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Not long ago, I wrote about red meat and white meat. I realized that my dogs eat very little white meat and I wanted to find alternatives to chicken and turkey.

In walks Guinea Hen from Columbia River Naturals.

I ordered a case through our local raw food co-op and loaded up the freezer. When the dogs tried their first meal of guinea hen, it was a hit! They loved it. Even Scout, who will not eat chicken, dove into his stainless steel dish with gusto.

I did it! I found an alternative to chicken.

And then a few days past and I noticed that Rodrigo was farting. A lot. His poop had been fine; everyone's poop had been fine, but the farting was insane. The living room smelled like the inside of his butt.

I put on my coat and grabbed gloves, my flashlight, and a garbage bag. It was time for a poop hunt.

What is Guinea Hen?

“Guineafowl are birds of the family Numididae in the order Galliformes. They are endemic to the continent of Africa and rank among the oldest of the gallinaceous birds. They are phylogenetically intermediate between peafowl and the Odontophoridae.” ~ Wikipedia

That means absolutely nothing to me, so let's try again.

Guinea hens are fat birds that kind of look like chickens, but they're not chickens. People raise them to keep garden pests under control without resorting to chemicals or risking losing garden to hungry birds (the hens just aren't interested, apparently).

What is in Columbia River Naturals' Guinea Hen?

The Guinea hen that I purchased isn't, in my opinion, a balanced raw meal. The ingredients include:

• Ground Guinea Hen
  Guinea Hen Heart
  Guinea Hen Liver and Bone

Source: WholePetNW.com

There isn't any offal. Raw feeders classify heart as muscle meat, not organ meat. But the problem my dogs had didn't have to do with the ingredients. It was the bird.

Results of My Poop Hunt

So I trotted outside and walked from one inch of the yard to the other. Since I clean the yard daily, I wasn't sure if I'd find anything. The dogs had just been out to “go potty,” but I don't know if they left behind any evidence of “this food isn't working for me” style poops.

Fortunately, Rodrigo started sniffing the ground and running back and forth (he's done this same routine since he was a puppy) and I was about to hit solid gold.

• His poop was light in color – no surprise since he was eating white meat.
• His poop was soft – not bad, but not good either.
• And then the end of his poop was very soft – not good.

Rodrigo went out one more time that night and woke up me at 2 am for another trip outside.  He had diarrhea for two days.  Scout only had soft stool, which went away when I remove the guinea hen from his diet.

Final Word on Guinea Hen Raw Dog Food

The girls are enjoying it, and I'll be thawing a chub or two each time I feed duck and mixing it in until I make it through the case. Or I'll be mixing it with the organ mix by GreenTripe.com.  The boys, however, are not guinea hen tolerant. Although they love the protein, I don't love the gas and soft stool.

With Rodrigo's history of digestive issues, I know that if I continue feeding him guinea hen, his gut (and butt) will spin out of control and he'll stop absorbing the nutrients because his body is passing the food through his system too quickly. He'll lose weight, and he'll develop anal gland issues.

Long story short, no guinea hen for the boys.  However, guinea hen is an altertive to chicke for my girls.