What Your Dog's Poo Is Telling You

It is not the most glamorous subject, but it might be the most useful one in raw feeding. Your dog’s stools are a daily, free, surprisingly precise report on whether their diet is balanced. Learn to read them and you have a built-in correction system that tells you exactly when to adjust the bowl.

What a healthy raw stool looks like

One of the first things raw feeders notice is the change in their dog’s stools. On a balanced raw diet, you can expect them to be:

• Firm but not rock hard. They should hold together and be easy to pick up.
• Small. Less filler going in means noticeably less coming out. This catches a lot of people pleasantly by surprise.
• Mid to dark brown, though colour varies a little with the proteins fed.
• Low odour. Far less smelly than you might expect.

This is your baseline. Once you know what normal looks like for your dog, any change becomes an early signal worth paying attention to.

Reading the signs

Here is the quick translation guide that experienced raw feeders rely on.

White, chalky, crumbly or very hard stools. This almost always means too much bone. Your dog may also strain to pass them. The fix is to reduce the bone content and increase the muscle meat at the next few meals. Bone is the most common thing to overshoot, so this is one to watch.

Loose or soft stools. Usually this means too much fat or too much organ, or that you have introduced something too quickly. Lean out the meals, ease back on the rich liver and organ, and slow down any new additions. A meal or two of gut-friendly tripe often helps settle things.

Loose at the end of an otherwise firm motion. Often a sign of slightly too much organ. Trim the organ back a touch.

Mucus or jelly-like coating. An occasional bit can follow a dietary change and is usually nothing to worry about. Persistent mucus, especially with other symptoms, is worth a vet check.

Straining to go. Typically too much bone. Reduce it.

Use stools to dial in the balance

This is the practical magic of stool-reading. The 80/10/5/5 ratio gets you into the right zone, and your dog’s stools tell you whether you have landed it precisely for your individual dog.

If stools trend chalky, take a little bone out. If they trend loose, take a little fat or organ out. Make one change at a time, give it a couple of days, and watch the result. Within a week or two of small adjustments, most dogs settle into consistently good stools, and you will have learned your dog’s particular sweet spot.

When it is not just diet

Stools tell you about more than balance. Be alert to signs that point beyond feeding:

• Blood, whether bright red or dark and tarry.
• Black, tarry stools.
• Persistent diarrhoea lasting more than a day or two.
• Worms or anything unusual in the stool.
• Stool changes alongside other symptoms, such as vomiting, lethargy, loss of appetite, or signs of pain.

Any of these means stop adjusting the diet and speak to your vet. Diet is the usual explanation for everyday changes, but it is not the only one, and these signs deserve professional attention.

Make it a daily habit

You are already picking it up, so you may as well read it. A two-second glance each day tells you whether yesterday’s meals were balanced and whether your dog is well. It is the single easiest health-monitoring habit you can build, and over time it makes you genuinely good at feeding your particular dog.

Next in the series: raw feeding puppies.

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This article is general guidance and not a substitute for professional veterinary advice. Always consult your vet if your dog shows blood in their stools, persistent diarrhoea, or any signs of illness.