Some pets may experience watery and loose stools during the beginning stages of switching to a raw diet. These symptoms should go away after a day or two, with some basic feeding changes. Here are a few things you can do to help your pet:
- Removing skin and fat from the meat cuts
- Feeding more bone to firm up the stool
- Reducing the amount of food being offered
- Feeding some probiotics or slippery elm bark powder
Introducing a new protein too quickly may also lead to loose stools. Simply go back to feeding the previous protein until a normal stool is established for a few days, then begin to introduce the new item again in small amounts.
Do note that loose stools are not diarrhoea. Diarrhoea refer to the urge to defecate four or more times in one day, with liquid stools, and the inability to hold it in. Loose stools refer to soft, watery stools that occur in the normal frequency of a bowel movement. Monitor your pet and exercise good judgment. If your pet appears unwell and have persistent and chronic bouts of diarrhoea, we encourage you to consult your veterinarian and perform a stool sample analysis.