Poop. Yeah, that's right.

  I love your avatar and the other pics of Ella; she's beautiful. []  How long has Ella been on the OB; it can take a few weeks for a dog's system to adjust to a food. Is it possible that you're feeding her too much; that can cause soft poops. I've never had Jessie on a "high octane" kibble so I can't recommend any;  I supplement her Eagle Pack Holistic with NV raw or some cooked meat and she's always had small firm poops.

Well, I've given her OB in the past. I've also given her T.O.'s Wild and Natural and for some reason it just gives her gigantic piles of poop. The poop is formed, but soft. Also, on the pit bull forums I post on, SEVERAL people who feed T.O. complain about their dogs' horrendous gas on it. And that's even WITH giving plain yogurt. I suppose I could be feeding her too much, if she gets a raw meal in the morning then she'll get 1-1 1/2 cups at night of kibble. Sometimes if she's worked extra on the treadmill I'll give her 2 cups. But usually if I know I'm going to be giving her that much then I'll give it to her throughout the day and not all at once. She never gets more than a cup of it at a time.

I guess I'm complaining because I got SO used to the nice raw poops.

Oh, and thanks for the compliments for Ella!
I find myself staring at my signature a lot because I cannot help but think she is the most adorable dog in existence!
heh!

It would cost me over $13 PER MEAL to feed her. I'd be spending over $26 a day with feeding that.

ORIGINAL: chewbecca

That is insanely expensive!!  My dog and I are cool but we aren't that close! []  []
 
FYI I paid $18.49 for a 9 lb bag of Canine Caviar Venison and Split Pea.

do they have samples of the Canine Caviar?

I'd really like to try it out on her before committing $20 to something she might not eat.

do they have samples of the Canine Caviar?

ORIGINAL: chewbecca

"My store" had free samples of all varieties but the Venison and Split Pea.  They had run out of those. 

she's worked extra on the treadmill

Sorry to go OT,but why does she go on a treadmill?

ORIGINAL: Edie

she's worked extra on the treadmill

Sorry to go OT,but why does she go on a treadmill?

Because she's a pit bull and I fight her.



HA!

Seriously, Edie, I work her on a treadmill because it's so cold here that she REFUSES to go on walks. Having her walk on a treadmill is the only exercise she gets this time of the year, unless we play ball in the house.

Rebecca,
 
My personal thoughts are that she isn't absorbing the food - either b/c of the form of minerals/ nutrients, or maybe b/c she needs digestive enzymes.
 
When we first started the food elimination diet, we had to go 3 weeks w/o any supplements on the new home cooked food.  It was awful.  Her poops were gigantic - and she lost alot of weight.  The very day after I started giving her a dog multi, her poops got very small and infrequent.   So, she needed the vit/mins in order to process her food - otherwise it just went straight thru.                        It would be good if you could find a kibble that she could get more "use" from, but if not, you might could try digestive enzymes.  Now, to clarify, my girl is NOT on digestive enzymes - what I added to her diet was simply a dog multi.       
 
Now, she SHOULD have been able to go 3 weeks w/o a multi.  But, she couldn't.  So, my theory is that her body wasn't utilizing the vit/mins in her previously fed kibble (top brand), and didn't have a "store" of them to work from.     Sooooooo, I think that maybe for some dogs, either the supplements in kibble - or some kibbles- either aren't enough variety of what they need or they are the incorrect form of the nutrients.  I know the supplement I use seems to have alot more vit/mins than kibble, and it is in a very absorbably form (such as citrate versus carbonate or oxide).
 
BTW,  my allergy girl did fantastic on TWO (no rice in the ones I tried), but their poops were huge, and so soft that I would have to do a clean up.  That was a couple years ago, and I now know I could have added veggies or something to help firm their poop up. 
 
But, my boy dog's poops are still huge, and he's not on TWO now.  So, I'm thinking the same thing with him - that he is not getting enough nutrients in the right form from his kibble.    I have not tried the digestive enzyme with him - I had already decided that I might have to start homecooking and freezing his food.  But, it would be interesting to try the digestive enzymes first to see what happens.  Silly me, I hadn't thought of doing that until I was answereing you!  It helps me to "talk" things out.
 
Also, yougurt with cultures is a great probiotic which should help with the good gut flora, but I don't think those probiotics are designed to actually digest food.  So, it wouldn't help with this problem.   Oh, and giving the yogurt isn't new, is it?  Make sure that there isn't a dairy related gas thing going on as well.
 
Lynn

Because she's a pit bull and I fight her.

HA!

Seriously, Edie, I work her on a treadmill because it's so cold here that she REFUSES to go on walks. Having her walk on a treadmill is the only exercise she gets this time of the year, unless we play ball in the house.

ORIGINAL: chewbecca

That was funny! 
 
You didn't say how big Ella is but mentioned that you sometimes give her 2 cups in the evening.  Stating the obvious, maybe that is more than she really needs for winter weekdays if she sleeps a lot during the day.  Maybe it is the potato in OB.  She may digest a different carb more efficiently.  Maybe Nancy Reagan's astrologer can help you figure it out.  []

ORIGINAL: DakotasDoode

Because she's a pit bull and I fight her.

HA!

Seriously, Edie, I work her on a treadmill because it's so cold here that she REFUSES to go on walks. Having her walk on a treadmill is the only exercise she gets this time of the year, unless we play ball in the house.

ORIGINAL: chewbecca

That was funny!

You didn't say how big Ella is but mentioned that you sometimes give her 2 cups in the evening. Stating the obvious, maybe that is more than she really needs for winter weekdays if she sleeps a lot during the day. Maybe it is the potato in OB. She may digest a different carb more efficiently. Maybe Nancy Reagan's astrologer can help you figure it out. []

hahahaha!

Ella is 60 lbs. According to her weight she should be fed 2 1/2 cups of food. I'll lower that and see if she can still put on some weight.

thanks!

Oh, and I want to make sure that ALL know that I DO NOT fight my dog and I do NOT condone dog fighting at all, ever.
I love her and respect her to much to EVER do anything like that.

Perhaps as others have said she needs less OB and more time to adjust - may be a thought to reduce kibble and add a bit of rice (if she can have rice).  The rice will firm the stools and also fill her belly a little more if reducing the kibble leaves her unsatisfied.
The gas, well not sure. 
Bugsy has been on OB or bison since early Jan and his poops are smaller than on any other food he's been on.  His gas is reduced as well.  Now we all know that just like humans pooches are all unique so may be it will never work but I'd say it took about 3 weeks before Bugsy's poops reduced on the TWO (we had been using NB venison and they were HUGE).  Also comparing poops from raw to kibble isn't ever going to be a fair comparison.
Interestingly Bugsy finally put weight on with TWO

Good luck

Ella is 60 lbs. According to her weight she should be fed 2 1/2 cups of food. I'll lower that and see if she can still put on some weight.

ORIGINAL: chewbecca

Daily feeding recommendation for 51-80 pounds is 2 - 4.25 cups.  By feeding 2 cups at a meal you are at the high end recommendation since you feed her a raw meal as well.  If she's not going outside much during the winter and not sprinting on the treadmill my guess is she doesn't need the high end recommended amount on a weekday assuming she is inactive most of the day.
 
I feed Dakota more on the weekend when the whole family is home and she gets virtually no sleep during the day and a longer walk.

I usually only feed her 2 cups though IF she has worked out like 20 minutes on the treadmill. But I will definitely cut that down.

On normal kibble fed days she only gets 2 1/2 cups for the entire day. I usually break those up into meals.

I'm going to try to break them into four 1/2 cup meals a day and then only feed her maybe 2 cups. We'll try that and if she starts to lose weight, then I'll increase her 1/4 cup more a day.

ORIGINAL: kpwlee

Perhaps as others have said she needs less OB and more time to adjust - may be a thought to reduce kibble and add a bit of rice (if she can have rice). The rice will firm the stools and also fill her belly a little more if reducing the kibble leaves her unsatisfied.
The gas, well not sure.
Bugsy has been on OB or bison since early Jan and his poops are smaller than on any other food he's been on. His gas is reduced as well. Now we all know that just like humans pooches are all unique so may be it will never work but I'd say it took about 3 weeks before Bugsy's poops reduced on the TWO (we had been using NB venison and they were HUGE). Also comparing poops from raw to kibble isn't ever going to be a fair comparison.
Interestingly Bugsy finally put weight on with TWO

Good luck

Wait, ha, don't get me wrong. I know comparing kibble poops and raw poops isn't exactly fair. But have you ever been blessed with a total raw poop before??
It makes you never want to feed anything different ever again!

Just curious, have you tried dehydrated raw?  [linkhttp://www.thehonestkitchen.com/index.htm]Honest Kitchen[/link] is one manufacturer of deydrated raw offering formulas with or without grains: beef, chicken, turkey, and an all veggy/you add the protein.
 
I tried it a while back and really liked it, and the dogs really liked it but it ended of costing too much to feed two large breed dogs...never mind three!  But, for one mouth to feed it might be cost effective, especially if it works well for you.