many raw dog owners are obsessive about their dogs' poo.

bone does not magically turn into a wad of hair, but eating a toy will or licking something that has hair?

is this human hair? or stuffy hair?

but if it were bone, you'd know.

 

I'm not sure if it's human/dog. My hair is gray/white and the dogs are reddish/blond (well, I guess you can see their color in my avatar photo) It's so tightly wadded up in the poop, I can't pulll it apart or separate it at all and believe me I've tried). They don't have any kind of chew toys, hairy or otherwise; and no, it didn't really think bone turned into hair; I'm not quite that crazy. It's just so weird looking and I've only noticed it the past 3 weeks since "experimenting" with raw. Possibly it's been there before and never noticed since didn't so thoroughly picking through their poop. Of course, the dogs and myself "shed" a lot and dog/human hair is all over everywhere, so maybe they're licking at times and in places that I just haven't noticed.

I did google hairballs in dogs and apparently it is quite possible (especially dogs that lick and groom themselves a lot, which I don't seem to think mine do) and that it can even be bad enough to cause a blockage. So I'm off an running now worrying about that.

I sometimes think I need a life that doesn't revolve around my dogs, but vet (that I rarely agree with on much of anything) said it wouldn't be life worth living hwell:

 

LOL about getting a life that doesn't revolve around dogs....that is funny. let me know how that goes

dogs lick carpeting, they lick all kinds of stuff....there have been times when i'm pulling my own hair from their butts.....because the poop got stuck and my hair was in it. sorry to gross you out, but there it is.

i think, since you started really putting your foot in the raw water.....you're noticing more. i found that to be true when i did.

i would always look at my dogs' poop, but when i went raw, i took it to a whole new level.

 

LOL about getting a life that doesn't revolve around dogs....that is funny. let me know how that goes I doubt it's going anywhere. I actually found myself looking at the rescue web site (that I used to foster for) yesterday after having vowed not to get any more dogs; at least not until there's a holistic vet in my neck of the woods, which I have little hope of happening before I'm just too old to adopt/raise any more dogs. I've lot 2 precious furbabies in the past 2 yrs. Certainly dying is part of life, but I think I die myself a little each time. As do we all no doubt.

I'm just exhausted from arguing/battling with my current vet (and the 3 before her) about everything/anything remotely natural/holistic. It's all about drugs and surgery and store bought (vet rx'd food). Yes, they're my dogs. Yes, it's my decision. Yes, I'm responsible if I go against their advice and something goes wrong. I'm just weary. Ya know?

dogs lick carpeting, they lick all kinds of stuff....there have been times when i'm pulling my own hair from their butts.....because the poop got stuck and my hair was in it. sorry to gross you out, but there it is. I'm not easily grossed out ... don't worry about that. I had a chest xray last year before having surgery (the first ever in my entire 60 years); I was half expecting my lungs to be full of hair!

i think, since you started really putting your foot in the raw water.....you're noticing more. i found that to be true when i did. i would always look at my dogs' poop, but when i went raw, i took it to a whole new level. I'm right there with you. When I first started feeding some raw (even before giving any bones), I said something to my daughter about being on "poop patrol" and she said "you mean more than usual" Ah, she knows me so well.

D

 

I noticed when my pups would play with our old golden retriever (especially during blowing his coat) that they would end up with "mouthfuls" of hair. I, first, noticed it because Blaise "gagged" on a rather large clump. I did find the occassional "hairball poop" during cleanup, I assumed it was because of them swallowing any bits and pieces of hair from their play.

 

You know, now that you mention it, when the boys are "roughhousing," they do kinda bite and pull on one another's hair. Kody is especially fascinated with Kacy's tail, always has been (Kacy has a very full fluffy tail, so maybe a little tail envy going on?). He will just get put his whole mouth around the tail and literally drag him around by it (until Kacy's let's him know he's had enough), and I have seen a bit of hair in their mouths, sometimes even "hocking" and gagging afterwards. I'll be that's the culprit ... at least a big part of it ... for the hairballs in the poop. Now why didn't I think of that? Good grief, I seem to always jump to the worst case scenario over every little thing. Thanks for bringing that to mind.

D

 

when first i started feeding raw, my vets were adamantly opposed. i was killing my dogs. they would tell me out of all their pet owners, i was in the top ten of being the best of the best...they were disappointed, they warned me about blockages lacerations and the biggie, salmonella.....

had i listened to them, my dogs would still be on kibble and they'd be dead. oh wait. they are dead. four shih tzus. talk about being ignorant.

i went home shaken.....really shaken. and then i thought about my babies who died....i won't go into the story but i am now convinced it was the food which contributed to early demise....

that was what prompted me to keep going....that home cooking wasn't doing it and i couldn't go back to kibble and take the chance that i'd miss an ingredient on those way too long ingredient lists....and miss something that could be harmful to my dogs.

so on i went into the realm of raw feeding....

in the beginning, everything was new. if they got hair in their poo, it was from raw. if they had a hunger puke, raw caused it. liquid stools? raw.

everything. if they sneezed, raw was responsible.

as time went by....and it's now 2 1/2 years.....i did calm down and one day, woke up to two gorgeous dogs with the whitest teeth, the prettiest fur, the best health i've ever seen and i've got one going on 13....

i don't know if raw feeding is going to make my dogs live longer. they are certainly living healthier.

quality vs. quantity. right?

i think, if you keep going, you get bitten by the raw bug....and i sincerely hope you keep going...because you are one of the rare ones who researches and thinks....and loves dogs .....

and you just found yourself a group that is like minded.

 

when first i started feeding raw, my vets were adamantly opposed. i was killing my dogs. they would tell me out of all their pet owners, i was in the top ten of being the best of the best...they were disappointed, they warned me about blockages lacerations and the biggie, salmonella.....

so on i went into the realm of raw feeding....

in the beginning, everything was new. if they got hair in their poo, it was from raw. if they had a hunger puke, raw caused it. liquid stools? raw.

everything. if they sneezed, raw was responsible.

as time went by....and it's now 2 1/2 years.....i did calm down and one day, woke up to two gorgeous dogs with the whitest teeth, the prettiest fur, the best health i've ever seen and i've got one going on 13....

i don't know if raw feeding is going to make my dogs live longer. they are certainly living healthier.

quality vs. quantity. right?

i think, if you keep going, you get bitten by the raw bug....and i sincerely hope you keep going...because you are one of the rare ones who researches and thinks....and loves dogs .....

and you just found yourself a group that is like minded.

Keep it up. I need all the positive feedback and encouragement I can get. I've read a bunch of books (some quite contradicting one another), but it's the real folks with the real dogs doing this every day, sharing their experiences, sharing what to expect, sharing "troubleshooting" help .... that what means the most. I'm still tittering on the very edge, holding off taking the final big leap until Kody's next set of lab work (he had a bout of pancreatitis a couple of months ago, wasn't terribly sick, but his lab values were off the chart!!!). If all is well ....

I feel that/hope that it will be a fairly easy transition, relatively speaking, because they've been eating home cooked pretty much since I've had them (think I've bought 3-4 bags of kibble in the past 3 years), and now their food is just barely cooked (completely eliminated grains; there's some speculation regarding a possible relationship between grains and seizures, plus dogs don't need them, right??), very small amounts of pulverized veggies .... heck, except for my near pathologic fear of the raw bone thing, they're pretty close to raw already. Also obsessively remove skin/excess fat for fear of triggering another pancreatitis episode, but, again, if lab work remains normal, will try to slowly .... painfully slowly .... increase his fat intake. Did I mention slowly? And painfully?

Sorry. I've gotten more than a little off topic. But. Oh, well.

Thanks again, D

 

Welcome to the PP club. I unabashedly admit to being a poop peeper.