[Marlene N]

hi kriste. 
My suggestion is take your puppy off of the blue wilderness puppy food completely.
My Golden Retriever puppy like I said was fine for the first 6 months and then the diarrhea started. The food that my vet had recommended after doing the chicken and rice for 2 months and trying to get my dog back onto dog food was called Prescription ID , which is only sold by vets in canada. At $45 for a small bag, i decided to research futher. I found that the nutritional values, etc. were equivalent to the puppy food by Nutro Natural Choice lamb and rice puppy food for large breed.I have had my puppy on this food now for 2 months and no problems with her stomach, stools are firm, energy level is returned and her weight is where it should be.  At 10 months old she is 52 lbs.I hope this helps!
as you transition from chicken and rice over to puppy food I can only suggest to change the protein to either ground beef or turkey instead of chicken.
your transition should take no more than 14 days. Start with the protein and rice for a few days, until the stool is semi formed. (assuming you are feeding your puppy 3 times a day one cup per meal.) then slowly introduce the food and reduce the other two components by 1/4 cup intervals.
Ex. 1/4 protein, 1/2 rice, 1/4 food, keep consistant for a few days, reduce the other two components until you are down to 1/8 protein, 1/8 rice and 3/4 food. By this time you will also know if the food is stable on your puppies stomach.
good luck!

[Marlene N]

The chicken and Rice alone, will cause the stool to be a yellowish/beige colour.
If you have tried the chicken and rice and pumpkin, and it is not working,… (I know, I tried it for months too) …..try ground beef instead of chicken.

After your vet has checked to ensure there is no blood coming from the intestines….
They might prescribe an antibiotic for a possible bacterial or parasite infection and an Immodium to initially stop the diarrhea, ..but if your dogs stomach is sensitive, it is the chicken. and change over to a sensitive stomach dog food right away.
(well, a slow transition from the Beef/rice, to dog food) Good luck!

[Marlene N]

Hello again!
Well, I agree 100%, there is something specific with the higher Protein content that affects our dogs. As soon as the diarrhea started, we tried the boiled chicken/ rice and then a few attempts to change back over to the Blue Wilderness food. As soon as we started it, it was an immediate diarrhea reaction / gas etc.. This went on for two months. She didn’t gain any weight, and for a 8-9 month old puppy, we were scared. A Petsmart manager suggested eliminating the protein, ie. Chicken and replacing it with a different protein. ie. Ground Beef. Instantly the diarrhea was gone!…and by the following week, we were able to start using the Prescription ID, recommended by our vet. That was fine for a month, until I found Nutro- Large Breed, Puppy, which was equivalent if not exactly at the same levels of Crude Protein, Fat, Fiber, Calcium, Nutrients, etc. We switched her food and everything has been fine.
At 10 months now, she is 52 lbs, and as happy as she should be!

We did try 1 day of a handful of the Blue Wilderness again… and her stool was extremely soft again.. so, yep! it is definitely the food and we are not switching back.

A few things we have learnt from all of this:
-sometimes all of our researching to do what is best for our pets….ie. buying the absolute best dog food on the market, is not always the best for your pet.
-Golden Retrievers have very sensitive stomachs in general… so to help eliminate diarrhea, give them a boiled protein (opposite of what is in their food) and white rice diet is ok, but, sensitive stomach, prescription ID food works well too.
-Sometimes all they may need is just 1-2 tablets of Immodium. Generic Name: loperamide
Safely prescribed by your vet.
-Finding what food works for your pet is a challenge, Thank Goodness Petsmart accepts returns of open bags of dog food!
-Listen to other pet owners with the same type of breed…. that will save you a little aggravation too!

[Marlene N]

Hi Melissa…Yes, the Article was by the FDA, US Food and Drug Administration.
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm228986.htm
It covers all Blue brands (protection, basic and wilderness)… it was excessive Vitamin D. Back in 2010. That was on the side of precaution.
If it was a food poisoning bacteria like Salmonella, Listeria or E.Coli. causing death then that would be something to be concerned about.
Taking others views….(with a grain of salt)….- the numerous complaints by pet owners feeding their dogs Blue Buffalo and Blue Wilderness products and going through 2 months of my pet having severe diarrhea…it was enough to make me change.
Who’s to say what is right or wrong … Every food is different, every dog is different….
I don’t really feel that there is something wrong with the food, I just know that it is not right for my dog.

[Marlene N]

hello Kelsey I read your post and im starting to believe the same.
I have a Golden Retriever puppy too.
At 9 weeks old we were forced to change your food because the breeder was using a cheap brand called ” purina ol Roy”. (No nutritional value) We chose the blue life protection large breed brand. For the first 5 months everything seemed to be fine. Her coat was softer, her energy level and bowel movements better and she was anxious to eat her food. Then she started to be exposed to swimming in a lake, grabbing things off the street, eating grass , basically everything that comes with summertime. The diarrhea started. so we stopped her food and started her on the chicken and rice diet and then slowly gradually introduce her food to the chicken and rice and same thing the diarrhea came back full fledged.
For us -it has been going on for 2 months on and off, and we even tried to switch her over to the blue wilderness because we believed it was the grains causing it, but our second visit to the vet today, believes that the blue brand dog food is to rich in protein for dogs with senstive stomach’s. It makes sense. after a lot of research and discussions with veterinarians they believe that golden retrievers naturally have a sensitive stomach so diarrhea is something that will be regular, when it happens, our vet recommended imodium 1 tab every 12 hrs to stop the inital diarrhea runs and cramping along with the bland diet of chicken and rice. And to not feed them blue products.
So at the end of the day, we are guilty of trying to do the best thing for our pets by buying the best brand of dog food on the market with no grains, no by products, no soy or wheat and no chemicals when it would appear that this is what some dogs require.I would suggest any brands that for large breed sensitive stomach like natural choice nutrition. On another note, I saw 1 recall back in 2010 but it was for to much calcium.
right now our girl is on the chicken and rice with a slow introduction to new vet brand of dog food find that is a made by Hills, prescription I / d. we are keeping our fingers crossed that this works. Good luck!

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