CHANGING FOODS

[LORRIE PAULUS]

Happy Monday morning!  I have a question about changing foods--I posted this on puppy madness but then saw this forum and thought it would be more appropriate.  We decided to transition Rosie(16 weeks) from Iams Puppy to Blue Buffalo--was thinking that Iamss was causing her some stool issue and haven't read good things about it.  She has previously been tested for Giardia and was on medication to treat it.  I started last Sunday(2/10)  with a 75 old/25 new mix and worked down.  Yesterday was the first day that she got 100% new food, her stool changed color a little (lighter than normal) but as of last night was still normal--it's kind of a light brown.  About 2:30 this morning she woke up (abnormal, she sleeps 7 hours at night), I took her out and she went #2.  At 4 am, when I got up for the day, I took her out and she went #2 again and seemed to be having some issues.  I went out and looked and her stool is like a soft serve ice cream consistency.  I am wondering if I transitioned her food too quickly--we did it in 7 days and I am thinking that may be the issue.  I am not feeding her this morning;  otherwise she's fine and was playful this morning.  I am going to call the vet this morning to see if it's OK for me to add a little pumpkin to her food to harden it back up, but I'm wondering if I should back track and go back to 50/50 for a few days and gradually take her down for another week, which would be 2 weeks total.  Has anyone else experienced issues when transitioning?  How about the pumpkin idea?  

[Chelsie]

We ran into a similar issue with Sam when he was about this age. He never had giardia though. We were switching his food from Purina to Acana. By the time it was almost 100% of the new food he began to have diarrhea. There was one evening that whe woke around 2 and had to get outside for #2 and then again by 4 for more #2. I called the vet and he said to take the food transition slower. We did this, but I also switched him to Nature's Variety Prairie Puppy cause I had thought he maybe just needed some healthy grains in his food. Once we switched him to that he did wonderfully and no more diarrhea.

We currently are back to the Acana since Nature's Variety has switched up their formulas in the Prairie line. We did that transition very slowly, over almost 3 weeks (I know over kill, but I had extra old food and didn't want diarrhea again!) He is doing awesome on this new food and I couldn't be happier! Just thought I would share my experience with a food transition that caused diarrhea.

[LORRIE PAULUS]

So I am wondering based on things I have been reading if Iams to Blue Buffalo was a really good choice.  I thought I had read good things about BB...I want to regulate her BMs...she is good about holding it in the crate and not pooing in the house, but she seems to be going 5-6 times a day on Iams and it looks like this will be the same.  Innova seems to be a good food, but I am not sure I should mess with changing her food yet again to regulate her.  There are so many brands out there...thoughts on that?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Blue Buffalo has far less fillers and residue than Iams. Grain-free formulas will often produce less stool than foods that contain grains, but again, if a dog has giardia or other parasites, there is no way to judge. Innova is not much different from Blue Buffalo in terms of macronutrient content. Again, and I don't know how else to say this to make it clear, the brand is not the issue, it is the formula itself that will agree or not agree with any individual dog. There are BB formulas that contain more or less protein, more or less carbs, more of less fats, more or less fiber, different protein sources, etc. Sometimes it is just trial and error. There are dogs who have done well with every food on our recommended list, and dogs who have not.

I would not switch her food again. I really believe that she it's likely that she does have giardia, either because she was reinfected or because she never got rid of the first time around. It is very very common for these puppies to need several courses of meds to get rid of giardia, especially when panacur has not been used. I think before you spend a lot of time and money trying to figure out the best food for her, it would really be worthwhile to have a simple fecal test done to be sure that is not the problem. Otherwise, you will never know if a food is working for her or not, and if she has giardia, no food is going to regulate her.

 

 

[LORRIE PAULUS]

Thanks everyone for your help yesterday.  She ate dinner last night, I went back to a 50/50 mix and am going to ease her out of her current food, and I added some plain yogurt to her bowl.  The last poop she had was when the pet sitter was there yesterday morning at 8 am, so I am hoping that she has a normal poop today when they are there!

[Debra Ekstrom]

Hi Lorrie

When we brought Bailey home at nine weeks we fed him the kibble the breeder gave us. After the first week we made the decision to go with raw food. We ordered it from Darwins Pet Food in Seattle. They offer chicken, turkey, beef, duck or bison. It contains everything raw, veggies, meat, and is a balanced meal. It comes frozen from Fedex. Bailey has done great on it. Stools are firm and in easy to pickup segments. No stomach problems. His breath is great. We give him the chicken, turkey and duck rotating every day. We give him a few kibble treats in training and in his Kong toy. I can't say enough good things about feeding raw. It's a little pricey but worth it in my opinion.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Honest Kitchen dehydrated raw food has also worked wonders for FG members whose dogs have digestive issues. Others have had good luck with Sojos, also a dehydrated raw complete food.

 But again, no food of any kind is going to make a difference if there are parasite issues. And introducing yet another new food will only make it harder to determine what is causing the problem.

[LORRIE PAULUS]

AN UPDATE ON ROSIE--I took her to the vet last Thursday.  They did a stool sample and I just talked to the vet.  She is Giardia negative, so her issues definitely are with her food.  They had put her on Science Diet i/d on Thursday and she's been eating that since.  No nightly poops and her poop has been formed.  I am to start a slow transition (slower than last time) back to the Blue Buffalo to see if this food is the issue for her.  She is getting spayed on Thursday, so we'll see how it goes.  We are going to start with a 90-10 transition and work down from there....hopefully she'll not have any issues--they think the transition from Iamss to Blue was too fast...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I wish you had read my warning about buying food from the vet, lol. In my experience the Rx food only makes it harder to transition them back to anything else. I hope it goes well for you. I do think the BB may not be the right food for her. I would think about going with a simpler formula when you transition her. Maybe Wellness Simple Solutions or Acana Singles.

[LORRIE PAULUS]

No I didn't see that post.  She really wants us to start with just a small amount and work up.  I have an entire bag of BB, because she had just transitioned when we got to this point and they are really thinking it was too quick.  When I got her from the breeder I transitioned her from a puppy food they were buying at Tractor supply to Iamss but I did it over the course of about 10 days and she really didn't have an issue.  I just felt like she was going to the bathroom way too much on Iamss, like 5-6 times a day.  I see the Wellness Simple does not come in a puppy blend, just adult.  The vet thought I should stick with trying to transition her to BB and keep track of her poops during the time.  The diet thing is frustrating, I have never had an issue with a puppy having problems on a puppy food like this.