Trouble Switching to Adult Food

[Alex]

My labradoodle turned 1 in March and since then we've been trying to switch him from puppy to adult food. As a puppy he was eating Taste of the Wild - High Prairie Puppy with no issues. The first adult food I tried was ToTW - Lamb. I started mixing the dry adult kibble into his dry puppy kibble slowly. 

According to the directions on the bag, my dog should eat around 4 cups of food daily so we feed him twice a day and give him 7 scoops (using a 1/4 cup scoop) for breakfast and lunch. This math has a purpose, I swear.

When he was eating puppy and adult mixed together he was absolutely fine... until we got to 3 scoops puppy and 4 scoops adult. That's when the diarrhea at all hours started. We completely back off and put him on chicken, rice, and sweet potato for a few days. I also mix in a probiotic that our vet recommended called "Intesti-Tune Dog".

Then I tried reintroducing just the adult food into his bland diet and he was fine... until we got to 4 scoops of adult mixed in with the bland. Diarrhea again. I talked to a friend with a lab and she said he lab had a hard time trying to switch proteins in her dog's food.

Back to the pet store! I bought a bag of ToTW - High Prairie Adult. Duncan was back on bland and I started slowly introducing the adult version of his puppy food and everything was fine... until we hit 4 scoops (so 1 cup) of dog food. Now he's having major diarrhea again.

I'm at a loss. Do I just stick with it? Is his body just adjusting to adult food and it's going to take time?  

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Alex, what does he weigh? 

[Alex]

He weighs 75 pounds.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I looked at the foods you mentioned, and 4 cups of food is too much for a 75 lb dog, according to the feeding guidelines. 3.5 cups looks to be the correct amt. 

The Adult High Prairie formula contains several animal proteins that are not in the puppy formula, and that might have contributed to the problem except that you began with the Sierra Mtn formula, I believe, and that is actually closer to the Puppy High Prairie in terms of protein sources and macronutrient percentages. 

How would you feel about switching brands altogether? We stopped recommending TOTW quite a while ago, after it was confirmed that it's owned and made by Diamond, which has had far too many recalls and quality control issues. It also has a poor Omega 6:3 content and is surprisingly low in calories for a grain free food. 

Would you consider switching to Orijen or Acana? Are they available in your area?

[Alex]

We would consider it. Is one those better than the other or they comparable? I don't mind spending the money on Orijen but but if Acana is cheaper and just as good then I will probably start with that brand first.

We haven't been feeding him the full amount of adult. We've only been able to get up to one cup of adult food and then he has diarrhea so we go back to a bland diet.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Acana is slightly less expensive than Orijen, and they also have a limited ingredient, single protein line, which might work better for your pup. It's hard to say what caused the digestive issues; the first adult formula you tried was lower in protein and fat than the puppy food, the second adult formula was higher (which is very odd, puppy formulas are usually higher in fat and protein than adult formulas). I'm not sure if perhaps your pup just needs a simpler formula, more protein, or less, so it's hard for me to recommend a particular formula. You might try Acana's Lamb and Apple formula in the Singles line, the macronutrient profile is similar to the TOTW puppy formula you were using. My second choice would be the Grasslands formula in the Regionals line. Stay away from the Classics line, I would not introduce grains at this point.  

Orijen is really not as expensive as it looks, because you feed less. For an active 75 lb dog, you feed only three cups per day, so you wouldn't go through it as fast as the TOTW.

Both foods are made by Champion, and dog food companies don't get any better than that. The main difference is that Orijen contains a higher animal protein content, which is why it costs more; meat costs more than veggies. But Acana is an excellent food and might be a great choice for your pup.

[SoSa]

We were not switching foods, but recently attempted to increase the amount of food for our puppy based on his weight. We increased his food about 1/4 at each meal. He ended up have a very loose stool that night. We went back down to a cup two times a day and 1 1/4 cup once a day. His poop has been fine. We're going to ease him in to the increase and see if that makes a difference.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

I think the real trick to switching foods is to ease into it very slowly. I recently changed Oscar's food to another Acana line. Perhaps it wouldn't have been necessary, since he was changing to another Acana food, but I transitioned to the new food starting with adding only 1/8th cup per day. It took a while to change over to the new food completely, but he didn't have any problem with loose stools.

[Alex]

Update/Bump
Following Karen’s suggestion, we started feeding Duncan Acana Regionals: Ranchlands formula. He went from watery diarrhea to mushy, mucousy poop, which I felt was a slight step in the right direction because now his bowel movements had some form. But when we got to serving ¾ cup of kibble (along with his bland diet) twice a day, the watery diarrhea returned.
We finally went to visit our vet. I love our vet. They are a holistic, eastern medicine based practice and just truly awesome. The long and short of her preliminary diagnosis is that Duncan might have food-triggered IBS (as opposed to stress-triggered). My dog is the most, relaxed animal I have ever met and we both agree that stress is not his issue. She said to try a LID formula and if that didn’t work we would start talking about cooking for Duncan permanently.
So we tried Acana Singles: Duck and Pear. For the first 3 days Duncan had the most perfect poop. It finally looked like it did before we started this process over a month ago. But then we got to ¾ cup kibble twice a day and the mushy, frequent poop returned. He woke me up twice last night to go out and poop.
I’m at a loss. I feel bad for my dog. I’m open to suggestions for other LID formulas. Maybe one with fish as the protein? We tried duck because it was a ‘novel’ protein to Duncan. At this point he’s had: bison, chicken, lamb, and duck proteins in his kibble. Help!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You can try Wellness Simple Solutions Salmon & Potato. It's an extremely limited ingredient diet with a good fiber content, low fat, and a great Omega 3 fatty acid content. And formulas don't get much "simpler", lol. My guy has a serious digestive disease and this is one of the only foods that works for him. 

If he continues to have trouble, you may have to consider a dehydrated raw product like Honest Kitchen. IBS stands for Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which is basically a sensitive stomach. There are no diagnostic tests for it and it is treated with diet alone. Generally, dogs with IBS respond well to a diet with a very high moisture content, which is seems is the case with Duncan, as he does well with the homemade food. Honest Kitchen has worked very well for many people here whose dogs have sensitive stomachs. Try the Embark formula, which is turkey based.

[Alex]

Thank you, Karen!

You have no idea how helpful you are. We'll give Duncan a day or two with just his bland food before we try the Wellness formula.

We've also ordered a bottle of Proviable - DC since so many people here like it. Our current probiotic is fine, but maybe we need to up the ante a little to help his gut.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Proviable is a good idea. More and more research indicates that a good probiotic helps greatly with digestive issues in humans as well as dogs. 

What makes a probiotic effective is the number of live cultures (CFUs) it contains. Anything less than 2 billion per serving/dose is probably not going to be much help. Plain old yogurt contains 3 billion CFUs per ounce. I have seen several very popular probiotics marketed for dogs that contain only a tiny fraction of that. 

Proviable DC contains 5 billion CFUs per dose. So while your current probiotic may be "fine", unless it can match those numbers, you should see an improvement with the Proviable.