Honest Kitchen and increased POOP

Was curious if any of you that feed HK notice an increase in poop production??? Seems like both boys have much bigger poops and have to poop more often since I've started feeding it.
They love the food and it is great for Cal's allergies, but was wondering if this means either A) I am feeding too much (I don't think so as neither has lost weight) or if B) they aren't absorbing the food as they should.
Thanks in advance!

Nope, this is pretty common. It should taper off after a while.
I remember when I first started feeding it years ago, I would take Tyson & LuLu for a walk and by the end I felt like I was carrying a poop bag of an owner with two great danes or something, not two little pugs.

Thanks Becky. It has already been about three months. Should it have tapered off by now?

When I changed Lola & Baby Girl over to THK, I never went through the more poop phase. They had a pretty easy time transitioning over to it. But when Violet came to us, I only had about 1 cup of her previous food to transition from kibble to THK. I initially started her out on 1/2 cup dry and she was pooping A LOT and in just a couple of weeks had gained 1.9lbs. Yikes. I have since cut back to about 1/3 cup or less and am supplimenting with more protein like chicken or eggs. Her poop has decreased in frequency and amount. But they are firmer also. Wow, that is a lot of poop talk.

Ha! If you had told me 15 years ago I would be obsessed with dog poop, I would have told you you're crazy.
Ah the things we do for our dogs.
I am going to try supplementing and decreasing and see if that helps. Also it seems like Angus is pooping out undigested pieces of the food and that worries me.
When you say "eggs" do you mean raw or cooked or what?

monkeypigs4eva wrote:Thanks Becky. It has already been about three months. Should it have tapered off by now?

When you say a lot, how often are they going? LuLu and Mac usually go about 3 times a day (first thing in the morning, at lunch and sometime before bed). It's my understanding that they should be going at least as many times as they are eating. Plus, with HK, they aren't getting fillers or any other junk that their bodies don't need, so they're processing through a higher percentage of what they eat.

Well, Calvin was a two times per day pooper, like clockwork, and now goes three times, and they are no longer on schedule.
Angus...well, he has gone as manyas five times in one day! But generally he is going four times. He used to go only 2-3 max.

Yes, there is a lot of poop at the beginning!! I actually think it took about 3--4 months for mine to get back onto a regular schedule again, I had to adjust a few times. I feed mine about a 1/3 c. (dry, before water is added), twice a day.

How much do you feed them?

Angus gets less than a half cup (more like 1/3rd cup) twice per day. Calvin get a bit more than a half cup twice per day--I'd say a half cup plus a tablespoon or so. I was feeding him a half cup but he lost weight and he cannot afford to do that--he is at perfect weight now.
I've cut down a little on Angus' but it hasn't seemed to make a difference.
Oh, and on last visit to vet, they checked for parasites, etc and everything is fine. He said maybe they are just having trouble digesting it? And suggested Science Diet--NO THANKS.

Which one are you feeding? You might want to try a couple different ones, we've tried them all and rotate between the grain free ones and Zeal. Indy had issues with Keen. You could also email them and ask what they would suggest, HK has always responded fast to me!

Yeah, no thanks on the Science Diet, lol.

I think the amounts you're feeding are right on (LuLu/Mac each get 1/3 c twice a day of Keen with pumpkin and The Missing Link Plus, Tyson-when he's eating it-gets about 1/2 c with pumpkin and green beans). I guess you could try the cutting back a little and supplementing with green beans and/or hard boiled egg, etc..
To me, as long as their poops are firm, I wouldn't be too concerned-but that's just my opinion.

I feed Force. It is the only one that meets their needs--HK recommended it. Their cust. svc. ROCKS.
I could try Zeal, I suppose, but to be honest, it is out of my price range. As it is, I am spending a heck of a lot, even with coupons. They are totally worth it, but with Joe living in El Paso and me here in Tucson, that is two households to support and I don't think I can make any more adjustments to our budget, if you know what I mean.
Cal cannot eat any grain at all. Maybe I will just try Angus on another type, he has no issue with grain. I have some Thrive, maybe I will give that to Angus and see how he does.
Have also tried Preference--adding veggies, yogurt and chicken. That was somewhat of a bust as Angus was pooping out whole green beans. Did I mention Angus is a gulper?? No chewing necessary for him to eat LOL.

They are def. firm poops, no problem there. I guess I am just worrying for nothing, like usual

monkeypigs4eva wrote:They are def. firm poops, no problem there. I guess I am just worrying for nothing, like usual

Oh I don't think it's for nothing, it's better to notice a change and question it then totally dismiss it.

Thanks Becky! I am just an overprotective mother

I feed some of all of them. Force, Keen, Zeal, Thrive, Emark. The only one that we don't rotate in is Verve. For some reason the pugs did not like the beef one, but they will eat whole beef-steak, hamburger meat, etc. I will scramble them eggs or like Becky said you could boil eggs for them. It is a whole protein source and eggs are relatively inexpensive. I also will get the 75/25 ground beef. Baby Girl needs more fat so I will save the grease for her, but let the other pugs eat the hamburger meat. You can also see about getting chicken on sale and cooking a bunch at a time or freezing some for later. Yes, sometimes there are whole pieces of carrots of whole beans coming out the back end. Baby Girl has no teeth, Violet only has 1/2 her teeth (until Monday) and Lola eats so fast that she inhales her food. You might could cut back a little on the amount they are getting and suppliment with more protein to see if that helps the poop issue. But if their weight is good and they are healthy then maybe more poop is not bad, just different than before.

I did not notice an increase in poop when I was doing one meal of THK and one meal of just raw meaty bones / organs.

But, in the last few months, I have been doing just THK, and I did notice an increase in poop production. I guess my guys go about 3 times per day. As long as they are going, and the poops look good, I think 3 times a day is fine.

I do think the formula you use can increase or decrease the poop. There seems to be less poop on the Zeal then there was on the Keen.

I had to stop feeding THK because of increased poop. It wasn't a big deal to me that they pooped an extra time or two during the day, except for Grace. Grace LOVES poop and THK poop is apparently the tastiest kind of all. I was coming home to her crate covered in poop - she must have pooped in there 4-5 times during the day (after she had gone outside before I left for work) just so she could eat it. After several weeks of coming home to poop everywhere everyday, I just couldn't wait it out any longer and had to stop. I wish I didn't have the problem cuz I'd love to have them all on THK.

dieselsmom wrote:I had to stop feeding THK because of increased poop. It wasn't a big deal to me that they pooped an extra time or two during the day, except for Grace. Grace LOVES poop and THK poop is apparently the tastiest kind of all. I was coming home to her crate covered in poop - she must have pooped in there 4-5 times during the day (after she had gone outside before I left for work) just so she could eat it. After several weeks of coming home to poop everywhere everyday, I just couldn't wait it out any longer and had to stop. I wish I didn't have the problem cuz I'd love to have them all on THK.

This is so funny! I did have a foster that did the same thing. He LOVED the THK poops. Never bothered eating the poops from kibble... but, man, he loved those THK poops.

FYI - I rotate between Addiction and THK and don't have the poop issue. BUT, that's because on the THK I give about 1/2 the recommended feeding amount. Boyz had been getting 1/4 cup Addiction + 1/4 cup water and are happy as clams. When I added THK in as an option and was giving them nearly 1/2 c + 1/2 c (as per box) I got way too much poop - which means way too much food (usually they're on Primal raw so very little poop is our norm). They've all been on either THK or Addiction for at least 6 months and I've seen no weight loss / hunger issues. Vince actually always gets THK (he can't do venison and Addiction has 3 venison options so rather than screw up I just don't give it to him) and even on 1/2 the box guidelines he's maintaining his weight just fine. FYI all mine weigh 21 lbs. give or take 1/2 pound.

I switched Angus to Thrive and his poops are now down to two per day, with no bits of undigested food. Think I'll keep Cal on the Force (his allergies are so much better) and Angus will stick with Thrive for now.
Certainly do appreciate all the comments and advice. You guys are great! Who else would listen to long conversations about poop??