Food Choice/questions

[Lee & Oliver]

Hi!  I am new to the group as well as to DK.  I have a question about food choices, but I suppose you may need a quick background.  We recently adopted an ALD, Oliver, who is now about 3.5 months old.  He had been eating Orijen at the breeder's home.  We also have a Swissy and she eats Acana Pacifica.  We chose to change Oliver over to the Pacifica to make it easy, because I love the brand, because customer service at Acana is AWESOME (and it is an all life stages food).  Well, Oliver's stool doesn't seem to be as firm as it could be, it is not a huge issue, and I am not sure if I should change his food, but I am at the contemplative stage.  I had to use a "filler" food until I received the next shipment of Acana, ran to the pet supply store and the closest formula I could find was the Wellness Core, fish formula.  While he was eating that (approx 4 days), his stools seemed to be much more firm.  This is the only reason that I think about switching foods, I just hate to leave Acana....any thoughts would be welcome!!!   

[Anthony Leong]

I'm using Orijen Puppy and the stool is not firm, I'm not sure if it's because I'm using Orijen.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Lee, are you aware that both Orijen and Acana are made by the same company, Champion Foods of Canada,  at the same facility? If you want to stay with the company (and I don't blame you, they are the best), you might consider switching both dogs to Orijen, either the Original formula or the 6 Fish formula. 

The Wellness formula has a 7% fiber content, which may have been why Oliver's stools were firmer on that. You can also add plain pure canned pumpkin to a dog's diet to increase fiber and firm up stools. 

[Lee & Oliver]

Thank you for the reply.  I did know they were both made at by the same company, but for some reason, that thought did not cross my mind.  OK, I need to head back to the website and check out the Orijen options.  As for the pumpkin, we used it in the past with our Swissy, perhaps I need to think about re-introducing it!  Thanks for the suggestions.  I also wondered if it was the higher fiber content, but was not sure that 2% would make a difference?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

When it comes to fiber, 2% is a HUGE difference. Most dog foods contain 3-5% fiber. The highest fiber content I've seen in any dry dog food is 10%, and that's an Rx food made especially for dogs with GI disease. So 7% is pretty high. 

You can also use mashed sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin; it's cheaper and most dogs love it. You can just bake the potatoes in the microwave, the peel comes right off with your fingers, and you can mash them with a fork in seconds. :-)

[Lee & Oliver]

Excellent!  I may try the pupmkin or sweet potatoes to see if that helps!  Thanks, again!