[Desiree B]

I’m new to the forums here as far as posting (you guys give awesome insight and advice by the way) and I have a question. A while back I tried to switch my cardigan welsh corgi over to Merrick Real Chicken with Brown Rice and Green Pea from the food he’s been on since I got him which was Purina One. I know Purina is garbage and I’ve never fed it before. I’ve had several dogs over the years and had fed Eukanuba (until they changed their formula) and also Nutro(before they were sold). When I tried to switch my guy over to the Merrick it gave him awful gas. So bad he could clear out a room no problem. We switched him over gradually and as we increased the Merrick the gas got worse and his stools got looser. Put him back on his regular food and he had no more gas and his stools were back to normal. Any idea of what could have caused that and can having a high protein content be a reason? I need to switch him to a much better food, I just don’t want to upset his stomach.

[theBCnut]

Some dogs really need to be on an intermediary food for a while before switching to high test. That being said, there have been some reports of quality issues with Merrick here and there, so you may have gotten a bad bag. You might want to try switching to a brand like NutriSource. It’s usually very well tolerated and easy to transition to, so it makes a good stepping stone food. Earthborn and Nature’s Variety, both, have premium and super premium foods, so they would be good steps up from what you were feeding.

[Desiree B]

Thank you so much for the suggestions theBCnut! I saw a few posts about Merrick and wondered if they were having issues or if we unlucky and got a bad bag. I’ve looked at a lot of the reviews here on a lot of different brands and it can be a little overwhelming. Especially when I was trying to see which ones were sold where we live. I actually looked at Nature’s Variety along with Merrick and went with Merrick cause it was made in Texas (that’s where we’re from) and when I read about them they seems to be a mom and pop kind of place if you know what I mean. Do you have any advice on which Nature’s Variety we should try first? Again thank you for the suggestions!

[Susan]

Hi Desiree, the food that your dogs does good on, look at the fat% fiber % & protein % when you look at a new food try & stay around the same %, maybe the protein can go up a few % but the fiber & fat% stay the same or less, also don’t get a kibble with peas, my boy gets real bad gas from peas as well… Have you looked at the Wellness Simple range??
scroll right down to bottom for the Simple range or look at the Wellness Complete range or look at the Nutisource & see what % is the closest & what ingredients seem the closest to the one your dog does well on….you may need to try a few different brands but remember introduce over 2 week period, if things aren’t going well add more of the food that agrees with him… or do what I do, when I introduce a new kibble & my boy does well on the new kibble, I still give his old kibble say for breakfast, then the new kibble for dinner, I always ask him which one do you want & he licks the container to the kibble that he wants now, he loves his new food at the moment, Sunday Pets Deliganics but I still give his vet diet as one of his meals for the day… I found it just works better for his IBD…..good-luck
http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/recipes.aspx?pet=dog&ft=1#Complete

[Desiree B]

Thank you so much Susan! I had wondered if I should keep the percentages of whatever food I find close to the one he is on. I had Simple Wellness on my short list along with Nature’s Variety and Earthborn. My local Petco has the first two while one of the local obedience school has the Earthborn. For her to sell it, it must be a good food. Thank you for all your help. 🙂

[Author]

Posts