[Heather H]

I need some help. I have a 1 year old large Rhodesian Ridgeback. We have had food issues from the beginning with him. The breeder had him on a mix of Taste of the Wild High Prairie Puppy Formula and Diamond Naturals Large Breed Puppy. When we got him at 8 weeks we transitioned him to straight Taste of the Wild High Prairie Puppy Formula. Shortly after this transition he started having some difficulty having a bowel movement. He would go once regular, and then shortly after he would go again but it would be very skinny. Sometimes he would continue to try to go for sometime afterwards with nothing coming out. Our vet said it was probably just a nerve that wasn’t fully developed yet and that was making him feel like he needed to keep going. She said as long as he was having regular bowel movements, and he wasn’t vomiting, we shouldn’t worry and it would probably clear up on it’s own. At our five month check up, I brought it up again because it seemed to be getting worse. She did an x-ray and determined he was backed up, his stomach was still very full of food (even though it had been several hours since he ate) and he had several pockets of gas. She said there were a few places where his bowel looked inflamed and thickened. She put him on a pro-biotic and an anti-inflammatory pill for a week. It wasn’t any better on the medication. She was concerned that his stomach wasn’t emptying property and his waste wasn’t moving through the bowel as it should. She did a barium study to rule out any internal issues. Everything came back normal so she said it must be the food and recommended their in-house brand Prescription Diet D/D. After research, I decided not to try that kind, but instead find a food that was rated 4 or 5 that agreed with him. We spent the next 3 months transitioning to different foods. We tried other flavors of Taste of the Wild, Diamond Naturals Grain Free Beef and Sweet Potato, and one other, I can’t remember the name of at the moment. Some caused diarrhea, some made his bowel movement issues worse and he strained more. Finally, we tried Merrick Grain Free Buffalo and his bowel movements got drastically better. I still don’t believe they are 100% normal, but at least to the point where he wasn’t straining or trying to go for an extended time with nothing coming out. He has been on this for 4 with no changes or issues. I just bought another bag and it has caused HORRIBLE, uncontrollable diarrhea. We have taken it away, fed rice and pumpkin, twice. Each time we start mixing a little of the food back in, one feeding of less than 1/4 of a cup of food in 1 cup of rice/pumpkin mix, causes horrible diarrhea again. The second time we took it away we took him to the vet and she put him on a pro-biotic and an antibiotic. He was on those medicines and rice and pumpkin only for a week. When we reintroduced, it was the same thing. I have emailed the company. I’m not sure if we just got a bad batch or we need to switch foods. Should I just go buy another bag of Merrick and hope it isn’t the same batch and it works? Should I try the Chicken Merrick? My store only stocks a few bags at a time, and I am worried they are from the same batch. I have spent the morning researching foods. Some options I have come up with that our local stores sell are: Blue Wilderness, Wellness Core, and Earthborn. Does anyone have some insight or suggestions for me? Thanks!