# Solid stool ends soft



## crs996

I searched and only found this thread which didn't answer my question.

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/health-issues/103696-solid-poop-then-soft-liquidy.html

Basically I have the same issue, solid at first ending in soft serve consistency. Jago is 10 mo, 68lbs and very active, 2+ mile walk/run/play/swim daily and 5+ miles on weekends. I'm currently feeding 1.5 cups TOTW morning and evening. I feel that for his activity level he should be eating more but when feeding 2 cups morning and night, the soft serve consistency ratio goes up.

I've heard that soft stool can be from overfeeding, but feel he needs a bit more food for his activity level as he's lost about 2lbs since I got him 2 months ago. I like to keep them lean at this age, but I'm seeing a lot of ribs. Any ideas?


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## GSDSunshine

Sounds like his body just can't digest that much at once. If you think he is underweight and needs more food, you could give him a snack during the day, or right before bed. And extra 1/2-1 c. of food. then he would have a chance to digest it separately from his meals and possibly not have soft serve anymore. 

Do you have any pictures? he could just be lean and not skinny


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## crs996

Well he is lean and I'm not really worried at this point, I just want to make sure I'm giving him enough nutrition for his exercise level. Great idea to add a snack, thanks! I sure won't have any problems convincing him to eat it.. 

I'll try to get some good pics that show his body condition well.


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## MaggieRoseLee

That sounds kind of normal for my dogs. As long as it IS solid, shows it's not diahhrea. And soft serve (as long as it started solid) isn't abnormal for us either.


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## ChancetheGSD

TOTW formulas are really low calorie, I'd switch to a higher calorie food if he is loosing weight and getting ribby. Chance gets soft stools if he eats too much food too. I have him on California Natural (chicken formula) which has 511 calories per cup. Compared to TOTW who's highest calorie food is only 375 calories per cup.

I wouldn't be too worried about the stools though, my dogs do the same thing at times.


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## BuoyantDog

I don't think the amount of calories is the issue here. It is pretty common for a poop to start out quite firm and then get a little soft towards the end....if ya know what I mean. This was quite common for my dog, Glory, until I recently cut her meals down a bit. 

But then you said you were seeing lots of ribs...hmm...you could try getting a kibble with higher calories, but cutting back on the actual amount of food served. 

I know it's tough finding good poops....took us about a year! 

I cut her daily intake back a bit and switched to grain free/raw diet, and her poops have been awesome....I feel weird saying that.


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## crs996

I did an experiment yesterday based on some other threads I read and stopped adding yogurt to his food, and as of this morning there was no soft serve "ending". So perhaps it wasn't the additional 1/2 cup of food but the additional yogurt I was adding to the 2 cup morning and evening feeding that made it worse. 

BuoyantDog, how old is your dog and how much did you feed prior to reducing and how much do you feed now?

If he doesn't put on weight with the additional food, I will look into higher calorie kibble, thanks for the suggestions!


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