[Kathy B]

We have a 18 month old Old English Sheepdog rescue that had been fed Tractor Supply dog food, when we got her had lots of issues with diarrhea so I looked for food with a high fiber content and had glucosamine chondroitin, it helped but we have at least one running stool a day ended up with Blue Wilderness Large Breed. Thought perhaps it was too rich for her and started looking at some limited diet food, Natural Balance was recommended but they don’t have the glucosamine so now I’m looking at Blue Buffalo Basic which has almost 1/2 the protein that Blue Wilderness did and I hear that’s not a bad thing but I wonder if anyone has any other suggestions before I switch her. I read that Pro Plan sensitive stomach was supposed to be good but then pet food store said they would not recommend it……..

[anonymous]

Pro Plan sensitive is a good food and often recommended by veterinarians.
Zignature is a quality kibble, grain free, potato free. My dogs do well on the Whitefish (lowest sodium content of all the Zignatures) I would add a splash of water and a bite of real food.
Natural Balance is loaded with potato and sweet potato which doesn’t agree with some dogs that have sensitive stomachs, hard to digest.
Glucosamine chondroitin is a supplement and may not be necessary
Go here for science based veterinary medicine
http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?s=glucosamine
http://skeptvet.com/Blog/category/herbs-and-supplements/

[anonymous]

Natural Balance is loaded with potato and sweet potato which doesn’t agree with some dogs that have sensitive stomachs, hard to digest.
Glucosamine chondroitin is a supplement and may not be necessary. What does your veterinarian recommend? I would go by that.
Go here for science based veterinary medicine
http://skeptvet.com/Blog/?s=glucosamine
http://skeptvet.com/Blog/category/herbs-and-supplements/

Pro Plan sensitive is a good food and often recommended by veterinarians.
Zignature is a quality kibble, grain free, potato free. My dogs do well on the Whitefish (lowest sodium content of all the Zignatures) I would add a splash of water and a bite of real food.

[anonymous]

Go to skeptvet dot com and use the search engine to look up glucosamine

Pro Plan sensitive is a good food and often recommended by veterinarians.
Zignature is a quality kibble, grain free, potato free. My dogs do well on the Whitefish (lowest sodium content of all the Zignatures) I would add a splash of water and a bite of real food.
I might want to avoid potato/sweet potato, hard to digest for some dogs

Ps: I would listen to the advice of a veterinarian that has examined your dog over someone that works at the pet supply store. I know they mean well, just saying.

[pitlove]

Hi Kathy-

If the dog was already experiencing runny stool, I’m not sure why you looked for a food with higher fiber? Was there any reasoning behind this? Also make sure you are not overfeeding. NutriSource is a food that I find works really well for dogs with GI issues. I also like Pro Plan as well as it has high digestibility.

[Kathy B]

I read that the higher fiber would firm up stools and actually it improved as not constant so maybe it was just the higher grade dog food and not the fiber. She didn’t have an easy start to her life so I don’t know if she actually has a sensitive stomach or just nervous. I am more than happy for any direction as to what I should be looking for as far as protein percentages, fiber…etc

[Susan]

Hi Kathy, have you seen a vet that specializes in IBD?? what works for one dog doesn’t always work for another dog, if you go onto the “Review” section “Natural Balance” there’s a few dogs that are doing well on Natural Balance…
Sometimes a dog needs a lower fiber diet when they have bowel problems, I cant see the Glucosamine firming up her poo’s, it’s best to give the Glucosamine & Chondroitin tablets your self & add to her diet, add tablet with one of her meals, this way she gets the proper amount she needs, the amount of Glucosamine in a kibble isn’t enough for her bones & joints…..
What colour is her poo’s ?? When it’s the small bowel with problem, poos will be real yellow & sloppy, (S.I.B.O) when it’s the large bowel poos are darker & look like cow patties, your vet needs to do tests & work out is it food intolerances is she reacting to a certain ingredients??? does she need a vet diet with more In-Soluble fiber or more Soluble fiber?? Royal Canine Vet diets have a few vet diets low & high in fiber, then you’ll start to get a better idea what the problem is??
My boy didn’t do well on the Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Digestion, read the ingredient list it’s not good, it doesn’t digest easy, so don’t always believe what they right on the kibble bags..
Two really good kibbles that have worked for Patches IBD are “Taste Of The Wild” Sierra Mountain, Roasted Lamb, a grain free, single protein, (no other proteins just Lamb meal) limited ingredient kibble…
“Canidae” all life stages, Large Breed, Turkey Meal & Brown rice, Adult, Puppy & Senior formula’s it’s new in Blue packet on page 4.. it has 750mg/Kg Glucosamine, but your still better off adding your own Glucosamine to your dogs diet.
http://www.canidae.com/dog-food/products
I would be trying the TOTW Sierra Mountain Roasted Lamb & see a vet to put her on a course of Metronidazole tablets for 21-28 days to kill any bad bacteria she may have in her stomach & small bowel & just feed the limited ingredient TOTW kibble or their Pacific Stream Smoked Salmon has less fiber at 3% a lot of dogs with EPI & IBD & IBS do really well on the TOTW Pacific Stream & Sierra Mountain, I don’t know why?? maybe cause the water TOTW use is Purified or the probiotics they use are the right ones for dogs with Intestinal Stress I don’t know but TOTW was the only kibble that helped him do firm poos where the vet diets made him itch & smell cause he has food intolerances to most of the ingredients in vet diets. TOTW & Canidae are both money back guaranteed kibbles & wet tin food..

[pitlove]

Again, have a look at NutriSource. Most of their foods are moderate protein and moderate fat. Not to mention highly digestible.

[Kathy B]

To clarify my first question/comments…. I didn’t think that glucosamine would help with the poo issue I was looking for a good quality food that had the glucosamine/chongrotin for large breeds and fiber that would help with diarrhea. She does get Dasuquin with MSM everyday as well. I will definitely check out the NutriSource, found it to be a 4 Star food but oddly enough not sold at Pet Food stores but our local hardware store.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by Kathy B.

[crazy4cats]

Hi Kathy B-
Have you taken in a stool sample to be tested. Puppies (especially rescues) often get worms and parasites. Coccidia and Giardia are especially common in young pups. Doesn’t matter what food you feed if they have something like this. They both can cause intermittent loose stools.
I would quit adding those other supplements while your pup continues having this issue. It makes it too hard to know what is causing the diarrhea when you are changing and adding too many different things. Forti Flora, although is an excellent probiotic that helps with diarrhea.
I had this issue when I first got my dogs. I know it’s frustrating!!! Best wishes 🙂

[Kathy B]

Yes, the stool sample to the vet was one of the first thing I did. We’ve been feeding Wllderness for large breed and according to their bag at her weight of 72 lbs she should get four cups per day. We are going to introduce NutriSource and it recommended feeding is 2 1/2 cups per day….. makes me question if we weren’t over feeding her. We have an older dog (11) that weighs 100 lbs but because of lack of activity was only feeding her 2 1/2 cups per day of the wilderness and had no issues with her but then we got her as a 12 week puppy. Molly came to us at 15 months….. of course she might not appreciate the reduced amount! LOL

[Susan]

Hi why you need to feed more cups of kibble with certain brands of kibble & some kibbles you need to feed less cups is the Kcals per cup amount, the higher the Kcals per cup, you will need to feed less kibble….
You may find kibbles that are higher in Kcals per cup may cause more Intestinal Stress cause the kibble is more dense…..
A Kibble should be around 360 Kcals per cup & under when a dog has Intestinal Stress any higher then they may start to have digestive problems….. I hope this isn’t the case with Molly… Vet diets for Intestinal problems are around 360 Kcals per cup….. if you have any problems with a high Kcal per cup kibble then start feeding a kibble that isn’t as dense & are under 370Kcals per cup & feed a kibble that has 1 protein with limited ingredients….

If your dog continues to do sloppy poo’s or has diarrhea daily she’ll end up with thickening of the bowel & you’ll end up with a dog with IBD when she’s older….. I’d start her on a Probiotic like Purina Forti Floria to make her gut healthy & strengthen her immune system & start adding healthy foods high in Omega 3 to her diet… I would also stop giving her the Glucosamine supplement until her poos are firm, did your vet say to give the extra Glucosamine to an 18 month old dog that has no joint problems & has diarrhea ?

[Kathy B]

No, the vet did not specifically say to give the supplements I did because I was giving to our 11 year old girl, will stop immediately thanks!

[Kathy B]

To further expand…. yes, I am one of those dog moms that want to give her “kids” the best….. when she first came to us she did have constant diarrhea, after four months with us Molly doesn’t have constant diarrhea but at least once a day, the vet felt that since the tests show nothing and she was a rescue possibly had limited opportunity for outside time she was reacting from that and “making” herself go thus runny stool, although she gets often outside time…most are “normal” although gas was HORRIBLE was questioning if the current food we were feeding was too “rich” thus my questions on this forum. She does have some food aggression that we are working through, also after we put down a large waterer she began wetting in the house. We questioned if she wasn’t thinking of a time of when she didn’t have water and would drink as much of the 5 gallons that she could and then not be able to “hold” it. We have since went back to regular water bowl and the accidents have stopped. All of this is the risk of getting a pup in which you don’t know how the first 15 months of her life was as to our other girl that we got from a very good breeder at 12 weeks. But we won’t give up on her! I am going to try pitluv’s recommendation of trying Nutrasource and spoke with someone else who used it and thought it was great food. However I am now debating Large breed (she weighs 72 lbs) versus regular and why offered is LAMB MEAL and why meal not lamb…. and is this one of those foods that can be exchange between fish, chicken….as a variety. If the issue continues I may try the forti flora but thought one thing at a time and to give it time.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by Kathy B.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by Kathy B.

[Kathy B]

• This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by Kathy B.

[John T]

Kathy, Please stay away from Blue Buffalo. Do your homework and you will see they are just BAD!! They even admitted to lying! http://iheartdogs.com/breaking-news-blue-buffalo-admits-to-lying-about-ingredients-here-is-why-you-should-care/

Eight years ago, thousands of dogs and cats died after being poisoned by tainted food. The world’s biggest pet food companies pulled more than 100 different products from store shelves. There’s still no official death toll from the Great Pet Food Recall, because the government doesn’t track animal deaths. But experts estimate at least 8,000 pets died.

For Blue , the carnage was an opportunity. In just five years, the company, which boasted of its “natural, healthy” products, had become one of the pet food industry’s most powerful players. Its rise was no small feat in a heavily concentrated industry — Mars Petcare and Nestle Purina together control about half of global sales, according to data from the trade publication Petfood Industry.

Blue Buffalo deployed a robust advertising budget to portray its products as more nutritious than those of its shoddy “big name” competitors — a term it has used frequently in commercials. As the recalls dominated headlines, Blue Buffalo ran a new ad campaign online and in newspapers, informing concerned consumers its products were a safe alternative to those that had been taken off the shelves.

For a while, the ads appeared to bolster the company’s image. But in late April — more than a month after its competitors had faced the music — Blue Buffalo acknowledged similar problems with one production run of its kitten food. A week later, the company expanded its recall to include all of its canned dog food, an entire line of canned cat food and treats it had marketed as “health bars.”

Blue Buffalo’s story is about more than one company’s advertising excess. It represents almost everything wrong with the pet food business, and just how little the industry and the government agencies that oversee it have changed since the most catastrophic pet food safety event in modern history. It’s a story with clear implications for human food safety, and serves as a warning for other sectors of the American economy where outgunned regulators are struggling to keep pace with global supply chains that grow more complex by the day.

[InkedMarie]

Kathy,
Regarding feeding amounts….type in “dog food calculator” in the search here on DFA. You need your dogs weight, activity level & the amount of calories per cup and it will tell you how much to feed. Might be worth a try!

[pitlove]

Kathy-

Lamb meal is nothing to be scared of. Meals contain more protein than whole meats. Both their Large breed adult chicken or the lamb would be excellent choices. They also both have large kibble size which helps to encourage chewing. Very important for large dogs.

[John I]

My totally anecdotal experience.
For, 3 Bouviers des Flandres(2 male, 1 female).
Catelyn(70lb), she’ll be 3 this November.
Butkus(130lb..high weight, 100lb current weight), he’s 13 and will be 14 next March 2018.
Harley(90lb), lived to be 11years, had bone/joint birth defects. His back went out and he couldn’t stand or control his bowels @ the end.

I fed Harley and Butkus Blue Buffalo for 11 years. I had no health concerns and no soft stools. Catie has had soft stools as long as I’ve had her. I’ve had her checked by the vet several times, nothing has been diagnosed.
VET Recommended: 1TBsp Metamucil plain, this worked a little.

FOODS I’VE FED:
ToTW High Plains puppy: I fed this as recommended by the breeder.
BB Salmon/Sweet potato: Switched to this to match Harley and Butkus lifetime meals.
Victor Hero: Switched after some BB recalls. I was looking for U.S. made, reliable company. Butkus had no issues, and the food has glucosamine. Catie still had soft stools.

LOCAL Recommendations: From locally owned Pet food dealers were Probiotics, using goat milk or green tripe.

CURRENT DIET:
Tripett Beef: pure green tripe a very stinky suplement. I feed once every 2-3 weeks(Catey only).
Orijen Regional Red(US): Very high ratings, controlled ingredient sources, U.S. made in KY. Pricey @ $95/25lb bag. Butkus 1.5 cups morning and night, Catie 2.25cups morning 1.5cups night.

Both dogs have firm stools.

[Author]

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