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Gunnars poop has been firm, soft, and sometimes straight soupy. He seems to strain a bit and his BMs are quite large.

I'm feeding him Orijens Large Breed Puppy food. The recommended amount is 3 cups a day at 4 months. I have been doing a cup 3 times a day and recently switched to 1 1/2 cups twice a day due to not being home in the middle of the day.

His build looks normal.

Any opinions would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

bubbad

You may want to have a stool rechecked for parasites. You can try backing the food down a little to see if there is any consistancy or maybe he isn't tolerating the super high quality food ,next time get Wellness or a different quality food and try that for a while.

Mikey T

How much to feed has nothing to do with stool consistency. Some dogs do better on certain brands and ingredients than others. Because one brand is higher priced or has superior marketing does not necesarily make it better for your dog.


As to if you are feeding to much. If you are feeding a dog food manufactures recomendations it is guite likely but the only way to tell for sure is by assessing the dogs body condition. I take the puppy I am currently fostering. When she arrivied se had a distinct waist line , and a stongly tucked up abdomen, however you could not feal a rib on the dog if your life depended on it. This was a first for me. The ribs are not a common area for a basset to carry excess weight but each dog is different. You need to check more than one area.

For assess a dogs body condition see the following articles

Dog Diet Do's and Don’t's


Corpulent canines

Quote:

People don't know how to determine the correct weight for their dogs. Dogs vary in height, bone structure, and muscularity, so there is no one correct weight for a dog of any given breed. The best way to determine whether a dog is overweight is to test 3 different parts of the body: the neck, the ribs, and the hips. <LI type=a>To check the neck, press your thumb and index finger deep into the side of the neck just ahead of the shoulder, and pinch them together. If your fingers are more than 1/2" apart, the dog is overweight. (Note: this is where old dogs tend to carry most of their excess fat, and they may actually be thin in other locations.) <LI type=a>To check the ribs, stand with your dog beside you, facing his butt. Place your thumb on the middle of his spine half way down the back and spread your fingers out over his last few ribs. Then run your fingers up and down along his skin. You should be able to feel the bumps of his ribs without pressing in. To check the hips, run your hand over your dog's croup. You should be able to feel the bumps of his two pelvic bones without pressing down.