Do dogs excrete more with a better quality dry dog food?

Question

I've changed my dry dog food from Pedigree to Sport mix in an effort to get better quality. Since then my dog passes much more stool. Almost twice as much as when i used Pedigree. I thought with a better quality food comes less stool. Can someone please give me some good advise on this.

Answer 1

It is supposed to be that they pass less stool with higher quality food. How long ago did you switch and did you switch gradually. If you switched the foods to sudden he may be experiencing some loose stools. Give it a couple of weeks and see if they decrease in size.
Another thing. Does the food that you switched to have more corn in it. That is one of the ingredients that can cause more stool Hope I helped. Good Luck

Answer 2

Your vet is a fool. If he were mine, he'd be fired. This is not a common problem with dogs on holistic foods in general, and the idea that many dogs have problems absorbing it is complete BS. Perhaps the food is not the best for your dog, but a lower quality food is not the answer. Prairie comes in various different meat proteins, you may want to try a different one. Or, you could try a different high quality/holistic food. Some dogs are sensitive to certain meat proteins and do better on others, it's pretty much a case of trial and error to find what works well with your dog.

Answer 3

Uh, I think you should go back to Pedigree. The equation is better food=less poop. I dont this this "sport" mix you are talking about is very good stuff. I have raised 4 big dogs on Pedigree dry and they were all real healthy as well as worked for a veterinarian who swore by the stuff.

Answer 4

That could be an indication that you are feeding to much of the new food.
The higher the quality the less it takes to do the same job.
When checking the quality of a food the fat-protean levels in not a good indicator, look at the order of the ingredients list.
If the first ingredient listed is a grain then it is a poor quality food regardless of how high the protean level.

Answer 5

I have to second Magy's answer. Better quality should mean less grain/corn-based fillers, consequently there should be smaller, firmer stools.

However, if your dog is eating more in quantity because he likes the food better, or simply because he likes the change, he may be passing more stool due to the higher intake of food. If this is the case, you should eventually see a decline in waste produced once he gets over the "honeymoon period" with the new food.

Answer 6

What you are looking for in a “new” diet for your dog is maintenance of good health, improved health if possible. To judge this we have select weight, water consumption, exercise tolerance (and we don’t envisage you performing an endurance test on day 1 or day 14, normal regimes only please!), and the attitude of your dog first thing in the morning and when retiring. A perky, cheerful, happy dog in the morning is one who has eaten well, digested well, and slept well, a dog that settles down comfortably and quietly in the evening is a dog well nourished, feeling well, has exercised well without exertion. A dog that holds or gains weight slightly is a happy dog, a dog that consumes a regular amount of water isn’t eating too salty a food nor needing to excrete an unusual amount of waste or toxic products, a dog that maintains his fitness with his regular amount of exercise (measured here by exercise tolerance) is gaining enough nutrition from his diet. Another very important indicator of health and food utilization is the amount, quantity and quality of excretia. Foul smelling, soft droppings are not a sign of good metabolism and usually not indicative of good health. A firm, warm, not unpleasant smelling dropping is the ideal. Also urine quality and quantity are important indicators, fair volumes that are not odoriforous are optimum, small volumes, dark colour, destorying grass and sharp on the nose are not good signs.

Answer 7

It appears you've switched from bad to worse quality pet food.

UGH, Just look at the first few ingredients to the Sport Mix Maintenance Adult Mini Chunk formulation.
Meat Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Wheat, Chicken Fat
http://www.sportmix.com/dog/premiumMaintenanceAdultMiniChunk.tpl

Sport Mix's other formulations are equally as INFERIOR.

Supermarket kibbles are inferior.
Better to go to a pet store and ask for assistance in obtaining a true high quality pet food...there are many to pick from.
You will pay more but it'll be worth it in the long run. There will be MUCH greater benefits besides smaller stools.

Answer 8

I do breed rescue and have found a dog fed crappy dog food takes 6 weeks to properly use a quality product and gain weight. Their metabolism has to adjust. I've fed Pro Plan for about 15 yrs and the stools are def smaller and fall apart after 1 day.

Answer 9

The better quality food is much healthier and richer. It will make your dog excrete more, but that is not a bad thing. It is a sign that he is getting healthy food. If you are concerned you can ask your vet. He/She will be more than happy to give you good feeding advice. If you didn't gradually change the food it can also cause diarrhea. Make sure when changing dog foods you make gradual adjustments.

Answer 10

No, this can be normal. I haven't heard of Sport, but if is is higher in fibre (which is good) then they will poo more.

As long as the poo is a normal consistency (not soft, or too hard and dry) then quantity does not matter. It most likely means your dog is getting a nice detox from the fibre flushing out her gut!

I run weight clinics and put animals on Hills r/d - it's high in fibre to make it bulky, and clients often report their animal are pooing more. I witnessed my neighbours cat pooing more when I put her on it, but the poo looked great (as far as poo goes!) so I was pleased.

Compare the fibre content of Sport with Pedigree (which is lousy food), I would think you'll find it's got a higher fibre content.

Chalice