How soon is 'too soon' to switch to a new food for sensitive tummy doodles????

[Heather & Jake]

For all of us out there with doodles who have sensitive stomachs and are on the search for a food that works... Beware this is long, I'm sorry but I needed to put in the details.

How soon is it okay to switch to a new food if the one your testing doesn't seem to work???  I know it is supposed to take a few weeks, but after reading stories of those out there with doods with the same symptoms/issues as Jake, when they find a food that works, it is evident within a few days it seems. 

Jake was originally on Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy for months with rice, yogurt, and pumpkin mixed in.  This didn't work so the vet suggested I try Hills' w/d.  This seemed to work alright but still not right by any means and I wasn't keen on the idea of prescription food.  We next switched to Solid Gold WolfCub with the w/d as the medium to try a different protein source.  After reading posts on here, I transitioned him off of the w/d (as horrible as it sounds it's the only thing that ever made his poop firm, but still it wasn't right, looking like he didn't even digest anything. It was bright yellow and so dense it crumbled apart like a handful of grain).  For 3 weeks we switched from the w/d to the Solid Gold it just got worse the less w/d the more SolidGold he had, and the very worst when the w/d was finally gone.  During this time, I added some of the Honest Kitchen supplement Perfect Form and it seemed to work for a few days, and then as he got more Solid Gold, less w/d, it seemed to not work at all. 

After talkign to Karen and since Jake had never been on a grain free food, I decided to try Orijen 6 fishes and began mixing that in 50/50 with the Solid Gold since his stool was already so bad.  I was hoping the grain free might make a difference.... well it made a difference all right.  He's gone from bad to worse!  He's been on the Orijen since 6/17 and now he's at 80/20 with the Solid Gold so I haven't done a full change yet. I'm still adding in the Perfect Form as well.  This morning I added in green beans and yogurt to his food to see if that will help.

Since we've been switching over to Orijen, Jake's stool has gotten darker in color, it was always bright yellow before, but it is now just dark colored soup, I wouldn't even call it pudding.  Also since day 1 that he came home, he has pooped at the same times, every day.  Now is he all messed up and we take him out about every hour because we never know when he needs to go.  When we need to run out for a little bit, he has for the first time ever not been able to control it inside the house and has been having accidents. Even during house training he never once pooped in the house!! 

Today Jake had not pooped since 8pm last night, and finally went at 1pm today.... it had a little bit of form so better than it has been the last few days (which was explosive and he needed a few butt baths) but when I picked it up, it immediately went to mush.  It also didn't take him as long to go.  I can't see how the this could be a positive effect that the yogurt and greens beans at breakfast helped because it's only been a few hours. Could it be that he might be adjusting to the grian free Orijen finally?  He has always been the type the longer he held it in the more form it had (more formed in the mornings, loose throughout the day), so I wonder if this one poop is just from that.

I feel so bad and don't want to mess him up by switching too quickly but since it seems to be getting much worse not better, I don't know what to do.  For the last 2 months my plan has been to try the Honest Kitchen, and after reading on here of other's success, I would like to try sooner than later.  To reiterate, it just seems that most who find a food that works it seems to start within a few days, not weeks.  Should I stick with Orijen a little longer? Or try home cooking first to see if I can get him a little better? Or just go switch to the Honest Kitchen?

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

Heather, we had problems with Cubbie having very loose stool from the day we got him.  I finally put him on Natural Balance Limited Ingredient (I ignored the vets suggestion to try an Rx diet).  When he firmed up once on the Natural Balance I was able to determine that he can NOT have anything with rice in it.  (I made a spreadsheet listing all the ingredients from each of his foods and each of the foods that had caused a problem contained rice).  As long as we avoid foods/treats with rice things are pretty good.  I have also found that Cubbie does not do as well on foods with high protein levels.  We tried the Orijen and while he liked eating it, his stool was not quite as firm as it should be.  Our vet says that both of these are unusual issues, especially since rice is typically good for dogs with a sensitive stomach, but I figured that it was worth mentioning.  I completely understand how upsetting the situation can be.

[Heather & Jake]

UPDATE: Sorry it's taken me a little while to get back on here, this past week has been absolutely crazy.  As for Jake, we've were on only the Orijen and plain yogurt for a whole week.  His poop started to firm up, but still wasn't that great and it was very unpredictable: sometimes it would be puddings, sometimes it would be great.  Three days ago I finally found some pumpkin and started adding it in.. now his poop is much better, but still not perfect.  It is fully formed every time now but still pretty soft and as the day goes on, it tends to get softer and I can get a little pudding afer dinner, but for the most part it's the best it's ever been in his whole life... I can pick it up without having to rip all the grass out woohoo!  Today our small bag is going to run out so I need to get more food before dinner; I'm thinking I'll buy the medium size bag this time around and see if his poop gets better over the next few weeks where they are all good without pumpkin and yogurt.  If not, we probably still have not found the right food??  Should I try the Perfect Form again instead of the yogurt and pumpkin to see what that does? Any other suggestions?

[Heather & Jake]

Okay, maybe I spoke a bit too soon... every poop after this yesterday as well as this mornings has been only slightly formed and rip up all the grass soft again.  I talked to the lady at the food store, and she said when her labs have issues with stools starting out firm in the morning and becoming softer by the end of the day, cut back on their food for giving them too much can cause the soft stools throughout the day.  Has anyone heard of this before? She also thought we should stay with the Orijen a little bit longer too so I did pick up the medium sized bag.

[Lindsey]

All I can say is I feel for you...I've been there :-( We ended up feeding Molly Doodle Wellness and she is now having normal stools!
Continue to keep us updated :-)