[yjesse]

Hi everyone, would love your opinion and/or experience on this topic.

I have a 6-month old Golden Retriever. She is adorable and the joy of my life. When she was younger (2-4 months) she had chronic diarrhea. I always had to “reset” her stomach with boiled super lean ground turkey or chicken, brown rice cooked to mush, a scoop of pumpkin and a teaspoon of probiotic powder. That always did the trick. After everything returns to normal, I would introduce dry food. After many brands, I’ve found a mixture that seems to work. I am currently feeding 20% Orijen Regional Red and 80% FirstMate Pacific Ocean Fish, and she’s doing quite well on it. We haven’t had a diarrhea episode yet.

What is your view on mixing food? I want to make sure she is getting the nutrition she needs, and that it is also tasty. Thank you!

[Pitlove]

Right now because your girl is going through her critical growth period as a large breed puppy adding a food like Regional Red with far too much calcium/phosphorus could possibly lead to skeletal and growth disorders. The FirstMate formula you have as 80% of her meal is formulated correctly for a LBP. Could you perhaps try eliminating the Regional Red and seeing how she does? The problem with mixing these two foods or mixing any two foods right now is that you might be feeding an unsafe amount of calcium. You can add the probiotic powder to her FirstMate to help with the loose stools.

[Jenn H]

I often feed my dogs combo and change their food every 3-4 months. It’s been great as far as avoiding recalls and it helps them create their own good bacteria. The body gets used to the same food.

Right now I have a 4 month old German Shepherd puppy. And I have been dealing with diarrhea off & on. I found out it could be due to teething. They produce more saliva. That ends up in the stomach and what comes out isn’t pleasant.
I gave him pumpkin, bland diet and probio. It helps.

Now I am giving him raw unpasteurized goat milk. So far so good.

The only thing is I am very careful about his calcium intake. He is not to exceed 1.5% per day. Even that is higher than I like. I try to keep it around 1-1.2% max.
I hate doing the math, but I know how important it is to control his growth. It’s important large breed puppies do not grow too fast.

Orijen is an excellent food. I am changing him to Acana. Orijen is a little out of my price range right now.

I would suggest that if you need to give him rice for diarrhea in the future that it be white rice not brown. The brown can be too much work to digest when their bellies aren’t feeling well. I used to give brown also until I was corrected.

Whatever direction you go in just be sure to keep track of the daily calcium amounts. Stay as close to 1% as possible. I believe the guidelines are .75-1.5%.
Often this mean contacting the dog food companies and asking what the MAX amt is in their food. They often list min amt if at all.

[yjesse]

Thank you both for your thoughtful insight. I checked both labels and the First Mate puppy calcium level is at 1% whereas Orijen Regional Red is at 1.6/1.9%. Based on math my ratio should not exceed ~1.2%. Thank you again, I will be very careful!

My pup Charlie says a “thank you!”

[zuponicafe]

yjessie~ I have a 10 m/o mixed breed who’s eventual adult size we were unsure of (still growing!) so I went for the foods that were w/in the limits of the large breed calcium guidelines. He’s lab/shep/husky/clown.
I have switched his foods around pretty regularly since we got him at 8 weeks, but always with an eye on the calcium & so far so good. And I swap his food around a lot. Dry & wet, different companies, different proteins.
There are occasions when he gets a squirty crap, but nothing note worthy. Like my husband says, that dog has better turds than I do.

[Vicki K]

The ratio is between calcium and phosphorus, right? I’m only reading cal percentages. I’m having trouble with gas and stinky poop with Orijen lg breed puppy?

[Tom C]

What is the forums thoughts on feeding one brand of food for a meal at breakfast and a different brand for dinner?

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