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| Dog Food Recommendations; round 2 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 1 2013, 05:50 AM (487 Views) | |
| leastrock | May 1 2013, 05:50 AM Post #1 |
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I Visited Candy Mountain and All I Got Was This Lousy Incision
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I started a topic asking about dog food recommendations around the time I adopted my dog. That was 5 months ago (I can't believe it's been that long) and I have more specific questions and needs now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. My girl has been eating Nutro Ultra since I got her as that it was she was eating at the rescue. It got decent reviews on Dog Food Advisor (4 stars) so I figured I would give it some time and reevaluate. Her coat looks great; she's very shiny. She is maintaining her weight well and has a good level of energy. Sorry for the uncouthness that follows but... Unfortunately, her poop has never been consistent. Often it will be one nice hard consistent turd (  ) followed by stuff that is not liquid, but it's soft and not really formed. This has been happening off and on since I got her. She seems to have a sensitive stomach but no other allergic issues. I had a dog growing up with severe allergies and she displays no similar signs.She has been to the vet recently for her annual exam and vaccinations, and she received a clean bill of health. She had a fecal analysis completed when I first got her (and these issues were worse then) and she showed no signs of worms. There are so many options and I'm not even sure where to begin. Any suggestions? |
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| MayaTy02 | May 1 2013, 06:15 AM Post #2 |
You're BANNED!
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I have loved Wellness for my dog, she's happy healthy and looks great, poops have always been good.  I would go with something you can find easily and in your budget...
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| Indy | May 1 2013, 06:24 AM Post #3 |
You're BANNED!
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No real dog food advice, but if you switch her to a new food be sure to do it very slowly since she's demonstrated that she has a sensitive stomach. Even the hardiest dogs can have issues if you suddenly switch them over to a new diet. We feed Riley Merrick Classic, either chicken or beef. He does great on it and is nice and regular in the poop department. I like it becaus I can find it at a lot of pet stores, not just the snooty high end ones. We fed him Innova for several years but one of the reasons we switched off of it was that it was becoming hard to get (now you can find it places but at the time the only place I could find it didn't have parking and lugging a 30lb bag of dog food two blocks was not on my to-do list). |
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| kbrethauer | May 1 2013, 06:29 AM Post #4 |
Shunnnnn the unbeliever. Shunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.
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One of our dogs has food sensitivities, so we had been feeding Acana. Love the food, but not the price! I think they were having some problems with one of their factories in Canada and the price for a 30lb bag went up to almost $70  So, we slowly switched over the Nature's Variety. We have been feeding the rabbit, which seems to be very mild. Good fecal consistency (we had that problem too!) and they both love it. Sometimes, we add a little of the wet food or raw frozen bites as topping. Still a more expensive brand, but less than Acana and rated well on Dog Food Advisor.
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| callmegold | May 1 2013, 07:27 AM Post #5 |
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Weanling
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What kind of budget do you have? There's definitely better and worse options for each price range. Nutro Ultra isn't a bad food, and that's what my puppy is on right now. But he does have the same issues with his poops, solid at first and then very 'soft serve'. My adult dog eats Acana, and I absolutely love it. She looks fantastic, her appetite is great (and she's usually been very hard to get to eat anything) with normal poops. If I could afford it I'd put her on Orijin. Both are made in Canada by a company that, so far I believe in. Feel free to read more here http://www.championpetfoods.com/ Other foods that I know people have had good luck with are the Merrick, Ziwipeak, Wellness and California Natural (I think that's what its called, its a very limited ingredient food). It doesn't sound like allergies to me either because usually they have other signs, she's probably just not handling the filler well. I personally have heard poor reviews on the Blue Buffalo. Either it works great but more often the dogs get sick from it. YMMV. Additionally, the Natura brands (Evo, Innova and a few others) have been purchased by P&G and I hear that they have made changes to the formula even though they said they wouldn't. I'd avoid those until there's a little more evidence in but again, YMMV. |
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| Trialbyfire | May 1 2013, 10:48 AM Post #6 |
You're BANNED!
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I think that you might need to just experiment with a few different kinds only because this is the perfect example of how dogs differ - Wellness gave my dogs rather loud and explosive "soft-serve" stools and even after feeding it for several weeks they never got better so we switched back to Eukanuba. Once upon a time we tried something called Solid Gold (with some other German name) for our dog and we re-named it Liquid Gold, because we were unable to "scoop poop" at all (we joked that we should bring a spatula instead of a plastic bag.) I am sure that there are a lot of great foods but if you are not getting all the results you want (and solid poops are important!) then I'd try something else. I love Eukanuba Lamb & Rice but realize that it doesn't meet the grade for a lot of people. |
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| leastrock | May 1 2013, 01:04 PM Post #7 |
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I Visited Candy Mountain and All I Got Was This Lousy Incision
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I agree completely. I think I was just hoping for guidelines or certain ingredients that may help guide the decision. For instance, I know a lot of the allergy foods contain less ingredients and didn't know if that would help in this situation or not. Like I said, she shows know true signs of allergies. Her skin looked pretty pink at times when I first got her, but I don't notice it anymore. In regards to budget, I've been spending between $35 and $40 on 15 pounds of her current food. I'd like to stay around this (since that's what I've become accustomed to spending!) if possible. I actually just recently purchased a bag of the Nutro Ultra so I have a bit of time to make the decision and still have the ability to slowly switch over. "Soft served" is a great descriptor! I couldn't think of anything more elegant than calling it mud! |
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| Indy | May 1 2013, 01:08 PM Post #8 |
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You're BANNED!
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Maybe try something that is lower in protein content? When we were trying to decide what to switch to from Innova we tried something that was very high in protein (not totally grain free, but nearly) and it was bad news in the doggy digestive department....and this is a dog that has an iron stomach. |
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| buryinghill2 | May 1 2013, 02:04 PM Post #9 |
![Member Avatar](http://<a href="http://s166.photobucke[IMG]http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u96t.com/albums/u96/danagrrt/?action=view¤t=cocoasleeping.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u96/danag)
It'll be an adventure! We're going on an adventure!
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Idgie has a really sensitive stomach. Of course, I didn't know that going in, so I started her on a mid grade food that was in my budget. The first four months I had her, she never had a solid stool. 50% of nights her stomach gurgled horribly all night. She seemed to feel fine, but the loose stool and constantly gurgling stomach of course motivated me to make a change. (should have done it a LOT sooner). I switched her about 5 weeks ago to Natural Balance, sweet potatoe and chicken. I'll be honest, I only chose the sweet potatoe and chicken option because it sounded good to ME. It's expensive, and she's a big dog, so it's a strain on the budget for sure. What a difference though. Within a week, her stools were normal. In five weeks, she has had the gurgling stomach three nights total. So all in all, a huge improvement.
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| Onelanerode | May 1 2013, 02:52 PM Post #10 |
Off visiting Candy Cave, be right back.
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This can vary considerably dog to dog, so TBF is right ... sometimes you just do some experimenting. One thing I would suggest, though, is to initially stick with foods that have fewer ingredients. That is just less to upset her stomach. Some decent brands without lengthy ingredient lists are Natural Balance and California Natural (owned by Proctor & Gamble though, so I am not sure about the quality now). Pure Vita is another one that is not bad, though it has more "stuff" in it. Whenever I have a dog who may have food issues, whether food allergies or just a sensitive stomach, I try to find a food that has one protein and one carb, and not much else. If the dog does well on that, then you can branch out later and try foods that have more ingredients (blueberries, alfalfa sprouts, tomato pomace, etc.). Oddly enough, I also had a similar experience with Solid Gold, for both my dogs, though I know several people who feed the brand without issues and their dogs look great. Go figure. Do change foods slowly. With my allergy dog, I change foods over four to six weeks. That way I can monitor how he does and switch back quickly if we have any problems. |
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| desilu | May 1 2013, 08:12 PM Post #11 |
Magical Leopluridon
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Kate had various bad reactions to several of the better dog foods and then ended up with and elevated BUN so she really can't tolerate the higher protein. The Natural Balance Limited Ingredient is what has suited her the best. They do have some different flavors and she has done well on most of them. We avoid any with poultry since that has seemed to trigger some allergies for her. It is expensive and she's a big dog but she only ends up eating a cup a day in 2 divided meals so it hasn't been outrageous for us. She's very efficient and tends to be overweight if fed more.
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| Sparky Boy | May 6 2013, 12:50 PM Post #12 |
Thomas H. Cruise!
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I wanted a grain free food so I switched to Wellness CORE and my dog loves it. I get it from Smartpak. |
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| Bearhunter | May 6 2013, 02:12 PM Post #13 |
Magical Leopluridon
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Ditto to Wellness Core. My fatty slimmed down and my skinny filled out!! |
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| Due's Mom | May 7 2013, 10:10 AM Post #14 |
Shunnnnn the unbeliever. Shunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.
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Champion Pet foods makes a decent product but they are now being run by a hedgefund and some of their ethics are somewhat questionable (I work in this industry). The food that we are selling with great results is Fromm. It is owned by the same family for 5 generations and made in the US. We also see great results with Pulsar, which comes out of Canada. For a single source protein Pure Vida makes a really nice food and Nutrisource (their sister company) is great too. |
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| Ride'emCO | May 7 2013, 11:18 AM Post #15 |
Off visiting Candy Cave, be right back.
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I am in the process of switching the new guy over to Nature's Logic Venison from Solid Gold's Just a Wee Bit. The Poms tend toward plumpness and can't handle high protein so the JaWB is great for them, but Jackson needs a higher protein, low carb, allergen-free small bite kibble (*sigh). He is a higher energy dog with dandruff issues, and the Nature's Logic has no Corn, Wheat, Beef, Chicken or Dairy - common allergens. My point is to underline what everyone else said regarding differences between dogs in terms of food. What breed is yours? |
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