[TJ]

Hey Cindy, I’m also transitioning from SD to Merrick Grain Free right now on week 2 and noticing the same problems.. We have a one yr old puppy and 3 yr old. Both are having pretty bad gas and 1 yr old has loose stools but has always been that way. I’ve tried canned pumpkin which works some of the time but isnt a permanent solution

[crazy4cats]

Hi sbd421-
Congrats on your new pup! However, it is recommended to wait until at least 8 weeks for pup to leave mom. I wouldn’t worry about transitioning pup to new food right away if you can continue with the Iams for a few weeks at least. He’ll be going through so many changes to begin with. Just let him get settled in. Labs are so full of energy! I should know, I have two. There is an entire thread devoted to large breed puppies on the diet and nutrition section. There is a lot of information on the requirements of large breed pups. Most importantly is the calcium content. It is explained very well on that thread on its importance to growth. Also Hound Dog Mom has a great spread sheet on the foods that are acceptable for them. She has listed foods that are both grain free and grain inclusive in all price ranges. Check it out! I’m not sure if you have had a puppy before, especially a lab, but you are in for a lot of fun! Keep an eye on him as they will eat just about anything. Lol!

[Carolyn P]

Hi Carl L:

I feed my pack of Chi’s twice a day, and they each get approximately 100 grams twice a day.

The 700 ml jar of supplement lasts me just over a month. I cook weekly.

I haven’t ever added up the cost of using Hilary’s, perhaps I should one day. But the cost didn’t really matter to me if it meant my dogs were healthy, which in turn meant fewer trips to the Vet. After spending a year in emergency clinics with the sickly one, I didn’t think twice about the cost to feed, I only knew I was never going to feed commercial again.

I started her on Orijen and it nearly killed her, too high in protein. The Wellness, then Taste of the Wild, the ONLY thing that righter her ills was Hilary’s. I feed R12 for the most part with a transitioning recipe thrown in periodically just for a change.

My one chi is a chubby wee thing with a heart condition, so she gets an entirely different diet altogether (still Hilary’s).

I swear by it. As long as I’m able, I’ll be homecooking.

[TJ]

Thats what I was afraid of as well, so would the 5 stars be too big of a jump in ingredients and overall richness which would upset their stomachs more. Has anyone experienced that? I was planning on buying a small bag of either one and slowly transitioning them over the course of a couple weeks off of SD completely

[theBCnut]

I wouldn’t switch from SD to either of those straight away, unless you plan on transitioning really, really slow. I would go to NutriSource or another 4 star first, or maybe Earthborn, then move on to one of them. Then I would try the other, as well as some other foods.

[Alexia M]

Thank you for your replies! I will start transitioning her back to normal kibble tomorrow. I think I need to get a new vet too! The problem with the teeth chattering is that I live in Southern California and it has been in the 90s all week so I know it’s not from her being cold. Are there any specific kibbles you recommend or would Wellness Core be fine?

[Naturella]

Don’t mean to repeat what everyone has said so far, just want to comment so I can follow the thread. I have a Rat Terrier mix and he is a little over 1 year old, and has been on 11+ different kibbles so far. Variety is essential so you can look for good quality protein (from meat or meat meal), and good brands, and rotate flavors and brands. I think I’m not doing it quite perfectly, as I choose a brand, then rotate all flavors I am willing to feed within that brand, then I switch brands. I think you should alternate brands and flavors between bags and go back and forth between brands if need be. Mixing kibble with canned and raw is also a great idea. Definitely avoid the Science Diet and low protein. Good affordable kibbles that I have fed are Victor Grain Free, Earthborn Holistic Grain Free, Vets Choice Holistic Health Extension (protein is below 30% though), and Dr. Tim’s. All have manageable kibble size for small dogs (Dr. Tim’s is the biggest of those listed, and Victor is the smallest). Good luck!

Oh, and when transitioning from one kibble to the next, you can add some plain pumpkin puree or yoghurt/kefir, or canned to make the transition easier on their tummies. For canned I currently use Nutro Ultra and Nutro Max.

[Nancy C]

Oh My do I need to ask YOU a question — to the Pet Nutritionist who just responded to “HELP! Dog Eating Hills…”
MY DOG IS ON HILLS AND I AM MISERABLE ABOUT IT.
He is the GSD who the kind people on this website have helped me with. 18 mos old in Jan when I got him. Great Dog. Was fine then and doing great on TOW High Prairie. I suddenly discovered the recall hx of Diamond & immediately started transitioning him to Origen, very slowly– starting w 1/8 cup Origen to 2 cups TOW morning and night. At 50/50 he started loose afternoon stools. Morning stools normal. Moved to Acana slowly. At 50/50 same thing. Afternoon stool like custard. Morning fine. Vet said she thought it could be bec he had so much exercise in the mornings which made PM stools so soft. But said it could also be that the Champion food is too rich. This had gone on for several weeks so the vet gave him Metronidazol and sent us home with a bag of HILLS RX W/D. The loose stools were replaced by dry sawdust clumps of poop which he worked hard to push out. He did fine on that for a week so the vet said at the check up to start slowly transitioning him to Hills Sensitive Stomach. She said we would not keep him on this but she had seen a lot of dogs improve with a bag of this. Loose stools started within a day – He pooped custard all weekend in my house and out, uncontrollable, and I was up three times last Sunday night with him running outside to poop. Back to the vet on Monday. Lab work negative – no worms. She said not to feed him until Monday afternoon and gave me canned W/D HILLS. Said give 1/2 can Monday afternoon and 1/2 can MOnday night. Tuesday we finished up the HIlls CAnned Crap at lunch and started HILLS W/D dry. His poops are now all dry solid sawdusty. He sometimes groans as he strains. Vet said to keep him on this for a MONTH but I cannot bear watching this and Whole Grain CORN is the first ingredient. I bought more cans but Water, Egg Particles and Whole Grain Corn are the first ingredients. I know this is wrong. He has lost 2 pounds. He now has a quiet period for 2 hours after all meals to support digestion and plays afterward. I bought a Slow Eating Bowl and it REALLY slows him down.
Surely there is a better way than HILLS to help this dog.
I bought a bag of Dr. Tims, planning to try that next. In a way I am scared but I am also scared to face 3 more weeks on HILLS W/D DRY.
Advice? Thank you.

[theBCnut]

I actually have multiple bags open at once and rotate more frequently. One of my dogs has always had a very sensitive stomach and when I had to switch foods, I always took an entire month to switch her. Since I started feeding a rotational diet, she now has no trouble switching foods anymore and I switch her cold turkey every time. None of my dogs has had diarrhea in almost 2 years since I started. I wish I had started feeding this way years ago.

When I first started, I switched very slowly, but as soon as I had her used to the new food, I started the switch again, and then again. By about the 5th switch, I was no longer transitioning at all. In the beginning, I also added probiotics and digestive enzymes to every meal, but now I only add probiotics here and there and only give digestive enzymes to my one dog with other issues.

[Sharon Buchanan]

MastiffLove ~
Don’t try adding too much to the kibble you feed. All those toppers add to nutrients already in whatever kibble you decide to feed, including perhaps calcium/phosphorus – which should be your primary concern until your Mastiff is at least six to twelve months old. Not saying you shouldn’t add anything, just be mindful of what they’re adding to the diet.

When feeding kibble, it’s unlikely that you’re going to find the perfect food for a large breed puppy. When I brought Mystery home, I’d already done several months of research on food. Although I would have preferred grain-free, I couldn’t find it with an acceptable calcium percentage. I put him on Innova LBP (which has since changed their formula and I’m not sure I’d recommend it now but it’s still better than Pro Plan, Science Diet, Iams and others). I moved Mystery to Orijen LBP when he was about nine months old and able to process excess calcium properly. Orijen will tell you that they shoot for their minimum percentage but as long as they think their maximum is acceptable (and they do hide behind the AAFCO guidelines), I wouldn’t have been comfortable with it in those early months.

Mystery is now a year old and has been on a raw diet for about two months. We’ve transitioned two more Goldens in Korea with my husband and I’m working on four cats (the kitten didn’t need transitioning). If I were to get another puppy today, she’d go straight to raw where calcium/phosphorus is perfectly balanced among protein and organs in a whole-prey diet. And still I don’t add a lot to his diet. He gets coconut oil because of a skin condition, vitamin C and curcumen because of the high cancer mortality in Goldens (though the raw diet and minimalist vaccine schedule will help that as well), and garlic for pest control. I haven’t started adding any fruits & vegetables as I’m still researching their benefits (or lack thereof).

Good to see your note about not feeding RC!

[Naturella]

You all are too funny! 🙂 I love it!

As for me, let’s see… Obviously, DFA is one of my major hobbies at the moment, as well as overall research on pet nutrition. I also like helping others feed better food without being intrusive, or obnoxious – I think I have a way to gage if a person would respond well to advice or not, and once given a small bit of advice, I don’t give more unless they ask follow-up questions, etc. I really think I need to get into obedience and training more. Bruno is great with quickly learning tricks, but still pulls on his leash, which I need to fix. And oh, did I mention that I love scouting deals on dog food and stocking up for less? Yeah… I love that too! But once my Petco coupons are exhausted, I need to put breaks on this hobby too… Bruno will be set for more than a year and a half, and I need to make sure the foods won’t expire on him.

Other big hobbies for me include cooking and eating (I love experimenting with food and recipes, but it’s so hard to tell people how I made something because I rarely, if ever, measure). I haven’t gotten into the art of food presentation, I go more for interesting combinations and good taste, lol.

I am also becoming interested in transitioning from store-bought cosmetics (read soap, shampoo, lotion, face or body scrubs, etc.) to making my own with natural ingredients and essential oils.

I also LOVE reading for pleasure, but school and the DFA have gotten over a lot of my reading time… I am currently reading 3 books though, all human psychology-related.

I also like being involved at my University, so I often attend events – speakers, events for fun, etc. When I was in Undergrad, even if they had a sneezing contest, I would be there. Nowadays being a full-time grad student, caring for a family (furry child only, but still), plus working for a professor have made me re-prioritize my involvement… Sigh… But I still love it!

I am a sucker for learning new things, I also want to get a PhD one day (in something that has nothing “direct” to do with my previous degrees), but it has been a dream for a while. I am super interested in human psychology, so I want a PhD in that. But we’ll see when…

Other than that, no special talents here… My man is a ceramist and an artist, so he compensates for my pure lack of any talents, lol.

[Harpers Mom]

Harper, my EBT has been eating Merrick for a few months now. We picked up a bag of earthborn GPF the other day and have slowly been transitioning her to the new food. There has been a decrease in stool, which I am not complaining about. But now she is eating grass. We let her out in the back yard and she goes straight for the grass. She will sometimes even eat it to the point she is sick. I’ve heard of adding a super green mix, but what other recommendations does any one have. If I do add a super green mix what do I put in it and how much ?

[theBCnut]

Congratulations!!!

I would start the digestive enzymes as soon as you start transitioning his food, unless he comes to you with bad stools, then I would go ahead and start right away.

[Mom2Cavs]

As I posted before, I order some of my dogs’ food from Chewy.com because I can’t get it locally. Recently I ordered some Dr. Tim’s from them. I ordered cat and dog. With the cat food I had to order a big bag because they were out of the small bag (and I didn’t want to wait to try it). I will store the bag in another container to keep it fresh. The expiry date was a good one for the cat food, out to 2015. However, with the dog food I ordered two 5 lb. bags, one of regular Kinesis and one of grain free Kinesis. Both bags came in good shape but their expiry dates are in April of this year! I takes at least a month, or more, for my dogs to go through a small bag like that so I was disappointed in the dates. I don’t think I put any note on the order about expiry dates but still….I was in the process of transitioning to Victor but now I’m going to have to start the Dr. Tim’s due to the dates being short. The food smells fine and the dogs love it, but I’m just disappointed that the dates aren’t farther out. Next time I’m ordering a medium sized bag and will definitely put a note on the order saying I prefer the latest expiry date they have, or better yet, I’ll call and order and ask them what their dates are. I guess this is the one thing that bothers me about ordering online, you can’t physically see the bag and what the date is. Oh well, lesson learned.

[Pepper1]

Is there a high quality dog food with 3.5 or less fiber? Transitioning my pup from puppy to adult she’s 1year this month. Feeding grain free authority for puppy’s to grain free authority small breed. And she’s pooping like 5-6 times a day!

[Lablubber]

Thank you guys for all of your quick responses and I sure hope I don’t get associated with being lazy but you know what? I go to a doctor who is very much into natural cures and holistic medicine as was my mother. And so I take a complete array of herbal medicine and my health, blood work and every part of my being has improved greatly so I continue in this approach.

But when I came here, my dog was on puppy chow from the breeder who raved about it as well as my own vet. recommended it as well unless I wanted to switch to Royal Canin. Upon coming here in just a short time, I started transitioning to what I thought was a great food from all I had read on my own, which was a bad choice so I referred to what you guys suggested and quickly learned my wisdom was severely lacking and I needed to make another change…..

So that is why I am now asking to not make another mistake. I am taking newsletters from Raw folks, holistic vets, folks in the know such as you but trying to disseminate it all has really become quite confusing….One says, it causes yellow stools and the next says it contains one bad ingredient…Garlic, rosemary extract, some chemical that is bad and so then when I am just about decided on what I want to switch to next before the raw… Boom then here comes another post from someone I respect as very knowledgeable in this field and there I am back to square one again…

and so really I just want to cut to the chase because I am at the point food wise that in order to transition to another brand or type…. I have to move quickly or otherwise I will have to go buy more Blue to accomplish that and I don’t want to do that.

So I just looked at Chewy.com and wished I would have gone there long ago and I will order several different bags just to try and see how he does on them and if one seems to agree with him better than the other, that you guys recommended than I will stick with that or use both and switch them in and out as I converge over to raw.

Thank you all so very much for your help…

The Lablubber

[Lablubber]

Rick Rankin

So can somebody make it simple for me and please tell me on the kibble end of it. If you were just starting out with a lab puppy and wanted to feed him the best kibble… What is the best overall choice. Orijen, Acana, Annamaet, Earthborn Holistic, Go! Fit & Free, Wellness or Dr Something or whatever for a 13 week old Lab puppy. I have read to oblivion on what is best. I have read every persons articles about what is recommended and I am even more confused now and becoming quite desperate watching my grow and hopefully do well.

As I said I tried to switch over to a good food and switched to Blue Lg. Breed Puppy and then only to find out that it too was too high in calcium after all the 20 days of transitioning to another food.

I do plan to slowly work over to some raw diet when I feel knowledgeable enough to do so…Mainly on his evening meals and I have tried some of the stuff PattyVaughn recommend for him as well as adding it to his kibble as toppers to his food to see how he reacted to it and so far so good. But for me and my lack of knowledge, I am just afraid that to jump off completely in the Raw scene because you also need to know that I take this dog with me 24/7. He goes everywhere I go and I also take him to work with me as well. Plus he is already training hard every day with all of his retriever work and obedience training. So then with the very limited knowledge that I have on this subject and the conditions that I am involved in, a totally raw diet would almost be impossible for me to do right now….Plus I am afraid I would not have enough knowledge to give him and provided everything that he needs as far as supplementations that go along with it for a lg. breed growing puppy. Especially when I want to be extra careful on the calcium end of it and then again saying that… I also don’t want to under nourish him in anyway whatsoever either.

So could I just plead for someone’s mercy and wisdom in this situation and please recommend the best kibble for a 13 week old lab puppy and then if you don’t mind, share with me where the best place is to order it…. Because as most all of you warned me….My local pet stores carry very little healthy lg. breed puppy food and all the local vets carry is Science Diet and Royal Canin or something like that and when you read their ingredients, none of them meet the requirements…

So then…Could someone please come to my rescue and help someone in a pinch here, because I am down to about the last 8 # of the food that I have and so now would be the time to transition to another one. I have learned tons from all of you guys but for me time is of the essence because I want this pup to have the best I can get for him with the limited amount of knowledge that I do have on board.

Thanks Lablubber

[pitbullmomma]

I use Optagest, which I love and it works really well for both my dogs and my wallet. The Optagest is a plant based enzyme and seems to really help my guys out, especially when transitioning foods. If I had the money, I’d definitely go with Herbsmith MicroFlora, very good product and a really, really great company.

[Lance & Nikki]

Hi! I was researching some info on food for our dogs and I came upon this site and more importantly, this great thread. I read some of the thread but didn’t see what I was looking for exactly, so my apologies if this has already been addressed, but I really want to make sure that we are doing the right thing when it comes to feeding our wonderful dogs.

We have a Great Dane that is now almost 13 months old and we have a St Bernard puppy that will be 14 weeks old this Friday. Right now we are feeding them both Artemis Fresh Mix for medium and large breed puppies. We went with this food because it got good reviews and from what we could find, it’s a high quality food. But now that Pepper (our Dane) is over a year old, we were thinking of transitioning her to an adult food and preferably a grain free one because she does have a rather sensitive stomach. In researching this, we saw that calcium content is an issue in giant breed dogs, especially breeds like the Great Dane, and it seems that many grain free foods are higher in calcium.

What we want to switch Pepper over too is the Merrick grain free line of foods because from everything we have ever read, Merrick is a fantastic company that makes extremely high quality food. And since we have to get the Artemis food shipped in because nobody locally carries it, and we already use the Merrick canned food a couple of times a week to supplement the dry food and both our dogs love it, we would really like to use the Merrick food once our dogs are old enough to switch to adult food. I did e-mail Merrick to find out what their calcium content is by dry matter and they sent me the following:

Grain Free Chicken- 2.50%
Grain Free Buffalo- 2.50%
Grain Free Duck- 2.50%
Grain Free Pork- 2.32%

Now these are all over the recommended limit of 1.3% to 1.5% that I have read about for giant breed dogs, but most of those limits were for their growth stage. My question (and concern) is, is Pepper old enough now where the calcium content of the food isn’t as critical as it would be if she were still a fast growing puppy (she’s right about 100 pounds now and hasn’t put on much weight at all in the last few months, she’s seems pretty steady at her current weight and size)? She currently is eating twice a day (morning and evening) about 2 cups at each feeding.

Sorry for the long winded first post and thank you in advance for any advice/information you can throw our way, it is greatly appreciated!

Lance & Nikki

[Mom2Cavs]

Hermione….I agree with the probiotics and enzymes. They should help. However, the Blue Buffalo has grains (rice) and most likely has way less protein than the EB Primitive Natural, which is EB’s highest protein variety. I do know that my 3 dogs could not make such a switch easily, but they are older dogs. Anyway, it can be done, but it may take longer for your dog to adjust to the “richness” of the EB Primitive Natural. Have you thought of transitioning to a lesser protein Earthborn food, like Meadow Feast, or first to one of their grain inclusive foods then when the dog is used to that food gradually switching to, say Coastal Catch or Meadow Feast, then finally to Primitive Natural, providing your dog can handle it along the way? It’s been my experience with my dogs that when switching to a new food if the new food has a similar protein/fat and analysis makeup to the old food the switch goes much easier than if the new food is a lot different makeup. Once I’m on the new, similar food for awhile I can then go on and transfer to a higher protein of the same brand. I hope this makes sense lol.

[Sharon Buchanan]

BernerdAd ~
Just wanted to ditto Patty’s recommendation on pumpkin. It isn’t something I care to eat, but I keep a single can in my pantry just in case. When I have to open it up, another can goes on the grocery list.

Lablubber ~
I can’t remember if I read anywhere the age of your Lab. There’s a number of articles that HDM posted at the very beginning of this topic that address the correct percentage of calcium for large breed puppies. The figures vary somewhat, I chose to take the advice of Dr. Baker and keep Mystery’s calcium nearer to .80 percent. (My Mystery is an English Creme Golden Retriever – healthy adult weight will be about 85 pounds.)

I hadn’t found this forum when I was researching food so I ended up creating my own chart. I looked at calcium percentage as well as ingredients. I wasn’t going to feed junk (by-products, un-named meat meals, synthetic supplements, controversial ingredients – canola oil for one), no matter what the calcium percentage was. But I also wasn’t going to feed what I thought was the best kibble (no preservatives, no grains), if the calcium was higher than I believed it should be. I would have like to have been feeding Mystery Orijen or Acana but their calcium max for LBP is 1.5%. Though they say they try to keep it to the minimum 1%, they’d be okay feeding my dog nearly twice what he should’ve gotten. In the end, I chose Innova LBP kibble.

A simple explanation of the problem with too much calcium is, that a LBP less than six months old does not have the ability to process excess calcium properly. Too much calcium gets deposited on the outside of the bones which then causes bone disease. Again, this is the simple explanation – try reading all the articles HDM posted, some of them are a little more technical, but you’ll learn a lot from them. And don’t expect your vet to be familiar with the LBP study or any of the reports from that study. My vet said he wasn’t sure if he’d read any of them when I first mentioned diet concerns – and tried to make me feel like I couldn’t possibly know what I was talking about.

Back to the age of your Lab. Once a puppy has reached six months of age, he is able to process calcium better but even afterward, calcium still needs to be lower than what a small or medium size puppy can handle. I moved Mystery to Orijen LBP kibble just last month when he was 9 months old. To address your concern regarding transitioning foods, when Mystery’s Innova got down to the last pound, I added a pound of Orjen to it. When that was gone a few days later, it was all Orijen.

As far as expense goes, I considered Innova to be an average priced kibble – compared to Purina, Iams, Science Diet, or any other junk food. Orijen, on the other hand is going to cost more but is worth it – as far as kibble goes. Innova did have a recall last year at the time that I was feeding it to Mystery. I was forced to switch him over to Wellness – the next lowest calcium percentage, but I cringed at every meal because chicken meal is their third ingredient rather than first, and they use Sodium Selenite instead of Selenium Yeast. It looks like Innova has changed their LBP recipe – I don’t know what I’d do now if my only option to feed was kibble to a LBP.

BTW, when Innova had their recall, I had no choice but to switch Mystery to Wellness – without any transition. And my cats have never needed transitioning as I’ve upgraded their food. Obviously, common sense must rule if you see a problem cropping up because of the change.

I have to agree with Patty on Blue. In addition to their minimum calcium percentage being too high, they have three grains in their top five ingredients, they add chicken FLAVOR (why do they need flavoring?), sodium selenite and caramel which is used to make you, the purchaser feel good about the color of their garbage, as if your dog thinks caramel colored food tastes better than beige food. I also don’t like seeing oil of rosemary so high on their ingredient list since we had a Golden that had seizures (if your dog doesn’t have seizures rosemary oil/extract might not be a problem).

In retrospect, I should have started feeding Mystery raw when we first brought him home at 10 weeks instead of waiting until now when he is 10 months old. You will absolutely learn much here at dogfoodadvisor and especially in the forums. I would also suggest, if you have to continue feeding kibble, go to truthaboutpetfood.com and sign up for her free newsletter. She’s also on Facebook if you prefer. I will say though, that I credit Susan Thixton (truthaboutpetfood), with my decision to pursue a raw diet. Of course, it was here at the forums that I received the most encouragement to switch.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 10 months ago by Sharon Buchanan.

[Lablubber]

Hi it’s me again..

I have almost completely finished transitioning over from the food my breeder had my pup on to Blue Chicken and Rice Large Breed Puppy Food with nothing but good results. I have taken a little over a month and 4 days to accomplish that in and his stool are solid and no stomach issues…. Right now I am at 80 % transition 80% BLue/20% Purina Puppy Chow Lg. Breed Food. Right now I am also adding a teaspoon of coconut oil, a teaspoon of ground flaxseed and some fish oil, about 1000mg.

I am not using any toppers except at night for his supper meal and that is canned Blue Puupy Food about a 1/5th to 1/4th of a can. And his coat is shiny and he seems to be doing very well on it…

But for me where my problem arises is from me reading and listening to all of you guys….I almost feel like if I am not alternating out a bunch of different foods and using different kinds of toppers and adding numerous supplements to his food, then it makes me feel like I am shortchanging my dog???

And please believe me….. I have not spared any expense on my part that I know of concerning him and I really do not want to do the raw diet because I have had too many people I know who have had their dogs, get serious bacterial infections from it and some have even died from sluffing off their intestinal lining and dying of anemia before they could be saved by IV feeding and a harsh round of antibiotics.

So for me….This particular dog is just way too valuable for me to ever chance that and believe me I am not here to make any enemies by saying that but I just want you know my logic behind what I am doing with him so far. But then I also have to say this as well and something that I have found out in life myself and some wise words of wisdom and that is this…. Just because someone does something different or feels differently about another idea or approach to your particular way of doing things….Doesn’t neccessarily make them wrong….It just makes them different…! There i said it…My sermon for the day….

So anyway I took painstakingly long with my Labrador Retriever pup after listening to all of you guys and even forsaking what my vet said and changed over to a food that I read about and researched over for many hours and also a food that I had access to, to buy very readily, that I didn’t have to worry about ever running out of even where some of the online food stood the chance of having weather related delays in shipping, that it would not be running. And so I chose a food that I have seen proven to do well with my friend’s large breed dogs. And then I made a just a very few additions to the food, just to make me feel better.

I did as all of you said ion here and I cut out the milk replacer that I had always feed my pups for the first six months of their lives and longer is I saw the need to do so and I did thatimmediately. So anyway…He appears to be doing extremely well. Although he had to have several surgeries yesterday because he had a slight hernia that had to be repaired from a overzealous Lab mother licking him over and over all the time and never letting his navel ever truly heal up right. The he also had a dewclaw removed that either regrew or was missed by the breeder’s vet originally and he also had a place on his leg that had been cut while he was young at the breeder’s kennel that did not grow back right and so my vet did a little cosmetic repair there as well while he was out at no charge and she also micro-chipped him as well while he was out due to the fact that she hates to stick such a big needles in pups at that age if she can help it and so she prefers to have them out at the time of insertion and so she did that procedure as well..

So needless to say, my little fellow was exceptionally glad to see me when he I cam to pick him up….. He came home though like the walking wounded with a front leg dewclaw removed, a back leg, scar tissue repair, a hernia repair and a microchip inserted just at his shoulders along with an antibotic shot just above it, wearing an Elizabethen (sp.) collar to boot, so he was not a very happy puppy last night…. And today he is wired to a tee at work with me here today, needless to say.

So now for the advice part part….. Is the extra stuff I add to his food….The tsp. of coconut oil, the fish oil (which will be changed over to Krill oil when it gets here) and a teaspoon of ground flaxseed meal added to his food twice a day… Does all of that sound good to the ones in the know on here to be adding to his food or is that an over-kill???

Then on the medical part or at least the vaccination part of his regime…. He has had 3 series of shots so far… And I plan on having one more done just to be on the safe side, although my vet. says the 3 completes his regime. Plus he still has his Rabies shot coming up as well…. So does that suffice for his puppy shots being complete or is there anything more I need to be checking into???

I have read quite a few vets who did not reccomend them getting coronavirus or leptospirosis shots anymore(As well as my own vet feels the same way). But for me…Jess will be competing in AKC and UKC Hunter Retriever Trials and therefore he will be around a whole lot of other dogs in close proximity, so I just want to make sure that I have all of my bases covered with him as far as shots, intranasal and any other immunizations that he might need.

I am going to look into get his Lyme and Botedella vaccinations as well, but what is you guys thoughts on a working retriever and his vaccination requirements???

So that is about it today and I know i write very long but I figure if I don’t know, I never will without asking… So thank you for your patience…

Lablubber

[lilyh]

Does storing dog food in a cold environment negatively affect the food?

We have been keeping our kibble in our garage, top flopped over, and sealed with a packaging clip at the top. Recently we were feeding our English Setter puppy Nutrisource Large Breed, then transitioning to Dr. Tim’s. She’s been a voracious eater, but after a few weeks she just starting poking at it. I thought maybe the food had gone bad because a time or two the clip was not put back on the bag. So I dumped the dog food, went to the pet store and bought small bags of Nutrisource (to have a familiar to transition from) and Earthborn Meadow Feast. For 5 days she was back to chow hound ways, but today she is back to picking at her food.

As training treats we give her chicken, and I do stuff her kong with peanut butter, pumpkin. Could it be that she is just spoiled by the non-kibble?

Appreciate any insight you might have.

[CattleCait]

I realize this is a dog forum, not cat, but I’m hoping someone out there also has cats and can help me here.

I have an old geezer who I’m switching to canned from kibble (first step transitioning to raw) and he only likes the chunky food with bits and pieces in it and he does not like tuna. I’ve been feeding him BFF Tuna and Chicken but I’m basically wasting half the can because he just picks out the chicken and leaves the tuna.

Any suggestions as to a “piecy” chicken food we could try? Googling pictures doesn’t seem to help much, so short of opening every can available, I’m not sure what else to do.

We have the following canned cat food options available at the store that I work at – Wellness, Wellness Core, Felidae Pure, Weruva, BFF, Nature’s Logic, Great Life, and Fromm.

[raylene5]

Thanks Patty. I’ve heard conflicting things about it. On the one hand, I’ve heard that puppies are very resilient so they should adjust to a new food very easily. And that the goat’s milk is great for transitioning because it helps strengthen their stomachs and protect it from bacteria. But then I’ve also heard that it’s better to gradually introduce the new food so as not to make too many changes in their lives too quickly.

I guess that for me, I was hoping to keep kibble out of the house. I’m not one to say kibble is the devil or anything like that 🙂 It’s just that I really want to make raw succeed and sort of like with breast-feeding, you might not even want to have formula in the house so as not to rely on it in case of difficulty. Does that make sense?

Thanks for your help! 🙂

[RescueDaneMom]

crazy mom-

The general consensus is that puppies can start regulating calcium uptake at 10 months. Your Danes are both over 10 months so you don’t have to feed one of the foods on HDM’s list. The most important thing is that it is “All Life Stages”. Most of the “large breed,” “giant breed,” “senior” labels are just marketing and there is no real benefit to feeding those foods over a regular ALS food.

Victor is a good food. Most of their varieties are 4 and 5 stars. /dog-food-reviews/victor-dog-food/
The Victor Select Professional formula looks good, it’s rated 4 stars. The Hi Pro Plus is 5 stars. You would be ok feeding any of their varieties but I’d stay away from the Multi-Pro Maintenance and the Beef Meal and Brown Rice, both are 3.5 stars.

If you can, it is better to rotate different brands of foods rather than different formulas within the same brand. Any deficiencies or abundances in certain vitamins or minerals will likely be present in all formulas within a brand. If you can rotate different brands, you are more likely to cover all your bases because different brands have different vitamin/mineral profiles. Do you know what other brands your feed store carries? I could help you sort out some of the better ones to choose from if you like.

Edit- regarding transitioning, you may have to do it slowly at first. The more you change the food the easier transition will become. I changed foods after every bag and my Dane could switch cold turkey from bag to bag after awhile. That’s something you’ll need to watch your dogs for. If their stools start becoming loose then you might be transitioning too fast and need to slow it back down.

• This reply was modified 11 years, 11 months ago by RescueDaneMom.

[AT]

New here…We are bringing an 8 week old Labrador puppy home next Saturday and I am trying to narrow in on food options. I have spent the last few days reading every single post in this thread and it has been quite an education – thank you to all of you who spend time here to help educate others!
My questions:
1. Our puppy will be coming home on Purina Pro Plan Focus Puppy Large Breed Formula and I want to transition him to something better as soon as possible. Would a few days after he is home and settled in be too soon to start a transition, provided he is not showing any signs of GI distress?
2. If price/cost is not a constraint, what off the shelf product would you feed a lab puppy? I am not up to a homemade diet at this point (might consider this in the future, but don’t trust myself to get up to speed in one week and to get it right during this crucial growth period). Most of the discussions I’ve read here involve rotating quality dry foods (with added toppers/supplements). Would this be the best way to start since our puppy will be coming home on a dry food?
It has also been stated that raw, canned or reconstituted is even better. I can see the raw recommendations in the document linked to several times throughout this thread. What do you consider to be the best of these brands? Would transitioning directly to raw be ok for our puppy; or should we go first to canned, then to raw?
Can anyone offer recommendations for the “best of the best” of canned foods for a large breed puppy? I figure I can call companies to calculate exact calcium/kcal, but could anyone offer the best brands/formulas to start my efforts? The fives stars listed in the library are:
By Nature 95% Meat (Canned)
Castor and Pollux Natural Ultramix (Canned)
Dogswell Dog Food (Canned)
EVO Dog Food (Canned)
Fromm Gold Nutritionals (Canned)
Go! Fit and Free (Canned)
Great Life Essentials (Canned)
Kirkland Cuts in Gravy (Canned)
Life’s Abundance (Canned)
Merrick Dog Food (Canned)
Merrick Grain Free Dog Food (Canned)
Nature’s Variety Instinct (Canned)
Pet-Tao Dog Food (Canned)
Pure Balance Dog Food (Canned)
Tiki Dog Food (Canned)
Wellness Core Dog Food (Canned)
Wellness Stews (Canned)
Weruva Kobe (Canned)
Weruva Kurobuta (Canned)
ZiwiPeak Daily Dog Cuisine (Canned)

Thank you so much for any advice!
AT

• This reply was modified 11 years, 11 months ago by AT.

[Duke The Boxer]

patty have you tried this brand or have heard about it? Obviously it is not one of the foods on HDM’s list but some of their formulas looks pretty good. i like how this formula has a good amount of glucosamine in it. please let me know your consideration.
http://www.midamericapetfood.com/victordogfood/joint_health.html

PS
I should also add that Duke is doing good on Coastal Catch but he is still having random regurgitation of his food a couple hours after eating it. It was happening towards the end of the wellness core bag and im still transitioning with the wellness core and the CC. Please if any one if you ladies not just patty can please maybe give their 2 cents to come to some leads for figuring out why he is doing this. he is going to the vet tomorrow to get reweighed for his demodex medicine and i will mention it to the doctor.

[cbgmom]

Hi Molzy,

Notice any changes with switching to a harness? May still be a little early — I hope it is helpful for Quincy. I don’t even have Casey wear a collar for his tags — they are all on his harness. The food I fed to him never irritated him, just the treats. Quincy seems to have more damage to either the trachea or esophagus (or whatever causes these unfortunate spasms). I fed him grain free kibble (alternated between Orijen, Taste of the Wild, etc) mixed with Kirkland’s premium wet. However, Casey has recently developed a series of other health concerns so I am transitioning him now to commercial raw. I am hoping to learn enough to go the homemade route but for now, that’s what I’ve been feeding. Honest Kitchen certainly seems like a very good food choice for Quincy especially considering you can make it pretty soupy if nec.

I have not found a single person whose vet was able to diagnose this condition. Casey’s first attack was at 4 months and I ran over to the vet thinking he had something stuck in his throat. She insisted (even though my gut was telling me she was wrong and I told her as much) that frantic grass eating was nausea and he likely had something stuck in his stomach, even though it couldn’t be seen in an xray. $1,100 and an overnight stay for nothing. A few days later, I was walking him and my neighbor said, “I think that collar is bothering him” and I realized that may be the cause.

I don’t have any other real hints except during vet appts., remind your vet and techs that he has some kind of real sensitivity around his trachea. Casey is feisty and they would restrain him around the head (as well as other areas), which is pretty common. One visit he was gulping for a month afterwards. Now I tell them not to hold him there.

Anyway, keep me posted with how he is doing!

[esklader]

Hi – I am new to this board. I have an 8 1/2 year old shih tzu and a 5 year old havanese. My shih tzu has had terrible itching and allergy issues for the past 4 or 5 years. About a year ago, I changed to Blue Buffalo Wilderness Small Breed, as vet said it could be at least partly a food allergy. While they both did well on the food, it did not solve the problem.Vet now says it’s an environmental allergy, and has given me all sorts of shampoos, ointments, etc. to try to help. But he also told me to go with a food that had no chicken. After checking out all the reviews here, I am transitioning them to Merrick Grain Free Texas Beef and Sweet Potato (with a little Merrick non-chicken wet food on top). Both of them went absolutely nuts over it, especially the shih tzu. The problem is, they are both begging for food earlier and more often than usual. I generally feed them once a day, around dinner time. I am trying to figure out if they are actually not getting enough food (I feed them around a cup each) or if they just really, really love the food and are trying to get more. Any thoughts?

[Duke The Boxer]

hey Patty, Duke is not 7 months and 51 pounds! So excited. I started to notiece some weird patches and i took him to the vent and it turned up to be demodetic mange or demodex. After he went on the medicine for the mange thats when he gained the 8 pounds in 3 1/2 weeks. But recently sometimes in the mornings he will throw up some or all of his food. It is not everyday or even every other day so thats why its confusing me.
Any thoughts? He is transitioning into wellness core puppy which he had been on before and never had these problems. Could it be food related?

[kms]

Just wanted to update. I’m starting to get more worried. We made the last transition step yesterday and are now at 100% NVI Rabbit. It was a 9 day transition. Still doing digestive enzymes and 1 heaping tblsp pumpkin at each meal – plus a double dose of Probiotics at each meal. Meals are twice per day (1 1/4 c NVI Rabbit per meal) – plus I use 1 c for treats throughout the day – so that’s a total of 3.5 c per day (he’s a 35 lb, 6 mo Weim). Other than the improvement in the quantity/frequency of stool and less fishy smell (which is probably due to the dig enz’s, not the food), it’s the same. The first part comes out nice and formed – and second part comes out like pudding. It has only been 2 days now that he has been on it @ 100%, but shouldn’t I have seen gradual improvement the whole time we were transitioning? or am I not being patient enough? It just seems like most people see a improvement right away. I’m getting worried that it may not be the food. He has now been on 4 foods (Eukanuba Puppy Growth, Chicken & Rice bland diet, Orijen LBP, NVI Rabbit) and all 4 resulted in the same thing. The first 3 were chcken based and the last is rabbit based (although it does use chicken fat as a preservative). His last antibiotic and negative fecal were 40 days ago – so the antibiotics are long gone from his system – and he has been on a double dose of Probiotics for 2 weeks. The really weird thing is…. in all this mess, he HAS had some days with great stools. He had 3 days in a row at one point while on the chicken/rice bland diet – and then he had about 3-4 days in a row when on Orijen – but there was no pattern that I could see.

Should I start looking for another food or give this food more time?
Could the 1 c I’m giving as training treats be messing him up because they aren’t being given with dig enz’s and prob’s?
Is 1 1/4 c (sometimes 1 1/2 c) too much to feed in a meal (ie. should I feed him 3 times/day instead of 2 times/day) I moved to twice per day feedings about 1 month ago at the suggestion of the breeder – she said it would give his GI tract more time to rest.
Should I stay on a double dose of the probiotics?
Do you think I need to see the vet?
I got the Perfect Form – should I try adding that now? I got concerned when I saw that it’s not allowed to be sold in some states. Can you shed some light on that?

I know that’s a lot of questions and I really appreciate any and all advice.

[kms]

Pattyvaughn (and anyone else)-

Augie has been on Probiotics and Dig Enzymes for 4 days now. No change in stool so far – he seems to go back and forth between formed, pudding, soft, diarrhea, etc…. But like you said, it may take a few weeks for his gut to heal. Do you think it would be ok to start transitioning him from Orijen LBP to NVI rabbit meal – or should I wait until his stool has stabilized? I’m worried about all that calcium, but also don’t want to overload his system with change.

Another thing…. he’s finally starting to gain a little weight (about 1 lb every 8 days), but he’s still underweight. He’s now 5.5 months old and 34.5 lbs (should be around 43 lbs) – can see some rib and hip bone. I’m already feeding him 3.5 c/day and the Orijen bag says 2.5-2.75 c/day. Should I increase his kibble? or how about adding some coconut oil instead? (or would the coconut oil complicate things further in his GI tract)?

Again, thank you so much – and thanks to everyone who adds to this forum.

[kms]

OK – We started the Mercola Digestive enzymes yesterday. For his body weight (32 lbs), it says to use 2 scoops per meal, but I only gave him 1 scoop per meal (paranoid) just to start slow. He pooped 3 times yesterday and it was half formed and half runny – so no change so far. Today I gave him a full dose at breakfast (2 scoops) and will give him a full dose at dinner. How long does it typically take to see some results with Digestive Enzymes?

As far as the Probiotic, I didn’t start that yet. Wanted to add things 1 at a time in case something goes wrong. Thought I’d start adding the Probiotic in a day or so – and will add it to each meal for several days. Then, I can back to Probiotic 2-3 times/week and continue the Digestive Enzymes with each meal.

After he has been on the Probiotic for a couple days and no issues, then I can start transitioning him to NVI Rabbit Meal. Am I moving too slow on this or is this ok?

[theBCnut]

Since that is a big change, try one that has ingredients in common to start with and transition slowly. Add more of the new food only when you see that his stool is good. Have canned pure pumpkin on hand to add to his food, if he should get loose stools. And consider adding probiotics and digestive enzymes while transitioning and for a bit after.

[mfulton7]

I need y’alls help again. As you remember I’ve been on here lately asking about possible food intolerance and a recommended food. She had been on EB Coastal catch for 5 weeks and her stools were soft she was gassy. So on the zignature review I commented that a worker at the local pet food store advised me to try the turkey formula. I bought that formula got home did some research and realized it wasn’t on HDM’s list. I asked a few questions around this site did some more research and decided to try EB again but this time try the meadowfeast formula. I ordered the coastal catch for the transition and the meadowfeast from chewy on Tuesday (still waiting on the order). Now that my dogs have been on the zig for a few days they seem fine. No vomiting, diarrhea or other transitioning issues. That being said what should I do when I get the order? Mix the meadowfeast with the coastal catch or should I send the coastal catch back since they are transitioning with no problems.

[gsdmommy89]

Hi everyone. I have a 4.5 month old GSD. I was feeding him Fromm Large Breed since 8 weeks up until 1 week ago. His stool would always be soft. Not runny, but not easy to pick up stools. I thought maybe the Fromm was too rich for him since it contains about three different types meat. I added pumpkin to his food and have been using OptaGest. His stools firmed up with that, but he’s always had gas. I decided to switch to Nature’s Variety LID Turkey thinking maybe something bland will help. Well his stools are back to soft, even though I’m transitioning slowly. And he doesn’t really seem to like the NV. Maybe it’s too bland? I was thinking of returning it and going with Earthborn instead. I just don’t know if to go for the Coastal Catch or Meadow Feast. Don’t know which would be easier on his tummy. I know I went to grain inclusive to grain free, that’s why I’m still weaning him to Nature’s Variety. But should I stick to grain inclusive then? If not the Earthborn formulas, I was thinking NutriSource Large Breed. It is grain inclusive, but only has chicken as a meat source.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

[theBCnut]

I did it exactly that way when I started, so as soon as I had them switched to one food, I started transitioning to the next.

[pugmomsandy]

I have several dogs. I have 2 or 3 bags open at once. So technically, they are eating 2 familiar foods when I open a new bag. I used to only have 2 bags at once, but with fosters, they allow me to open 3 bags (I use about 300 cups a month). Even using only 2 foods, you wouldn’t need to transition since one of them will always be something “old” when you add food #2 because I’ve never had 2 bags of food go empty at the same time, there’s always one “old” food in there. I usually make a “mixture” so I can make it how I want – the amount of “old” food and the amount of “new” food. It’s like always being in transition, I guess. When I’m too busy to make a “mixture”, they get a scoop directly out of one bag so that would be just that food, no mix. I also have fosters so they don’t get a food transition at all. I give probiotics/enzymes, ground psyllium for loose stools and they just have to eat what I give them which is 4.5 to 5 star foods. I just don’t want you to be discouraged if there is tummy troubles. A switch can be done, quickly or slowly. And poor quality foods can have sugar and MSG or other addicting ingredient which can make transitioning difficult when they refuse to eat the new food! You can do a mix of our old food with some new food until they can get off of the old food. I can’t seem to give up Ramen noodle with at least 5 sources of MSG in it!! Bad, I know!! My dogs have been eating mixes for at least 2 years so they can eat single foods any time. They actually eat different kibbles, different canned foods, raw food, dehydrated food, anything, no problem. That is (hopefully) what you can achieve by starting to rotate. I even got a 13 yr old foster that was eating Hill’s W/D when I got him and I put him straight to my regular food, supplements and he’s fine. He’s 14 now and still eats 4.5 to 5 star kibbles and wet food (canned, dehyrated). Seniors should get more wet foods BTW. Sometimes I give ground psyllium or chia seed with canned foods to make the stool more formed (solid formed vs soft formed). I have 5 fosters right now who did fine with no transition. BUT some dogs do have trouble with it.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 1 month ago by pugmomsandy.

[ransom]

Thanks again Patty. Pugmomsandy, do you mean you can just rotate between , ie, Nutrisource, Natures Logic and Natures Select without transitioning slowly? I assume you mean feed one brand for a while then another. Why can I do that without “transitioning”? is it because they have similar ingredients? I’m so glad I found this site,! Thank you.

[pugmomsandy]

You can always ease them into a 5 star food too by going with something that is slightly better than what you’re feeding now but not being drastically different. If you’re feeding a 1-star food, go with a 3 or 4 star grain-inclusive food, then maybe a 4-4.5 star grain free food, then try a couple 5 star foods. I actually feed 4.5 and 5 star foods. I do keep a grain-inclusive food in my rotation but it is gluten free (Nutrisource small/med breed puppy, Nature’s Logic and sometimes Nature’s Select Hi-Pro). Basically, I avoid wheat, rye, barley (gluten grains). Barley is easily contaminated with other gluten grains during processing at the plant. Rice, millet and quinoa are gluten free. This is just one way to transition to a better food. If they get digestive upset, then don’t increase the new food amount until they are regular. Transitioning can be quick or take weeks or months.

[Hganurs]

Hound dog mom… Please advise.
We have a 13 week multi generation labradoodle ( this is our 4th one, and our last 2 lived to be 15 years old till this year). We are mixing ( transitioning ) some leftover Life’s abundance puppy kibble given by breeder, and changing over to Kirklands puppy kibble ( we had never had an issue with our 2 that ate kirkland for 15 years). But naturally, we took him to puppy class at Petco and the mgr saw him licking his paw and said ‘ he has food allergies…, here you need to switch him to Merrick … Try the lamb…’ She was very knowledgable about staying away from foods that cause allergies ( corn, chicken , wheat). So we paid $50 for a 30lb bag of kibble !!!! We have not opened it because I’m JUST not convinced that we need to change food. He has a vet appt in a week and his treats for training adont have corn in them either. Side note is we are getting another doodle puppy in April so we need to keep the food the same since they will be eating together.
Thank you

[CattleCait]

We’re transitioning to canned food for the winter (I raise rabbits and hogs, so during the rest of the year we feed raw) and my boyfriend’s dog refuses canned food unless it is chunky.

Does anyone have any good brands that they recommend that are very chunky? Our other dogs eat Pioneer, but even the Chunky Beef and Pilgrim’s Feast aren’t “chunky” enough for Her Royal Highness 🙂

Thanks!

[Noggin]

Hi Jilty,
In my experience, transitioning between dog foods is generally not a problem unless the dog has been on only one food for a long time, or has special needs. A fresh rescue should be put on a high quality food at first, with perhaps an Omega 3 supplement or canned salmon (people food). Acana for instance, or Wellness or any of the good foods you can get in your area. We found food with grain makes for loose poops, and here in the city we have to pick-up after him… A quality food will be fine for puppies or adults.

Transitioning from rescue food should be a non-issue, since it’s probably cheap and low quality, and he/she likely hasn’t adapted to it anyway. If you’re really worried, use what you have over a few days and mix the old with the new.

nogginblog.tumblr.com

• This reply was modified 12 years, 1 month ago by Noggin.

[pugmomsandy]

How long has he been eating it? Some will say just do a cold turkey switch (that’s what my fosters get), and some will say to do a transition period. It all depends on your dog’s gut health. Things that might help with transition tummy troubles: canned pure pumpkin puree, ground psyllium, probiotics, digestive enzymes.

Also, one suggestion is to go from Beneful to a quality grain-inclusive food before transitioning to a mod-high protein grain free food. I like only gluten free grain foods like Nature’s Logic. Solid Gold Sundancer is like that also. Not sure which manufacturer makes Sundancer though.

I will say that my fosters eat Nutrisource grain free Lamb, Nutrisource Heartland Select, sometimes Nutrisource small/med breed puppy (has rice), Brothers Complete Beef and Turkey, and Nutrisca Lamb. It’s all mixed up together in varying amounts and they get probiotics and psyllium.

Frankly, I wouldn’t go from Beneful to Orijen. But that’s me.

[apriliamille]

koa’s mom,
i had that turmoil when i first got my doberman pup in march and was advised to go low protein low calcium for the first few months of her life. dfa reviews do tend to favor high protein foods and i dont recall a grain free 5 star kibble that is sub 30 percent. there are real good 3 and 4 star foods. they just dont have the protein content to make it a higher star but they have outstanding real ingredients just like the higher star foods.
i used redmoon chicken and potato (23% protein, 1% calcium, 4.5% ash, 0.9% phosphorous). its 3.5 stars. their lamb and potato is 4.5 stars and their chicken and yellow pea is 5 stars. i seriously dont think they put junk in their lower star rated food to earn that star rating.
have you looked at drtims kinesis als? its 26 percent protein. or did i miss something about mandatory grain free?

edit. when she hit 7 months i started transitioning in earthborn meadowfeast, drtims pursuit and drtims kinesis als. in her 9th month i do a rotation of meadowfeast and kinesis als but still use a redmoon chicken and potato base cuz i like it and they do good on it (the boxer adult is on the redmoon as well)

• This reply was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by apriliamille.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 2 months ago by apriliamille.

[lizbethc41]

I feed Muggsy 1/2 organic home cooked ( recipes from vet nutritionist consults) & 1/2 organic canned now. I looked into Newman’s & was using ByNature organics, but both have carrageenan in them.
I switched to Party Animal organic & was switching around among the grain free selections. I guess I was switching around too often & messed up his system poor guy.
After a lot of GI issues, it seems their Blazin’ beef & sweet potato plus home cooked beef & sweet potato has done the trick!!
Don’t see much about Party Animal, but it seems like good stuff. They have a new line featuring coconut which I will rotate him with eventually, but after all the poo issues he had, I am leaving well enough alone for now 😉
And when I do, I will reference Patty Vaughn’s method of sloooowwww transitioning!

[CaitlinNes]

My 17 lb. terrier mix has a sensitive stomach. When he was having trouble a couple of months ago, he was vomiting daily or at least several times a week, and had loose stools frequently. He was sick for about 12 weeks, and we were at the vet every other week testing for IBD and getting a range of pills to try, some of which worked, some didn’t. Finally, with trial and error and time, things are under control. I am about to switch his food from our vet recommended Hill’s Prescription Diet I.D (dry) to a higher quality food, now that he has been symptom free for a couple of months. I am not a fan of the low-quality ingredients in I.D which is the main cause for the switch, even though my dog has been doing well on the diet and enjoys the food. I plan on transitioning him to the new food over a 14 day period. I noticed that the new food (BLUE Basics Grain-Free turkey and potato recipe dry food) has twice the amount of fiber as the old food (3.5% old to 7% new), slightly higher fat (9% old to 12% new), but almost the same amount of protein (21% to 22%). Is the extra fiber in the new food going to cause him trouble, or might it actually help him?

[ringohop]

Thank you for your advice! Since writing the post yesterday I found another food that I believe is going to be a lot better for her. 4Health… any thoughts on this product? I found it on this website with a 4 star rating. I did purchase some and started transitioning, she seems to like it better than the Blue Buffalo. She is still not finishing all her food but is getting closer to finishing so I think she will take to the 4Health. Also it was nice to find a 4 star food at a VERY reasonable price!! It’s only available at Tractor Supply which is not usually one of my regular stops but if she likes it and I know my wallet will like it, it will be worth the extra stop.

[Scyllarus]

Fair enough. Tavish seems to just not be able to tolerate beef well at all. I guess worse come to worst, my boyfriend’s dog will have a high-quality food for a week or so (he gets Kirkland’s, we’re transitioning him onto the grain-free version atm since I noticed he’s getting yeasty. Unfortunately boyfriend is on a budget and can’t afford to buy his dog a big bag of Origen or Wellness, so Kirkland’s for now and we’ll probably try 4Health))