LunaLupa Posted June 21, 2015 Report Share Posted June 21, 2015 Hello all! I haven't posted in a little while. The little one has certainly been keeping me busy! Luna is going to be 9 months soon! I can hardly believe it. The time sure does fly by. She has brightened my life tenfold over these past months and I couldn't be more grateful for finding her. She has been the perfect puppy, well give or take a few mishaps, but still wonderful nonetheless! I was writing to ask what food brands other owners might recommend? I have had Luna on Science Diet because it seemed to work just fine with her. I did feel like I noticed it made her poop quite a bit but they were still regular and solid. Just as of recent, her poop has become mushy and not quite diarrhea but close enough to. I am still feeding her the same exact brand, I did notice that the kibble looks slightly different however. But she is still just as bubbly and energetic as ever and I haven't noticed any changes in regards to her demeanor. So I was curious if anyone else has had a similar problem in regards to this brand of food and if so, what recommendations would you suggest I change to? Thank you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medic09 Posted June 21, 2015 Report Share Posted June 21, 2015 In my house, if nothing else has changed and a pup gets GI upset for more than a couple of days (with no other symptoms, as you noted), I still take a trip to the vet. Always want to rule out something medical. For that matter, your vet may have something to say about diet. Use the search function. There's been plenty of discussion about foods. Starting a food thread among doggers can be as volatile as starting a motor oil discussion among motorcyclists. Or ball ammunition among firearms folks. Or... But actually, it is always civil here and you may yet see some good responses on this thread. I used Science Diet very successfully with our previous generation. Presently Golan is eating Victor Grain Free. He seems to do well on it, eats it readily, the ingredients looked okay to me, made in USA, and it it is significantly less expensive than other foods we've used. I get it from our feed store. The pet places don't have it. Previously I fed him Canidae, which he did well on and we still use if we need to get a bag quickly. Like most other quality foods, it is a little pricey. (I have to remember to order Victor ahead of time from the feed lot.) When he was a puppy I had him on one of the Blue Mountain foods, which he did well on. I'm sticking with Victor for now because it seems to pass all my tests, the most important being that my dog is thriving. BTW, ever since some of the scares about stuff coming from China, we stick only to made in USA or Canada for foods, treats, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted June 21, 2015 Report Share Posted June 21, 2015 Take it or leave it: http://iheartdogs.com/company-researches-2200-dog-food-formulas-and-finds-only-119-to-be-satisfactory/?utm_content=buffer6bdb6&utm_medium=ContentStoriesNM0602N15&utm_source=ild&utm_campaign=ContentStoriesNM0602N15 ETA: One of my best and oldest friends has been a vet for over 40 years now. She refused to sell Science Diet early on in her career. She thought it was crap even then. Most of the vets I've known have agreed, though I know a lot still sell it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simba Posted June 21, 2015 Report Share Posted June 21, 2015 I wonder how much of the poop thing is less about what's good for the dog and more about what the human likes. Lower-fibre higher-fat would make my stool wonderful, but it wouldn't be a good metric for working out how good my diet was. Plus dogs seem to inherently have differences in their poop, like one dog will always have a tendency towards constipation and another dog have loose stools even on exactly the same diet. So the food that would make the one dog's stool easy to pick up will produce awful constipation in the other dog. Just some random musings. Royal Canin I like, but it is expensive. If I were doing it all again I'd pick out some protein sources that aren't beef or chicken that I'd avoid- so avoid fish, and/or lamb etc- because my dog developed sensitivities and now can't eat, for example, lamb. If she had never been exposed to it much it would be easier to feed her now. YMMV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcv-border Posted June 21, 2015 Report Share Posted June 21, 2015 I agree that if she is having issues with her poop that you are worried about, I would, at the minimum, take a stool sample into the vet. In addition to the regular fecal screen, I would ask for a giardia screen. To do it properly, I believe the giardia screen should be sent out to a lab since most vets do not have the equipment to perform an accurate giardia screen. I have occasionally taken in a fecal sample for my dogs just on a whim. Well, not really on a whim, but there were no overt signs that the dog was have issues, maybe just a loose stool for a couple of days, but no diarrhea. It was just a gut feeling (sorry for the pun). Sometimes the results would come back clear, and a few times, they were infested with giardia. Regarding Science Diet: Once I learned more about the ingredients in dog food (predominantly the grains), I realized that Science Diet was not what I wanted to feed my dog. That was about 12-15 years ago. I do not know the quality of today's Science Diet, but there are so many other choices that I don't feel a great need to re-check the ingredient list for Science Diet. Personally, I am in agreement with the opinion to feed your dog what he does well on and what fits your pocketbook. I am usually feeding Fromm's, Evangers, Solid Gold, Canidae, Canine Caviar, RedPaw and a couple others that I can not remember. (I usually change brands with each bag.) Once I tried to upscale the kibble and fed a bag of Orijen ($$). Wasn't impressed. I have 2 dogs and both dogs had significantly larger poops with Orijen (were they not absorbing as well?) and both dogs had feces that smelled worse than before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maralynn Posted June 21, 2015 Report Share Posted June 21, 2015 Take it or leave it: http://iheartdogs.com/company-researches-2200-dog-food-formulas-and-finds-only-119-to-be-satisfactory/?utm_content=buffer6bdb6&utm_medium=ContentStoriesNM0602N15&utm_source=ild&utm_campaign=ContentStoriesNM0602N15 ETA: One of my best and oldest friends has been a vet for over 40 years now. She refused to sell Science Diet early on in her career. She thought it was crap even then. Most of the vets I've known have agreed, though I know a lot still sell it. That study has me a bit skeptical. Odd because I actually do agree with most of their conclusions. But toward the beginning they state that they eliminated all foods with grains. And then several of the foods on the "accepted" list have oats or rice. So it makes me wonder what exactly their definitions are for the rest of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted June 21, 2015 Report Share Posted June 21, 2015 Haha. Since I don't feed kibble I didn't pay all that close attention. But now that I take a closer look I see that at least some of the recommended foods are misleading. For example. They list Annamaet. As Mara points out, their "Originals" not only contain grains but beet pulp, which these folks said they dropped foods for containing. (I'd dismissed Annamaet years ago when I was still feeding kibble for this reason.) I'm assuming they mean Annamaet's grain free formulas, which also don't contain beet pulp, are acceptable, but the list doesn't make that clear. So I guess their review leaves something to be desired. <sigh> ETA: Ahhh. I clicked on the source of the research and see their list of approved foods is more detailed in the original. Example: they actually only include Annamaet's grain free formulas, as I suspected. So perhaps this link would be better to use: http://www.reviews.com/dog-food/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maralynn Posted June 21, 2015 Report Share Posted June 21, 2015 Several of the foods have a grain ingredient in the title - I saw rice, barley and oatmeal all listed. Now, I'm okay feeding a food with some grain in it provided there are no allergies and my dogs do well on it and the ingredient list is solid overall. But it sure doesn't jive with the statement they made in the beginning!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted June 21, 2015 Report Share Posted June 21, 2015 I agree. It's disingenuous. ETA: I've contacted them about this. It will be interesting to see what they have to say. I'll post whatever they reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aschlemm Posted June 21, 2015 Report Share Posted June 21, 2015 I think someone on the boards posted this thought before and I liked it so I'm going to repeat it. It is not necessarily how expensive the food is, if it is grain free, or who makes it, it is how your particular dog does on the food. We (dogs included) are all different, have different allergies, different GI tracts, different issues and what is important is finding a food your dog does well on. If he has done well on Science Diet, keep him on it. I would get his stool tested. When Logan was a pup I had his stool tested and it was negative. I tried many, many, quality puppy foods and he would have upwards of 8 HUGE stools a day!!!! Sometimes they were loose, usually not. I kept checking his stool (I'm a Vet Tech) and after checking his stool only when it was loose I checked a normal one and he was LOADED with coccidea!!! Absolutely wall to wall. Once he was treated, he had a normal number of stools a day. Problem was never the food!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cass C Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 I too would do a vet check just to be safe. My girl Lyka had runny stools for over a month and after several expensive vet visits someone at a pet store reccomended we try a grain free food. Once I did I had no more poo issues unless she gets into grains. I used merrick brand food for a long time before switching to zamzows (a local made) grain free food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maralynn Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 I agree. It's disingenuous. ETA: I've contacted them about this. It will be interesting to see what they have to say. I'll post whatever they reply. I'm glad you did - really interested in hearing what they say! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushdoggie Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 Re: Science Diet - it is priced the same as more expensive foods but has cheap ingredients. If my dog did well on those ingredients I would find a cheaper source of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moosikins Posted June 22, 2015 Report Share Posted June 22, 2015 Callie also eats Hills Science Diet and she's gone through the occasional mushy phases too. We never switched up what she was fed at the shelter when we got her and it's worked out because we've transitioned her smoothly from the puppy food to the adult food. Perhaps talk to your vet to see if maybe it's time to start introducing the adult food at 9 months? We were told it was okay to do so at about 9-10 months but we did not until a year because we had a huge bag of the puppy kibble and didn't want to waste it so we got a bag of adult food at 11 months or so and started mixing the two slowly. She's now on the adult formula (active dog or something of the like) and doing great. We've actually seen her weight stabilize a little better, although that could just be her finally hitting her ideal adult weight, and she likes it much better than the puppy food. She sits by her bowl to be fed. We do however feed less than the recommended amount on the bag. We went with our vet's recommendation on portion size for an active, 45 lb BC/lab. It's less than the bag says and if she looks really hungry on any given day because she's been extra active, we just add a handful to hold her over until the next meal. ETA: Cal has very consistent bathroom times (down to the hour) and her stools are solid unless she's had table scraps recently. Also, our vet stocks Hills Science Diet, but only certain variations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Elle Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 I feed the Costco premium grain free kibble and all my dogs do fine on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 Gibbs gets the Costco brand as well. I rotate through the flavors. Never had a problem with it. Ruth and SuperGibbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B Point Posted June 24, 2015 Report Share Posted June 24, 2015 Origen and Acana for my boys. I have to eat Kraft Dinner to pay for it, but hey....luv these doggies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gideon's girl Posted June 24, 2015 Report Share Posted June 24, 2015 I rotate through any of the higher protein foods that Micah isn't allergic to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChoseTheNose Posted June 26, 2015 Report Share Posted June 26, 2015 When we first got Patch from the shelter, they gave us Blue Buffalo to bring him home with. After a little time went by, he developed loose stools from it. Someone on here suggested Purina Pro Plan - the lamb kind - and it was the best advice I could have gotten. I went out and bought it and never looked back. He's been on it ever since (3 years now) and does beautifully on it. Looks great, gorgeous fur and never a loose poop. Perfect every time. I guess lamb is often good if they have a sensitive stomach. Whatever the reason, he does wonderfully on it. We love the Pro Plan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diane allen Posted June 26, 2015 Report Share Posted June 26, 2015 I know you're asking for personal recommendations, but since I feed raw/homemade, I can't help much! But this site is excellent. I highly advise checking out whatever you think you might use for the review on it. www.dogfoodadvisor.com diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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