Runny poo

OK so we changed to a diet of raw meat a few days ago and there were some soft poo issues, but Rascal is still doing dark (like dark chocolate dark) unformed poo almost a week later. Should we be worried about something?

Millie (who we are in the process of re-homing) was similar at least viewing (about 24 hours ago).

Pups are nine weeks old.

What meat are you feeding? Do you give her anything else?

The last few days just chicken thigh fillets.

rascal-girl mentioned on her way out to work that apparently too much in the way of pigs ears can be a problem and I bought a different brand a couple of days ago and gave it to them, and it was like giving catnip to a cat, they went kind of crazy. So no more pigs ears for a bit and we'll see if that fixes anything.

Try a different meat. Many dogs nowadays seem to be chicken intolerant! Dempsey can't have chicken at all - even chicken treats give him the runs!

Lamb, beef or tripe may help the problem (although tripe will sometimes produce softer poo than other meat). You can replace the chicken bones with lamb or duck necks/spines.

Thanks Caryll, we'll give that a try for a couple of days and see how it goes.

24 hours off the chicken and we're back to normal so that looks like it might be one to avoid. Thanks for the advice.

Glad it helped!

Hi Caryll - and everyone else

Well, mucousy black/chocolate brown gooey poo is back - a portion of the poo is jelly like. As a nurse, if I saw this in a human I'd be a bit worried! We've been struggling a little I must admit with the RAW diet as it's been tricky sourcing some reasonably priced meat. Yesterday I gave her some beef mince, small piece of lamb kidney and a knobbly strip of bone with some meat still attached (can't remember what the bones are 'cos the butcher took them out of their labelled bag to cut them for me!). She ate all the soft meat and chewed the meat from the bone but looks like she can't actually eat the bone itself.

We do give her some treats - some dry prepackaged thingys, one made with liver the other chicken - I'm sure there's some cereal in there too!

*sigh* I know we'll get it right - just looking for some encouragement I guess!

Hi
I changed Blue over to Raw a few months back now and when I first did he was producing the same black sticky type poos that your explaing (Sticky??? That sounds like I've been prodding them with my fingers lol)

It was like this for a few weeks on and offf, then all of a sudden they changed to chalky textured and I am feeding the same meat from the same suppliers as before. It may be just an inital thing as there digestive system changing over to raw, as it works differently to dry food and depends more on the stomach acid breaking the meat/bones down

Try cutting down on the offal. Offal should be fed only only once or maybe twice a week, and it will loosen your dog's poo - if the treats are also liver based, then they may be adding to the problem.

Try asking your butcher if he has any lamb necks/spines. If he eats some bone his poo will firm up.

Are there any mail order BARF companies which deliver to your area? If so, they will do a frozen raw food that has pulverised bone added & that might be all you need. I would think that, as the movement began in Australia, you shouldn't have too much of a problem! Have a look at this one, I don't know what they're like price-wise, though.

http://www.drianbillinghurst.com/

Thanks guys
I gave her a worming tablet the night before last, and whilst the poo is still loose and jelly like, it's no longer black. Am wondering if she had worms.
Thanks for the info Caryll, seems there are a couple of distributors close by. Think this might be a good way to go.

Well, we've struck gold! Seems our local pet warehouse sells loads of meat! We picked up a 10kg bag of 70% kangaroo, 30% beef for $23!!! (use by date was today, so 50% off). They also do smaller packs of a variety of meat, they do BARF and a puppy mix of beef and green tripe. The bag we bought says "mince" but it's pretty coarsely minced, lots of chunks. Am feeling reassured by hearing that other dogs have had the tarry/loose stools. Reminds me of meconium actually (the first poo a newborn baby passes). Anyway, poo brown today and rascal still full of energy and eating well. woo hoo! Still RAW feeding - just need to buy some edible bones