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  1. #1
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    The night time is NOT the right time!

    Yes, it's time to talk poop again.

    My sweet little land shark, Henry, has developed a rather puzzling habit, which is, he pretty much doesn't poop all day and then his poop day begins at maybe 3-5 pm and he poops every 2-3 hours until about 2 am, then no more at least until morning, sometimes not until mid-afternoon. I could deal with it better if he would whine or yip or even give a squeak in his crate at night when he has to go but he maintains radio silence. I've set my alarm to wake up every 2 hours and sometimes I'm awake in time to take him out and he'll poop. But just as often I wake up and he's already gone. He's not peeing, just pooping. He's in a 28" Vari-kennel at night. I've restricted his wire crate down to about 18" of room but the crate is still 28" wide. There's no place for me to sleep by the wire crate, the VariKennel and I are in the living room so we're near the front door. I've tried feeding him in his sleeping crate but not every meal yet, he usually eats in his wire crate. I haven't tried having him sleep in the wire crate overnight. Lark's crate is beside his so I could make her sleep in her crate so he wouldn't be alone. It's not like he's letting me know when he needs to go anyway.

    He developed some very soft stools last weekend, about 10 days ago, and was going pretty often through the day and night. Twenty four hours of chicken a rice firmed things up for a day or 2 then as I added his kibble back in, the poops got soft again. Not watery diarrhea, sometimes a super soft formed stool, sometimes more the consistency of toothpaste. We've added digestive enzymes and pumpkin for a bit of fiber as of last week. He's now eating about 1/2 kibble and 1/2 chicken and rice but I'd like to get him back on all kibble. His poop was still very soft when I last saw it (at 2 am!) but had some form to it. It has gradually improved from last week, more form, less mucous, but still not quite what one might prefer.

    He eats his meals at about 7 am, noon, and 5 pm. His last walk is around 10 to 10:30. I had him out last night at 10:30 for about 20 minutes, hoping he'd poop but he did not. By 11:15 he was starting to assume the position in his crate so I rushed him out in time for him to poop outside. When my alarm went off at 2 am, he'd already gone again in his crate. Now it's nearly 4 pm and he hasn't gone again although we've been out nearly hourly and he's had some running around and exploring time outside.

    He's happy, energetic, eats enthusiastically, no vomiting, it's just his poop schedule that has me puzzled and fatigued. The breeder and I have discussed it. His poop last week at the vet's was "clear" but I'm not sure they looked for much beyond worms. I've got a vet visit planned for Thursday, giving it a few more days to see how things progress or not. But if any one has any other suggestions for resetting his clock or improving the quality of his poops, I'm open to suggestions. My eyes aren't but I am.
    Last edited by smartrock; 10-02-2018 at 04:21 PM.

  2. #2
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    Oh no...having just come off a bad phase with Dan, I sure commiserate.

    For starters, I would stop the enzymes and pumpkin. Especially the enzymes. Some dogs...especially as pups...can't handle enzymes or probiotics. Pumpkin can have the opposite effect of the desirable one. I've had Labs in the past that this applied to and both of my present ones are dietarily difficult. No enzymes ever. Only acidophilus as a probiotic and not much of that. No pumpkin ever but sweet potato OK in moderation. I digress.

    Any chance he was getting too much food when you added the kibble back into the mix? I'd fool with the amount unless you know for sure that's not it. Treats...training treats....can add up, too.

    And I'd spread his meals out a bit more....say....6/12/6 or 6/12/7. He'll have more time between meals to get things processed and that might keep him from having to poop so much overnight.

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  4. #3
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    WAs he recently vaccinated? That can throw things off. Pumpkin can loosen and tighten up, same as us, pup needs to build up to added fibre. And rice can ferment in the gut and not help, though one day of it is not much, maybe.
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  5. #4
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    Thanks, I can try spreading his meals out some. I was hoping by finishing up earlier with meals, he'd finish up earlier with poops. I gave him a few treats last week, tiny little Gooberlicious, but stopped those and he now thinks his tiny little kibbles are a fabulous treat. He came to me eating 1 cup of kibble, soaked, 3 times a day. I measured 1 cup and then soaked it, which plumps it up pretty much, the longer you soak it, the more it plumps. I know that's what Chase came to me eating at the exact same age. The digestive enzymes and pumpkin were his breeder's suggestion, so I'll probably keep those for now. I am hoping not to have to feed him at midnight, 6 am and noon!

  6. #5
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    Here's a wild idea. Save some poop, take it out with you in the sensible day time, put it down, praise him to the hilt as if he just did it, go back inside and have a meal. I mean feed him. When he does the real thing at a time you don't like, ignore him as much as you can. ?????
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  7. #6
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    Yeah, lots of things happen for these little guys in the first week or 2 of coming home.

    "When I left my home and my family I was no more than a boy, in the company of strangers..."

    He is on the same food the breeder used, same amount. I used bottled water when we first picked him up and gradually tried to transition to our city water. It's hard to have 2 dogs drinking different water but I managed to transition over about 5 days. He got his second round of shots last week during his vet visit, 4 weeks after his first round. He's got peeing outside down, he can hold his urine for 3 hours or more. I take him outside when he wakes up, before I put him in his crate after being out and playing for a while, within 15-30 minutes of his meals. If I catch him in the act in the house, I just say, "No! Outside!" pick him up and we make a dash for the door. When I find poop in his crate at 1 am, I don't really say anything other than "Let's go outside!" And then I throw myself a pity party while I'm cleaning up the poop and he waits in his other crate. Nature's Miracle- check. If he poops during the day, or almost any time before 11 pm, I act like I've lost my dang mind with happiness. Last night there was only one accident in his crate, sometime between 11:30 pm and 1 am. Then I couldn't go back to sleep so I woke him from a dead sleep to go outside again at 2 am and he actually pooped, and then he slept soundly until I woke him up again at 6:30.

    When you're lying there in the dark, hoping for sleep, your mind runs through some of the weirdest thoughts, in addition to, Please no more poop! Please no more poop! Thoughts such as, Who was Avogadro and why did he have a number? Maybe I'm delirious.

  8. #7
    Senior Dog Jollymolly's Avatar
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    I hope you get some sleep soon . What I do know is at some point this will get better hopefully sooner versus later

  9. #8
    Senior Dog Shelley's Avatar
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    In the immortal words of mothers everywhere, "this too shall pass", and will soon be a distant memory!
    Last edited by Shelley; 10-04-2018 at 12:48 AM.

  10. #9
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    This too shall pass...literally! We're working on it and I'm feeling like a complete idiot with my daily poop and food log. The vet was surprised but how else are you going to convince them how often things are happening? I know, it's the nurse in me having to document every little thing!

 



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