Dog Pooping on Floor at Night

[Lady of McCamley]

This is good to know. She does poop five or six times a day sometimes.

Interestingly, enough, though, my other dog (in my profile) had pancreatitis, eats low fat food, and still only goes once or twice a day. But maybe that’s because she’s smaller.

Aw. She looks like a lab or lab mix. We raised lots of labs in the program over our 10 years with it.

Yes. I think your feeding schedule and food choice is likely driving this.

Pooping 5 to 6 times a day is extremely excessive especially at her age. Watch corn content which is a common issue with voluminous pooping. The foods we eliminated in allergy trials were corn, wheat, and chicken. One guide (who was dropped due to food allergies but we kept as a pet) began food trials in that order. We put her on an allergen free Hills Science Diet ZD, which I think is vet only but may be over counter now, then after a couple of weeks introduced one food trigger at a time. A lot of sensitive diet foods have a lot of fillers which may be triggering her.

At guide dogs, we fed once a day at 8am or so. Keep a regular schedule. Poop is usually a few hours after feeding.

Also I suggest worming if you haven't done it recently. Worm build up can cause digestive issues too.

LofMc

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[Evadig]

We put her on an allergen free Hills Science Diet ZD, which I think is vet only but may be over counter now, then after a couple of weeks introduced one food trigger at a time. A lot of sensitive diet foods have a lot of fillers which may be triggering her.

At guide dogs, we fed once a day at 8am or so. Keep a regular schedule. Poop is usually a few hours after feeding.

Also I suggest worming if you haven't done it recently. Worm build up can cause digestive issues too.

I'll look into the Hill's, and good to know about the fillers and the worms. I'd gladly feed her once a day, but Eva eats her main meal in the evening, so I think I'll give Annie hers in the morning and then just a handful at night so she doesn't feel left out.

Tonight we're going for a good walk, too!

 

[StinkyAcres]

I second moving her feeding time and checking the fiber content of the dog food. I also think that the low calorie food is at least part of the problem. My vet put my dog on a high fiber, low-calorie diet because she has chronic diarrhea. That food had corn as the first ingredient and the calories were so low she had to eat so much of it to get the energy she needed and maintain weight. It firmed up her stool but, like your dog, she pooped 6 times a day. Her anal glands also constantly over-filled on that food. I took her off of it without telling my vet and switched to a high-protein, probiotic-coated kibble with real meat as the first ingredient and no corn, wheat, legumes, or soy. It didn't completely fix her chronically soft stool, but it's a relief to not have to let her outside so often.

 

[StinkyAcres]

I'll look into the Hill's,

If I remember correctly Hill's Science Diet also has corn as the first ingredient. I'd avoid any food without meat as the first ingredient.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

We've been real happy with Taste of the Wild Venison and Bison formula for our dogs. We tried it because my (late) Sheltie, Gracie, had seizures and we tried several brands of food until we hit this one on our vet's recommendation. It's a little pricey by the bag but you don't feed much. Our Golden, Jenny, stays fit on just half a cup twice a day! Obviously she does not poop a lot.

You mentioned feeding your dog most of her food in the morning and just giving her a little in the evening when you feed your other dog. The problem with that is she is still going to have to poop out that "little bit." Can you either (a) put the pooping dog in another room while you feed Eva; or (b) switch Eva over to morning feeding? Adult dogs only need one feeding a day. By not feeding anything after 8 a.m. you will solve your nighttime problems.

As for the crate training, once my dogs reliably keep the crate clean, I leave the crate door open in my bedroom with the bedroom door closed. Generally I don't have any problems; if I do they go back in the closed crate for 3 or 4 nights, then we try again. In this way I make their crate "bigger," so it encompasses the whole bedroom. When they can keep the bedroom clean for a week, we move to Phase two.

In Phase two, the dog and closed crate get moved to another bedroom, far away from the first bedroom for a week of nights. Then follows a week of nights in the closed bedroom with the crate door open. If all goes well, Phase three follows.

In Phase three, the dog is crated or tied in a public area of the house such as a living or dining room. When he keeps that area clean for a week in the crate (or on a 4 to 6-foot leash), I consider him pretty much dependable in the house. However, if he soils anywhere in the house, I will crate him in the area he soiled for a week. In this way I teach him that every area of the house is essentially his "crate" and is to be respected as such.

However I do not think training is the issue here. While it wouldn't hurt to go through this or a similar training process just to be sure, I agree with others that are saying to check with your vet.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

If I remember correctly Hill's Science Diet also has corn as the first ingredient. I'd avoid any food without meat as the first ingredient.

Not the ZD. But I checked and it's still vet rx.

I agree get meat as first ingredient and no corn.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I wonder ... could a family member or possibly a neighbor be slipping her an occasional late-night snack on these random evenings? Is somebody feeding her a no-no like a little chocolate ... or?

 

[SkyAJK]

My dogs live in the garage and they poops everywhere around our cars.

Their last meal for the day is at 3pm, no more food after that, just water. We let them out about 10am at night, they come in when they are ready. They did their business in the garden about then, that fixed the poop in the house issue.

My dogs are in the garden all day, they can go into their bed, but mostly they prefer to be in the garden.

Edit to say that I cooked majority of what my dogs eat, but the last meal mostly commercial food. Commercial food has lot of fiber in it, they create solid giant poops.