[Jan T]

Hi,
I’m new here and need some help with all these ratios, etc. I have an 11 week old GSD who started out on Fromm Gold large breed puppy. She had some a bacterial infection in her gut that we had to treat while she was on this. The vet suggested we try Eukanuba large breed puppy, but she doesn’t like it so much. She is always scratching, so think she may have allergies. So question: should I get vitamin supplements, leave her on Eukanuba or go back to Fromm or something else? Whatever we do, it will be gradual. If supplements, any suggestions?

[Vic F]

Vets can often recommend the wrong food
Shepped dot com has a nice article on GSD NUTRITION

[Pitlove]

Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy actually gets fairly good reviews on this site, however whats a star rating if your pup won’t eat it, right?!

My vet actually likes Fromm and says it’s one of 2 natural foods he recommends to his patients. Do they know what caused the bacterial infection?

[Jenn H]

I’m a little concerned about Fromm food. This is at least the 4th time I’ve seen someone say their dog got a bacterial infection from the food in 2 days.
I am looking to switch my GSD puppy and this was at the top of my list.
1 person (on another site) said Fromm told her they tested the sample she sent and found nothing wrong. The kicker is that she hadn’t yet sent them the sample. They outright lied to her. She did send it to an independent facility at a vet school and is awaiting the results.
As per usual it will take a lot of sick dogs and people & vets complaining to the co & FDA before anything is actually looked into.
Thought I’d share what I just learned. It’s very disappointing. This has always been a favorite food of mine.
Just be observant of any changes in your dogs if you feed this.

[Pitlove]

Hi Jenn- I’ve been feeding Fromm (Gold and now Family Classics) to my adult pitbull for several months now and I have not had a single issue. If anything, my dog has greatly improved on both these formulas (his hair was falling out etc etc). I’ve started taking both positive and negative consumer reviews with a grain of salt as of late. I find that it’s too hard to make a decision about the right food for your dog based solely off other people’s experiences.

What I can tell you is that, as a company, Fromm has a good history and reputation. I don’t find this company to be one built on keeping the loyal customers they have, by lying to them. I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with reps (I work for a small pet store and see our rep often), the food and the company overall.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Pitlove.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Pitlove.

[Jenn H]

I absolutely agree with you on their reputation. That’s why I am closely watching the outcome of those situations. It would be very disappointing if these illnesses were more than a coincidence and the company wasn’t honest.
It’s safe to say we’re all very cautious these days when it comes to dog food. Probably more so than is necessary. I want to be fair to Fromm knowing their history isn’t marred with negativity. So I am trying to not jump to conclusions.
On the other hand I feel that when we have any info we have a responsibility to share it and let others decide what to do with it.
I am not by any means saying they are bad, dishonest, corrupt, harmful, etc. These were just a few incidents that could be coincidence. And not knowing the person who is having a sample tested personally, I can’t go by their character. All I have right now are a few complaints. They concern me enough at the moment to reconsider the food for my dogs until I dig deeper.

[Jenn H]

If you do a search on this forum “Fromm Dog Food Dangers” you will find that many dogs were getting sick (some dying) from C. Diff. It’s a potentially fatal type of bacteria that grows in the gut. It usually grows out of control when someone has been on a powerful antibiotic for a while. The good bacteria is killed as well as the bacteria the a/b is targeting.
The comments go back to 2013. There was never any public recall as far as I know. It takes a lot of complaints for a company or FDA to recall. That’s no excuse for a company to not do a voluntary recall. (Assuming they were aware of the problems.)
Either way I have to air on the side of caution and I won’t be switching to Fromm. I would feel much better about a company that voluntarily recalled their products than one that waits for FDA to do it. Even though I can’t say for sure that Fromm knew about the problems or not, I won’t take that chance with my dogs’ lives.

[Pitlove]

Hi Jenn- Do you know if there is any proof other than the consumer reports linking this bacteria to Fromm? Without understanding how the bacteria forms or why it forms you can’t expect a company to recall food that can’t be directly linked to this type of bacteria.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Pitlove.

[Jenn H]

The common factors of those cases were all dogs were fed Fromm and many acquired a bacteria. That’s more than a coincidence to me. The fact that not all dogs got/get sick from that brand could be for a variety of reasons: individual dog has enough of good bacteria to not be affected, size of dog, certain probios it may be given, general health, recent antibiotic treatment, hospitalization…
While there are too many unknowns to blame the food, the coincidences are enough for me to avoid it for now. I have an adult GSD that has been thru 2 tx of a/b for Lyme and a puppy. I feel their immune systems are not strong/developed enough to take on a stubborn bacterium like C.diff.
I certainly can’t completely protect them from the bacterium short of putting them in a bubble, I can avoid potential/suspected things that may have spores.
C.diff can be anywhere. It’s passed on from feces and easily spread to surfaces, objects and food if the infected person doesn’t wash their hands. It’s also in soil, air, water, food (especially meat). The spores can survive weeks to months.
For now anyway I am going to choose another food for their rotation and continue with the raw goat milk in order to hopefully continue to arm them with plenty of good bacteria and build strong immune systems.
I may eventually feed them Fromm in the future, but I cannot take any risks like that right now.

If the company isn’t aware of these cases I wouldn’t expect them to recall anything. I’m not sure how many of the complainants and vets notified them. That’s a disservice to Fromm. I’m sure they would want to know and investigate. Not having this info doesn’t give them an opportunity to remedy any problems that may exist or rebut the claims. This leaves consumers like me who can’t have dogs that can’t afford an infection to steer clear just in case.
Communication is key to keep everyone in the know, honest, accountable, protected and help them improve a product. It doesn’t do much good overall to leave a bad review on a site, but not tell the source about their issues.

[Dina Kouveliotes]

My GSD has done very well on Petcurean NOW Fresh large breed, both puppy and adult. The adult kibble is very big too so no inhaling of food!

I tried Fromm, Orijen, Halo and blue buffalo – she could not tolerate.

I also add flaxseed and coconut daily, pumpkin about 4x a week, scrambled eggs about 3x a week and/or Stella and chewy freeze dried patties…I stay away from chicken, that protein source has had the most recalls. I use the beef, lamb or surf and turf.

Good luck!

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