Ploppy poops after lots of exercise?

[Mama Soltera]

Does this happen with anyone else's dog? I wish mine would only poop at home but he does on walks. The farther we walk the softer his poops become and eventually they're so ploppy I can't clean them up, which is pretty horrible on city sidewalks. Does anyone know why this is?

It really can't be his diet. I've had him on a few different diets in his life and it is the same with all of them. This also is what my last dog used to do. I don't think I'm over-exercising him. We do go for miles but he's big and has lots of energy and loves it.

I guess I'm hoping there's some way to prevent this. Wishful thinking maybe...

[Ola_]

Well, it sort of is the diet. One of my dogs had very soft stools (I called it pudding poo, lol) and on a walk they would go all the way to liquid. Since we've switched to raw they are nice and firm, and the "long walk" ones just get squishy.

Basically I think the reason is that because exercise stimulates the bowels, the poop doesn't spend as much time in the colon and thus not as much water is extracted from it. In our case giving RMBs (raw meaty bones) helps to firm the stools overall because of the calcium content. When we were dealing with the worst of it I'd hold the open poop bag under his bum when he assumed the pooping position. I've also heard that carrying a folded newspaper and putting it under their bum to catch the poop can work very well, though I haven't tried it myself.

If you're not comfortable trying raw bones you could do a bit of pumpkin (for the fibre, make sure it's 100% pure pumpkin though). A spoonful in each meal would do it depending on size of dog, you don't want too much because it has the opposite effect.

[Mama Soltera]

Wow, thank you so much for all of those great ideas. Very helpful. I'm pretty squeamish but I want to try the holding of the poop bag one.

So, he does get some raw now but he has been 100% raw in the past and this was still an issue. Same with my last dog. With the 100% raw they actually would end up with runny yellow diarreah by the end of a walk/run. I totally agree though that the regular (pre-exercise) raw poops are the best. They're so light and easy to clean up. I've had people look at me strangely over those before and think my dog is dying or something.

I would like for him to be completely raw but at this point I can only do it part time, unfortunately.

I think "pudding poop" describes it perfectly. lol