[Dee J]

HELP! I adopted my 6 year old Puggle from a family that had her since she was a puppy. They were kind enough to give us a big bag of her dog food – BENEFUL. There’s no way I’d feed a dog Beneful. I fed it to her for a week or two while trying to figure out the best food for her. I have another dog who has food allergies and I feed him Wellness Simple Canned Duck & Oatmeal formula. That keeps his skin from getting red and itchy and keeps his ear infections to a minimum.

I started her on a dry Wellness Simple. She didn’t like it – literally spit it out. So I tried Taste of the Wild. That made her sick – vomiting and diarrhea. Then I tried Natural Balance. We came home to poop in the living room. I let someone talk me into Sprout, the Fleet Farm brand. She was fine for a few weeks and now she has diarrhea again.

I always transition her slowly from one food to another, so I know that’s not the problem. She eats a lot of grass which may be an issue. I’m wondering if too much protein upsets her tummy. The weird thing is, she’s usually fine for a few days (even a few weeks) and then boom – poop everywhere. The only dog food she hasn’t had any issue with is freakin’ Beneful. Any suggestions?

[theBCnut]

Yes, I’ve seen this in sooooo many dogs. She has been on garbage for so long that her body can’t tolerate too much good nutrition.

First of all, find her a good probiotic and give her a small dose every day for a really good long time. Mercola has a good one. It is more expensive but it has a good number of different strains and that’s important right now. If you go through a couple jars of it, you should be good to switch to a cheaper brand after that.

Second, I’m sorry to say this, but put her back on the Beneful for a couple weeks. When her system has completely calmed down, start her on 1/4 new food and 3/4 Beneful. Leave her on that for a full month and see if her stools stay consistent the whole time. If they don’t, then she may have a food intolerance to something in the new food and that’s why the intermitant problems. You will need to pick a new food with very different ingredients and start over. If her stools stay consistent, after a month, start giving half Beneful and half new food. You probably should decrease the amount she is getting at this point because the new food is most likely higher calorie and that alone can cause stool issues. Leave her on that for at least 2 weeks, a month would probably be better unless her stools are just really, really good the whole time. Then go to 1/4 Beneful and 3/4 new food. Again decrease the amount you feed. If stools get loose at all, back up to the previous stage and leave her there longer, if they stay great, then 2 weeks at that amount or until the Beneful is gone, then you should be good to go 100% new food. Decrease food and watch her weight. Keep giving the probiotics at least 2 weeks after she is totally on the new food, if not forever, and then you can decrease the amount of probiotics to just twice a week.

Third, read up on the benefits of feeding a rotational diet and decide on the next food you want to switch her to. Each switch will get easier and easier until you don’t have to transition at all anymore. Good luck!

[aquariangt]

All of that is great. I also recommend switching to something not too rich from beneful to start with. Don’t jump from that to a 5 star, maybe pick an easy transitional food. I’ve seen people use Precise Foundation for such a thing, and I think ive seen BCN suggest Nutrisource or Nutrisca? as well. Then from there you can transition into something more rich.

that’s my 2 cent suggestion, good luck

[theBCnut]

Yep, NutriSource is an easy to transition to food for most dogs.

[DogFoodie]

I’d definitely second the Nut’s recommendation for NutriSource. The Adult Chicken & Rice would be a good choice.

Since this will be a slow process and since it’s what she’s accustomed to, I’d probably stick with a grain inclusive formula. Save the grain free formulas for later when you start looking at rotation.

[Susan]

Hi Dee, maybe take her to a vet, for a few test & meds.. she may have an under lining problem, could have bacteria of the stomach (H-Pylori bacteria virus) or bowel (SIBO) parasites, IBD etc…it could be a health problem causing her sloppy poos, vomiting & grass eating…she definitely has a Gi problems……when I first rescued my boy 2 years ago, he was doing the same with vomiting, diarrhea rumbling bowel noises, always eating grass…..when I took him to vets he was put on metronidazole, its an antibiotic for their bowel/stomach, the Metro helped my boy a few times…..
Vet has told me he probably was feed a very poor diet from a pup & probably not feed daily & starved some days….the vet said he sees it alot with rescued dogs in the end they are diagnosed with IBD due to the dogs having either bad parasite infections when younger & poor diets … Patch was 4 years old when I rescued him, the crap food that they are feed must do something to their bowels & stomach after years & years of eating it day in & day out & having no other foods in their diet, so when I’d give him any good foods
higher in protein or fat % he’d become ill..

I’d also put her on a good dog probiotic, Patch has been on a Veta Farm Dog probiotic now for over 1 year also he eats his vet diet Eukanuba Intestinal & does real well now, but when I tried commerical premium kibbles they just didnt work for him I just tried the Wellness Simple Duck & Oatmeal & Lamb & Oatmeal he was doing real well, I was so happy, I thought the vets wrong, 1 month after being on the Wellness Simple Lamb & Oatmeal Patch had his sloppy poos, bad gas, waking up 2am to poo.. so he’s back on his Eukanuba Intestinal Low residue kibble that breaks down real easy & is easier on his stomach & bowel & its low in fiber 1.70% & fat 10%…In America you have Iams but the ingredients are different to Eukanubas ingredients I dont know why…..

what about home cooked or a kibble with ingredients like Beneful without the by-product meats & some of the other nasty ingredients like Gluten meal, animal digest, propylene glycol, sugar, meat & bone meal, soy flour & all the preservatives…
Patches Eukanuba has corn grites & corn apparently corn grites are low residue that breaks down easier so less work on their bowel & smaller poos, we often see corn & people say oh it has corn but corn grites grounded works for some dogs with bowel problems….so maybe she’d do better with a kibble with corn but better ingredients then the Beneful..

My boy also has bad skin allergies & ear problems & does real good on his Eukanuba Intestinal no itchy ears no scratching no sloppy poos, he has his hive like lumps at the moment but its spring so its from the environment grasses & pollens, he loves to run thru tall grass & bushes….but he cant eat potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas..he gets diarrhea, bad gas & itchy skin & ears..
I’d take her to a vet & find out whats happening …she may just need a course of the Metronidazole to clear what ever happening with her stomach & bowel..something is wrong, poor girl..

[InkedMarie]

I agree with the NutriSource recommendation. Let us know how it goes & like Nut says, go very slow.

[Dee J]

Thanks so much for all your advice! I will be getting her a probiotic and doing the slow transition suggested. Susan, I have definitely thought about taking her to the vet. But she’s been in for a full exam with a fecal exam shortly after we got her. That’s not to say something new isn’t happening. If it continues without improvement or gets worse, I will definitely take her to the vet.

[Bobby dog]

Hi Dee J:
I agree with all the recommendations on food, especially DF’s on transitioning to a grain inclusive first. I have fed several recipes (grain inclusive and GF) from both Nutrisource and Precise; my dog loved them and did well on them.

I would just like to add since you will be mixing foods, if your dog is an easy keeper like mine, I found I needed to feed the least amount for his weight of the Nutrisource and Precise foods in both grain inclusive and grain free recipes. Keeping this in mind might help avoid any weight issues if that is a concern. Good luck!!!

[Author]

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