Help with food!!!!

[bklyn80104]

Hello. My boy Rommel is now a little over a year old. Unfortunately he was abused and not taken care of until i got him at 3 1/2 months old. While he was really young, I tried feeding him Canidae like my 3 year old female. He gets uncontrollable diarhea with that food. I slowly tried him on several other foods through the months like nutro natural choice, innova, chicken soup for the pet lovers soul,california natural, and prescription royal canin all with no luck.

I have brought him to 3 different vets and they cannot find anything wrong with him. I have been feeding him Beneful ( I know terrible food) for 4 months now and it seems to work as far as keeping his stool solid. I cant find a common ingredient in his other foods in which would cause the diahrea reaction like the others. Does anyone have any ideas? I really want to keep him on a consistent GOOD dog food without him getting diarhea.

[groupieindenial]

maybe its the animal protein. Try a fish only formula. Beneful has a lot of corn for its protein, which leads me to think it is the actual protein as the culperit.

[dogsbydoug]

How long was he on each of the foods?

It'll take a good 2-4 weeks of feeding one food before results can be seen. Switching from one food to another can cause loose stool.

We fed Canidae for a few months but noticed one of the dogs wasn't tolerating it well, and the others were not thriving any better than on the other foods. We removed that food from the food rotation and now feed Wellness, Royal Canin Natural Blend, California Natural and Drs Foster & Smith on a rotating basis - when we have about 1/2 bag of one food left, we begin to mix the next food into it. We rotate about every 3-5 months between foods.

Wellness has a line of foods for dogs with allergies. It is called "Simple Food Solutions"- I believe it is venison or duck for a protien source. I would also have the dog tested for allergies (I think its called a RAST test) and find out if he has a sensitive stomach and needs a prescription diet.

[mel07]

izzy was having problems with diahorrea until we switched to life's abundance. now, they're solid, but prolific (IMO). still, he seems to be doing well on it - lots of energy, glossy coat, no eye boogers, etc

[Marcino]

Marcino had a lot of trouble with food/diahrea for many months. Someone recommended Prairie and it has worked wonders for my boy. There is some special ingredient in there... a form of clay that helps keep stool formed. At work... dont have the bag so I can't tell you exactly. Do a google.

Cheers -

Vanessa & Marcino

[SaranBear]

are you feeding too much of the richer/better foods? Beneful is lower quality and he will need more of it. If you are feeding too much of the "good Stuff" it may be giving him diarhea, while the right amount of the "bad stuff" is not.

[Burnsway]

You have tried a BUNCH of foods in a short time. Many dogs can not handle a straight switch over. Although some won't have a problem with switching overnight others will developed irritated stomaches. You should go 1/4 the new and 3/4 the old for a couple of weeks. Then go half and half a couple weeks then 3/4 the new and 1/4 the old for a few weeks.

You got the pup at almost 4 months old and the pup is now a year and has been on the same food for 4 months. That means in less then 4 months you have tried over 8 foods that you have listed. I would have the squirts too........

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

You probably are having luck with that food because cheap foods use stool hardners. So this is what I would do, since you managed to stop the squirts with that food (as poor quality that food is) start now by mixing a super premium food in with it. Go slow, but I would not feed that food for a long time it is really poor in quality and probably preserved with BHA or some other toxic preserve. I would stay away from Innova and other foods that have a lot of ingredients try either CA Natural Chicken and Rice or Lamb and Rice it is an excellent food that is very simple. It takes 4-6 weeks to get the bad food out of the system. So if you are feeding 2 cups in the am and 2 in the pm do 1.5 cups of the bad food and mix 1/2 cup of the good food. Do that for a few days and than do 1 cup of the other food and 1 cup of the good food. Do that for a few days until you have competely switched the food.

[bklyn80104]

Has anyone has luck with natural balance potato and fish formula? I really tend to lean on thinking the richer foods with more protein seems to be upsetting his tummy. With natural balance it seems he is getting strictly one protein from the fish.

[mel07]

when izzy was eating eukanuba he was probably going through five cups a day ... when we switched we dropped it down to half that amount ... any more than that and he'd get diarrheoa, because the food was much more nutrient-dense.
i didn't realise they pup stool hardener in those more generic brands ... good to know

[bklyn80104]

I just wanted to say thank you for everyones responses. As it turns out, Rommel is eating Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Duck formula with no side effects. He is doing great on this food and now I feel a million times better that he is eating a healty food. Thanks again to all for their advice.