[Sian B]

My 20-week old golden retriever has been on Hills w/d kibble for the better part of a month, and before that canned i/d due to ongoing problems with loose stool/diarrhea. The time he has been on w/d has been the best stools he has had since we got him at 8 weeks. I might even go so far as to say they are normal, if voluminous.

However, neither w/d nor I/d is a puppy food, and I would like very much to get him onto an appropriate large breed puppy food ASAP. To that end, I have tried to wean him onto Wellness Core but each time I do (I have tried twice, the second time taking twice as long to do so), he gets diarrhea. I tried adding pumpkin the first time and it helped for a day but then not. The second time I tried psyllium (1/4 tsp twice a day to start) but either his reaction to the Wellness was worse this time or the psyllium REALLY did not agree with him because we ended up with liquid diarrhea (worst ever) before he was even up to 50% puppy food and 1/2tsp psyllium. He even pooped in his crate overnight!

I have taken him back to straight w/d and expect that his stool will normalize quickly. However, I am now really concerned about what food to try next. I am fairly convinced it is the fiber content of the w/d which is keeping things normal, but no puppy food I have seen comes close to that level of fiber. The highest I have seen is ProPlan, and that’s still not close.

Any suggestions would be welcome. Oh, and before you ask, yes he has been checked by a vet, including an internist.

[Blkdoodle]

My Goldendoodle had been on Hill’s also but they changed the formula and the label stated all imported products. That was enough for me to change to a USA product and manufacturer. I keep track of her calories, she is 31 months old and she is now on Instinct Raw dried food and loves it. It’s more pricey but I can feed her less to get the same calories. I notice on the bag it’s puppy to adult. Hope this helps.

[zcRiley]

Stop everything you’re feeding. Fast for 8 hours, provide a lot of water. Mix a bit of Hill’s with Zignature limited ingredient formula (lamb). Do the dog allergy/food intolerance test at http://www.glacierpeakholistics.com. Also make sure your pet doesn’t have Giardia or Clostridium in his fecal matter.

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