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What Is Healthy Poop?
It’s all about the Poop: A Side by Side Chat With Gleanna Doyle – Hollywood Dog Trainer, Owner & Founder of Rhodes Collar, Health Nut, Dog Mom
Tell us a little about yourself:
My name is Gleanna, I am a Certified Pet Dog Trainer, Certified Dog Behavior Consultant and Founder of Rhodes Collar, home of excellent, ethical evidence-based dog training). I have 2 dogs Hero (11) & Maggie (14). I pretty much have forever used complete raw food diets with my dogs and at one point made a complete raw food and sold it because I was experimenting with it. I’m a health nut. I have a masters in holistic nutrition, I grew up eating out of a health food store, so it’s just in my DNA to eat healthy for myself & since my dogs are family members, I have shared this way of eating with them.
Tell us a bit about your pups...
We inherited my dad’s dog Maggie in Feb and she came with a bundle of health issues.
She has 2 masses on her liver (which are most likely malignant) & anal sac cancer. She needs food that is easy for her to process, digest and eliminate. I remember when we took her home from Arizona, we were in the hotel and we would buy her rotisserie chickens from health food stores & she would eat at it, pick at it, and kind of the same thing: she would eat it for a couple days then stop eating it and turn her nose up at it.
Hero requires some raw or freeze dried food in order to keep his GI in tact. He can only have a healthy poop historically if he has a raw food in his system. He doesn’t have many health issues, but if he eats outside of freeze dried or raw for a long enough time (a few days to a week) his poop degrades & he ends up with what looks like IBS.
So any change in their diets, makes me hesitant…
What made you try Side by Side?
It was through another client that I discovered Side by Side & gave it a try. I was feeding them raw food before, & this feels more like food. I felt good about giving them raw [burgers], but this feels better. It feels better in my hands, when you have the raw dog food burgers it’s like, ick gross…but these feel like you’re putting together a nice meal like you would for yourself.
How was their experience with Side by Side?
For Hero, we only gave him raw patties from another brand, so I was nervous to switch him over, but I was amazed he does just as well on Side by Side (And it’s a much nicer food to work with – no ick factor). He loves loves loves it!
Maggie is the most surprising – usually, she eats something for a couple days, then turns her nose up at it. The only the food she hasn’t done that with is Side by Side. Even with another brands raw food burgers, she ate for a few days, and wouldn’t touch them. It’s been a blessing for her to be on this food. She eats it all, where before she would walk away
The transition for both was very easy!
How long did it take for you to notice a change?
The first time Maggie pooped, it was a formed poop and I thought it was a fluke. But then I noticed in the next few days it was the same. It probably took a week to fully transition to feeding Side by Side, but after a week there was a definite difference in her “output” if you will. In general, she has a lot more energy and is perkier and more playful. So is Hero, he’s acting like a puppy. These are things I definitely notice in both of them
The biggest thing to me is not that it got better, but it’s still better. It’s lasting. Maggie takes a billion medications, those can throw her off – there are a number of things – the fact that she is maintaining is huge.
Hero, I was concerned he would gain weight, but that didn’t happen. His coat is great, is activity is great, his poop is perfect
What is perfect poop?
That it’s not mushy, formed, pick-up-able, that it’s not too dark & doesn’t have a lot of odor. Things that are in there longer stink more, these go a bit faster – I think they’re absorbing more of the nutrients and getting rid of less & I think because it’s easily digested it goes through faster.
Maggie was eating a lot of grass, throwing up, not keeping pills down, her whole GI system was impacted and out of balance. Now she doesn’t have those problems and she has pick-up-able poops!
Hero – has eaten other raw foods that make his poop not so nice, not pick-up-able. So this is really nice to have solid poop.
Why do you think looking at poop tells the story of overall health?
The GI is such a marker for overall health & if what’s coming out is not formed, not good – then inside must not be so good.
Just like us, if you have diarrhea you probably don’t feel so good, your stomach probably hurts. If the poop is formed, it’s easy for them to pass (they don’t have to struggle) then it’s not dry, watery or irritating to all their parts and pieces that help to get it out. But also, the GI is so important to keep healthy – if your GI is healthy, chances are better that your other systems will be healthy. If your GI starts to deteriorate, get inflamed or have other issues, chances are better that other systems can be impacted.
It’s important to check their poop so you know what’s going on with them!
Any last thoughts or things you want to share?
The stews, they devour it & it’s so good…I can even put their pills in it! It sounds like an advertisement, it’s unintentional, but it’s the truth. Maggie does better on this than she does store bought, pre made or home cooked meals & it’s consistent which is the biggest thing! She stopped throwing up & she doesn’t get diarrhea, which were issues she was having before. Also, everything is easy to deal with (no ick factor), easy to recycle, easy to feed…start to finish as a whole it’s a beautiful experience.
We do still add some of what we eat for our dinner – cooked salmon, cooked veggies. All of this remains compatible with our pups, I believe because of the digestibility of Side-by-Side.
Thank you for taking the time to chat with us Gleanna & we look forward to continuing to be there for you and your pups! For more information on what to look for in your dog’s poop, click here!
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