Hello – I am hoping for some help here on dog food brands. I have a 7 and a half month old male Irish Wolfhound puppy, who obviously eats like a horse. Unfortunately I just cannot find a food which agrees with his obviously delicate stomach. I follow everything correctly and he is fed the right amount for his size/weight/breed etc. I feed him three times a day and he doesn’t get a lot of food treats – nor does he eat human scraps.
I used to feed him pers at home own brand large breed puppy, but had to stop as the store near us shut and the closest one now is over two hours away. Gradually (over a week) I switched his food to James Wellbeloved Giant Junior and he got a very upset belly and despite eating it for several weeks, it never firmed up.
Taking him to the vets – they of course recommended Hills Science Plan – so again a very gradual change and the exact same thing happened. Back to the vets he went and they flatly seemed uncaring about it ‘keep trying him with the hills or keep switching brands for a month at a time till you find one that agrees’. They have done all sorts of tests and he is a healthy puppy, he just cannot find a food that agrees.
So since then I have tried pro plan and Beta – both for large breed pups. Still runny poop. For a while he seemed to have firm stools with Butchers, from the cans, but the protein in them is very high, and wolfhounds should not have a very large abmount due to stress on joints from growing too fast..
Can anyone recommend some fairly low protein, VERY high in fibre dog foods? Thank you! Someone recommended Chappie due to the fibre and ash content.
As some others have correctly informed you, dogs have no biological need for fibre in their diet, in fact with some dogs react very badly to plant fibre based toxin laden commercial pet foods. It sounds to me that you have one such animal.
Things to bear in mind are that very few vets have any real training in canine nutrition. What training they did have at vet school on this matter is often paid for and sponsored by the large pet food manufacturers, which in itself suggests that their offered advice is often biased and based on misinformation.
Personally I would suggest that you research one of the many methods of "raw feeding" this particular dog. My own vet is vehemently opposed to raw feeding, probably because my own raw fed dogs are so healthy they never need a vet, which means my vet seldom makes any money from me! On the rare occasions a veterinary visit is required, the vet always comments how healthy the dogs are. Their weight is correct, their coats are shiny, their teeth are near perfect and they certainly never have any digestive complaints.
Long before the advent of commercial dog food, with multi million pound advertising budgets, (and multi billion pound profits) dogs were often fed a diet of "scraps" and butchers offcuts. The incidents of canine complaints such as "allergies", poor coat and skin and digestive disorders were comparatively fewer than they are today. Even the incidents of cancer in dogs have been rising exponentially since the introduction some 40 years ago of commercially produced pet foods. This can’t all be coincidence.
Yes raw feeding takes some planning, it’s not quite as simple as opening a box. But I have personally seen, time after time, the overall health of a dog improve (and ailments such as your dog is suffering disappear) when they are fed something more species or biologically appropriate for the animal.
There is a wealth of information on raw feeding dogs out on the web; most good, some inadequate along with a much bad or misinformation from the "anti raw feeding" lobby.
Read as much as you can on the subject, inform yourself of all the benefits, laugh at the ridiculous ideas and fears from the anti BARF brigade and then make up your own mind. Your dog will thank you for it.
Here’s a good place to start.
http://www.ukbarfclub.co.uk/
Typically canine diarrhea is not due to fiber insuffinciency and fiber most likely will not help. The dog is probably having an allergic reaction to something in the food. The most common cause of a diarrhea reaction is the protein source. So I would look for novel proteins (Herring, Bison, Kangaroo, Rabbit, Duck) something "new". If going through these doesn’t work… perhaps he needs probiotics to help replenish the flora… ask your vet about FortiFlora or Proviable. Diarrhea is no fun to deal with. Everyone will recommend something different… My dogs do well on Taste Of The Wild :) GOOD LUCK!!!
***NOTE – before feeding raw diet as some people below have recommended – research it.. there have been many studies where they have taken swabs from the mouths of dogs that eat raw diets, and the salmonella count is scary… it’s just gross (but that is just my opinion) – I couldn’t kiss a dog like that, lol
have you tried one for sensitive stomachs for Large breeds? My dog has a sensitive tummy and right now i am using Nutro natural for sensitive tummies. It’s not the best out there but it’s the best in town without driving hours toa pets mart. You can also order some dog food online.
Actually its not the protein you need to worry about its the calcium content. If he did well on the Butchers go with that.
Or you could look into preparing his food yourself. In my opinion a prey model raw diet is better than any commercial food.
http://www.tiaspetplace.com/forum_dogtrainingbyjess/index.php/topic,7.0.html
http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html
http://www.pet-care-answers.com
*****Nevermind that commercial pet foods and treats are regularly recalled for salmonella contamination.
My husky had a similiar problem, his stomach could only take a certian brand of dogfood. Firstly on the stool you want to mix cooked cooled white rice in with dry dog food. Rice is a binding agent. Canned dog food is a no no, too much garbage in that stuff. Or if you don’t want to use cooked rice find a dog food where meat is the first ingredient and rice is the second for example Purina One Lamb and Rice Formula.
I’m assuming you are in the UK? I have a Basset who has always had a sensitive tummy – to the point he never had the same food the rest of my lot were having. He did better, marginally, on Winalot, and yes, tinned Chappie. However, now we are down to just him (and a baby Whippet), I’ve been able to better afford a more upmarket feed for him. He’s on Burns, Venison and Rice (he doesn’t do well on their Chicken and Rice btw, despite them not knowing why!!), with just a little tinned Chappie on it, for taste. I suggest you do two things -
1. Contact the breeder of your puppy for suggestions
2. Burns have a very good help-line (on their website). Put your problems on there, and they will advise – of course, they want to sell you their produce, but if it works, sobeit eh.
I sympathise – these types are a real pain.
Add – the Burns V and R is low protein because I don’t like to feed my hounds any of these ‘more is better’ diets – because they are not!!
Dogs do NOT need fibre – they are not equipped to eat it at all.
Have a look in its mouth and you will see that there are no flat molars and the jaw can only go up and down (not side to side like ours). This means that the plant matter cannot be ground by the teeth and is the FIRST sign that your pet dog is not designed to eat vegetation.
Try feeding a raw diet of meat, meaty bones and offal instead of processed commercial foods. This more natural diet will provide all the nutrients your growing pup needs without all the additives and species inappropriate grains etc.
** Raw is NOT high protein – it averages out at about 10-20% which is a lot less than some processed foods.
** Just under 40% of ALL dogs pass salmonella in their faeces. This doesn’t mean that they have it just they they have been in contact with it, and the vast majority will suffer no ill effects. Salmonella is commonly found in commercial pet (and human) foods so think argument is either naive or deliberately misleading.
Ok, lets start at the beginning you have tried from your list at least 6 different types of dog food since you had the dog.
Presuming you had him at 8 weeks (2 months) that is 6 diets in 5 1/2 months.
All dogs need a balanced diet which means if you are feeding a complete food you need to add absolutely NOTHING to it,no scraps no tit-bits no tinned food NOTHING.
The quantity of food that should be fed as quoted on the bag is a guideline only and should be used purely as a rough estimation of what a normal dog would need.
Your dog is not normal so here is what I would do and yes it will work.
Hills science plan is the only "fixed" formulation diet on the market ie. it uses the same ingredients in every batch made irrespective of costs (unlike other manufacturers who will for instance use a different source or mix of cereals to keep the costs down and their profits up)
Hills as you know make a large breed puppy food, if it says on the bag feed 500 grams a day then I would, in your circumstances, use 350 grams for the first few weeks then gradually increase it over the following few weeks until you are somewhere close to the bags recomendations,obviously if your dog gets loose again then starve him for 24 hours and restart with a smaller amount.
You need to stick with a food for at least 6 weeks to have a chance of it working properly if you cant get Hills then Royal Canin is a very good alternative.
Just for interest James Wellbeloved,Burns and a lot of other pet foods are made in the same factory ie.Golden Acres and use similar ingredients there are few companies that actually manufacture their own products.Keep away from anything with colourants in to Good Luck
well firstly-after 6 months old dogs are supposed to have one feed a day, maybe the gut cant take so much food?
make sure he is geting puppy food, this is extremely important
also raw meats give them the slops if they have too much
hope that helped :)