# Is my puppy pooping too much?



## jodiann (Oct 13, 2010)

Hi - Sorry for the long post, but I'm hoping someone can give me some advice on this...

I have an 8 month old cockapoo puppy. Up until about 1-1/2 months ago, we were feeding him By Nature dry puppy kibble. His poops were firm and he would poop regularly (once in the morning and once in the evening).

About 1-1/2 months ago, he started having soft poops. Most of the time it was formed, but very soft and he was having trouble with his anal glands not expressing. Once or twice he had "soft serve" poop. Around this same time a couple things happened that could have caused this: 1) we started giving him Angel Eyes, 2) we switched from feeding him 3x a day to 2x a day. We had the vet do a fecal test just to make sure he was healthy, and it came back fine.

I stopped giving him Angel Eyes and put him on a rice/ground beef/pumpkin mixture to get him back to normal. Once he was back to normal, I tried the By Nature again, but went back to feeding him 3x a day (to try to see if it was the Angel Eyes causing the problem or possibly feeding him too much food at once). His poops got soft again, so I figured maybe he had developed a sensitivity to the By Nature food. I gave him the rice/ground beef/pumpkin to get him back to normal, then I slowly switched him over to Taste of the Wild, but it caused soft poops as well.

For the last month, I've had him on Natural Balance sweet potato & salmon kibble. He's doing great on it - poops are firm, his coat is nice & soft, and his energy level is normal. My only concern is he poops a LOT - large poops, 4x a day (he's only 16 pounds and it doesn't seem right that a dog this small should poop that much). I feed him 1-1/2 cups split over 2 meals (the website recommends 2 cups for a puppy his size). Should I be worried about how much he's pooping? I know there are "better" foods out there, but after having no luck with Taste of the Wild, I'm just wondering if the other premium foods will have the same effect on him (i.e. maybe he's just one of those dogs that doesn't need a super high protein/high fat diet?). Do you think it's okay that he's pooping this much or should I switch to a different food (if so, any suggestions)? I know some people will recommend raw, but I would prefer dry kibble.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Artie is a 20 pound 3 year old terrier mix who was getting 1 cup of NB potato and duck split into 2 feedings and he was pooping 4 enormous poops per day. He now gets 2/3 cup of Before Grain Buffalo and is 'only' pooping 2-3 times a day and the poops are smaller. I think it is a combination of the way he processes food and the very high plant content of the NB. Max poops once per meal so fed twice a day pooped twice a day. Suspect Artie would poop once a day if fed once a day. Sassy only pooped once a day no matter how often she ate, up to 6 times a day.

I usually think the dog is overfed if it has loose poop. Not sure if normal looking frequent large poop is overfeeding or not. Might try cutting back for a few days and see what happens. The directions on the bag are too high for most dogs and they don't always get fat. Sometimes there is just lots more poop.


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## jodiann (Oct 13, 2010)

Thanks for your reply. Yeah, maybe I'll try cutting his portion size a bit and see what happens. I really don't want to start experimenting with other brands, especially since we finally got firm poops on Natural Balance and his fur feels soooo healthy and soft.


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