In my experience, this is an ongoing thing--something that you have to continuously monitor. It's a fine balance between a good firm poop and too hard. One big benefit of feeding raw is the firmness of the poop helps keep anal glands clear. I've never had to manually express an anal gland.

But it is a fine line. I'm no longer an avid poop-watcher, but I do make a point to notice whether or not any individual dog is straining to poop. Then I can adjust the next meal if need be. My tendency is to sometimes err on the too-bony side in preparing meals--and I can always tell I've gotten too much bone in the mix if the dog gets into position but takes more than a few seconds to start to produce poop.

When this happens, I'll usually give them either a bit more muscle meat, or some additional fiber in the next meal like pumpkin (a teaspoon of plain psyllium also works well)...and then I try to make a mental note to use less bone next time I make up meals. But it's tricky to get it just right every time, especially when using a wide variety of meal ingredients.

Feed, poop, adjust, repeat.

Yes, I'm with you, with that whole message. And we kinda don't know for sure what this dog's "normal" is, since he's relatively new to his home and new to raw. But when I read that he has sometimes had normal (or what I would call normal, average, typical raw-fed) log poops, then I start to be more convinced that a little tinkering is in order to (1) ascertain what normal is for him, and (2) what level of calcium (within the range of acceptable) is right for him.

The diet descriptions sound fine, but the half-of-a-crushed-shell addition is, I am guessing, almost a gram of calcium (depending a lot on egg size and a little on quality of shell). This is enough calcium to properly supplement a whole pound of boneless muscle meat, and it's being given with 1/4 pound, if I'm reading this right.

I betcha that omitting this and adding a little pumpkin for a little bulk will result in a much different poop. Then, depending on what you see, the pumpkin will probably be omitted and the poop will probably be good logs. (The pumpkin right now is my way of helping to ensure that the sudden change from what sounds like a calcium-heavy ratio doesn't result in a little bout of diarrhea, which you don't want. Probably wouldn't happen, but still ..... )

This is what I would do. I hope I'm not making it sound complicated or persnickety, because I don't mean it to be. I would just like to (a) see normal logs and then (b) go from there to keep them like that.

Louie had dark colored diarrhea Friday morning (8am) and night around (6:30pm) and hasn't pooped since. We fed him 8 oz ground beef Friday night, 8 oz ground beef + 3 oz pumpkin Sat morning, and 4 oz ground chicken + 3 oz pumpkin Sat night. Just took him for his midnight walk and he still hasn't tried to poop. His demeanor/behavior seems normal though. When should I start getting worried? Should I try to induce poop with the match stick/vaseline method at some point?

P.S. He puked a little bit of his breakfast and dinner up too maybe 2 hours after he ate. (very little... almost like a burp)

What did he eat in the 48 hours leading up to Friday morning?

No, I would not try to induce pooping. Nothing more than walking to get things moving.

48 hours before the grounds meats/pumpkin diet was 2 oz of cooked chicken, 7 oz of ground beef, and 12 oz of chicken rmb (thighs, drumsticks, necks).

To my relief he just pooped on his morning walk. The consistency was solid and moist (and not crumbly at all). And he didn't strain at all.. squat, 2-3 seconds, and it came out. Below is a picture of the poop and the order it came out in. I figure it's more "accurate" than me trying to describe it. Are all 3 considered logs or only the first one? Does it look ok?



*****POOP PICTURE ALERT... DO NOT CLICK IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE POOP*****














http://www.rocafella.org/louie/louie_poop1.jpg

Update: Louie's poop has since returned to a regularish schedule. I'm assuming the lack of responses means the poop is looking quite ordinary and is a good thing.

Thanks for the pumpkin and muscle meat/rmb balance suggestions Connie and Mike. We will continue to play around with it to find a good balance for Louie.

 Quote: Simon Tai

Update: Louie's poop has since returned to a regularish schedule. I'm assuming the lack of responses means the poop is looking quite ordinary and is a good thing.

Thanks for the pumpkin and muscle meat/rmb balance suggestions Connie and Mike. We will continue to play around with it to find a good balance for Louie.

Oh, sorry -- I hadn't noticed the post yet. YES! That is what you were aiming for! The odd coloration is normal from the pumpkin. And see how it's really probably mostly one log but just broken? Completely normal! You will want to watch it so it doesn't get softer now. It will get a little drier (good).

Good job! And no straining is so much better for the dog! :-)

Sorry Simon!

Yes, that looks fine.

Maybe a little mucous or "wet", but nothing abnormal for a poop on a walk or after a small bout of diarrhea. Looks fine.

 Quote: Simon Tai

We will continue to play around with it to find a good balance for Louie.

Yup, that's what ya gotta do. Eventually you'll know him well enough that you don't have to *try*. You'll just feed him based on what you learn about how he handles certain things.

Damn, Connie beat me to the poop pic.

Simon, Congrats! And stunning poop - REALLY!!! You must be so proud!! (hehehe).

You made Michael's day posting a pic of poop. He won't stop smiling all day. Maybe I'll thrill him later and post a video of a dog eating RAW.