Oh I came so close to giving up on the RAW food diet for Lexi. She is my little Rat Terrier, about 10 lbs and 8 months old.

She was having trouble with her poop. Ha! What else is new!? It seems like that is the main struggle when feeding RAW. Trying to find a balance to make normal looking poop! Well her poop was on the soft side and many times had a gel jelly goopy coating.

I know there is a certain time period of “detox” when the body can weep and poop can be covered in that gel. But we’ve been on RAW for a couple of months now, so she should be over that. I was getting even more frustrated because she was regressing in housebreak training as well. Pooping in the house, sometimes right after she pooped outside. She even peed on our comforter one evening when she got excited and jumped up on the bed. eeek. That one was my fault though. I should have known better and taken her outside BEFORE bringing her upstairs to the bedroom.

My husband was ready to kill me (not literally!) and he was getting very frustrated as well. He kept telling me to stop, that it was the RAW food making her sick!

I really really didn’t want to stop feeding RAW to Lexi. In a million years, I never thought I would be feeding RAW in the first place, and now that I am, I am finding it very easy. And both my Ratties love eating it! Their fur is gorgeous too!

Mindy (my 4 year old Rat Terrier, 15 lbs) is doing just fine on it. Her poops are solid and small. Everything seemed to be agreeing with her.

After some deep thought, I decided to just feed RAW, with no supplements (fish oil, kelp) or eggs, sardines, etc.

I realized that it was me who wasn’t being consistent! When her poo was doing well, I would deviate from the normal, and start adding all the other ingredients and supplements, and she would get overloaded again. I wasn’t keeping good track of what was working and what wasn’t.

So, now I am just feeding her a portion of Bravo RAW twice daily and a small beef or marrow bone in the evening. That seems to be working. Today her poop was well formed and solid. No more jelly gel. Yay!

I will keep this up for another week or so, and then see what I can do to start adding a tiny small amount of the fish oil.

(note: the fish oil I am feeding is the Concentrated oil from Seapet – I have been giving Mindy 10 drops (which equals 1/4 tsp) and Lexi about half that amount)

I am happy, my husband is happy, and hopefully we can get her housetraining back on track. Things are going to get better! yay!

Yay! I found the earring! After work, I put on a rubber glove and smooshed the outside of each bag looking for something hard. Funny, I found lots of ‘whole’ peanut pieces. She just swallows ‘em without even chewing!

Anyway, I found it in the bag from last night’s poo, when Mike took her out. Phew, big relief.

I took the earring in, put it in a plastic dish and sprayed it with some Clorox cleaner. I don’t know if it will ever get clean enough to wear it again or even ‘touch’ it again, but I am giving it a shot!

Well, Mindy went poo three times today, I didn’t see any earrings, but the poo is saved in bags outside by the bushes. I have rubber gloves and want to go through it tomorrow after work.

First, I need assurance that she passed it, and second, hmm, that is a diamond earring, and I *think* I want it back. hehee. Not sure if I REALLY want it back after it has been “where it’s been” but maybe after I boil it or something, it might be okay.

I did call the vet today, and they didn’t seem too concerned. I am to just watch her to make sure she is eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom normally. So far, she is acting normally…well, normal for her! hahaa

Mindy and Mike were playing on his chair, and she jumped at his ear, grabbed his ear; Mike reached up and touched his ear, and realized his earring (actually my diamond earring that I gave to him) was gone. Mindy was busy chewing, and by the time he grabbed her to try to get the earring out, she swallowed it.

I am very worried. Will the earring pass, or could it puncture her stomach or intestines? I will give the Vet a call tomorrow to see what they suggest.

She is notorious for eating everything! I just hope that this time it isn’t going to be dangerous!

Mindy went outside as usual this morning, going pee and poo. I came out of the shower, and low and behold, there was a nice little “present” for me in the spare bedroom. Two piles of poo. *sigh*

I didn’t yell at her, but I was very disappointed; she knew she did something wrong, but she probably didn’t know exactly what she did. I quietly cleaned it up her mess and eventually made up with Mindy. This morning, the grass was extra wet; She hates the rain and any wet weather. This is when we have had trouble in the past. I keep thinking that I have learned her habits but there is always something new to surprise me…and unfortunately this surprise wasn’t so nice.

Something has been driving me crazy with Mindy lately! When she goes outside to go “poo”, she will start to go in one area of the yard, but before she’s finished, she starts to run off. Sometimes, she isn’t quite finished, (and this might sound very gross) so there can be something “hanging” from her butt! She freaks out, and tries to roll around the grass, causing it to smoosh on her leg or butt.

Ugh!

Then she stops and tries to poo again. If I am lucky, she will finish there and then; but for the past couple of days, she will keep freaking out until she finally stops and finishes her business.

I tried the “stay” command, figuring maybe I could get her to start and finish in ONE area, and I thought it was working for a time, but then it ceased to help. Mike thinks that possibly she is having extra “trouble” because she has been tearing apart her rope toys, and she is probably digesting some parts of the rope. Soo, we are removing access to her rope toy, which is a shame, because she loves it.

Update: didn’t know it at the time, but it was probably from the dog food we were feeding her. Oh how much I have learned!