JD's Lima Bean Challenge, An Experiment For All Food Groupies!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Before JD was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease in December 2011, I used to add a little of my own dinner to his dinner bowl just about every night. A particular favorite was lima beans. He always knew when they were on the menu, and was even more eager for his dinner than usual those nights.

All that stopped after the IBD diagnosis, and it had been a long time since JD got lima beans in his dinner bowl. Not so much because there is any reason he couldn't have them, but I had just not been cooking them for myself much either since my family's schedules changed and family dinners are a rare occurrence here. And I had gotten out of the habit of giving JD some of whatever I was eating for dinner, since there is so little he's allowed to have. 

But last month, I cooked lima beans and gave JD about 2 tablespoons with his dinner. 

The next morning, his poop was the same as always.Ditto the evening poop. 

But on the morning of the second day after he'd eaten them, there were lima beans in JD's poop. 

Now, the fact that the lima beans had passed through undigested was not a surprise. That's par for the course, because dogs can't digest plant cellulose. (People aren't very good at it either.) 

But the fact that the lima beans showed up in the poop about 40 hours after he'd eaten them, and that he'd had 2 normal poops in between, did surprise me. 

I tried it again this past week, and same thing.

It seems to me that in the past, they would have appeared in the next morning's poop. But I don't really remember. 

I think maybe JD's food is taking much longer to pass through his system than is normal, due to the IBD, and maybe all the meds. 

But I thought it would be interesting and maybe informative to see how long it takes food to pass through a healthy dog's GI tract. So JD and I are looking for volunteers to participate in our Lima Bean Challenge experiment. 

The LB Challenge is open to all dogs over 8 months old who do not have any current digestive issues, who do not free feed (food is eaten at regular set mealtimes), and whose owners are willing & able to immediately inspect all poops from the time the dog eats the lima beans until said beans exit the premises.

Here's all you have to do. Over the next week, cook some lima beans (we use frozen baby limas). Set aside a small portion (1-2 tablespoons per dog) before adding butter, salt, or seasoning. Let them cool sufficiently and then add them to your dog's dinner. Make a note of the day and time that your dog ate the beans. 

Then watch the poop. Make a note of each subsequent poop (day & time) in which the beans do not appear. I do not think there will be more than one, if that, but that's the point of this experiment. And then when the beans do show up, post your data here. I'd like all results by next Sunday, June 29th, please.

Yes, this is very unscientific and maybe silly, but you will be helping me & JD, and we might all learn something besides. :)

Do I have any participants? 

[Becka]

Karen, I must thank you for this most digustingly entertaining (or entertainingly disgusting?) thread--I am quite enjoying the suspense! I would have joined in on the fun with Sadie but I'm having some pretty serious digestive issues of my own and haven't left the house much for days.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm sorry to hear that. Becka, but I'm glad if this thread has helped take your mind off your discomfort, lol! 

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Just checking in to see if there's been a lima bean sighting? ETA?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

We have not had news of a sighting yet. The dogs who ate their lima beans Sunday a.m. should be reporting in soon, I think.  

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

Lucy has not had a poo since yesterday. I think she's holding out cause I keep telling her to go. She just watched me go thru Daphne's poo with a stick and a flashlight...Lol. I think she thinks Ive lost my mind! As far as Daphne, I would say that maybe there was a bean sighting. If so, it is very small, like she chewed them really well and mostly digested them. I just see what looks like tiny little pieces of green. So i'm assuming its lima bean pieces?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

OMD, you get an A + , lol! Going thru poop with a flashlight and a stick is above and beyond! 

The beans show up whole in JD's poop, but the little green things must be the beans, if she hasn't had anything else green to eat and they aren't usually there, lol. I did say that it would be Monday night if she followed JD's pattern, too. 

So about how many hours was it? 

[Lori, Daphne, Lucy & Pippa]

No she has not had anything else green. Its been about 35 hours? She ate them on Sunday morning at 11:25am and her last poo was at 10:45pm.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

So a few hours faster than JD, but still longer than I would have expected. Very interesting. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Well, that's interesting, too. I'm wondering how many of the other dogs will have whole beans in their poop like JD does.

What kind of lima beans were they, Olga?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

They may show up yet, at least for Mona & Dulcinea. :)

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Just checking in to report that both Oscar and Lucy ate their allotment of baby Lima beans tonight at 7:30pm. You were right, Karen. Lucy did seem to like the beans after approx. 5 minutes of licking them, picking them up and mouthing them, spitting them out and finally eating them! Lol!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

LOL, so glad Lucy enjoyed being a guinea pig!