Hey guys, I have a issue I'm concerned about.
It just happened about literally 10 mins ago. And after cleaning up, I decided I need to ask this.


How should I go about helping Ruby make her stool firmer??


The only thing I could only imagine it being from today is my boyfriend feeding her one too many snacks along with her meals. Ive been feeding her 3 times within a day, a cup at each serving at 830, 5, and 9.


Just recently, (probably 2-3 weeks now) I switched her from Blue Buffalo to Wellness. I accidentally brought the dog version instead of puppy. And since I opened it already, I couldn't return it.. so I decided to feed her a cup of that only for each meal . At the beginning, I swapped out her food like I was told to so that She could adapt to it. But I dont think I did that long enough. (Only did that process for 3 days). So I believe that's why her poop was watery at first.

But overall, my question is... in what ways could I make her stool firmer? Certain foods? Any tips, techniques?

Updated pictures: :-)

Back off on the to many treats a bit, get some canned pumpkin (pure pumpkin not pumpkin pie mix) give Ruby about a tablespoon per meal. If its from the food change over she'll get use to the new stuff soon enough.

Where did you buy your food from? I've never went somewhere that did not take back a bag of food even for the simple fact "my dog didn't like it."

A dog being overfed can cause diarrhea. Ro had relatively mushy poos because I washed her last night and when HVD'ing her, I let her have her head in a bag of treats to keep from wailing and she definitely ate waaaaaaay more treats than she should have. Like Len said, I'd get canned pumpkin and slob a tablespoon in each of her meals and give her a day or two to firm up. Unless she is having diarrhea for days, I wouldn't look too far into it.

pumpkin can help, but too much pumpkin can also make it worse so just be careful - like Len said, 1 tablespoon with 1 or 2 meals each day should help. another thing that can help is plain non-fat yogurt that has active cultures. 1 or 2 tablespoons a day should help reset her digestive tract by promoting the healthy bacteria in her digestive tract. if one or the other doesn't help firm her stools up in a few days, it could be she has a slight intolerance to something in her food.

Thank you guys!
I'll definitely go out and get some pumpkin or yogurt today. I'll let you guys know how it goes!

@Heather, at PetsMart, but I didn't know you were able to return the dog food if your dog doesn't like it!? I thought it was a standard, "no return if opened" policy.

No, Petsmart will take back the food. I ran out of kibble before prior to getting my new bag in the mail, went to Petsmart, bought a decent grain free food in the smallest bag, fed 2 meals out of it, and returned it saying he hated it with no issues.

Don't judge me, haha.

LOL! That's smart! No judgement here! Hahaha.

Where do you purchase your kibble from and for how much? I remember you saying Earthborn or Acana is good right? Also, what is exactly so good about grain free?

withlovejP wrote:

Where do you purchase your kibble from and for how much? I remember you saying Earthborn or Acana is good right? Also, what is exactly so good about grain free?

For me, I have a pet food outlet close by with prices on a wide variety of dry and wet food, rating from 4 to 6 stars on a 6 star scale, with prices about 10% off retail plus a rewards program that will give you another 3-5% rebate every quarter depending on how much you spend. There's also a couple of online stores that have decent prices:

naturalk9supplies.com
petfooddirect.com
wag.com (first time buyers get a one-time 20% off their total if you can find the code - I think they still have that offer when you sign-up)

I have Ginger and Storm on grain free because Ginger has some intolerances to grain, especially rice. Grains like corn, wheat and soy are cheap fillers and lend very little to no nutritional value. So while you have inexpensive foods that contain these grains as fillers, you would have to feed more to get the same nutritional value as a food that cost more without cheap fillers. In the end, you'll find there are several good dry dog foods that would cost the same as inexpensive dog food because you end up feeding less.

LOL@ Heather "Don't judge me"

That sounds great! Thanks Claudia!

Another question is, where can I get the canned pumpkin? & Is there a specific brand that is well-known and good to use? I was briefly looking up where I could get it and it seems like I'd have to order it?

Or perhaps buying yogurt would be more convenient?

Canned pumpkin is in most grocery stores.

Heather! wrote:

Canned pumpkin is in most grocery stores.

You should be able to find it in the baking aisle - make sure it's 100% pumpkin....NOT pumpkin pie filling.

I got it!! Thank you guys! :-)

In a matter of two feedings with the table spoon of pumpkin, her stool is firmer! Thanks a bunch guys!

I have another question,
Ruby is now 5 months and at 31 pounds. Is that right? Because my boyfriend claims that she's small, but I think she's growing fine and at a average weight.

Dogs grow at different rates. A female Siberian husky within standard weight could be as small as 35lbs full grown. But 5 months and 31lbs sounds just fine in comparison to what I've seen others say their females weigh around that age. I have a midget dog and Ro was only 16lbs at 5 months when she got spayed. She's 27lbs now and most people mistaken her for 6 months old (she's over a year). If she's around the same weight as Ro is and Ro looks around 6 months, sounds like a good number to me. Doesn't sound small at all.

Yay! Thanks for the info Heather! :-)