Were the black poops from both dogs? Are both dogs now having brown spherical ones?

I would have urged that you get the dog(s) producing those black poops to the vet immediately if I hadn't seen the more recent brown poop that is a far more normal (but too spherical) poop. And I would still be watching carefully; nothing is good about those black poops, and I'd be looking at every poop for blood with the intention of getting the dog(s) to the vet if it continues even one more day.

Those black poops would make me stop that pre-mix instantly. But I wouldn't have bought it without a guaranteed analysis anyway.

What else are you feeding? I see red flags here.

I think you made the right move in getting away from anything that produced those black poops (which I would be concerned contained digested blood and indicated possible bleeding in the large intestine, or a worm overload, or a toxin, etc., and the only thing somewhat reassuring is the more recent not-black poop), but you might want to re-start this diet. You want formed brown logs, and a big factor in that will be the correct meat-to-bone ratio.

And where is the organ meat? Where is the small amount of produce? Where is the fish oil and Vitamin E? Two weeks in, you would normally have a complete diet pretty much in place, and a history of good log poops.

So let's start with this: Can you get chicken backs? I would begin tomorrow with more-easily-digested starter RMBs of chicken backs (cheap!), peeled for the first couple of meals, with some boneless muscle meat added, and watch the poops carefully both for any more blood and for formed logs.

I think some of the raw feeders here will post the variety they feed to give you the idea of how iffy this diet is (particularly with no real knowledge of what the heck is in that pre-made stuff).

But I urge that you re-start with one item, adding and adjusting based on the poops that result.

Are the dogs acting OK? Not lethargic, appetite good?

This is all JMO. I'm not a health professional. I have to say that my first move with that black poop would have been a vet visit and immediate discontinuation of that food.

I'm glad you posted here, and glad you moved away from the mystery food.

.... I just found a restraunt wholesale supplier that has chicken backs soup bones is this the same thing? $21.36 for 40lbs.

.... I won't be able to get chicken backs until Sunday. What about chicken necks in the meantime?

 Quote: Michael Lalla

.... I just found a restraunt wholesale supplier that has chicken backs soup bones is this the same thing? $21.36 for 40lbs.

Almost certainly yes. Chicken backs are considered to be soup parts in the "people food" world (and in fact ARE terrific for making stock).

But just to make sure they don't mean backs PLUS some kind of meatless bones, do you have a link or photo?

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Michael Lalla

.... I just found a restraunt wholesale supplier that has chicken backs soup bones is this the same thing? $21.36 for 40lbs.

Almost certainly yes. Chicken backs are considered to be soup parts in the "people food" world (and in fact ARE terrific for making stock).

But just to make sure they don't mean backs PLUS some kind of meatless bones, do you have a link or photo?

No link or photos. I would have to pay to get the product from one wholesaler. A local market told be they will order me a case and it will be here Sunday. And that's $.49 a pound. So I will have to wait till Sunday to see it.

"The pre-made chicken stuff is in frozen blocks same with the Beef. Many AZ breeders in the Pit Bull scene used this product for years with no issues. "

Black poops on a regular basis are an issue, to me.

You'd expect it if, say, the dogs had pigged out on a bunch of very bloody deer carcass (like the part left sitting in the collected blood) or something like that, but as a regular diet, if indeed the black poops are a result of digested blood from the food, I'd consider that to mean that I was probably getting an awful lot of blood in that meat .... much more than naturally "comes" in muscle meat and RMBs. That is, I would probably figure that either blood was added for extra weight or the chopped or ground meat had sat in pooled blood for extended periods. Neither beef nor poultry as it "comes" will have enough blood in it to trigger black poops like that.

This would explain a lot, but you didn't answer (or I missed it) when I asked if both dogs were producing black stools before and brown ones now, or just one dog. This answer is important when you're thinking about whether the digested blood came from the pre-mix or not.

IMO, sometimes ingesting a bunch of extra blood is not a problem per se, but if it's so regular that it's triggering consistently black poops, then I would be pretty uneasy about where the real weight in the mix was coming from. I wouldn't have any idea what the meat-to-bone ratio really was. I'd probably also be uneasy about how it had been handled.

Dogs are scavengers with pretty good mechanisms allowing them to eat a wide range of stuff, but I'd still want the daily, regular base of the diet to be something I could identify and had at least a good idea of its meat and bone content. I also don't want to have to see black poops, making an actual internal-bleeding issue almost impossible to see.

JMO. Not everyone will agree with everything I've said here.