about to buy this...need help

[Chels*Claud*Midas]

we are looking for a new food for Midas. we are switching to adult food from Purina one large puppy (which was what the breeder had been giving him) we bought science diet, but heard it is no good. what should we buy? we hear Blue Buffalo is great..but now im reading many dogs diarrhea and can cause liver damage! we are looking into the orijen brand.. any tips? about to go buy food and take pics with santa! lol

sorry im posting here and not in food group..but i need answers fast! :)

[Chels*Claud*Midas]

aww im glad u found something good for Max. so far i havent had any issues with midas..he LOVES anything and everything lol.. we are trying the orijen..its pretty pricey..but people say its worth it.. Midas seems to have a pretty strong stomach..as i have been mixing in samples of other dog food half and half and he has never had diarrhea thank goodness! lol we started the orijen last night and he loved it lol as usual.. i felt good giving it to him tho.. :)

[Sarah and Willow]

Ah ha! I have my puppy on Blue Buffalo chicken & rice, and she was doing great, but i've noticed terrible gas lately. She's almost done with this bag, is it okay to finish off if it's a little stale? I was worried it was the brand and i already purchased a new bag! We live 55 miles from the nearest pet store so I like to stock up.

[Koilaf Friesen]

Max, our doodle, consistently gets gas and runny stool with stale food. In the past we've had dogs with iron stomachs who could eat anything, but also have had dogs that react to any diet change at all, including treats and stale food.  A long-passed bouvier we owned would get so ill we'd need to put her on rice for a few days to settle her GI tract before going back to fresh dog food (vet recommended the rice - worked well).  We travelled with her, and once we purchased her food in a small pet store without a strong turnover in dog food, and she became violently ill from the newly purchased but stale bag.  Poor thing.   We became vigilant in packing enough food in individually sealed daily packages after that, and then travelling together was a breeze.  She loved it.

The sales rep from Royal Canin cautioned us against freezing the food for Max, which is something I tried, as the kibble is not formulated to be frozen and apparently freezing can affect the quality.  I also tried making individual packages of kibble in sealed containers, which worked well, but it was such a tedious process that I'm now back to the smaller 90 cup bag which has a ziplock top.  The cost of the bag is $54, and the next size bag is double the amount of kibble and $74.  You might want to try repacking a large bag of your brand, it could be well worth the effort if it it's just stale food making your pup gassy.  (I live just minutes from a PetSmart).

You know how a can of fresh coffee has a wonderful pungent aroma when it's first opened?  Then, if it's not used quickly enough it looses that stimulating scent (I'm not a coffee drinker but I do love that first smell of ground coffee beans).  I notice that dog food is exactly the same.  I open a fresh bag and it has a strong aroma - the Royal Canine smells like something lovely from a bakery.  After a couple of weeks though, the scent changes and loses something, and that's when Max starts to get gassy.  If I feed him the food after it gets stale, everyone will suffer the consequences and I don't want to be the cause of Max feeling miserable.

[Sarah and Willow]

Thank you for the info! I got a container to put the dog food bag into. Willow was not interested in her food last night, so I went ahead and opened a new bag and she ate it right up! I will be more mindful of the storage process! I thought she was going through a bag quickly enough to keep it from going bad. I was wrong. We just switched our miniature schnauzer to Blue Buffalo and it is proving to be a gassy experience for him! Ha! One dog with stale food + one dog adjusting to higher protein = a very smelly evening.

[Janice Hammond]

Top pick is Orijen.Our doodle Sadie has been on Orijen for 6 years .Never a problem.Check it out.

[Jen Fischer]

I want to publicly THANK YOU for posting this ... had you only posted in The Food Group I would not have know about its existence! I am heading there now to join and decide when to wean Axel to adult food.

Jen

[Chels*Claud*Midas]

thanks Jen... glad someone is on my side..lol all i did was ask a question...didnt know i had to do extetensive research before asking a simple question.. :) ps my vet said i should wean now..Midas is almost 8 months i think

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

People were only trying to help you locate the information and I think they went about it in a clear and precise manner.  The search function can be a very helpful tool for everyone and the Recommended Food List is a wonderful asset to DK. All newcomers to DK should take a moment and look through the groups offered here. We have some great groups.