I started my 10-month-old akita puppy raw chicken 1 1/2 weeks ago. He loves the new food of course. I have been feeding him wings, legs quarters, and necks. He has no problems chewing the bones, with the exception of the leg bone which he leaves behind. In addition to the chicken, he also gets a dollop of yogurt or a little cottage cheese, 1000mg of Vitamin C, and 1000mg of salmon oil, all of which he had before starting on the raw chicken.

Everything went smoothly with the change over to raw. However, I noticed that he was straining to defecate. In addition to that, he became very grumpy and restless. Saturday morning he completely ignored his breakfast where before he would not step away from his dish until it was empty. Figuring that he was constipated, I gave him a tablespoon of mineral oil hoping to help things along. The mineral oil did help. He seems fine now...attitude much improved, BM's regular and not straining as much, etc.

Since Saturday, I had begun to add a tablespoon of raw pumpkin to help keep him "regular."

Did anyone’s dog experience constipation when first moved onto the raw diet? And if so, what measures did you take to prevent it in the future? Also, will a small amount of mineral oil in his daily ration be detrimental to his diet/health?

Thank you in advance!

The only time I have encountered constipation in my dogs while eating raw was when feeding pork necks.

Just from the foods you have listed I would be guessing that you are feeding too many bones, and you do not mention any muscle meats. The more bones you feed the firmer the stools.

I would not get in the habit of feeding mineral oil to my dog. There are other ways to loosen him up with some nutritional benefit. Canned Pumpkin (PLAIN) will both firm up diarreah and loosen constipated dogs. Above ground veggies also help to loosen stools.

Try adding more variety in the way of meats. Ground HB, or turkey, or even canned or fresh fish. Liver will also loosen things up! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Most of all, listen to him. If he can't digest what you are feeding him, then you need to change it. Adding mineral oil is only slapping a band-aid on the problem.

I did forget to list that I feed him chicken liver, hearts, and gizzards too (mostly gizzards they are CHEAP) daily with his other food.

I dont think a daily pumpkin dose will hurt and i do feed veggie mush a few times a week myself.

While we certainly have firmer stools and have to control meat:bone we have not had a constipation problem.

Just for thought - I know that too much BARF can make the stools loose -- could too little make them too dense? I don't know. Not stating you are not feeding enough just speculating.

I think that on average high bone content makes the stool firmer. I heard people saying that their dogs got runs from this raw meat or that. It sound like it's all very individual.

When I first changed to raw my two got a bit constipated, now I feed half raw chicken, necks, frames, legs and the other half is a roll made by a small local company. Potatos, pumpkin, carrots, beans, peas, rice and minced beef lightly steamed, no preservatives or coloring or flavours. I add a supplement called Missing Link based on dried liver and fresh dried veges. Stools are firm and only one quarter the amount they were passing when on commercial food.
Dot

My guy seems better. I upped the muscle meat portion of his meals. And I have added beef liver or beef kidney to his meals too. He does still strain quite a bit when having a BM but at least it is productive. I guess it is just the difference between raw and kibble. And he is not showing signs of stomach pain or discomfort so I am not panicking.