Hi Guys,

We rescued Cooper (1yr old black lab) a month ago and we are feeding him Wellness Core, he appears to be doing well on it, his coat looks great, his eyes are clear and loves it but my question is about his poop...it is not runny it is formed but quite soft, which makes it difficult to lift sometimes when we are out walking. Do you think its the food? is there anything I can do to help firm things up a little? Has anyone had a similar situaton with this food? Any advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks
Scrunch

Most likely you are feeding too much.. cut back by a 1/2 cup at each feeding and see if that helps... and if not cut back by more...until you get desired results..

Grain free foods need way less fed to keep the dog healthy... the dog is just purging the excess..

Also try putting a 1/2 cup of tepid water over the food... the dog may be drinking larger amounts of water after eating and that encourages the bowel to not uptake as much liquid from the large intestine before a movement.

Sophie was on 3 cups of CA Natural. Switched her to Wellness Core and had to reduce it by 1/4 to get good solid poops. Once we figured that out she has been doing great on it.

I agree cut back 1/4 cup each feeding and that should firm things up!!!

Thanks guys, I appreciate your responses, I will try that and see if things firm up a bit. I had no idea adjusting the amount of food could do that...I am so glad I asked I thought I may have to change it and I really didn't want to upset anything else.

Have to agree....I've fought tooth and nail with Harper's stools and feed him Wellness. Wellness is so rich that dogs need much less of it than other types of food. Try cutting back and I bet you'll see a big difference.

I love Wellness though!

core is a great food, I wish there was a place close to me that sold it. We are doing well on Taste of the Wild though

I've been happy with Core, too. I give him a bit of meat or canned food with it. The poops are formed, but soft. He gets 1 1/2 -2 cups a day, depending on what else I give him. It doesn't seem like much, but he seems satisfied. I''ve also noticed that he scratches and licks himself less when he's on grain free.

I feed core also- My dogs get 1 cup each per meal, plus some canned. They are doing great on it and poops are very firm.

Thanks guys, so according to Coopers weight (he is 77lb) he should get approx 3 cups a day, if I am giving him canned too, do I reduce the amount of dried and if so, by how much? Also would you give a whole can between his two meals or would it be less than that? Sorry so many questions!!! :D TIA

It probably depends on how active your dog is, and how old, but for each meal my moderately active 6 1/2 year old gets about 3/4 cup of Core, plus a quarter can of wet food ( I use a few different brands of grain free varieties)plus some cooked or raw meat-( a chicken thigh or pieces of turkey (quarter to half-cup), depending on what we're eating.)
So a can of the wet food lasts two days. My dog seems to really enjoy the variety and eats a lot more enthusiastically than he did when we first got him and he was on one dry food only. He also has a lot more energy and is more playful. I think the best thing diet-wise we've done for Hudson is eliminate the grains. The doctor thought he had allergies as he was scratching so much whenever he was not moving. The scratching has completely stopped now. His previous food listed brown rice as the first ingredient!
As for how much to reduce dry for wet-- look at the calorie count of your foods and make an even calorie swap. The canned food can vary in calories quite a bit.

funny when i switched Cassie to Wellness Core Ocean her poops got MUCH better than the Wellness Lamb and Salmon. i havent had to lower the amount but it seems like a good idea to try. which Core are you feeding? i think Cassie had some trouble with the Lamb accounting for her soft poop. Try the Core Ocean mix if you havent, it worked for us.