Guys I’m hoping to find some advice on here about raw feeding, I’ve read the following books raw dog food, feeding raw diet and feed your dog RMBs good books but do not answer my question on loose stool to diarrhea . Puppy is now about 20 weeks old started her raw when I got her at 12 weeks I started her with chicken thighs and THK 3 times a day.
Breakfast ¼ cup THK plus 1 chicken thigh
Lunch 1 chicken thigh
Dinner 1 chicken thigh

Equal around 1 pound a day its 2% of her ideal body weight, I also have been removing the skin on the thighs until I had consistently good poop. My question is sometimes her poops are good and sometimes she gets very loose stools to diarrhea, I can’t understand why I thought it was treats I used for training so I switched to different ones then when that didn’t help I stopped the teats and just used small pieces of raw chicken for training. I have also used the natural digest pills to see if that would help not much change. Also she has been to the vet for a checkup and is fine.
So why is it that sometimes good solid poop and then loose poop to diarrhea? The last day it’s been diarrhea and I’m getting fed up and was considering stopping the raw and going with something else but I don’t want to do that so I'm trying to get some advice.
Thank you

Hi Brett, I am wondering if you still might be giving too much of the skin.

Try cutting back on the skin, and see if that resolves the problem.
The skin is all fat , and can really trigger diarrhea if given too much at once.
Same with organ meats. Small amounts, added slowly.

As long as the vet has checked out pups fecals, and said all was clear you should
be ok there. If not, it wouldn't hurt to drop a sample off to have that checked.

You could also try giving a teaspoon of plain unflavored canned
pumpkin, not pie filling.
This usually helps regulate the stool.

First try cutting back the skin, and let us know how that goes.
I would put my guess on that being the trouble.

ETA, I would also add some probiotics to the pups diet. If you can find one that has digestive enzymes in it too, this will help the pups gut.
If you have that already continue to give that.

How much does the puppy weigh?

It's either too much fat, too much food, or illness.

We'll get this narrowed down.

 Quote: brett zoerb

chicken thighs and THK 3 times a day.
Breakfast ¼ cup THK plus 1 chicken thigh
Lunch 1 chicken thigh
Dinner 1 chicken thigh

So, the diet is this everyday? THK every meal, too?

This basically all chicken thighs diet has me concerned about a little more than diarrhea. There is a serious lack of completeness here.

Chicken thighs with a dab of THK just won't cut it for a growing pup's diet. Possibly consider making THK the main part of the diet with some RMB add ins per the directions on the THK package.

 Quote: Michael_Wise

This basically all chicken thighs diet has me concerned about a little more than diarrhea. There is a serious lack of completeness here.

Chicken thighs with a dab of THK just won't cut it for a growing pup's diet. Possibly consider making THK the main part of the diet with some RMB add ins per the directions on the THK package.

Very good point Michael. THK 3 X a day would be needed to get all the nutrients needed for a growing pup.
Also any chance you could get chicken necks and backs , just better bone to muscle ratio.

 Quote: brett zoerb

I also have been removing the skin on the thighs until I had consistently good poop.

How did you introduce the skin once the poop was good? Small bits one one meal per day, then gradual increase? Or just leave everything on at each meal?

I think this is either too much skin all at once, or the bone/meat ratio of the chicken thighs. Depending on the cut, there can be too much muscle meat and not enough bone to create the perfect poops that should be seen.

To start, add the pumpkin. Then see if you can find the neck or backs as previously mentioned, then I would mix each meal with THK and a cut of chicken. So 1/3 cup THK per meal, and the RMB's.

Once the pup has been intro'd to the chicken and is having consistently good poops, then I would start with SLOW intros to other protein sources, to increase the variety.

I don't have access to THK where I live (will be getting some in AK this spring ) so maybe someone with more experience can touch on adding the greens/veggies to THK, and whether its appropriate and/or useful.

I'f feed boiled chicken, no bones, and boiled rice for a few days and see if the diarrhea settles down.If he has a bunch of bones, old marrow bones, laying around, throw out any that have become disgusting. If the squirts continue, consider taking a stool specimen into your vet to be examined. They can check for parasites and some offices can check for salmonella.
All sources of raw chicken are not equal.Big box chicken in bulk quantity can be trouble IME especially if you don't freeze it right away. Regarding skin, I don't think it is the skin itself promoting digestive upset but the bacteria present on the skin. Be sure to rinse the chicken really well before feeding it---if it is starting to smell, it is not appropriate for a pup.

Thanks for all the replies; I take the main skin off the thigh leaving whatever shin fat does not come off on the thigh. So maybe that is too much still? Also, before I started giving the whole thigh I would just cut up the chicken into the THK 3x a day then gradually just the thigh 2x a day and THK ¼ cup and thigh. Maybe too much too soon, I also have given her some venison but not much of it. I get the food right into the freezer it’s not bad or smelly at all I would cook it and eat it myself no problem. I tried to get chicken backs with no luck around my area as of yet. Today I’m just giving her overcooked rice and put a little THK on top of it till her stomach is better. Also, right now she is 30 lbs and 50 is idle body weight.
So I give her 1/3 cup THK 3x / day with the chicken thigh all 99% skin removed you guys think? Eventually I will add different meats organs etc but was just following what the book said about sticking to one type of meat until they get use to it.

What everyone else has said...I'll add...chicken thighs are dark meat so it's much richer than breast (white) meat, which can cause loose poop. I would definitely mix up thigh with white meat. Have you tried wings? I feed wings almost every day. You can separate into three pieces or feed whole, and add muscle meat. You may try turkey - I'm not a big fan of chicken due to it's mass production. Also, be careful with enhanced meats - the sodium content (I think) should be no more than 4mg. If you can find organic that would probably be best (more expensive, but maybe feed while he's a young).

What breed is she? How much does she weigh right now?

Just exactly what kind of diarrhea are we talking about? Watery or just soft stool?

If it is really watery, please be aware that the pup could easily get dehydrated.

I would feed just for now, boiled chicken, and soupy over boiled rice in very small meals until the diarrhea subsides.
I would reserve the boiled chicken water let it cool and use this as baited water to give the pup as much as he wants.
You can even buy unflavored Pedia lyte to add to that for extra hydration and electrolytes.

I would not be giving the HK right now, too many veggies that could be hard on the tract right now.


ETA, if the pup gets lethargic and is not drinking enough fluids make sure you get the pup into your Vet ASAP.
This is not to scare you, just be aware puppies can easily get dehydrated if the diarrhea gets severe.