from the dog health hub
Soft poos after a food change: normal or not?
You've switched food and the poos have gone soft. Before you spiral, here's the honest picture.
Usually normal
A gut meeting a new food has to retool - different protein, different fibre, different everything. A couple of soft poos, a bit of gas, maybe one dramatic one in the first day or two is common, and it typically clears within one to three days.
The fix is simple: slow down. Hold the old-to-new mix where it is, or step back to the previous mix, and only move on once things have settled. Stretching a 7-day switch to 10 or 14 days is completely fine.
Not normal
ring your vet if
Ring your vet if you see any of these: vomiting, blood in the poo, black tarry poo, watery diarrhoea that isn't improving after three days, food refusal beyond two days, or a dog that seems flat and unwell in themselves.
None of those are diet-change wobbles. You know what off looks like on your own dog - trust that.
The myth to ignore
You'll see "worse before better" repeated in food-switching threads - the idea that a flare-up means the food is working, or that the dog is detoxing. There's no evidence for it. Dogs don't detox. If you switched food for itchy skin, expect slow, steady improvement over weeks, not a dip first. A genuinely worsening dog is a reason to check in with your vet, not push through.
One cold-pressed note
If you've switched to a cold-pressed food like ours, smaller and firmer poos are the norm once fully switched. That's expected - don't read it as constipation. Keep fresh water down at all times.
Short version: soft for a day or two, settled by day three, slow the switch if needed. Anything beyond that, ring the vet and take the guesswork out.
the food behind the guide
One novel protein.
None of the usual suspects.
Some Grub is a cold-pressed, hypoallergenic dog food built around insect protein — a protein most dogs have never met, which is the whole point of a food trial.
See the food →