Switching dog foods

[lisaz]

I just got a 6 month old beagle/lab puppy, Murphy, from a rescue two months ago. I was initially feeding him Iams Smart Puppy, but promptly weaned him off after doing some research. I am now feeding him Wellness Super5Mix Puppy (made by Old Mother Hubbard). He is having very soft stools and increased frequency... is this likely due to the switch? How long does it usually take to regulate? It's been a couple weeks now.

[beeniesmom]

It usually take 1 to 2 weeks for the puppy to adjust to new food.
Try giving him a little plain yogurt once a day (one spoonful) and that should help "reset" his tummy.
:)

[beeniesmom]

PS: What's wrong with IAMS smart puppy. That's what my Frankie is eating now. He will be switched to Nutro when the bag is done though.... pretty soon.

[dragondawg]

do it gradually. For example with puppies...

Day 0-3: Mix 25% new 75% old.
Day 4-7: Mix 50:50.
Day 8-10: 75:25.

Then after that go 100% new food. If at any point stool problems appear, back off a little on the new and introduce more gradually. Older dogs seem to adjust faster.

[lisaz]

I've heard something about plain, canned pumpkin, as well. Does that have the same effect? I will try the yogurt, though, thanks! I tried weaning him slowly, but ran out of the old food and had to make the transition quicker than planned. Maybe that had an effect.

Regarding Iams, I have heard countless negative comments. To briefly name a few:

-change in formula since being taken over by Proctor & Gamble (same with Eukanuba and some others), including a lot more fillers such as corn, etc.
-giving kickbacks to vets for recommendations (not sure of the validity of that, though)
-animal testing!!!

[lisaz]

I used the following guidelines in selecting a puppy food, based on info from The Whole Dog Journal:

Quality Foods Should Contain:
-Superior sources of protein, either whole fresh meats or single source meat meal (ex. chicken meal rather than poultry meal)
-A whole-meat source as one of the first two ingredients.
-Whole, unprocessed grains, vegetables, and other foods. Nutrients and enzymes are more likely to be found in unprocessed foods.

Quality foods should contain a MINIMAL AMOUNT of the following:
-Food fragments - lower-cost by-products of another food manufacturing process, such as brewer's rice and wheat bran...Manufacturers usually include at least one fragment to help lower costs. Beware any food that includes several fragments.
-Meat by-products (not handled as carefully as whole meat) - any food that contains meat by-products as the MAJOR protein source indicates a low-quality product.

HIGH-QUALITY FOODS SHOULD NOT CONTAIN:
-Fats or proteins named generically (ex. animal fat/poultry fat instead of beef fat/ lamb meal)
-Artificial preservatives (BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin)
-Artificial colors.
-Sweeteners (corn syrup, sucrose, ammoniated glycyrrhizin) to improve unappealing food
Propylene glycol - a toxic substance when consumed in large amounts; added to some "chewy" foods to keep them moist.

[k9krazee]

Welcome to Pet Talk Lisaz! I would love to hear more about you and your puppy, maybe you could make him a thread in Dog General? I have an 8 month old lab and we think beagle mix (my little "houndrador ;) ) And of course the rest of my gang is in my siggie!

[lisaz]

I will post a thread for Murphy, keep an eye out!

[lv4dogs]

Welcome! Sounds like you sure know your stuff. We're glad to have you aboard!!!

Wellness is a great food. Since you are switching him to such a good quality food (pretty high in good/meat protein) and he is still a puppy (sensative digestive system) he may take a week or so longer to adjust to the new foods. Anything high in protein will usually cause softer stools & may take a little longer for them to firm up.
As long as he has no other effects it's all normal.

[Flatcoatluver]

hey hlaf the poeple i talk to says kirkland brand lamb and rice dog food is bad and the other says its goood

[Jessika]

Originally posted by beeniesmom
PS: What's wrong with IAMS smart puppy. That's what my Frankie is eating now. He will be switched to Nutro when the bag is done though.... pretty soon.

IAMS does not use quality ingredients in their food. This also includes Eukanuba, ANY Purina Products (including Pro Plan), Science Diet, Ol Roy, Puppy Chow, Beneful, etc. ANY animal by-products = bad, and I do not recommend you feeding ANY pet ANY food containing ANY animal by-products, at all.

Anyway, did you properly switch foods?? You are supposed to mix the new food with the old and gradually increase the amount of new food until there is no old food left so your pup's body can adjust to the change. They may have soft or runny stools for a week or so while their body adjusts. This is common but can be avoided by properly introducing new foods :)

[bckrazy]

wow ^.^ thats awesome Lisa!! Good job for doing your homework, Wellness is one of the best kibbles out there. I'm sure Murphy will be verrry grateful for it years down the line.

And, YES, we need Murphy pics!! :p

Edit: Jessika, your Aussies are INSANELY GORGEOUS! A blue merle and red merle... its like, perfect :D. Its awesome to see another herding pup lover at PT! I was just wondering... everything you said about kibble is 100% true, but I noticed on Jamie's Dogster, it says she eats Pro Plan. Purina Pro Plan is on the low end too, last time I checked? just curious ;)

[Jessika]

Originally posted by bckrazy
Edit: Jessika, your Aussies are INSANELY GORGEOUS! A blue merle and red merle... its like, perfect :D. Its awesome to see another herding pup lover at PT! I was just wondering... everything you said about kibble is 100% true, but I noticed on Jamie's Dogster, it says she eats Pro Plan. Purina Pro Plan is on the low end too, last time I checked? just curious ;)

That's old, and I forgot I had that up there actually! They're on Natural Choice now. I would have them on something even higher, such as California Natural or even Innova, but there are NO stores in my area that sells Natura products... :(

You are 100% correct though, Pro Plan is a "low quality" dog food.

And THANKS for the compliments! My two pups are like a dream come true. Charlie was "rescued" from being adopted out by his breeder by an ad in the paper, so he could have been given away to just anybody (because of his hearing problems she was having a hard time getting him a home) and Jamie was offered to me by a co-worker I had while working at PetCo. I didn't know she was a Red Merle until I went to pick her up... and the coat I realy wanted was a Red Merle, and I have both and would NEVER ask for anything else. :)

[AllAmericanPUP]

i guess i'll be the odd man out lol

Wellness USE to be a good food but their quality has gone way down...

it's certainly not a horrible food but the company seems to lately be caring more about the $$$$$$ than the dogs well being...the quality has certainly changed

loose stools is a very common thing with the wellness foods...i'm not sure what it is about the food that makes dogs have loose stools...

[Jessika]

Originally posted by AllAmericanPUP

it's certainly not a horrible food but the company seems to lately be caring more about the $$$$$$ than the dogs well being...the quality has certainly changed

That's why I like brands like Nutro; they do absolutely no advertisement at all, so they don't have to raise the price of their products to pay for advertising, and the brand is so popular because of reputation and word of mouth, not because commercials advertising their food is being broadcasted worldwide on nearly every television channel every five minutes (*cough*Purina Puppy Chow*cough*)

[Den Anne Pen]

I swiched over to Nutro Natural Chicken,Rice,Oatmeal and it has worked out great Phoenix has a very senative tummy so i thought that kind would be the best.

There stools normal and smaller and i also noticed they don't stink as much :) :) :)

I''ve never used IAMS so i can't say much on that i've use Nutro all along just a diffent flavor

[bckrazy]

Nutro is decent, but it contains tons of wheat and rice... many of the formulas have it as the #1 ingredient. I'd say it IS for sure a step above Iams, but not much more than a step. For the price, Solid Gold and Canidae are awesome choices. I know they aren't readily available to everyone, though. For people who can only go to Petsmart or Petco, Blue is awesome ;) I'm feeding Blue right now, because I got sick of driving 1 hour JUST to get Canidae.

I still think Wellness is awesome. OMH has been around forever, and I think all of the company's care about $$$$$ what corporation doesn't? -- but OMH is definitely NOT Proctor&Gamble, thats for sure. I haven't had a bad experience with Wellness, Gonzo did really well with Wellness, but again, I could only get it from a barkery that was way far away.. and I never get large bags of food, because I want to keep it fresh. Wellness uses human-grade, holistic ingredients and all of their formulas have at least 3 solid meat proteins/meals in the top 5 ingredients. Not bad, to me.

[Jessika]

The #1 ingredient in my Nutro is definitely Lamb Meal, lol.