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05-03-2008, 11:27 AM | #1 |
YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: McKinney, Texas
Posts: 604
| Do you think soaking kibble overnight could cause loose stools? It is starting to make me think that ever since I felt the dogs needed more moisture in their diet to help with the crystal history/kidneys and I started soaking their kibble overnight... this was when the mushy stools started. We are still getting labs together and I actually am working on a spreadsheet so that when I finally talk to a nutritionist all of the values will be in order for both of my girls. There is A LOT of tests and labs that have been taken over this past year. For instance, I have 8 different follow up UPC tests for Sadie in addition to 3 sets of blood work that was done. And all the other tests. I want them in order to easily view. I am working on a summary. Although if someone can just get into my head for a minute (okay it will take a lot longer than that.... maybe a good 2 hours!) It would be wayyyyy easier on me. Things at the moment are not urgent. There is no lack of appetite or sickness going on. Just the mushy stools. I also have some concerns with home cooking. I am not ready to do it just yet. I know once I get the knowledge I need it may come easy but I have read a lot on YT and read the good and the bad on home cooking. So these also are reasons for my delay. (nutritionist) And like I said- I almost didn't want to post this just now because I don't want anyone to think- WHY???????? have you not contacted the nutritionist yet?????????? It will happen, I guess soon but I just am delaying it now because I have been doing MORE thinking. this is what I am thinking: All of this idea of soaking the kibble in water overnight..... the timing of everything.... OK so the new water soaked food....the mushy stools- it all happened at the same time. Could it just be coincidence?? Never any loose stools before.... and "if" there were any it wasn't every day for months??? It was bc of taking antibiotics to cure a UTI 2 times. And 2 diff rounds of antibiotics... so for the whole month of December 07- sadie was on baytril and Clavomox... She always got loose stool from taking antibiotcs. Not the runs--- just looser stools. I guess I was comparing the "water soaked kibble" to the canned food but it cannot be the same??? The texture- yes- is "wet" but canned food is different "wet" It is sticky and sometimes can contain more fat. When the kibble is soaked in water (overnight) it easily falls apart and is so saturated in water. I just started back tracking with this all yesterday....... The stools have been formed before. Occassionally we would have loose stool, Sadie had been on 2 rounds of antibiotics in December, also she was on a food for that was higher in fat as to the one she is eating now Sept/Oct and Nov... No loose stools then AND............ amylase and lipase values were even higher than they currently are now. She was eating Hills pres diet D/D. I want to say it was 12 or 14% fat. I need to check on that. So yeah- the pancreas episode was there back in December.... but no loose stools. there were for 3 days also some vomiting BUT- that was when I tried to change her food from pres to Pinnacle. She ate that for 1 day and was immediately back on the pres diet. After meeting with the specialist he says to feed low fat and high fiber. For the pancreatitis/IBD. So we started the Wellness food 12/10/07. I believe this soaking of the food could easily be our problem. the reason I am thinking this is this: YOu feed dry kibble and the stools are formed (unless stomach upset is involved and diar is present for a few days) Normally the digestive process softens the dry kibble and the poo is produced and formed right??? Or... You feed wet water saturated food.... and the stools are formed but as soon as you touch them they are complete mush. Like the same texture as the food went in. Doesn't it make sense that when Sadie eats super wet water soaked food that she would produce a wetter stool. Does anyone agree? The food she is on now is 6% min- and 10 % max. Wellness wgt mgt. So for now, starting this morning I have fed her 1/2 wet and 1/2 dry. SImply becasue I don't want to disrupt things after she is used to eating completely all wet food. I will go slowly with this. Eventually adding very little of the water soaked food and more of the dry kibble and maybe never wetting it again. This all began when Sadie ate the pres food it was so hard that she stopped chewing her food. (even I could not bite a piece of the pres dog food in 1/2 it was like a rock) so with that in mind- once we switched to the wellness- that was when i noticed that she still was not chewing her food. I thought- hey... this cannot be good for her digestion and that's when I began wetting the food. I am going to give it a shot for a few days and see what happens. If I am not satisfied with the way the poo looks then I am going to PRONTO....get right on getting these speadsheets finished and get all the labs in order by date and call the nutritionist. All i know is right now- sadie "is" on a low fat" diet. The itching has stopped, she has grown back hair on both sides of her sides and if anything, her anal glands are getting full more often bc of the softer stool. Sadie never had a problem with scooting or anal glands. I emptied them every couple months or every other bath. Sadie was also on SOOOOO many meds TOOOOOO..... And as of March 20th she no longer is not on anything but benazeperil for the protein loss. I really think all discontinuing all of these meds AND not soaking the food totally and see what happens. So as you probably now better understand my reasons for not contacting the nutritionist just yet. We really need to give things a chance to work before we jump the gun. I also have issues on home cooking at the moment and I do not know if that is something I am whole heartedly interested in. If it was my last resort then of course I would do whatever i had to. But- the thing is- we have supplements that we can introduce again (after last weeks diah/vomiting episode) I disc them. oh in case you are wondering, sadie ate a piece of the berber carpet I had in the foyer. It became unravelled. (a berber carpet runner) and she ate a long piece of it. It literally wrecked havoc on her tummy to say the least! Big time diarrhea explosion! So we can always slowly introduce the supplements, see what happens with not feeding her totally water logged kibble... we cut back on the canned food.... we discontinued soloxine, claritin, amlodipine, tramadol... so LOTs and LOTS has changed. No antibiotics at the moment except Metrodiazole for the soft stool which we are on day 5 and I will cont that for 2 more days as directed then......... we will see where we are at with all of this. Her stomach does not seem to be gurgling so much today either. This morning was the first time to feed some dry kibble mixed with wet. We'll see what happens.......... can't wait to see the poo! This is crazy :-) |
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05-03-2008, 11:40 AM | #2 |
Donating YT 3000 Club Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: USA
Posts: 7,178
| To address the question about soaking kibble overnight..I'm not sure that's a good idea. Water should be added to the kibble right when it's meal time and they eat it. The kibble should not sit out soaked in water for hours at a time. This may allow bacteria to grow... So, it should be added right at meal time.. The extra water in the kibble is because dry dog foods do not contain enough moisture particularly for a dog who has a history of crystals or stones. The urine should be diluted to prevent the formation of crystals/stones and that is done through feeding canned food or dry food with equal parts water added.
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05-03-2008, 12:12 PM | #3 |
Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Chicago Suburbs
Posts: 3,306
| I agree kibble should not be soaked like that. I don't soak kibble, but everything I've read says to throw away any uneaten portion after 30 minutes because of bacteria. Drinking more water would make them pee more but it shouldn't effect the stool. Loki drinks 3 times what a normal dog his size would and his poop is not runny. You're only talking about enough water to soak kibble so it can't be the extra water that is causing the problem. What's wrong with canned food? Or why don't you try Canidae kibble. It's very good for Loki's sensitive tummy.
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05-03-2008, 12:44 PM | #4 | |
YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: McKinney, Texas
Posts: 604
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05-03-2008, 12:48 PM | #5 | |
YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: McKinney, Texas
Posts: 604
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05-03-2008, 12:52 PM | #6 |
YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: McKinney, Texas
Posts: 604
| I guess I could try mixing canned with dry kibble too. I have the wellness canned but thought it contained too much fat. Maybe I could try 2 tbls or so mixed with the dry. I also could maybe mix half wet kibble and half dry and see what happens. Samie is no longer producing crystals and I do believe that was bc of wetting the food to give her more moisture. the supplements called "whole kidney" and UT support made them drink water like crazy! So yeah- i don't think water intake could cause the mushy poo. But maybe eating saturated kibble could cause it> wracking my brainnnnnnnnnn :-) |
05-04-2008, 09:01 PM | #7 | |
YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: McKinney, Texas
Posts: 604
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05-04-2008, 09:04 PM | #8 | |
YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: McKinney, Texas
Posts: 604
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