I recently met a woman with an obese dog. She was nice so we started talking. She told me that she was aware of the weight problem and that together with her vet, they had put the dog on a strict diet. When I enquired about the details, she told me that the vet had prescribed a special “weight loss kibble” that she couldn’t remember the name of right now.

When I asked how it was going, she proclaimed that it was doing wonders. The dog had already started losing weight. But before I could ask another question, she continued by saying: “There’s just one thing though..” pausing for a moment, “my dog won’t stop pooping”.

As it turned out, her dog had started pooping often, and a lot. Much more so than usual. Not only that, but the excrement had a horrible stench to it, and it almost always came out in very soft, almost diarrhea like consistency.

At first I thought it might be because she had just switched to the new “wonder kibble”, but as it turns out, her dog had been using it for weeks.

So what’s the problem?

Clearly the food was not good for the dog. Any common sense dictates that when such stool is consistently produced there’s something wrong. I’m willing to bet a lot that most of the nutrients in that kibble were not being utilized by the dog.

So this begs the question, what happened to common sense?

It’s not that I’m picking on this woman in particular, or maybe I am, but in what world do you live where seeing this doesn’t ring any bells whatsoever? If the dog started excreting in this manner around the same time you started the new kibble, chances are there’s a connection. Of course, the dog might be ill from something else, but it is not likely. Is it the fact that the food came recommended from your vet that has you ignoring the huge, smelly elephant in the room (pun intended)? Or are you simply not able to do simple math?

Bad food + upset stomach = unhealthy dog

In fear of going on a tangent, I’ll wrap this up. Just please, use your head, and when something is clearly not right, do something about it.

Author: Stian Karlsen