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Reply To: Large and Giant Breed Puppy Nutrition

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Jenn H
Member

Wow your story & life is so parallel to mine. My husband is a firefighter. And my pup is also an inutero rescue. Seems desperate animals & people always find their way to fire stations.
My friend adopted a very young GSD and was told she wasn’t pregnant. We ended up basically hand raising the pups as mom had no interest in anything other than playing. She had absolutely zero maternal instinct. And was very jealous of the babies getting so much attention.
Anyway, Crazy4cats advice is exactly what I would suggest. First make sure there is nothing wrong health wise. Then try a probiotics. Either what she suggested or Wysong Pet Innoculant.
It has been my experience that dogs weaned too soon tend to have very sensitive bellies. Transitioning to new foods (and even situations) can cause upset easily. When trying a new food go even slower than the usual 2 wks. Sometimes it can take a month or more for them to adjust.
While doing so try adding:
*pure pumpkin (not pie filling)
*white rice, including the water it’s boiled in
*letting kibble soak in warmish water for a few minutes
*adding digestive enzymes-preferably animal sourced w/ pancreatin otherwise plant based w/ protase, amylase, lipase, cellulose
If possible feed 1-2 hrs after meals.
A limited ingredient food may also help him.
I haven’t looked up the protein amts for all the foods you’ve tried but I can tell you I recently tried switching my pup to a food with higher protein (Orijen from Solid Gold) and it did not go well. I chose another (Acana) with less and it’s much easier on him. Eventually we’ll try Orijen again. It was just too much if a leap at the time.
As you can see there is much you can do to help your guy. Most importantly be very patient and take things very slowly with him.