Help!! Acana Grasslands for 7 month old?

7580 Views 11 Replies 6 Participants Last post by tippykayak, Nov 11, 2009

MyCodyBoy

Discussion Starter · Nov 11, 2009

long story short, I switched Cody to Grasslands and he is doing well so far, I am hoping the ear infections clear up soon.

Our new puppy(not a golden) was on Nutrisource when we adopted her and I switched her to wellness puppy. She has had the runs ever since the switch.
I was thinking of switching her to Acana puppy and junior but I was thinking maybe I should just put her on the Grasslands.
The website says it is for all stages of life and after closley looking at the analysis it isn't much diffrent.

Grasslands

Protein .....................................33 %
Fat ..........................................17 %
Fiber ...................................... 3.5 %
Calcium .................................. 1.8 %
Phosphorus ............................. 1.2 %
Omega-6................................. 2.2 %
Omega-3 ................................ 0.4 %
Glucosamine ....................800 mg/kg
Chondroitin.......................500 mg/kg

Carbohydrate ...........................28 %

Puppy and Junior

Protein .....................................33 %
Fat ..........................................19 %
Fiber .........................................3 %
Calcium .................................. 1.3 %
Phosphorus ............................. 1.1 %
Omega-6................................. 2.7 %
Omega-3 ................................ 0.4 %
Glucosamine ....................800 mg/kg
Chondroitin .......................500 mg/kg

Carbohydrate ...........................26 %

The major diffrence is that the puppy and juinor have grains

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Jax's Mom

· #2 · Nov 11, 2009

where are the extra carbs coming from in the grasslands if the puppy and junior have grain?

I am a novice at this, so I can't really be very helpful, but when I put my pup on Orejen, he had terrible runs, and I think it was due to the no grains.

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tippykayak

· #3 · Nov 11, 2009

Not all puppies can tolerate such high protein foods without getting the runs. Have you considered something that isn't a boutique brand?

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pokey

· #4 · Nov 11, 2009

My puppy is on the Acana Pacifica and doing terrific. He had diarrhea on the other foods and the Pacifica made everything all better. He and I love the food!!

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Ash

· #5 · Nov 11, 2009

Grasslands is a perfectly acceptable food for puppies. If she seems to well on it I would stick with. All my dogs are on Acana and doing fantastic.

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MyCodyBoy

Discussion Starter · #6 · Nov 11, 2009

I have her(Livy) on wellness puppy right now that DOES have grains and she is having bad runs ever since I put her on it.

I recently put Cody on the grasslands and his stool is final firm. He was also on wellness large breed adult and never had firm stools ever. The wellness super5mix brand all has grains, and because he is doing so well on the Acana I thought maybe if it is so close Livy could just go on the Grasslands as well instead of the puppy.

The extra carbs come from fruit and veg sources in the Acana grasslands.

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MyCodyBoy

Discussion Starter · #7 · Nov 11, 2009

Ash said:
Grasslands is a perfectly acceptable food for puppies. If she seems to well on it I would stick with. All my dogs are on Acana and doing fantastic.

thanx!
I am going to try switching her tonight and if it doesn't work I will try the Acana puppy and Junior with the grains.

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tippykayak

· #8 · Nov 11, 2009

It's incredibly rare for the grains in a food to be the cause of diarrhea. It's much more common for a dog to have diarrhea when a food is too rich. Wellness is already a pretty rich food, so be careful if you decide to go to a food with a higher fat and protein percentage.

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MyBentley

· #9 · Nov 11, 2009

Jax's Mom said:
where are the extra carbs coming from in the grasslands if the puppy and junior have grain?

I am a novice at this, so I can't really be very helpful, but when I put my pup on Orejen, he had terrible runs, and I think it was due to the no grains.

The carbs in Acana Grasslands comes from sweet potato and peas.

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MyBentley

· #10 · Nov 11, 2009

Why your 7 month old has chronic "runs" on Wellness Puppy - who knows. There are a lot of different ingredients in it and it would be a challenge to sort out. Since your other dog is on Acana Grasslands, it seems like a reasonable "all life stages" food to try for your 7 month old. The fat level at 17% is exactly the same as Wellness Puppy. The protein is 33% instead of 28% which is a modest jump. Switching the protein to lamb may or may not be helpful - time will tell.

Protein level doesn't cause diarrhea in and of itself. It's much more complicated than that. Type of protein, all the different ingredients, a company's pre-mix vitamin/mineral profile, etc. all contribute to wether a specific formula will work for an individual dog. And wether or not a specific dog food can be bought at a big-box pet store or a smaller independent pet store has very little to do with how well your dog will do on a specific formula. There are good and not so good choices in both venues.

A tip on switching: do it gradually over 7-10 days for best results; starting old to new in ratios of 75/25, 50/50; 25/75
Also, be careful not to overfeed which can result in diarrhea. The feeding amounts on the bag are often too much.

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MyCodyBoy

Discussion Starter · #11 · Nov 11, 2009

MyBentley said:
Why your 7 month old has chronic "runs" on Wellness Puppy - who knows. There are a lot of different ingredients in it and it would be a challenge to sort out. Since your other dog is on Acana Grasslands, it seems like a reasonable "all life stages" food to try for your 7 month old. The fat level at 17% is exactly the same as Wellness Puppy. The protein is 33% instead of 28% which is a modest jump. Switching the protein to lamb may or may not be helpful - time will tell.

Protein level doesn't cause diarrhea in and of itself. It's much more complicated than that. Type of protein, all the different ingredients, a company's pre-mix vitamin/mineral profile, etc. all contribute to wether a specific formula will work for an individual dog. And wether or not a specific dog food can be bought at a big-box pet store or a smaller independent pet store has very little to do with how well your dog will do on a specific formula. There are good and not so good choices in both venues.

A tip on switching: do it gradually over 7-10 days for best results; starting old to new in ratios of 75/25, 50/50; 25/75
Also, be careful not to overfeed which can result in diarrhea. The feeding amounts on the bag are often too much.

Thanx for that.
I agree it could be anything, but I figured since I already have the Grasslands I might as well try it with her since she can have it.
If she doesn't do well then I don't know what I am going to try next.
Who would have figured she may do better on something like Iams then Acana, only time will tell.

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tippykayak

· #12 · Nov 11, 2009

MyBentley said:
Protein level doesn't cause diarrhea in and of itself. It's much more complicated than that. Type of protein, all the different ingredients, a company's pre-mix vitamin/mineral profile, etc. all contribute to wether a specific formula will work for an individual dog. And wether or not a specific dog food can be bought at a big-box pet store or a smaller independent pet store has very little to do with how well your dog will do on a specific formula. There are good and not so good choices in both venues.

That's certainly true, but there are a lot of people on this forum whose puppies simply didn't tolerate foods they were led to by some of the rumors about grains, etc.

And, 28/17 is a higher protein/fat number than many more traditional puppy foods. The OP may find that switching to a more traditional formula solves the problem in a couple of days.

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