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[mjknable88]

In my welcome forum, I was talking about my new puppy molly. She is 18 months old, I found her on Craig's List, her previous owner did
not want her. I took my other dachshund and went to see her, as soon as I seen her I wanted her. I have noticed she goes to the bathroom two times every time I take her out. The going twice doesn't concern me as much as she is pooping 7 to 8 times a day. She doesn't eat dog treats often because my wired-haired will not eat treats at all, so I don't buy them. She likes to lay on my lap all the time, but when my daughter or I start to play she plays happily. The stool is never runny or an unusual color. Can anyone give me a idea of what I need to do or stop doing.

 

[Steph]

More poop means that the quality of food that she's on isn't that great. She's not retaining much when she eats and thus it all comes out several times a day. I'd be a little worried about her going twice in one outing too, that can sometimes be the first sign of bladder/ urinary problems. Has she been checked out by your vet yet? If not, I'd maybe pop her in just to make sure that she's ok and you didn't inherit the other person's problem. (it does happen when people don't want to deal with medical problems, they give their dogs away)

 

[mjknable88]

I have been feeding my wired-haired Kibbles n Bits. This is the only food that he likes, when my long haired was using the bathroom alot, i talked a friend that worked in a vets office for 14 years and starting a new office. I changes their food to Purina's Dog Chow. Which my wired-haired eats but you
can tell him doesn't like it as much. The long-hair eats very well just like the other. I guess my question is, how soon should The new food start showing its working?

 

[Steph]

Dog Food Reviews and Ratings | Dog Food Advisor

This is a good website to check the quality of the food you're feeding your dogs. It's based on a star score system. The more stars, the better quality food.

With a new food you should see changes in bathroom habits within 7 to 10 days - the time it takes to switch over from one brand of dry to the other. My guys were picky eaters too, once upon a time, but I now do a rotation of foods with them, so they're never expecting the same thing daily. It's always something new and exciting for them. As for poop duty, they go 2x a day - once in the morning and once at night.

 

[mjknable88]

I was told to find a high fiber dog food. Well i was looking at fat so I changed to Dog Chow. They have been eating his for about a month. They have a self feeder, so they eat as they please. Which usually a dog would eat and eat until the food is gone. This is not the case, I can put three pounds of food in there and it will last around a week between the both of the dogs. My two
cats also steal some every once in a while. My older dog goes maybe three times day. He weighs around 15 lbs and he is solid. Molly (the new one) doesn't look under fed or anything but I like to see a animal a solid body. If I may ask what kind of food do you use? I want my little one to be healthy and not having to use the bathroom so much. The lady that had her before me cooked her meals. She said it was chicken and rice or lamb and rice. I don't have the time or money to afford lamb.

 

[Steph]

My main brand is Nature's Variety because it does have several varieties. I also use Acana, Orijen and Nature's Balance. I try to avoid beef and chicken, so the more exotic varieties are often found in my dog food cupboard - salmon, whitefish, duck, rabbit, bison and venison. I do throw in lamb or turkey every once in a while - but usually in canned or frozen raw medallions. All of the above also have something else I like, no corn, wheat or soy (the usual suspects in food allergies) they have things like sweet potato and rice. There's also another one that has green peas, but I haven't been able to find it to try it out.

 

[mjknable88]

The food I have now has corn and its first ingredient then meat. I have been 2 members and 7 guests
researching for good food. I checked that site you gave me and its a lot of help. Thank you for helping me and my dogs. I also read that the foods that contain fish are better then the ones that use other meats. Since the food I have mow doesn't agree with my dog, do I still need to mix the two foods together.

 

[Wandering Man]

My dogs would eat themselves to death if we let them decide when and how much to eat. They get 1/3 cup for breakfast and 1/3 cup for dinner.

PD is a twice a day pooper. Henry was a one-a-day, and we haven't really figured out Frank, yet.

PD is also an excited pooper. He'll go when he's excited. When we take him on walks, he'll drag us out into the middle of the street to poop. If we take him anywhere in the truck, we need to let him wander around in the grass a bit before we load him up so he can take care of business. Once we arrive, its another outing before we take him to see the vet, or before we allow him in the travel trailer.

 

[Steph]

The food I have now has corn and its first ingredient then meat. I have been 2 members and 7 guests
researching for good food. I checked that site you gave me and its a lot of help. Thank you for helping me and my dogs. I also read that the foods that contain fish are better then the ones that use other meats. Since the food I have mow doesn't agree with my dog, do I still need to mix the two foods together.

You're welcome! Fishy foods are a great source of omega 3-6-9, which are great to keep the skin and coat healthy. Exotic proteins like venison, bison, duck and rabbit are great too because sometimes chicken and beef can be a cause of food allergies due to how the animals are raised - growth hormones and such.

The rule of thumb (old school, I know) when switching is to do a 7 -10 day switch over where you slowly decrease the amount of the old food and increase the amount of the new food until on the last day they are eating solely the new food. When you're going from a lower quality food to a higher quality, I would aim for the 10 days to give their systems a chance to get used to the new stuff.

 

[Noodles~Mom]

You want to stay away from corn, it is a filler and has no nutritional value for the dog... it makes them go poop a lot more!! I found when I switched to Acana Noods poops were a lot smaller and did not smell and she went from pooping 3 times a day to 2 times a day.

Anouther food website you can check out is Dog Food Analysis - Reviews of kibble