[lmnordrum]

Genevieve K: This is great news! Hopefully the solution is food and the pup has just been having a systemic reaction to something in the old food. I looked up the Precise Large Breed Puppy and its Chicken Meal, Rice and Oatmeal. Maybe your dog has a chicken sensitivity?

At any rate I hope this is a solution for you. Would be great if its just a problem with chicken because its fairly easy to avoid it. At my house having a chicken problem would be catastrophic because of how much of it I buy and cook for us humans. Boneless chicken breasts are $1.99/pound when on sale which is cheaper than my dog food and a reason why she gets so much of it as a topper.

[lmnordrum]

Wellness Core Puppy is entirely grain free and suitable for all life stages and is on HDMs list as suitable. My dog loves it and does very well on it. I only added in the Fromm later because its good to have them eat more than one thing should your food be recalled. (Although Wellness has never had a recall and is made in the USA in small batches.)

My dog also receives cooked meat as a topper. I buy inexpensive beef (chuck, round or even something on clearance) and cook it, and I also give her chicken. She’s had leftover pork too. The meat I add is just used as a topper–and a way for me to clean out the fridge. I’ll also boil eggs and give them to her if I have some older eggs. So basically my dog gets about 90% kibble and 10% of leftover meat from the fridge. Last week she had chicken parmigiana without stuff on the meat: I just scraped it off and rinsed the meat, and chopped it in the food processor. I’ll grind up my leftover meat, put it in plastic bags, and place in the freezer. Makes it easy to dump on the kibble and she’ll eat her entire meal.

I can’t bear to deal with the thought of raw food in my house or her bowl and am terrified by the thought of salmonella or listeria. When we were trying to find a second kibble I got some Instinct Rabbit which gave her loose stool. So it doesn’t seem like rabbit was a good protein for this particular animal. Plenty of people feed that Instinct Rabbit with no problems. The loose stool was why I settled on the Fromm as a backup food and part of her dinner mix.

We had a brief time around 4 months when the dog has some diarrhea but I traced that back to cranberry supplements I was giving her for a UTI. It wasn’t the food because once I eliminated that cranberry extract she was perfectly fine.

I’ve been very happy with the Wellness Core, and the Fromm. Her stool is a bit more firm when she has more Wellness. I will share that too much coconut oil, like when I decided to tip the jar over her food, gave her loose stool, but I figured that would happen with too much fat.

Hopefully you just have a systemic problem due to grain. I don’t even feed corn to my family (unless it is organic) and I sure as heck am not giving it to my dog.

[lmnordrum]

Poor pup. Have you gone totally grain free? I fed my Giant Schnauzer dog Wellness Core Puppy and added in Fromm Surf and Turf (both on the list) at about seven months. I’ve also been feeding organic coconut oil since she came home at 8 weeks. Its very unusual for my dog to itch anything at all.

As she got larger she receives more coconut oil and we’re up to the equivalent of about a tablespoon now (its totally unmeasured: I just throw a glop of it into the food and add warm water to melt it.)

Breeder had the pup on Royal Canin and i tried to do the responsible thing and mix it, but once I added in the Wellness Core Puppy, the animal would have nothing to do with Royal Canin.

I order my food from Chewy.com as the pet stores do not carry these.

Hope a good grain-free food solves your problems.

[lmnordrum]

I love chewy.com. order on Monday and I have it on Wednesday.

[lmnordrum]

Jazz: Your dog sounds like he/she eats very well already. I was intrigued by the benefits of raw but can’t bring myself to feed it and I would be concerned about balancing out the nutritional needs. I am totally neurotic about kitchen sanitation and food safety and can’t bear the thought of the dog dragging around meat. Nor can I bring myself to even cut up a chicken for my own family. This is my first dog in 20 years and my housekeeping standards have dropped since I invited the animal into my life. I love my dog even though I clean more often, and am very happy that there is good kibble out there. From this list I learned about rotation diets which made sense in the event of a kibble manufacturer having a recall. But a raw diet is not something I am willing to do even though I think it would be cheaper to give the dog chicken than some of this kibble I’ve been buying.

[lmnordrum]

J-L:
Not HDM… but my vet is not a fan of raw because of bacteria and how it impacts the rest of the house and the impact of this bacteria to the humans. He’s fine with cooked food as a topper because the risk of illness to humans is eliminated.

[lmnordrum]

Jazz Lover: If its working and your animal is healthy and thriving, why change? I give my dog good kibble (Wellness Core and Fromm) moistened with hot water and some coconut oil, and she’ll get cooked food from our meal, like meat and some plain rice. When I have some older eggs they get boiled and put on top of the kibble in lieu of meat. Dog gets small bits of cheese for treats and has no interest in fruit, veggies, peanut butter or bread. I do not feed my dog grains and she doesn’t seem to be missing them.

I have no guilt about not doing raw because frankly I can’t deal with it in my house. Plus the thought of raw meat and bacteria just freaks me out. As a cook I get grossed out by things such as bone-in chickens and large hunks of raw anything, and forget about anything that looks like it would on the animal itself (tongue, liver, etc.) If I didn’t function so much better on a higher protein diet I would probably be vegetarian. I would cook for my dog if she didn’t do well on the kibble. We are in a rural area and I could buy a cow or hog, but this is not something I have any interest to do. My dog does well on what she’s being fed and there’s no reason for us to change it. Plus she can be boarded on a kibble mixture. I can’t send her off to the kennel when I travel with 20 pounds of meat. lol

• This reply was modified 9 years, 10 months ago by lmnordrum.

[lmnordrum]

LunasMommy: I had a similar situation with my pup. The dog was eating Royal Canin Puppy at the breeder, and wanted to be responsible and mix the food. Dog wasn’t having it: she wanted the good stuff (Wellness Core Puppy.) I just gave up on mixing the food because the dog wasn’t eating the Royal Canin anyways. She was fine.

[lmnordrum]

Oh, and I didn’t really worry about the bag. If the dog was hungry she was obnoxious, which didn’t help any of us. She slept all night from the time I brought her home so the 3x/day feedings worked pretty well for us.

[lmnordrum]

Try more frequent feedings too. I fed 3x/day when my Giant Schnauzer was younger. We’ve had some dietary issues and we’re back to 3x/day feedings. The additional feeding makes a huge difference for her.

[lmnordrum]

We tried Meadow Feast when she was a younger pup and she had very loose and mucus-y stool, which is why I had to do Wellness, lol. Figured it was the lamb in there. The dog is 6 months old and has been on Wellness Core Puppy since I brought her home at 9 weeks. I was looking at the Earthborn products again last night because of the lower fat.

What I don’t understand here is if its a chicken allergy or intolerance, how come I can give her cooked chicken and there’s no problem? I’ve pored through this thread and others and keep coming back to an intolerance, but have a difficult time believing it is chicken because of how well she does on a non-kibble diet. I am leaning towards fats being the problem. But puppy can not live on fresh chicken and rice soup forever, which is why I visited the vet.

Ironically this all started about a day after I took her to a professional commercial dog facility for training class. They do doggy daycare and boarding, as well as classes. There are likely hundreds of dogs that go through that lawn and parking lot every day, and of course being a dog she had to sniff around. She also had a bite out of the cat box (eww, but someone left the gate down) three days prior, drank some standing water out of a gutter, chewed lilies and daffodil leaves and ate dirt. I have asked the vet to check for parasites along with Giardia and Coccidia, but I understand that the latter can be more difficult to find.

Right now the dog is on Flagyl and Pepcid with a new probiotic that the vet likes (Proviable). I have the Dr Langers probiotic on order which I’ll take for myself if the animal does well on the Proviable. At this point it seems to be a mystery and I’m in the denial phase of the kibble situation because it was so sudden. We live in the country and the dog has only been in my yard (now fenced) and not exposed to other dogs until dog school. She also was boarded in April (two weeks prior to all of this) but my kennel gal did not let my animal near the others because the dog was too rough. We’ve been visiting this kennel for grooming and some short boarding since January.

I’m thinking about the fat content of the Wellness, which is pretty high (its puppy food). The current chicken/rice/homemade broth is incredibly low in fat. If she’s having problems with fats then I need a much different kibble, like for seniors or overweight dogs. But then I have the whole nutrition thing to consider because she’s just six months old and has a lot of growing to do yet. So I am now poring over lists and labels because of the things I need to avoid. I may end up with a kibble that has some grain.

I really hope the answer lies in the lab results. We’ve only had worming at 9 and 12 weeks. Some vets recommend worming monthly and my first vet did not mention this. My current vet, who I am using because there is more than one and they have a larger treatment facility, is a lot younger and didn’t scoff at me for wanting to feed probiotics or a more natural diet or even hold off on a spay until the animal was more mature. The first vet, who is the kindest person you want to meet and I’ve known for a long time, has been practicing for about 50 years and does horses and large animals and is quite well known for his equine practice. He wanted me to feed ScienceDiet crap because of all the research put behind the food. Sorry. Not feeding my dog corn or wheat. I am OK with oatmeal and rice–I don’t eat corn myself except on rare occasions so I am sure as heck not feeding it to a purebred dog who may have a sensitive digestive system because of her breed.

So now I cook chicken and rice, which is fine because we eat a lot of both here, and wait. We’ve had no diarrhea, no gas, no tummy rumbling, no nothing, since yesterday afternoon. Tummy rumbling and gas has never been a problem with the dog anyways. She was pretty hungry so I’m giving small meals of chicken/rice/broth and there are no problems. (No stool either, but her intestines were pretty empty after yesterday’s bout of diarrhea.)

Thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it!

[lmnordrum]

My 6 month old Giant Schnauzer, currently 47 pounds, seems to be having some ‘gastric distress’ with mucus-y diarrhea.

She’s eating Wellness Core Puppy (on the list) and has done well with it and I read every post here before I selected it. The dog developed the diarrhea about 12 days ago and we’ve been to the vet. The dog has no symptoms on chicken and rice, but I need a kibble. I’m thinking that perhaps the protein and fat may be too high but I’m asking for a screening for giardia, coccidia and parasites. Came home with flagyl, pepcid, old fashioned Kaopectate (which is not the same stuff sold for humans any longer) and a new probiotic. Is there a food presently on HDMs list that is lower in fat and protein? I know I may have to go to a food with grain but would rather not feed the dog corn or wheat. The poor thing is really hungry on the chicken and rice and broth diet and can’t stay on it forever because there’s really no nutrition for a growing pup. I believe I still need to watch the calcium levels as she’s six months, but I also have to get her fed too.

I followed poor DukeTheBoxer’s situation and really hope to not go down that road with my dog. (and I sure hope Duke is doing better.)

Thanks.

[lmnordrum]

The star rating is irrelevant: its the calcium levels. Lots of five star foods do not fit the criteria because of calcium, not content. Check the list.

[lmnordrum]

Lablubber: I was very overwhelmed too! Had advice to feed raw but it is impractical for me and frankly it grosses me out. After a lot of reading, including every post on this forum including the external articles, I decided to feed Wellness Core Puppy (grain free.) My dog loves it, she has a great coat and no issues with the BMs. I order it from Chewy.com .

My dog was being fed Royal Canin puppy by the breeder and although I tried to mix the food at the beginning, the dog just picked out the Wellness and left the Royal Canin in the bowl. I said the heck with it and just quit the Royal Canin and fed the Wellness and she never had a problem.

For low-value treats and training I’m feeding Earthborn Holistic Meadow Feast. For high value treats I’m just buying meat and cooking it and putting it in the freezer. Its cheaper to buy chuck roast than it is to get dog snacks.

Hope this helps!

[lmnordrum]

Jewels: I order from Chewy.com and love them and their service and the food shows up here two days after I order it. My Giant Schnauzer pup is on Wellness Core Puppy and she’s got a great coat and no problems with the BMs. She’s been on this food since I brought her home at 8 weeks. (And I found that food via this list as well as all the great info from HDM and PattyVaughn.)

[lmnordrum]

I buy my Wellness Core Puppy at http://www.Chewy.com . They ship it right to me and no worries on it not being in the store. Competitive prices too. If it were easier to get around here I would buy it in my independent pet shot (I like to support small business) but they don’t carry it.

[lmnordrum]

I am new to puppydom but I did learn quite a bit about my own dog’s digestive system when trying to find her things to chew on. We feed Wellness Core Puppy with great success and I also have some Earthborn Holistic Meadow Feast which I give a handful for lunch. (Pup is a Giant Schnauzer, born 10/21, and I also use the Earthborn for training.) I decided that pig ears would be a convenient and inexpensive way for my dog to while away her time and not gnaw on furniture. Silly me…

While many puppy parents are focusing on the actual food when there’s a problem, what I learned was that pig ears are loaded with fat (and god knows what other stuff because they’ve been treated and salted). My pup had some loose stool towards the end of her BMs, and I mentioned it to the trainer in puppy class and she immediately pegged it as pig ears. Once I stopped the ears and substituted them with a good old fashioned bone and an antler, the loose stool went away immediately. The frequency of the BMs became more normal too, about two hours after a meal with appropriate consistency.

So if you’re feeding a good food and having strange digestive issues with the dog towards the end of a BM you might want to look at the treats/chewies/snacks. I use real meat (cooked) for puppy school and when we’re doing obedience, and regular kibble. No more pig ears here, and I doubt I’m going to try bully sticks for the dog either. I’m a label reader for my own food, and also read what’s in dog treats and think most of this stuff is junk. When I did the pig ears I did so at the recommendation of the boutique pet store, and these were not processed in China and were deemed “Natural”. Silly me, I thought I was just getting a baked pig ear, and it didn’t even occur to me that it would have a lot of fat or salt. Like our own diets, when we eat a lot of fat it comes out the other end, which is exactly what happened with my dog.

I have learned a lot from this group and this might help someone.

LN

[lmnordrum]

Thank you Lablubber for your very informative post. I only have a puppy, Giant Schnauzer, on Wellness Core Puppy and she is doing well and no health problems and I’m glad I found this list so I can start her off ‘right’. I discussed raw with my vet (old country vet w/40 yrs exp, does large animals and small) and his concern is just what you say: salmonella and other bacterias. The food issue drives me crazy too. Before this whole kibble industry, people just fed their dogs what they ate.

I sure hope that Augie gets better though. Its like having a kid: you want to do the right thing and when it doesn’t work its just devastating.

[lmnordrum]

Puppy goes to the vet on Monday and I’ll ask for his opinion on her weight.

I don’t mind two or three meals; at issue is housetraining and how fast puppy will have to go outside. But that’s just part of having a puppy. (I have not had a dog in about 20 years!) So I’ll plan on 3 meals a day, measured out. For training I am planning on using low value treats like frozen peas or even pieces of kibble. The breeder uses Cheerios (which is oat and not corn.) Still on the fence about Cheerios.

I have a photo taken last week and you can see the belly but I can’t figure out how to post it within this forum. Its quite a belly though! Here’s a link to pup on my Pintrest (which is in the process of being created): http://www.pinterest.com/pin/384494886908431455/

[lmnordrum]

PattyVaughn just posted about keeping the puppy lean. I will be picking up my 8 week old Giant Schnauzer puppy in two days. Breeder says that the puppy is chunky, and she is feeding Royal Canin puppy food. I’ll be changing that food to Wellness Core Puppy (and will switch gradually if possible, however its likely that puppy is going to like the new food better than the old–the cat even chewed into the Wellness bag to get that kibble.)

Anyways, my puppy is definitely not lean. Do I just work on feeding better food and let her the legs catch up with the belly? Puppies are like babies and you don’t put a baby on a diet. Since the breeder still has a couple of pups she hasn’t been measuring the food: she puts it out in a pan and lets them all go for it for a max of 30 minutes twice a day. I will not be feeding free choice for a set time period.

Whats the word on getting that puppy to slim down without starving her?

[lmnordrum]

In humans, Clostridium is also known as c.diff, and is quite serious. As someone who has spent a lot of time in the human healthcare environment, and infection control, and have had family members with this infection, you need to find out what sort of strain you’re dealing with and treat it accordingly.

Going raw is probably not a good option.

[lmnordrum]

Since I posted to the list the other day about Merrick I thought I would share what they provided regarding Calcium. Obviously this food will not go on HDM’s list for large breeds.

Dry Dog Food
Chicken, Brown Rice & Green Peas-Adult -2.50
Beef, Whole Barley & Carrots-Adult 2.50
Lamb, Brown Rice & Apple- Adult 2.50
Large Breed-Chicken, Brown Rice & Green Peas-Adult 2.36
Small Breed-Chicken, Brown Rice & Green Peas-Adult 2.50
Puppy-Chicken, Brown Rice & Green Peas 2.28
Senior-Chicken, Brown Rice & Green Peas 2.20
Grain-Free Chicken 2.50
Grain-Free Buffalo 2.50
Grain-Free Duck 2.50
Grain-Free Pork 2.32

[lmnordrum]

My browsing trip was overwhelming, to say the least. I will skip Merrick until the dog is much older. And you’re right, its Earthborn Holistic Coastal Catch.

[lmnordrum]

Armed with HDM’s list I ventured into the independent pet store today to browse their inventory. They do have Earthborn Ocean Fusion, which is what I’m learning towards feeding my new puppy (I’ll start off with a small bag) but this shop advocates Merrick Grain Free dog food.

Many foods have the calcium content on the bag, but Merrick does not. I searched their web site and nothing on there either. Sent them an email about this but it will probably be a couple of days until I hear from someone. Has anyone here researched Merrick Grain Free food yet?

[lmnordrum]

This thread is just full of excellent information and I’ve printed HDM’s list on food. However I’m still confused. lol

I have a Giant Schnauzer puppy that I’ll pick up right before Christmas. Breeder feeds Royal Canin puppy, but I’m not thrilled that it has corn in it. I’d like to feed my puppy a at least a corn-free food, but breeder recommends lower protein for these dogs. Grain free foods seem to have a pretty high protein level. She starts with RC Mini even for the big dogs (smaller kibble.)

Any recommendations for the Giant or experience with lower protein (less than 23%)? Based on what I’m reading about growth and calcium, I’m thinking she likes lower protein so they don’t get into any super growth spurt. Breeder says she has never had a problem with hip dysplasia in her dogs.

Thanks!

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