[NAGDU] Irregularity

Thu Mar 24 18:30:26 UTC 2022

My boy gets 1 1/4 cups in the morning and 2 cups for his dinner. This is
compared to 4cups of food a day on other foods he was on. I am also a
college student so I understand having mixed up schedules everyday. I found
though if my boy goes poop less than or more than 3 times a day he is very
uncomfortable through out the day. I hope you can figure this out. I had a
real difficult time figureing it out for my boy but it has been great since
I have found a great food.

On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 1:15 PM Tracy Carcione via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> Thanks Susan.  My dog eats 3 cups also, and your method sounds easier than
> measuring a cup and a half each time.
> Tracy
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Susan Jones via
> NAGDU
> Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2022 11:48 AM
> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> Cc: sblanjones11 at sbcglobal.net
> Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Irregularity
>
> I feed my dog two cups in the morning, and one cup in the evening.
>
> Susan
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Danielle Sykora via
> NAGDU
> Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2022 10:33 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Danielle Sykora <dsykora29 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Irregularity
>
> Hi Tracy,
>
> I'm late here, but a few thoughts. You've gotten some great suggestions
> already. Some of these suggestions work extremely well for some dogs, but
> don't effect others. A food switch can work wonders for relieving issues;
> however, I'm imagining from your previous posts you probably already feed a
> decent quality kibble. Food switches are my go to if the dog is pooping
> three or more times a day or consistently having very large or soft stool.
> This almost always means the dog is eating a food with a lot of fillers it
> isn't digesting, or the dog has an allergy or intolerance to the food.
> Switching to a different, ideally better quality food, in these cases
> almost
> always results in relieving less often and/or with less urgency. If the dog
> is already pooping only once or twice a day with smaller firm stool, a food
> switch may or may not make a difference.
>
> Most dogs will do equally well eating one or two meals a day. Some dogs
> will
> vomit bile if only eating once a day, and it may be difficult to feed once
> a
> day if another dog in the home is eating twice. Something less drastic that
> sometimes works is feeding one larger meal and one smaller meal. It would
> take some trial and error to figure out if a larger morning or evening meal
> would alter the relieving pattern, but it is a very easy fix if it does
> work. I would try this first, and consider one meal per day if the dog
> starts consistently relieving mid route on a regular basis.
>
> Another easy fix is giving the dog a bit of exercise before starting your
> route, if you think the dog may need to relieve. Sometimes all the dog
> needs
> is five minutes of fetch, tug, heeling around the house, trick training or
> obedience session, etc to stimulate them to relieve.
> Then you can go on your way without worrying. This obviously is more
> feasible when relieving your dog at home. Believe it or not, brushing also
> stimulates some dogs to need to relieve, which is another option.
>
> My current dog is not entirely predictable with relieving either. She gets
> her meals within a roughly one hour window and always poops first thing in
> the morning. She eats a lower fiber food with little filler.
> What time of the day her next poop will come is not predictable. As a
> college student though, I do have routines that vary from day to day and
> therefore her exercise routine varies from day to day. Giving her a few
> minutes of exercise before relieving is the solution that works very well
> for her to prevent indicating she needs to relieve during a route.
>
> Good luck,
> Danielle
>
>
>
>
> On 3/24/22, Tracy Carcione via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> > Thanks all for your thoughts.
> > I am feeding 2 dogs now, my current and retired guides.  My old boy is
> > allergic to chicken, which makes switching foods much more
> > problematic.  I really don't want to have 2 bags of dogfood and 2
> > containers to protect them.  However, Igloo's #2 habbits were erratic
> > in training as well, when he was eating Purina, so I'm not sure a
> > switch would help anyway.
> > I continue thinking about moving the night feeding time, but haven't
> > come up with a good consistent time to change it too.  I'm not sure
> > about doing away with split feeding.  I started it long ago, when one
> > of my dogs would throw up in the night because her stomach was so
> > empty.  Both my boys have been split fed all their lives, too.
> > Brent, I have a relieving harness, and I really like it.  I used it
> > all the time with my old dog, but Igloo has not taken to it well.  I
> > used it in training, and he would fill the bag, but still stand in a
> > hunched way until I took it off, then sometimes do a bit more.  At
> > home, he did the same, or wouldn't go at all.  I decided to stop using
> > it for a while until he got more acclimated to his new life and I got
> > more familiar with his poop schedule.  Maybe it's time to bring it
> > back out and start over, because it really is very useful.  And my old
> > dog did seem to come to associate wearing it with getting down to
> > business and filling that bag.
> > Thanks everyone for giving me things to consider.
> > Tracy
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Brent
> > Franklin via NAGDU
> > Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2022 5:08 PM
> > To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> > Cc: Brent Franklin; Tracy Carcione
> > Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Irregularity
> >
> > Hello Tracy,
> >
> > An interesting topic you've raised here. One that I hope promotes much
> > discussion.
> >
> > I will do my best to keep this post short, having several guides it
> > might end up slightly longer than I'd like.
> >
> > Food certainly plays its part, with so many brands and types of food
> > out there any wonder it can be tricky to absolutely know which works
> > best with your dog. The food my dogs have come to me on I've changed
> > right from the start. With sponsorship of schools being offered by
> > certain brands, those are the one's the schools go with.
> > aInterestingly 3 instructors I've worked with wouldn't have there own
> > dogs on those brands the schools were recommending at the time. One
> > can ask a stack of questions re food, and it is by only trialing
> > different foods that you will find out what works best.
> >
> > My current guide came to me with toileting times, a rough guide that
> > the kennel staff had observed. While this was good it gave me a real
> > idea of when he needed to fill a bag, a fairly good start. However I
> > was changing his food from day one so this was going to change. His
> > toileting times didn't suit me either, two poos in the morning within
> > a 3 hour period wasn't going to work for me, then one later in the day
> > late at night. As far as I was concerned while good information, this
> > was going to change. I wasn't sure what times we'd end up with but change
> was needed.
> >
> > It took us about 6 weeks to truly work this out. He is now down to
> > filling a bag twice a day.
> >
> > His first is very early in the morning, and his second is mid afternoon.
> > This dog works very hard, so plenty of walks. I felt twice a day was
> > enough, from the start I wanted to cut one out, because two so soon in
> > the morning just didn't seem to work with my timeline. Yes I feel it
> > is important for the dog to fit his toileting in with what I want.
> > Being employed means I can't just up and take him, there wasn't going
> > to be this "Oh no my dog has to go" in the middle of a meeting.
> >
> > What I did was a couple of things.
> >
> > Firstly I changed his food to one I felt was better than the school
> > recommended one.
> >
> > The second aspect was to get rid of one of those bag filling times. I
> > gradually pushed that time further back and in the evening straight
> > after his dinner I'd toilet him and not give him another opportunity
> > until morning. He soon caught on to the idea if he needed to fill a
> > bag after dinner he'd better do it straight away.
> >
> > This showed me I was going to succeed, so soon after I was able to
> > toilet him mid-afternoon and if he hadn't gone after dinner in the
> > time I gave him he learnt I wasn't going to take him late evenings The
> > mid-afternoon change really worked. I remained very strict and he came
> > around to what I wanted, filling a bag twice a day.
> >
> > A third aspect is I stopped feeding him twice a day, I cut out the
> > morning feed in the first 5 days I had him. The dog I had before my
> > current guide developed stomach issues, it took weeks to resolve
> > those, and my vet insisted I stop feeding him  twice a day and go to
> > one feed a day. The idea of feeding twice a day while not exactly old
> > isn't exactly new either. My first two guides were never fed twice a
> > day. My vet felt feeding twice a day wasn't helping my former guide
> > with his stomach issues.
> > Amazing the difference cutting out the morning feed made. I then
> > promised myself I'd never split feed again from then onwards it was
> > always going to be one feed a day. Others can shoot me down but I feel
> > the one feed made it easier for me with dog toileting habits.
> >
> > The fourth and final thing I do is use a toilet harness. My dog when
> > wearing this knows it is toilet time not only does it prevent me ever
> > having to pick up after my dog, but it brings about that importance of
> > toileting to the dog, he knows I expect him to fill the bag.
> >
> > Those are my thoughts there is no right or wrong in what we do, but
> > once a day feed I feel has made the biggest difference.
> >
> > Good luck, if you aren't currently using a toilet harness consider
> > doing so, best invention ever.
> >
> > Feel free to keep the list informed of your progress because I'm very
> > sure so many readers can relate to this issue.
> >
> > Cheers.
> >
> > Brent.
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tracy
> > Carcione via NAGDU
> > Sent: Wednesday, 23 March 2022 1:42 AM
> > To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> > Cc: Tracy Carcione
> > Subject: [NAGDU] Irregularity
> >
> > Igloo is not very regular with his #2's.  His breakfast time is around
> > the same time every day, and his dinner can vary by an hour or so, but
> > is usually around the same time as well.
> >
> > His night output can happen any time between right after dinner to
> > just before bedtime.  If it's late, his morning output is also late.
> >
> > We get out for some kind of walking every day, unless it's raining all
> > day.
> >
> > I wish I could figure a way to make him more predictable.  He doesn't
> > relieve on route, unless it's a real emergency, but I don't want him
> > to start having more emergencies.  I can deal with sometimes having to
> > carry around a full baggy, but I really hate when it becomes an
> > everyday occurrence.
> >
> > Any ideas?
> >
> > He is eating an even amount of food morning and night, lamb with
> > millet, barley and sorghum.
> >
> > Tracy
> >
> >
> >
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Phone: 440-670-6509

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