Golden Retriever Dog Forums banner

Need Advice: Switch Dog Food

915 views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  Thalie 
#1 ·
Hi All -- First, I am happy to announce that we adopted a 10-month-old Golden Retriever about 4 weeks ago. It was very difficult after losing our beloved Sasha at 3 years old to Lymphoma. While Molly is not Sasha, she's a lovely dog that has found a place in our heart.

She is struggling just a bit with intestinal problems. When we first got her, she was on Beneful. After one week, vet advised that we switch her food. Over the holidays, we slowly switched her to Blue Puppy. After the slow switch, she was finally on 100% Blue. After three days, she developed terrible diareah. I took her to the vet and he discovered that she had round and tape worms and lots of bacteria in her intestins. So, he wormed her and put her on meds. She did great while on the antibotics...then, three days after the antibotics stopped, the diareah came back. Vet checked her again...no more worms, no more bacteria and her blood work was wonderful. I asked him if it could be the food, but he doesn't think so. He believes she has a sensitive stomach and maybe it's the non-digestible stuff she eats (being a puppy she gets into things -- but we're really try to stay on top of that so it's very minimal).

I believe it's the food since Sasha had difficulty with Blue as well so I mixed it with her original science diet and she did fine.

What do you all think. I hate to switch her back to the Beneful, but I cannot let her live with diareah and continually treating her with Donagel PG. Thoughts...
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Can you tell us what the treatment consisted of? The reason I ask is that a lot of young dogs, especially rescues, have a low level of giardia and/or coccidia, which doesn't show up on a fecal exam. If it's not treated for a LONG time, aggressively, it tends to keep rearing it's ugly head over and over again.
Also bear in mind she was raised on a food that wasn't a premium food, and it's possible that the "good" food is just too good for her right now. A lot of times you will see it suggested that you not change a puppy or dog's food for 6 months after getting them either from the breeder or from a rescue.
At her age, you might see if the adult Blue agrees with her more.
Just a few thoughts!
 
#3 ·
Thank you so much for the reply! Doc treated her with antibotics for 14 days (I cannot remember which one) plus the worming meds. He also gave her a shot for the tape worm. If I switch her food, I assume I need to do it gradually again and see what happens. I agree, it might be too rich for her right now.
 
#4 ·
chances are the antibiotic was metronidazole (flagyl). Typically it should be 500 mg. twice a day for at least 2 weeks, so it sounds like maybe that's what he did.
My dogs can't eat several foods because they are too rich for them, so it's quite possible that's the problem.
When you switch foods with a dog with a sensitive stomach, it needs to take four weeks believe it or not.
Also, generally the best/easiest way to do it is to get the dog on one of the prescription foods (I'm talking the ones available only from your vet, not the ones marketed as sensitive stomach formulas in the pet stores) for diarrhea/stomach problems. Most dogs like the Iams low residue the best but Hills makes their I/D version and Purina also has a version, which might be EN, I don't remember. They're all good and all have the same result, which is nice firm poops pretty fast. You don't need to wean her onto that food, you can make the switch immediately which is why this is often suggested as the best way to deal with it. Keep her on that for 2 to 3 weeks, and then start slowly switching her from that prescription food over to the food you intend to feed her.
 
#6 ·
As said earlier in this thread, your 10 month old still could have coccidia causing some problems. It can be difficult to diagnose and needs more than the quick stool screening.

Your poor dog's gut has been through a lot and probably has a lot of the "good" gut flora wiped out from the antibiotics. Giving her some over-boiled rice (with some of the rice water) and bits of boiled chicken for a day or two could be helpful in giving the digestive system a rest.

I know a number of people who have had success transitioning to a limited ingredient food like Natura's "California Natural Chicken Meal and Rice for puppy formula. It's a very simple ingredient list with one protein and one type of carb. Adding a spoonful of plain live culture yogurt and a spoon of plain canned pumpkin to the kibble when transitioning can aid in digestion.

Here's a link to find where you could purchase it in your area (which should be a ton of places). http://www.californianaturalpet.com/where-to-buy/

I hope Molly feels better soon.
 
#7 ·
As said earlier in this thread, your 10 month old still could have coccidia causing some problems. It can be difficult to diagnose and needs more than the quick stool screening.

Your poor dog's gut has been through a lot and probably has a lot of the "good" gut flora wiped out from the antibiotics. Giving her some over-boiled rice (with some of the rice water) and bits of boiled chicken for a day or two could be helpful in giving the digestive system a rest.

I know a number of people who have had success transitioning to a limited ingredient food like Natura's "California Natural Chicken Meal and Rice for puppy formula. It's a very simple ingredient list with one protein and one type of carb. Adding a spoonful of plain live culture yogurt and a spoon of plain canned pumpkin to the kibble when transitioning can aid in digestion.

Here's a link to find where you could purchase it in your area (which should be a ton of places). http://www.californianaturalpet.com/where-to-buy/

I hope Molly feels better soon.
I was thinking along those lines too. You also might want to add a probiotic to help repopulate her gut with the good bacteria. Dogzymes Digestive Enhancer is very good and economical. http://www.naturesfarmacy.com/store/details.php?prodId=197&category=45&secondary=&keywords==
 
#8 ·
I would second the california natural! I wouldn't go back to beniful but something less rich might be the way to go. Our cat can't handle the really rich grain free kibbles but does fine on CN and similar types.

Also, there's a mix I used to use:
1 lb ground raw liver
4 cups cooked white rice
1 big container active culture yogurt
1 big can plain pumpkin

I used to mix that together and keep it on hand for the runs, we went through a lot of problems when Bender was a pup, and this mix made a good 'soup' for resting her system (one heaping tablespoon in a cup of warm water) as well as a transition mix for going back onto kibble and just keeping fluids and good stuff going in. If I had to make it now I'd likely also add some probiotic powder and slippery elm, but it did work very well for those 'exploding' days, since the dogs would drink a cup of fluid that way and it really isn't a lot of food to go through them.

Lana
 
#9 ·
Thank you all so much for the information and tip on California Natural...there's a pet store right around the block that carries it. Now, I have one more question about transitioning her to the new food. Since I am now giving her rice/chicken for a couple of days, do I slowly transition her to the new food using the rice/chicken as if it were the original food? In other words, do I slowly start with 25% of the new food and 75% chicken and rice and then slowly add more over the next week? I assume I should not feed her the Blue anymore. I would appreciate your input. I've never had this problem before so I want to make sure I'm proceeding correctly.
 
#10 ·
Fasting for a day, chicken/ rice for 2 or 3 days then adding kibble back with the chicken/rice incrementally is what I did the few times one of the girls had diahrrea.

I hope she does well on the new food.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top