# constipation vs diarrhea



## joshua9578 (Dec 14, 2012)

Hello all. Switched from kibble to raw about a week ago. theres a lady the local butcher got me in touch with thats been raw feeding for 30 years who's sort of been my advisor. i feel like ive been buggin her and figured i would just throw this question up here.

most of threads ive read through mention loose stools and diarrhea. what about constipation? bailey on her kibble diet used to poop twice a day probably a cup and a half or so. now its once a day maybe the size of marker or highlighter. is something wrong like constipation or is this the drastic reduction if volume from raw feeding? ive been checking for blood or anything unusal with the stool, but like you guys have said its firm. 

her meal volume varies, i would say between 1.5 to 2 lbs. 

any input would be appreciated. its just driving me nuts :wild:. its like im waiting for something bad to come out the other end.


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## Gsdmama79 (Mar 5, 2013)

How much bone are you feeding? What does the diet consist of that you have been feeding since the constipation issue came up?


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## Gsdmama79 (Mar 5, 2013)

Age and weight of the dog?


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## lemonadeicedtea (Aug 8, 2011)

There are a lot of factors that could play into this, but generally speaking, stools are a lot nicer when a dog adjusts to raw - more compact/less volume, firmer, not as smelly. If it doesn't seem like your pup is straining to go and the poops themselves aren't dry/crumbly (indication of too much bone) then you're probably doing fine.


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## joshua9578 (Dec 14, 2012)

she 14 months and weighs 63lbs.

ive been starting her on mainly chicken meat with little bones only. the big bones ill take out because shes still getting used to tearing and crunching. shes just now getting to chomping on it when i put it down. before she would sit there and lick it and i would have to encourage her to get after it so i would take a knife and fork and tera it up for her a bit. as far as ratios and all that, my advisor has said we can narrow down the numbers and getting ratios right once her body has adjusted to the simple stuff so ill be calling her sometime this week probably. 

i started her on raw last sunday so i would be home all day with her in case anything happened. i would say wednesday/thursday is when it really cut down and went off schedule. normally while we are playing fetch ill take a timeout and well walk to a designated area where she does her business quickly so that we can get back to playing. now she just walks around and then comes and sits next to me ready to get back to playing. 

like i said it may be nothing, but it seems like such a drastic change that it may be me who needs to get used to it. thanks for the replies.


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## katro (Feb 26, 2013)

I'm also just finishing out week 1 of totally raw feeding; so far Ralphie hasn't had any diarrhea. His poops are much firmer and within the last 2 days or so I've noticed they've gotten much smaller/less volume which I've read in many places that is completely normal. If you're worried, you can always give a tablespoon of pure pumpkin (the plain canned stuff; NOT the pie filling with spices). I've also read that watching the poop can help you narrow down the portions of bone to meat that you give. The poop should turn white and dry out within a day or two of sitting out. If the poop comes out of the dog too soft, then add more bone. If the poop comes out chalky and white, give less bone. Haha, I've never talked about or looked at poop as much as I have this past week!


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## joshua9578 (Dec 14, 2012)

I called the woman who is walking me through the process of raw feeding because its been on my mind for the past few days. I described everything to her like what im feeding, her old potty schedule and volume, her new volume, and what they look like and she has told me to not worry yet. she said that if im concerned I could give her a few things this evening to potentially help things along. 

she also said the volume change can be drastic depending on how much filler was in the old kibble. apparently there was alot of filler based on the volume difference and frequency im seeing. she said that she has a 25lb dog that poops the size of a quarter every other day and people always tease her that the dog should just wait and poop once a week haha. 

a couple positive things ive noticed already is the better breath and almost complete elimination in tartar. my wife was a little hesitant but finally gave me the ok to give raw a try. shes been impressed with the oral cleanliness. shes still getting used to the bone crunching, but we'll all have things to get used to.


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## joshua9578 (Dec 14, 2012)

Bailey finally pooped yesterday morning! never been so excited to see her squat . was a little soft but nothing major. it will take some time to get things "regular" so that i can nail down the ratios that work well with bailey for ideal stool.


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