We tried Meadow Feast when she was a younger pup and she had very loose and mucus-y stool, which is why I had to do Wellness, lol. Figured it was the lamb in there. The dog is 6 months old and has been on Wellness Core Puppy since I brought her home at 9 weeks. I was looking at the Earthborn products again last night because of the lower fat.
What I don’t understand here is if its a chicken allergy or intolerance, how come I can give her cooked chicken and there’s no problem? I’ve pored through this thread and others and keep coming back to an intolerance, but have a difficult time believing it is chicken because of how well she does on a non-kibble diet. I am leaning towards fats being the problem. But puppy can not live on fresh chicken and rice soup forever, which is why I visited the vet.
Ironically this all started about a day after I took her to a professional commercial dog facility for training class. They do doggy daycare and boarding, as well as classes. There are likely hundreds of dogs that go through that lawn and parking lot every day, and of course being a dog she had to sniff around. She also had a bite out of the cat box (eww, but someone left the gate down) three days prior, drank some standing water out of a gutter, chewed lilies and daffodil leaves and ate dirt. I have asked the vet to check for parasites along with Giardia and Coccidia, but I understand that the latter can be more difficult to find.
Right now the dog is on Flagyl and Pepcid with a new probiotic that the vet likes (Proviable). I have the Dr Langers probiotic on order which I’ll take for myself if the animal does well on the Proviable. At this point it seems to be a mystery and I’m in the denial phase of the kibble situation because it was so sudden. We live in the country and the dog has only been in my yard (now fenced) and not exposed to other dogs until dog school. She also was boarded in April (two weeks prior to all of this) but my kennel gal did not let my animal near the others because the dog was too rough. We’ve been visiting this kennel for grooming and some short boarding since January.
I’m thinking about the fat content of the Wellness, which is pretty high (its puppy food). The current chicken/rice/homemade broth is incredibly low in fat. If she’s having problems with fats then I need a much different kibble, like for seniors or overweight dogs. But then I have the whole nutrition thing to consider because she’s just six months old and has a lot of growing to do yet. So I am now poring over lists and labels because of the things I need to avoid. I may end up with a kibble that has some grain.
I really hope the answer lies in the lab results. We’ve only had worming at 9 and 12 weeks. Some vets recommend worming monthly and my first vet did not mention this. My current vet, who I am using because there is more than one and they have a larger treatment facility, is a lot younger and didn’t scoff at me for wanting to feed probiotics or a more natural diet or even hold off on a spay until the animal was more mature. The first vet, who is the kindest person you want to meet and I’ve known for a long time, has been practicing for about 50 years and does horses and large animals and is quite well known for his equine practice. He wanted me to feed ScienceDiet crap because of all the research put behind the food. Sorry. Not feeding my dog corn or wheat. I am OK with oatmeal and rice–I don’t eat corn myself except on rare occasions so I am sure as heck not feeding it to a purebred dog who may have a sensitive digestive system because of her breed.
So now I cook chicken and rice, which is fine because we eat a lot of both here, and wait. We’ve had no diarrhea, no gas, no tummy rumbling, no nothing, since yesterday afternoon. Tummy rumbling and gas has never been a problem with the dog anyways. She was pretty hungry so I’m giving small meals of chicken/rice/broth and there are no problems. (No stool either, but her intestines were pretty empty after yesterday’s bout of diarrhea.)
Thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it!
