12 1/2 week old straining to go poop

[Macho in Tx]

Hi all,

Macho has been eating raw all of about 4 days now. we have been giving him 1.5 lbs. in three meals a day. It has been bone in breasts cut up. A couple of times i felt he wanted more and gave him a little bit more. His stools have gotten super loose and now this morning he was crying and some came out was brought back in and then ran back to the door crying almost right away to go out and he strained again ....please help! We need to get it firmed up NOW...I so want to do this and I know its trial and error a bit but...years ago we had a dog and he accidentaly ingested a cooked beef bone and we had to pay $1000 to help the poor guy get it unobstructed. I KNOW its raw but i as soo afraid of the darn bone for some reason! PLus I feel so bad for him straining and crying.. FYI he is playing and having fun in between times!

Thanks~
Mommy to Macho 12 1/2 week about 20lb Fawn Boxer

[Macho in Tx]

hubby took macho out so I was re telling what he told me...went and looked at poop and the poop is firmed up enough but I think we realize that we have been cutting up the chicken in pieces....bad idea maybe he didnt chew it he just swallowed it and then there is some bone stuck in there? if you had a bone in breast...how would you feed it to your dog? we feed three times a day so we divide the 1.5 old into three meals....

if there is a small bone stuck..what on earth am I to do about it..ok maybe I know but I am not sure I want to know........<sigh>

[Caney Creek]

Originally Posted by Macho in Tx

if you had a bone in breast...how would you feed it to your dog? we feed three times a day so we divide the 1.5 old into three meals....

I'd just give it to them. That's how they learn to chew their meals -- when they have a large piece of meat like that they're forced to break it down themselves into bite-sized chunks, and inevitably they end up chewing the bone and breaking it into smaller pieces as well.

Originally Posted by Macho in Tx

if there is a small bone stuck..what on earth am I to do about it..ok maybe I know but I am not sure I want to know........<sigh>

I have worried about this too in the past, and was told that they will either digest enough of it so that it will pass, or if they're getting too much bone in the diet then it will come back up the same way it went in.

How much bone are you currently feeding? The point of starting out a raw diet with chicken is because 1) chicken is a mild meat so is easy on the tummy, and 2) chicken has a high bone ratio (as compared to 10% which is how much bone should be fed in a normal balanced diet). The high bone ratio is important for newbies because that's what keeps the stools firm. After 1-2 weeks of bone-heavy meals the dog starts to get more accustomed to the raw diet and you can start feeding less bone and more variety. Do you think you've been feeding him enough bone?

[Macho in Tx]

Hi Thanks for replying....I figured that because it was a bone in breast that there was the majority meat and then some bone...the ratio..I really have no idea.. I know he needs 80% protein 10%bone and 10% organ....but thought it was figured out over the course of time not just in one day.....I think I have figured out what our problem is..it was the fact that my hubby was cutting it up into bite size pieces and Macho was not chewing he was just inhaling....so I went back in to what we had already precut and make the bites even smaller and actually took out the bone period. I am sooo super paranoid about the bone but I think we just were giving him way to small of pieces....once hes doen eating what we have precut I plan on giving him way bigger pieces but then it makes me so scared that he will inhale a huge bone and then we will be really in trouble...I so want to do this but geez..I dont want to be afraid all of the time!

[Caney Creek]

Originally Posted by Macho in Tx

Hi Thanks for replying....I figured that because it was a bone in breast that there was the majority meat and then some bone...the ratio..I really have no idea.. I know he needs 80% protein 10%bone and 10% organ....but thought it was figured out over the course of time not just in one day.....

That is the correct ratio for a balanced raw diet, BUT dogs just starting on raw need much more bone to keep the stools firm. Feeding the 80/10/10 ratio from the get-go will just give a dog the runs, which is what is happening with your puppy. The breast does not have enough bone content for a beginner. Chicken legs and thighs are recommended for the first week or so of starting a raw diet, and then you can SLOWLY add in other meat sources and offal and lessen the amount of bone in the meals.

EVENTUALLY his stomach will be able to handle higher protein/offal content in one meal and at that point then yes you can spread out his portions so that he's getting the correct ratios over the course of a few days to a week, instead of figuring out how much he needs for each individual meal.

Maybe you should browse the raw feeding forum and ask some more questions before diving right into it.