in the butcher tomorrow. We did bloodwork on the dogs to test for heartworm and some other stuff just a few days ago, but didn't do a stool sample. Stools were normal up until the change. I will cut the fat off of the quarters tomorrow morning, that should be the last feeding before the backs come in.

I just started the coccidia puppy on raw today, the other two last week.

Unfortunetly I haven't actually SEEN them poop, so I'm not sure if it's just one who is having the weird poop or both. I've been leaving them out for a few hours at a time so they have just gone when I wasn't looking. I will crate them when gone and supervise outside so I can figure out whose poop it is.

So should it look like normal kibble poop?

I forgot to mention the blood test he ran for heartworms was negative, I'm not sure what else he tested, worms etc.... the test was run to put them on preventative heartworm meds.

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So should it look like normal kibble poop?

Actually if you get the right ratio of everything, the poop typically will be very small and compact, and firm, usually in one log. Sorry for the graphics but that is what it looks like.

It is actually very different from kibble poop. You will also find that it the bulk as well as frequency should be less compared to kibble.

Thinking back, when I fed kibble the frequency was a couple times per day compared to either once or twice a day and the mass was greatly diminished.
BTW all great benefits of feeding raw!
Also my dogs just love various necks if available they are great to feed as well.
I give duck, chicken and turkey necks and they just love them.

Thanks, no poop talk is too graphic for me, I have a two year old and 5 dogs!!

I just saw my female go, it was basically pudding but a small amount and it seemed kind of mucusy - I think it's from the fat. They're not going frequently, like they would if they had diarrhea.

Just my two cents, here.

I'm not one of the experts, but I've been on raw over a year.

My (dog's) poop looks like a Tootsie Roll (well, actually, a fun size Tootsie Roll, but my dog is small).

Like one of the other posters, sometimes her poop gets a little soft, but firms back up in a day or two depending on how much bone/muscle/organ meat she is getting.

After a while, you get a feel for how much of what, but definitely the backs and necks.

I couldn't get backs and necks for a long time, so I got whole chickens and cut them up to get the back and neck.