Hi im quite new to raw feeding, i converted a couple of months ago. My 9 year old collie is having some difficulty passing stools, from everything ive read this is usually caused by 2 much bone but im using natural instinct or raw to go mince which are supposed to be balanced for me, they have chicken wings or lamb ribs 2 or 3 times a week and these are followed by a boneless meal such as tripe or sardines/eggs. Ive tried adding some salmon oil to the minces but sometimes he's still really straining to pass a poo. The other 2 dogs are doing fine on what theyre having. Any help would be great,there's so much good advice on this forum for new raw feeders i dont think id have been brave enough to do it without it!

Substitute one of the tripe meals with a liver meal. That should ease things.

It should also be noted the the 10% bones is a guideline only. Each dog is different and tweaking of the bone ratio may need to occur.

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Mine get tripe about five times a week for their breakfast, with the majority of the rest of the meals being made up from raw meaty bones, chicken or lamb, and then a meal or two of offal - I cook liver as it can make them really loose, and older dogs haven't done as well with it raw in my experience. Others seem to cope with it fine so it is an individual thing. I also give mine tinned fish once a week, with raw eggs

I feed Raw To Go minces (I started Sherlock on a raw diet 3 months ago) and I find that particularly the chicken is harder for Sherlock to pass, so I think the bone ratio might be higher in that mince maybe. Anyway, I add some liver or other offal when I feed him the chicken mince, or if he's having chicken bones, and that seems to sort it.

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Raw2go aren't complete in the true sense, they have very little liver, so that needs too be added.

I only know this from talking to them a few weeks back, DAF supplies them and I asked specifically if they were 80% meat, 10% bone 5% offal and 5% liver. Was told liver needs to be added.

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Thanks to all of you, i will add some liver and see how he gets on. Also managed to get some kidney & heart too so he can try some of those

You say straining to 'go', but don't mention the quality of stool.

Liver, blood cake, and fatty cuts of meat in place of the ribs would help the balance.

Today my poor dog strained for about 5 minutes and the cried as he passed a big poo. His stool quality is fine the 1st bit was a bit hard & quite small and then a big bit followed that was a normal consistency. Sorry 4 the detail i looked a real site poking my dogs poo on a aalk! I really dont think im overdoing the bones. Sunday he had tripe breakfast & dinner, monday was tripe for breakfast & natural instinct minced turkey for tea with a small piece of liver, tuesday was tripe for breakfast and a chicken thigh for dinner, today was tripe again for breakfast & sardines & an egg for tea. He's also having salmon oil on his minces & tripe & had half a banana here & there for a treat. Help i dont know where im going wrong, was awful seeing him so uncomfortable today.
My other 2 dogs arent having any problems passing their motions & they are having the same, however 1of them is chewing his feet loads, could that be because i have increased the tripe because of the poo problem? It was all going so well & now im worried if im doing the right thing. Any advice would be great coz i really want to keep up with this & get everything right for them.

No need to apologize.. Two raw feeders together are likely to talk poo

It can be difficult with multiple dogs (we also have 3) because there are variations between them. It is a case that sometimes one dog has to eat slightly differently. For us Nelson is the one who has problems, normally too soft though, so we have to ensure his bone content is a bit higher.

I have heard that banana can stop things up although not sure of the accuracy of that (never really given mine banana). Maybe skip the banana for a while and see if that has any effect?

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