Do we have to poo every single time?! (update 9.30.14)

[Curvygurl73 197]

Raven seems to poo ALOT!! If we have 15 potty breaks, he will poo at least 14 of those breaks! Even if its a nighttime potty break, he is gonna poo!! I would say that Freya poo's about half as much as he does. Is that normal?? Edited October 1, 2014 by Curvygurl73

[Sophie's Haven 17,464]

Your free feeding your paws, so they can eat when ever they want could have something to do with his potty habit. Plus the dog food that your using maybe the problem. My guys only get fed twice a day and have a treat and it is a once a day poo routine for all 7 of them. 9 times out of 10 it will be done right after dinner in late afternoon.

[missy dawn 22,220]

Are you still feeding them that blue food? If so , it has ALOT of protein

sheila-shih tzu dreamer

[Sweet as Taffy 400]

Your free feeding your paws, so they can eat when ever they want could have something to do with his potty habit. Plus the dog food that your using maybe the problem. My guys only get fed twice a day and have a treat and it is a once a day poo routine for all 7 of them. 9 times out of 10 it will be done right after dinner in late afternoon.

I agree. I think they might get more regular poop if you feed them twice a day and take away the food if they haven't eaten after 15-20 minutes.

[Vicki 8,173]

All of mine are free fed and usually poop twice a day each.

They don't eat constantly. They each seem to do it as a meal.

Now, should they get even slightly stressed, they will do again, usually at the worst times! (Like in the show ring!)

Vicki

[Curvygurl73 197]

So....thought I would do a little update on this as Raven is STILL pooping more than seems necessary! I have changed them from Blue Buffalo (29% protein) to Avoderm (26% protein). I do still free feed as I want to continue to keep that unless it becomes an absolute problem, but I have started taking the food up at 5pm consistently. I also watch them when they eat, and Raven does not seem to be consuming much more than Freya throughout the day. Freya usually poops 3 times a day.

Raven still poops alot!!! He even still poops during the middle of the night!!! UGH How can this boy have that much poop inside of him!! For example...he will usually have some nibbles right around 5pm before I pull up the food. He will then poop at the before bedtime potty time (usually 9-ish)...and he pretty consistently still wakes us up to poop between 2-4am. Back to bed, and then he poops again at 7am when we get up for the day!!! So, 3 poops in roughly 14 hours with no added food!!! Am I crazy, or is this excessive under the circumstances?

Honestly, I wouldn't actually care how much he poos as long as he was healthy and would stop waking us up in the middle of the night. But, that middle of the night poo break is killing my husband and I!!! Thoughts???

Edited September 30, 2014 by Curvygurl73

[Sophie's Haven 17,464]

I don't feed my guys dog food so I am not up on certain brands but check the filler contents and the % of fiber of your brand, if the filler contents starts off with corn and grain I would consider changing as that is what causes excessive pooping. I think it is common for puppies to poo more until there intestinal tract matures so he should outgrow this as he gets older. I have not had this problem with any of my guys that were puppies when I got them, a once a day poo is normal for us here but they do not eat dog food either. Gracie my Border Collie ate high grade dog food and she is 10 and was having huge piles of poo and when her health started going down I immediately put her on the same food plan as the Tzu and she lost 40 lbs of weight (she was overweight) and her poo is what I call normal for her size now. She is not the same dog now........so much energy. My guys get fed twice a day and a treat inbetween.

[Luna 8,676]

Every dog is different. Mine are fed twice daily and except for Corbin they all poo twice daily. Corbin can always manage to sneak and extra poo or two in during the day.

[babnaw 1,391]

My guy gets fed dog food 2x/day and then other people food at lunchtime or sometimes after his nightly walk (pumpkin, yogurt, cheese, fruit pieces, etc. - usually frozen in a kong to keep him busy). He poops 3-4 times/day usually. If he wakes up in the night I tell him to go back to sleep as I know he can go throughout the night now. Sorry, no suggestions, but I hope you can figure out how to reduce the poops, or at least cut out the middle-of-the-night poop. Do you think he would have an accident if you didn't take him out in the middle of the night?