[pokey]

I can not seem to find the food that will give Bailey firm poops AND less frequency! He is currently eating Acana Pacifica and doing well, his poops are firmer and can be picked up without leaving a residue. The problem (or maybe it isn't a problem) is he can poop up to 6 times a day. When he was on California Natural L&R Puppy formula his poop was very soft but he only went 3 times a day.

So what do I want, soft poops with less frequency, or firm poops more often? I am afraid he isn't getting the nutrients he needs with the frequent poops if no sooner does it go in that it comes back out. I am keeping an eye on his weight to make sure he doesn't lose weight on the Acana. I am not overfeeding him, if anything I am not giving him enough.

I really do not want to change foods again as this is his forth food in 21 weeks-the breeder's food, then I went to Eagle Pack Holistic Select Chicken and Rice where he pooped 11 times a day!!! Next I went with CN Lamb & Rice Puppy and now Acana Pacifica. Besides the soft stool on the CN, he had some dandruff.

What would you do??

 

[Garfield]

How old is he and how much are you feeding him? How is his weight/growth? What did the Breeder have him on and how'd he do on that?

 

[pokey]

Bailey is a mini goldendoodle and is 21 weeks weighing 19 lbs. He is on the thin side, but is filling out. The breeder was feeding Life's Abundance and he was pooping more often when he came to us.

I didn't want to stay with Life's Abundance as I am not interested in the food or the practice. Decided to go with Eagle Pack Holistic Select Chicken as our older dog does so well on it, but between the 11 poops a day and noticing how grainy the poop was, I figured he could do better.

I could absolutely feed more as the dog is a chow hound; of course I could feed him the bag and I bet he would still look for more! Right now I am feeding up to 2 cups a day @ 460 kcal/cup. I do still feed Bailey 3 times a day as he seems so hungry. I would like to go to twice a day with maybe a snack in the afternoon; I am ready to not race home from errands and appointments to feed him lunch. I am home most of the day, but having to schedule my appointments so that I can be home at noon is getting old; plus I miss my 2 hour lunches with the girls!!

 

[BeauShel]

bumping up

 

[Lovin Abbey]

My dog is having some stooling isssues as well.I was told to pick a new, high quality food but to make sure that the main component of the food is different,if your dog is having trouble on a food that the main component beef than pick a chicken formula...if it is chicken than feed beef or fish. Most people just switch foods without reading what ingreadients are in the old food and switch to a very similar formula and can't understand why the dog is still having trouble. We are going to try Orijen, they have a fish based food and a chicken, turkey and fish blend.Look at their website www.Orijen.ca/orijen/about/ I too hope this is the correct choice for my dog.It is a canadian food but available in the us.

 

[pokey]

I am feed Acana Pacifica which is a grain free, you might have missed that in the original post. I am very happy with the food and his poops are firm, he just goes often. I do not plan to change foods, the questions was more-which would you rather have, firm poops with more frequency, or soft poops less often! Of course the ideal would be firm poops, less often and that is something we might achieve as Bailey ages. I think he has an immature system and he is going to pee and poop more often than the average dog.

 

[NuttinButGoldens]

Just a thought, but you might want to take a stool sample in and have it tested for the usual things, including Giardia. If he has Giardia, you'll never get this under control until that is taken care of.

 

[missmarstar]

Puppies generally poop quite a bit when they are real young, though I do wonder if maybe you are feeding a bit too much food and that's the cause of more poops. I would definitely prefer firm but more, over soft but less!!

Also, is he free-fed or does he have 2 or 3 separate meals? Free feeding can make him poop more often throughout the day for obvious reasons. Dogs on a set meal schedule typically have set pooping schedules too

 

[Garfield]

Puppies generally poop quite a bit when they are real young, though I do wonder if maybe you are feeding a bit too much food and that's the cause of more poops. I would definitely prefer firm but more, over soft but less!!

Also, is he free-fed or does he have 2 or 3 separate meals? Free feeding can make him poop more often throughout the day for obvious reasons. Dogs on a set meal schedule typically have set pooping schedules too

That's what I was going to say! lol Very sound advice (as usual ). In addition to the amount and frequency of food, the California Natural may be too low in fiber and the Acana too "rich" (in terms of protein and ingredient spread) for such a youngin. Also, the Acana grain free foods do not include a puppy feeding guideline, which makes me wonder if they are truly suitable for puppies, especially Golden sized ones (plus the calcium is a bit high in the Pacifica formula - also, seem to remember reading that fish is not the ideal protein source for puppies). Rather than change foods altogether, maybe try following MissMarStar's advice along with one of Acana's formulas designed specifically for puppies and see if that creates a happy poop medium?

 

[pokey]

We feed 3 times a day since he seems so hungry and I can not imagine he is overfed. We are going to start on twice a day feeding next week now that he has started to gain some weight. My vet likes to see him eat around 750 calories a day for his size so I aim for that, but also take into consideration the amount of food. BTW, this is a mini goldendoodle, not a golden. Usually if you overfeed you get soft stools, not more frequent, although I am sure that is a possibility also.

Although Acana grain free did not have a feeding guideline, I looked at the Orijen Puppy feeding chart as well as used the Natura feeding calculator; one of their foods had similar calories. It looks like for his size and age he should be eating around 1 3/4 cup per day, and that is at the low end of the suggested feeding. I feed anywhere from 1 1/2-1 3/4 cup per day and he doesn't get treats regularly. He is fairly active for a little guy and could maybe use more calories, but I want to see how he does on what I am feeding before I add more. So far he is gaining, so I do not think I will need to add more food.

I have not heard that fish based formula was not good for puppies; my vet seemed ok with it. The only concern is if you start with fish and an allergy develops you don't have many choices. Fish is very digestible making it a good protein in my eyes. I should have started with the lamb or chicken formula, but I was hoping to feed the Pacifica to my older dog also; she does have food allergies and does the best on fish based formulas.

 

[Traz]

How about other things, does he get a lot of treats in addition to the meals. Wouldn't hurt to continue 3 times a day, maybe a little less in each meal or less in the middle meal.

 

[cinnamonteal]

If he's fine medically, I wouldn't worry about it. Puppies do poop a lot more often. Caleb went through a phase where he would poop five times a day. Do you exercise your pup a lot throughout the day? Eating and playing can both stimulate bowel movements.

ps. I would also choose firm frequent poops over soft ones less often.

 

[rappwizard]

Did you ever read Rhonda Hovan's "Slow Growth Plan" for golden retrievers? Ms. Hovan is an AKC judge and long-time breeder of multi-titled golden retrievers. Looking at the guidelines, if you have a "mini" doodle, then well, not seeing any photos of exactly how "mini" we're talking about, your dog is probably not underweight at all--now, for a male golden, that would be approaching 75 lbs fully grown, and 24" high, your dog would be lagging, but for a "mini" version, IMHO, I don't think so, looking at Rhonda's guidelines.

http://www.jrsgoldenangels.com/slowgrow.html

I am in the same camp as those who believe you are feeding slightly too much, and too often, and that could result in the numerous poos. I feed Eukanuba Lamb and Rice (adult) to my 18 month old golden, (she's fed 2x a day) and she answers nature's call twice a day--firm stools.

 

[pokey]

Bailey might get at most, one fruitable treat a day, which is a whopping 8 calories!! He is now not underweight at 22 weeks, but he was at 14 weeks; not only could you feel ribs, you could see them. I am now just looking to maintain a normal weight; I do not want an overweight dog. His projected adult weight should be around 30-35 lbs, and as a mini goldendoodle, he will most likely be full grow much earlier than a standard. I have not measured his height, but his weight is 19 lbs.

I would like to see him build some muscle mass and with the exercise he gets, hopefully that will develop soon. On the weekends he gets an hour hike in the woods and a neighborhood walk. During the week, he usually has 3 30 minute walks. All week he has a good amount of play time with our older dog which mean lots of wrestling and running around the house and yard. The vet felt that he just burns all the calories we give him, but now that he is putting on a bit of weight and it is time for his growth to slow down, I have reduced the calories. I don't think it matters if I feed 1 1/2 cup 2 or 3 times a day, he will get the same amount per day; I just like to feed more often to keep him satisfied. I am going to twice a day starting next week.

 

[Dreammom]

Layla hardly eats, we have been having issues with her eating since we first got her as a small pup. She is now 10 months old, very small, and eats very little of a 6 star food, yet she poops like a St. Bernard 4 times a day LOL. I think they are all different and some just poop more than others...

 

[rappwizard]

My golden is athletic, or at least likes to be active too; when she was around 12 months old or so, I had people begging me to put some weight on her, that she was a tad lean. I had the same situation as you--she loved games of fetch, would have several spurts of "the zoomies," loved to swim and enjoyed daily walks of about 1 1/2 miles. I saw her inhale her food. She had been getting 2 meals a day since she was around 4 months old or so, and I wasn't about to change that, but I increased her food just a tad. I never noticed a problem with her stools though.

 

[pokey]

I just wanted to clarify, I only feed Bailey 1 1/2 cups total a day, not per meal! I wondered if that was why some of you thought I was overfeeding him by feeding 3 meals a day. So right now he gets 1/2 cup per meal and when I go to twice a day he will get 3/4 cup per meal until it is time to reduce calories again, which I think is again around 26-28 weeks.