Orijen - Taking the plunge

[Julie & Wrigley]

After spending the last hour reading posts about dogs with sensitive stomachs I think I'm going to take the plunge and switch my 5 month old from Blue Buffalo puppy (chicken and rice) to Orijen Large Puppy. He was on NutroMax puppy (from the breeder) when he came home but was getting diarrhea/didn't eat is food. We put him on Blue Buffalo and it was fine for a week or so but then he stopped eating his food unless we mixed in some wet food from the vet. That got expensive so we changed to Vita Gravy last week and he loves it but his diarrhea is back. I think I am going to switch to Orijen since everyone seems to be raving about it on here.

Before I do that should I try blue buffalo with some pumpkin (no vita gravy) for about a week or so?

We are going out of town for a week (leave in 2 weeks) and he's staying with a dog sitter and I'd love to have him more regular by then.

Any words of wisdom are greatly appreciated!

[Tammy & Gracie]

At this point I would not try to switch foods until I returned from my trip. All this experimentation will keep his tummy upset. I think I would keep on the BB, the pumpkin wll help, maybe a spoon of plain nonfat yogurt too. If it stays bad a little addition of brown rice will bulk his stool up. I assume he has been to the vet and has no parasite or other digestive issues? Also, a pup will not starve himself. Forget the gravy stuff. There has to be a point where you can say, okay, you're not hungry and forget it. They can learn real easily how to manipulate us doodle moms. Then do the switching after you are back. (I feed Orijen as a snack meal and homecook the biggest portion of Gracie's food.)

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If price is a consideration, you may want to think twice about switching to Orijen. I highly recommend it, but it is just about the most expensive dog food you can buy. I feel it's worth it, but I also understand that everyone has different budgets.
The Vita gravy may be adding to the diarrhea problem. I would stop using it, and use pumpkin and or plain unflavored yogurt instead.
Have you had a stool culture done? Lots and lots of doodle puppies seem to be prone to giardia. That might be causing the diarrhea. That's the first thing I would do, rule out any type of parasite or infection, before changing foods or altering his diet.
But if the culture is negative, you should definitely consider switching to Orijen.

[Julie & Wrigley]

Thank you both so much for your replies. The price of the food will be worth it if it helps his stomach and he likes the taste. I went ahead and bought a bag of the large puppy Orijen food today. The store has a return policy if the bag is more than 50% full so I figure I'll try it with pumpkin mixed with his BB for a couple of weeks and see how that goes.

And yes, he's been checked for parasites etc. and came back negative for everything.

I"ll also stop the vita gravy immediately.

Thanks again!