I wasn't sure what title to use so I just said it as it is.  My puppy is currently on 4 meals per day a total 350gms per day.  She seems to do quite big and quite a lot of poo's is this because she's on 4 meals per day and its normal or is the food she's on not suiting her. I thought the better the food the less there is to come out (sorry about the content of this but I ad to ask)

I'd expect at least one poo per meal, as it were. :-) If the poos are of a pick-upable consistency there's not too much wrong; if they're squidgy then it's possible that either each meal is too big, or something in the diet doesn't agree with her.

As JG said :-D

Some foods do seem to produce more output than others, it can be trial and error there though :)

The more "filler" in the food the bulkier and softer the stools will be, when I changed over from RC to Fish4dogs the stools were so much smaller.

How old is your pup?  When were you told to reduce to 3 meals a day? 

And what food are you feeding?

I find all kibble produces huge output and puppy poo is generally softer than adults due to the frequency of feeding (it simply doesn't have much time to form and harden in the intestine).  The ideal poo is one that is firm and kickable - I'd say this is nigh on impossible with a kibble fed puppy but certainly something to aim for once she's on her adult rations and fed only twice a day

Overfeeding can produce softer stools though so it might be worth reducing her meals her meals by a few grammes if you think this might be the case (as little as 5g per meal will be enough to make a difference).

Raw food definitely produces much less poo and less odour too which in my book makes it the ideal diet!!

>The ideal poo is one that is firm and kickable - I'd say this is nigh on impossible with a kibble fed puppy

No, my Daisy's poo was firm and formed when she was still on 4 meals a day, and was kibble-fed. :-)

She's nearly 5 months rabid and I was wondering about when to drop her down to 3 meals thought it might be quite soon.
And she's on cjs or csj can't remember which way round it is now

I'm about to look on ingredients of her food rhodach - what exactly do I look for that's considered "filler"

>She's nearly 5 months rabid and I was wondering about when to drop her down to 3 meals thought it might be quite soon.

Traditionally you drop from 4 meals a day to 3 at about 3 months, although the tiny toy breeds might need 4 meals for rather longer. :-)

> what exactly do I look for that's considered "filler"

Anything that provides fibre.  However, before you do it is important to note that fibre is necessary.  In the past when I have tried "low output" diets I have had dogs suffering horribly from constipation.

Fillers to me are anything that doesn't appear to have any nutritional value but is basically there to fill the dog up as it swells more in their stomach.

Yes normally they go down to 3 meals per day at 12 weeks, they usually get the same daily allowance but split 3 ways or a larger meal in the morning and then 2 slightly smaller ones, this continues till 6 months when mine usually stop being interested in the midday meal and I go down to 2 till they are adult and free fed from a year old when they go on to adult food.

Have you spoken to csj - I feed that and have found ceri to be very knowledgeable

I might just give them a ring but see how she goes on 3 meals a day.  What sort of time should i give her the last meal.

I would definitely go to 3 meals a day at that age. 

You want to aim for breakfast, lunch and dinner at human meal times(ish).  However, you might want to do it gradually over a few days so pup doesn't get a shock - make the last meal progressively less and less and adjust others accordingly. 

Puppy poos tend to be softer because they are going through the body faster - the puppy is a digesting machine, growing all the time. 

I'm always a bit confused by this whole idea that there is a perfect shape/size/consistency of poo.  Dogs aside, I know that when I eat very healthily with lots of fruit and veg, my own poos are much less firm than if I eat crap for a day(!!!), so I've never quite understood why this isn't applied to dogs too.  It would be nice if a healthy poo were also a superbly pick-up-able poo, but I'm not necessarily sure the two are the same thing.  There just seems to be a tacit assumption that the two are the same but this doesn't seem based on anything besides hearsay.  Dogs didn't evolve to make the most perfect poos for us humans to pick up.  Obviously diahorrea or constipation are not desirable, but a formed yet soft poo seems perfectly acceptable, to me.  My dogs' poos are softer/tackier (ie stick to pavement more!) on Orijen than many other brands of food, yet I believe it is the better diet for them over other foods which produce firmer poos...

Mine (medium size breed, 20kg adult bitch size) drop to three meals by three months and are often on two measl by 5 months, though I tell puppy owners 6.

I think you can get carried away getting too worried about poo, sure.. (but hey, it IS only something thats going to happen to people who know on a daily basis what their dog produces and what to expect, better than those who have no clue at all!)..

Like people, theres a scale - the extreme ends are to be avoided, the middle of the range is ok.

I know that my dogs 'normal' is small and very firm, usually one or two pieces not loads of little bits, no mucous, mid brown and turns white if left more than 36 hours.

If they produce something a bit harder I'll adjust the diet, if they produce something softer or the wrong colour, again I'll look at whats going IN.

Currently, OH forgot to order the meat so they have had a week on Fishmongers which is Pets at Homes own brand fish and spud cereal free food - firm, kickable poos, bit dark in colour but then the food is VERY dark in colour too. Wouldn't feed them on it long term (they get fed up of it after a week anyway) but short term it seems fine.

But - theres a LOT of folk out there that think their dog producing huge, voluminous, shapeless BRIGHT ORANGE turds is normal and ok...

The colour of a turd (I cant believe I am writing this) is quite significant, obviously discount this if you know you are feeding something highly coloured... orange means in short, the food is moving through the gut too fast and isn't being properly digested. This is also signified by the large and loose appearance of it and the fact that it appears to take MONTHS to break down (you see the same turds on the pavement if you walk the same routes often enough!)

Not really a coincidence that the dogs that I know produce poo like this, eat low quality primarily grain based foods, which are not very digestible, and have to be fed it in large quantity (I was horrified how much Wagg Complete a friends dog needs to eat compared to the equivalent I'd feed of Taste of the Wild - same sized and aged dog!) to provide the necessary energy/nutrition.

Firm stools also empty the anal glands naturally, I have never had a dog that has needed manual evacuation.

Neither have I, Rhodach, and I wouldn't say mine's poos are firm.

Agreed about the colour.  I think the darker, the better.  When I've fed foods with more cereal and less meat, the poo gets lighter accordingly.

My friend's dog has just had a burst anal gland abscess, the result of her daughter being off school (teacher) and having the dog with her.  Her feeding regime is feed the dog as often as possible and as much cr4p as possible, which rapidly leads to massive diarrhoeah. 

It's an ongoing struggle for my friend to keep this dog on an even keel as her daughter insists on feeding the dog large amounts of inappropriate foods - take away pizza and curries, whole cooked chickens and large steaks.   Consequently the poor dog is fractious much of the time (who wouldn't be with an uncomfortable tum) and loose most of the time.   This costs my friend a fortune in vets fees for something that is totally avoidable.

Send the daughter away on holiday for a few weeks and the dog rapidy stabilises, his tum recovers - nice kickable poos, and he's much happier and settled.

The state of a dog's poo is an excellent guide to how he/she might be feeling, loose poos and the tum is not going to be comfortable at all and could lead to much worse problems ;)

That is so sad,the daughter needs a kick up the rear end to give her some taste of the pain the dog is now suffering due to her irresponsible actions, she should be told that she feeds the dog no human food and the state of the dogs stools will indicate if she has or not as when she isn't there the dog is fine, how could anyone do this knowing it is going to upset the dog and cause pain.

My pup is 15 weeks old today and she's on 3 meals. One of CSJ and two of raw meat. First meal about 9 am, then one about now so 3 pm, last one 7 pm. (Must go feed her!!)

Well I'm pretty sure my puppy is fine going on all I've just read from you all, thanks and I've just sat here laughing to myself at the detailed conversation we are all having about poo lol soo I think I'm going to call it OUT GOING, not poo or mess or turd or one or two other words and just stick to the OUT GOING, I'm also surprised at how much notice I've obviously taken of my puppies OUT GOING as all what I've read on here I could relate to.  Thanks again and I shall be looking to check anymore comments regarding OUT GOING which we all know is very closely related to the IN COMING/GOING

OUTPUT is easier ;)

THAT'S IT brainless IN PUT & OUT PUT lol makes it a much more mature conversation lol lol lol

'Johnny five is alive' and needs input, LOL

Thinking about it incoming sounds like something you would need to duck from lol and yes Jonny 5 is alive and living with me with the amount of inputs and outputs we have going off all I've got to do now is get through the water play with her - she insists on playing in her drinking water so I've been using one of those anti gulp bowls for her water and just put her back onto normal bowl and with any luck she will have forgotten about what she used to do, watch this space lol

All this has already been said to her - it goes in one ear and out the other.   She isn't the one taking the dog to the vet, and if she did she'd blame her mum

I had a conversation with her today, about why the abscess happened and how very painful it must be.  I also explained how it can be avoided.  Have to be tactful as being a teacher she doesn't like 'being told' ;)  - she's more used to telling everyone else.   Have pointed out that 'kickable poos' will help prevent this reoccurring.   Trouble is, she'll say all the right things and then do as she pleases :(

I'm hoping this time it wil sink in