Another Poo Thread!!!

[pitbullmamaliz]

Friday was Inara's one week anniversary of being raw-fed. Friday evening she got the runs, so I fasted her yesterday. Gave her an egg this morning (I do an egg every morning for breakfast, chicken quarter for dinner), and she had the runs again this afternoon. I was thinking about removing the skin from her chicken tonight. Or should I fast her again? I hate doing that though - she's great at guilty eyes. Also, should I maybe cut her down to every other day for an egg, or even less?
Also, she's getting a ton of eye boogers - I read on another thread that that is just the body detoxing. Do you all agree?
Thanks!

[SisMorphine]

Wally had mad eye boogies when I switched him to homemade raw. But they subsided within a month and a half's time, so I do believe that it has to do with the detoxification process.

If she has runny stools and you don't want to fast her for 24 hours (I'm the same way . . . wish I wasn't since I KNOW better, but I hate seeing Wally looking hungry) then just skip one meal and do a cooked bland diet for the next few days. Once her stool looks normal switch her back to raw again.

It's what I've done with Wally in the past and it's worked. Also, as long as it's not explosive pure liquid I don't usually change his meals unless it lasts for a few days, I just skip one meal and then go back to normal. But he also has a pretty iron stomach . . .

[cheekymunkee]

I totally fast for 24 hours when one of mine gets the runs. I fast them one day per week anyway so they are used to it. You could give her a little canned pumpin and/or yogurt to settle her tummy if you want. I don't let the 'I'm starving" look bother me since mine do it when their tummies are about to burst & I am eating.

[cheekymunkee]

And yes, the runs & the eye boogers can be from detoxing. Munkee's eyes cleared right up on raw since his were running anyway.

[SisMorphine]

I don't let the 'I'm starving" look bother me since mine do it when their tummies are about to burst & I am eating.

See that's the difference, Wally doesn't do the wide-eyed begging routine when people are eating, so if he actually IS begging that mean's he's starving and I feel horrible (you can see the boy's ribs and spine for Bowie's-sake!!!).

[luvmyangels]

Congrats on your one week anniversary. I am just starting out myself and it has been 5 days since we started. I took the skin off of the thighs I have been feeding and I found it has been less of a problem for Knuckles who puked last time I did Raw.

I am not sure about the egg or the detoxing. But I am sure someone will shed some light on the subject.

[katiek0417]

I would fast for a meal, then do a brown rice and chicken/ground beef diet to settle his tummy...

Pumpkin and acidophilus might also help with the sensitive tummy.

Personally, I fast my dogs once a week regardless of stool just to keep up their food drive for training!!!

[pitbullmamaliz]

Thanks for all the feedback! I'm loving this raw stuff - even after a week her coat is just more gorgeous and softer than it was before, and she is sooo loving! Still not sure if I'm feeding her enough, but that'll take more than a week to figure out, I'm sure!

[luvmyangels]

I feel the same way about if I am feeding enough or too much. My scale broke and I have to get a new one. So I am just winging it. No one seems to be hungry so I guess I am ok. Unless they start to gain weight too fast.

[pitbullmamaliz]

I'm just winging it too. I had good intentions to measure, and then realized I'm too lazy for that! So I've just been feeding a chicken quarter per day. I'm sure she'd eat more if given the chance, but I wanted to start slow. Once her poos become normal, I think I'll start introducing organ meat. That's scary! Where to start???

[dogcrazyjen]

I don't know guys, I would not want to be fasted once a week.

I get crabby if I don't eat. I have never had problems with food drive feeding 7 days a week, but maybe mine are just very driven.

When I started mine on raw, one got runny poops, I just stayed the course, and it disappeared after a few days. I wouldn't fast at all, but that is just my personal opinion.

I would skin the chicken for a while-that IS a large amount of fat, and wild birds do not have that thick a fat layer. I skin the chicken backs, because they have huge slabs of fat on them. Legs and thighs I don't.

[turtle]

I don't fast my dog either, but I used to fast my previous dogs. I think that's a matter of choice.

And I don't skin or remove the chicken skin and fat. Dogs usually have no problems with digesting raw fat and skin, it's the cooked fat that they can't digest.

[dogcrazyjen]

Well, the dogs don't have a choice.

And since they have not been in the wild for about 12,000 years, there really is no biological reason to do so.

Oh well, I will stop now before I end up in another debate!

[pitbullmamaliz]

I only fasted her to let her tummy settle down (she had a solid poo this morning!!!).

[cheekymunkee]

If you don't want to fast your dogs you don't have to. I prefer to do it. They won't die and it doesn't seem to bother them.

[Magnolia618]

I don't know guys, I would not want to be fasted once a week.

You are not a dog.

Your digestive system is VERY different than a dog's.Dogs in the wild go days without eating. Fasting once a week is very good for their system.

You dont have to do diddly squat, but fasting is NOT cruel.

[luvmyangels]

I'm just winging it too. I had good intentions to measure, and then realized I'm too lazy for that! So I've just been feeding a chicken quarter per day. I'm sure she'd eat more if given the chance, but I wanted to start slow. Once her poos become normal, I think I'll start introducing organ meat. That's scary! Where to start???

I picked up beef liver the other night with the intention of using it in a week or two so I froze it for now. I also have some green tripe which I have been giving to the dogs but I am not sure of the frequency of use. I have only used it twice so far and they seem to go nuts over it except that it stinks.

[katiek0417]

I don't know guys, I would not want to be fasted once a week.

You are not a dog.

Your digestive system is VERY different than a dog's.Dogs in the wild go days without eating. Fasting once a week is very good for their system.

You dont have to do diddly squat, but fasting is NOT cruel.

I agree completely....like I said, I do it just to keep up their food drive...

And my dogs are BY NO MEANS starving, unhappy, or anything of the like...

[cheekymunkee]

Most dogs ( wild or not) will fast themselves, mine weren't that interested in eating somedays when I fed kibble so fasting them made sense to me. And I ALWAYS fast when there are stomach upsets. Why add to the problem? Personally, if I have an upset stomach eating is the LAST thing I am going to do. This is why I fast.

Fasting for Dogs
Fasting is the single greatest natural healing therapy.

Fasting is the avoidance of all solid food, promoting the intake of fluids. The most stringent form of fasting allows only for water as the sole liquid in the diet.

Fasting allows energy to be diverted away from digestion and into the healing process. It increases the process of elimination and helps the digestive tract to rest and recuperate by allowing the stomach, intestines, pancreas, kidneys, liver and gallbladder to deal with the nitrogen waste from meat consumption.

Once the body has cleansed itself of wastes, it is able to assimilate the more healthful nutrients found in a natural, raw diet and gain a higher state of health. Fasting is an important corrective and rejuvenative process in the cycle of nutrition.

The benefits of fasting include:

Conserves energy
Revitalizes
Relaxes and energizes the body and mind
Rests the digestive organs
Improves the senses
Reduces allergies
Builds resistance to disease
Detoxifies
Optimizes health

[dogcrazyjen]

That sounds like the kind of article based on the latest new age fad, with no science backing it. The net value of energy after eating is positive or we would not need to eat. So not eating does not 'allow your body to spend more time healing', it simply keeps you from adding any more energy.

I have rarely fasted, even when I am sick, unless it is constant vomiting. I do go to bland foods, both for me and my dogs, but eating nothing makes me worse. If I were to fast, because of my metabolism, I would cease to function in about half a day. Shaking, crabby, dizzy. Typical low blood sugar symptoms, and I do not eat unhealthy foods often. I am borderline diabetic. Two of my dogs have the same metabolism, so to me it would be cruel to withhold food to them when I would not (and could not) do it to myself.

It is a fine line between 'choice' and 'cruelty', and that line is different for everyone. What seems cruel to you may be normal to me, and vice versa. Ear cropping, chokes or prongs, e-collars, fasting, kibble/raw they are all cruel to some and choices to others.

However, as you said, it is your choice. I was not going to argue it any further. I am going to drop this now, if you want to reply, I will read it but I am not going to keep debating this. I feel like I stepped on toes the last debate, and I like being here. I probably should have not said anything in the first place. Old habits are hard to break, I am sorry.