A "Crappy" question

[HugABull1]

Okay - how much should my dogs poop? Back when I had Ruby, and then Angel, who were both kibble-fed girls, they pooped 2-3 times a day. I know that food quality effects the, er, output - I used to work in the pet industry and sold food, and observed the difference in, um, volume of dogs on cheap crappy filler foods versus premium, high quality, highly digestible foods.

Which brings us to my question - I feed BARF, it doesn't get much more digestible than that. My dogs' diet is grain-free, made up of bone, meat, and a small amount of veggies for the most part.

Angel poops 1 or 2 times a day, which I can live with. Sugar poops 2-3 times a day, not great, but not bad. Gage generally takes 4-5 huge dumps EVERY day!!! You add all three dogs up, and on a "generous" day, they're leaving me 10 piles of to clean up!!!

Now, at least with this diet, within an hour in the sun the stuff is dried out, basically odorless, and pretty inoffensive - that doesn't mean I want to step in it, so I've gotta shovel it all off to the "poop zone" in our yard and pray for rain to break it down so it just goes away (their poop is a gazillion times better than a kibble-fed dogs, no saving it up in a bucket for the trash man with them ).

But still, I find it really odd that Gage, at 11 months old and around 55-60lbs, takes 4-5 healthy dumps a day - we're talking at least a cup and a half at a time.

Is this normal? Is there any way to reduce the amount of poop?

BTW, he's not over fed or overweight, he eats about 1lb of food a day, and his poop looks the same as the other dogs, there's just more of it.

[moto1320]

Doc goes twice as much as Daisy and when I had Riley he went more that Doc. Perhaps it has to do with Males metabolising food in a different way?

[Demo Dick]

Here's what you do...

Get one of those white five gallon buckets (or something similar). Dig a hole in your yard deep enough to leave the top 2 inches of the bucket above ground. Cut the bottom out of the bucket with a keyhole saw. Sink the bucket into the hole.

Now you have to go get something called Septo-Bac. It's an enzyme that breaks down animal waste. You should be able to find it without too much trouble, and if need be you can probably find it online. Put some into the container. Now just clean up the yard a few times a week and put the piles into the bucket. Make sure you keep it covered to ensure good composting. All the poop goes away like magic.

Demo Dick

[phez718]

Do you have a pic of this setup Demo? Sounds like a good idea in my city yard...

[Stormbringer]

You are basically making a "doggie doolie" mini septic system:

http://www.cherrybrook.com/store/Produc ... ctID=51243

But those 5 gallon plastic buckets are a lot less than $40.

What do you use for a lid on your bucket septic???

I'd sure hate to step in it by mistake.

[HugABull1]

Thanks for the suggestion! We used to sell those doggy-septic tanks in the petstore I worked in, but for like $80!!! I've been thinking about the best way to make one - I'll have to get off my lazy butt and do it one of these days .

Gage just pooped - again. He's on a role the last couple of days, more like 5-7 piles a day :roll:

[moto1320]

Good posting Demo. I was just talking to Rachel the other day about trying to make my own tank. We are moving to a rental with a nice yard in the Historic district and will have to keep it that way. I was stumped on the lid part too....

[Demo Dick]

I don't have pictures because I don't have one. I currently rent, so I just pick up each pile as it is created. I freely admit that I stole the idea from one of those overpriced dog septic systems. Instead of a $30 (or more) bucket, I decided that I would use a free one.

You can use the actual bucket lid as a cover. I suppose one could also affix a flowerpot or bansai or something to the lid to disguise the true nature of the container.

Demo Dick

[mnp13]

What do you use for a lid on your bucket septic???.

You can get the lids for $5 at any hardware store.

Michelle