[hbwright]

This is our 4th day feeding raw for my boxer and doberman. The doberman's stools are doing good, dry but he is having no trouble passing them. The boxer has been passing wet stool mixed liquid, clumps and some bone. This morning she had it all over the house. She's been getting a chicken quarter each meal, morning and night. I did skip her morning meal, gave her a probiotic and fed her this evening. I've also been taking her skin off since her 3rd meal.

I haven't tried pumpkin but will give her some in the morning. Do I keep doing the chicken and wait for her to have normal stool? Should I feed lightly? Maybe find some chicken backs (I've never seen them around here but haven't been looking) to help bulk up her stool? Any other ideas?

BTW--She is still full of energy and otherwise has been 100% herself.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Heidi

 

[DaneMama]

You can still feed quarters but cut not only the skin off but also some of the muscle meat to increase the bone to meat ratio which will get her to firm up a bit. Also trim off all organ meat present on them as well. Give the extra muscle meat to your other dog that is having dry, normal stools. But you could also try feeding backs if you can find them, just make sure to trim excess fat/skin off of them.

I would also not feed her in the morning and see how her bowel movements progress. If she is still acting normal by dinner time, feed her half of what she normally gets. Then the following morning feed her half what she normally gets. If she is still doing well by dinner time the next night you can feed her the full amount of what she normally should get.

I wouldn't do the canned pumpkin at this point and just do what I suggested above and give it another day or two.

Let us know how she does!

 

[xxshaelxx]

Don't some dogs take, like, a week to firm up?

 

[DaneMama]

Don't some dogs take, like, a week to firm up?

You are absolutely correct. Some dogs make the switch over easier than others.

 

[magicre]

my dogs, as bill can tell you, took almost a month...most of which was my fault because i was overfeeding...

the two things that helped my girl and guy....

i underfed by a few ounces per meal..
and they were fed chicken backs, minus skin and organ for two weeks...

for the first month, they were more bone heavy until they settled out....even as i introduced new foods.....

and then it was smooth sailing from there, although i admit i go very slowly when introducing new foods...

they didn't start liver and organs until we were into raw for three months...

some dogs do great out of the gate..and some dogs need a little tweaking..

 

[whiteleo]

I would say that dogs that are more sensitive in life will take longer in general to adjust to the raw diet. Not that its a bad thing just that they are more sensitive to changes.

My female who will eat anything now (garbage gut) couldn't handle kibble at all, had horrible diarreah and when I made the switch it took a while for things to become normal, on the other hand her sister who is the lastest rescue who was raised on Iams is a very picky eater when it comes to raw but never had a single issue with any diarreah when starting raw or starting new meat sources, I didn't get her until Feb, they will all be 3 in August.
It really just depends on the dog.