[LuckyLab]

Hi Crazy4cats,

She’s not married to turkey specifically. She just wants to put him on more of a cooling diet and see if it calms some of his tummy issues. She said turkey, kangaroo and even pork would all be OK.

She suggested we try a Ltd Ingredient diet to see if that helps and go from there. He’s just had some gas and has been throwing up bile in the middle of the morning. Spoke to a zignature rep today in a local pet store she gave us a free bag of the kangaroo and said we can swap between the flavors once he’s transitioned and pointed out what meats were more mild (whitefish, pork, turkey, kangaroo).

Ill check out purevita as well. Thanks!!

[LuckyLab]

So a vote for Earthborn and a vote for zignature.

[LuckyLab]

Pugmom,

Do you prefer Earthborn over zignature or Nulo?

[LuckyLab]

So not a fan of the probiotics in Nulo?

You like the zignature though huh? The dicalcium in it is OK? Seen some things that say it could cause kidney stones. Not sure on the research behind that though.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 1 month ago by LuckyLab.

[LuckyLab]

Wanted to update everyone. We kept him on the Fromm after talking to the vet. He’s settled in and is doing great on the Fromm. His coat is beautiful and he’s filling out great. Stools have hardened up and look much better.

Going to keep him on it unless we start to have problems again buy hoping it was just a puppy phase, new environment, etc.

Don’t love the look of Fromm adult as much so will need to find a new adult food for him but we have some time before that decision has to be made.

How long should we keep him on the puppy fromm? Till he’s one or older?

[LuckyLab]

The stools are on and off loose. More soft serve then true diarheea. We’ve had his stools tested and he’s clear from that end. Its so strange he’ll be fine 2-3 days (solid stools) then bam, loose and frequent. I know our vet has said they see more issues from Fromm in regards to it being rich for sensitive tummies.

As you’ve all said, with so much conflicting information out there its hard to know whats right. We are going to stick with the Fromm for another week and cut out all extra training treats and things to see if we can’t identify it as a problem with those.

[LuckyLab]

What about Wellness Large Breed (Complete Health)?

[LuckyLab]

The new vet we are seeing who we like offers both an oral and Vector as options. Looking briefly online Vectra seems to have much less serious side effects associated with it and it sounds like something we could use once a month in the summer and discontinue easily in the winter (its too cold in Colorado for fleas in winter).

My vet supports either decision and even no action if that’s my choice. I will get a flea comb and try that out, we did bathe him with an oatmeal shampoo and never saw anything but as you guys pointed out we may never see them (that’s consistent with our vet too).

We are watching him very closely and the itching does seem to be mildly improving, I’m hoping it gets to a point where there is no way its fleas and we can move on. I know half a dozen breeders I’ve spoken to in CO have said they’ve never given their dog flea/tick meds so its indication this would be out of the norm.

We’ll run Vectra by her doctor and in the meantime watch him closely. Assuming we see no more improvement in the next week and her doctor is ok with its application in our home we will administer the Vectra. At that point, he’ll be closer to 11 weeks old and 3 weeks past their 8-week recommendation.

[LuckyLab]

We actually did go see another vet since the primary couldn’t get us in when his ear infection seemed to worsen. The 2nd doc said the NexGard is safe for most pets but understands my concerns regarding the small percentage of cases where it did cause issues.

He said they do offer Vectra 3D which is a topical formula that you just apply to their skin, similar to Frontline I’m guessing.

I’m still dragging my feet a bit on giving him the Nexgard or ordering the Vectra, I’d really like to see a dag on flea to confirm its an issue before treating it or treating our yard/home. Any way you cut it its better to not do any of those things for the puppy, me and the pregnant wife unless there is, in fact, a problem.

I do feel slightly better about the Vectra since he doesn’t ingest it and think the older he gets the safer it likely is to use on him. He’s almost 10 weeks now and I keep hearing 12 weeks is the benchmark where you can slightly exhale cause their immune systems are stronger and they have had their 3rd round of vaccinations.

I’ll try to work on finding a way to see if he does, in fact, have fleas, you’d think there would be a definitive way to diagnose it.

[LuckyLab]

Hard not to be skeptical when they won’t offer all the data.

[LuckyLab]

He does seem to always try to eat grass, dandelions or whatever plant he can get his mouth on in our backyard. Not sure if that’s related or not, our old Lab seemed to always want to eat grass as well. I try to discourage it but can’t always catch him.

[LuckyLab]

anon101,

I think that’s good advice. My vet’s office does not seem overly concerned, while they haven’t seen him specifically for that issue we had him in last week for his wellness check/2nd vaccine and they said he checked out perfectly. They left me with the “bring him in if you want, but it doesn’t sound overly alarming” response more or less.

We are going to still watch it and wait another week before slowly transitioning him into a new food. I’ve had a lot of people in my area say allergies are worse this year than they’ve been in the past. He’s only chewing/licking 2-3 times a day at most and it’s quick then he’s done. I’m guessing it doesn’t warrant a special appointment unless we see an escalation. He has to go in later in July for another round of vaccines, we may just wait till then and ask.

I think we are going to transition him into a new food sometime next week very slowly (Fromm Gold) but stick with the grain version for the time being. No need to exclude that unless the vet advises.

[LuckyLab]

He continues to lick and mildly chew what primarily seems to be his back legs. When I rub, gently squeeze or pull on them he doesn’t react like there is pain. We rinsed his legs off pretty good yesterday and when I put him out this morning sure enough he sat down in the grass and licked his belly and back legs.

We only notice it 3-4 times a day so it’s not constantly bugging him just occasionally.

He’s still on the food the breeder had him on originally, Diamond Puppy so no food switch yet.

If it continues another day or two I may take him back to the vet to have him checked out.

[LuckyLab]

Thanks guys, lots of great information.

We haven’t switched him off his original kibble yet. He’s only been home with us 1 week, we’re not going to mess with his diet until at least 3 weeks with us if not a bit longer.

Pit, I agree we only want to change him once so we are wiping his legs and just monitoring him for the time being. We have a 3rd vaccination appointment in about 3 weeks, and we’ll have watched him long enough to talk about switching food and if we thing something is up with the chewing.

I’ve heard good things about zignature as well, but they don’t do a large breed pup formula. We may just try Fromm Complete Health once he’s good to switch and see how he tolerates that.

[LuckyLab]

Really good advice I think, I’m hoping it’s just a puppy being a puppy. Well wipe his feet off and see if that helps. The chewing is still mild so hoping it passes or is unrelated to allergies.

[LuckyLab]

I’ve emailed Wellness. No word back yet. I may go with Fromm. They are consistently recommended and the price point is favorable. Had someone suggest Precise Holistic today but just never heard of it.

[LuckyLab]

Sorry about that message. Got mixed up some how.

I’ve narrowed my choices down to Wellness Complete Health Lg. Brd. pup and the Fromm Gold lrg. pup.

Going to ask the vet today about each.

[LuckyLab]

I’m thinking of doing the Fromm Lbd puppy. Ruled out Purina and Wellness based on several factors. Is there anything else I should consider?

Nutro, Taste of the wild, etc.? Folks keep steering me away from Blue for one reason or another
.

[LuckyLab]

The Wellness Core may be a little rich for our blood. We are going to look at the I think we are narrowing in on feeding the Fromm LBP but I’m going to look at the Purina Pro Plan.

[LuckyLab]

I’ve heard good things about Purina Pro Plan. Always thought Purina was a lower end food but learned they have different tiers.

I’d like my male to fill out as much as possible (without being overweight). Does anything effect growth in dogs more than another (Protein%?).
Wellness Core line for example is a much richer protein kibble.

Ill look at Purina again and narrowing down to Wellness, Fromm and 1 more.
Thanks guys!

[LuckyLab]

Hi guys,
I just got a nicely bred Yellow Lab who I will be bringing home Sunday (8 weeks and 2 days old). He has had a small spell of diarrhea while with his breeder and they are getting him through. His first kibble and what he’s getting now is Diamond Puppy. I’ve heard this is a decent food and good value but the breeder told me if I wanted to upgrade she like Blue Buffalo.

Finding a new food is so overwhelming but I know the first 2 years can be so important for his growth and development. I’ve narrowed down my options to:
-Blue Buffalo Wilderness Puppy (is this too much protein?)
-Fromm Heartland Gold or just Fromm Gold (both for large breeds)
-Taste of the Wild Puppy
-Wellness Complete Health or Core (Puppy)
-He’s currently on Diamond Puppy

So many different opinions, we go to the vet on Tuesday but not sure he’ll have a recommendation. We were told whatever we decide to keep him on his current Diamond food for at least 2 weeks after we bring him home not to stress his system as he adjusts then we could start slowly changing.
Thank you so much for the help (sorry for the long post).

[Author]

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