Help my poor Lucy!

[grecoroman]

Hi there-

Really need some advice. I'm a new owner to a 16 month old baby bully named Lucy. Took her home and she had 2 solid bowel movements. Pet store was using Holistic Selects Puppy, and I switched to using Wellness PuPpy. Tried 80/20 mix Of dry to wet. She started getting loose stool. Tried adding rice but no help. I'm thinking of buying holistic select dry to give her and slowly transition over. Should I go this route or just give her hamburger or chicken along with rice for a few days?

Need help on how much to feed her as well. She's 21 pounds now and 4 months old.

Help!!!!

Thanks so much-

 

[RescueMe]

I feed mine a cup and a half twice a day. You can also use canned pumpkin not pumpkin pie filling to help firm up the poo.

 

[cowsmom]

Hello and welcome. First did you do a slow food switch or did you just give them new food? A bullies system is sensitive and a slow switch of food over 7 to 10 days is recommended. Also was the petstore giving the bully canned food? The quickest way to loosen my dogs stool is canned food. I would do a few days of chicken n rice and then add back in the holistic select until its all you are feeding. Your bully has had a big change n I would let them get used to the new surroundings before changing food. Holistic select is not bad food ive fed it before. Once you get things firmed up you can check the food ratings at the top of this page n pick out something else or try the wellness again slowly adding new over a period of time. You can also try some canned food slowly to. Good luck.

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

Excellent advice by @cowsmom ! You must go slow like she said and in the meantime add a tablespoon of canned pumpkin to her food. NOT canned pie mix..true canned pumpkin. And ongrats on your new girl! We are glad you joined us!!

 

[2BullyMama]

Cowssmom has it down.... follow her advice and keep us posted on the progress.

Welcome to the wonderful world of bulldogs and EBN!!

 

[Davidh]

My question is why are you changing from Holistic Selects Puppy? It is a good food and if your pup is not having problems with it I would leave her on it, plus when she gets between 6 to 8 months old you can change her to Holistic Selects Adult with no transition. We used to feed Holistic Selects and they did well on it but Buddy got to were he would not eat it, but he is a picky eater. Plus 1 1/2 cup twice a day would be good for know and when she gets 6 or 7 months you can start to lower the amount. We feed our adult females 3/4 cup twice a day.

 

[BruceP]

to EBN. I'm glad you joined and came here for help. You have gotten excellent advice from some of our most knowledgeable people so I have nothing to add but wanted to welcome you. We love pix so when you have some time we'd all love to see your bullie. Enjoy EBN!

 

[cali~jenn]

You have all the advice you need I think. Welcome, we love pics! Also as far as the slow switch I always over do it and drag it out to a month or so cuz I get over anxious to try the new food and it takes FOREVER to get rid of the old. BUT with these pups the slower the better so for me a week even is almost to fast. lol

 

[grecoroman]

Hello and welcome. First did you do a slow food switch or did you just give them new food? A bullies system is sensitive and a slow switch of food over 7 to 10 days is recommended. Also was the petstore giving the bully canned food? The quickest way to loosen my dogs stool is canned food. I would do a few days of chicken n rice and then add back in the holistic select until its all you are feeding. Your bully has had a big change n I would let them get used to the new surroundings before changing food. Holistic select is not bad food ive fed it before. Once you get things firmed up you can check the food ratings at the top of this page n pick out something else or try the wellness again slowly adding new over a period of time. You can also try some canned food slowly to. Good luck.

Thanks so much for the advice, everyone! This is such a tremendous source of knowledge for bulldog ownership - very thankful that you are all out there for support!

I gave up on the wellness for now. She was having very bad diarrhea, so i opted to just cook her white rice with cooked ground chicken last night for dinner. This morning her poop is finally back to solid, and she's had a lot less gas. I can tell her stomach was hurting her with the wellness dry. I gave her another serving in the morning. I'm going to continue doing the chicken/rice over the next few days and then slowly start adding in a bit of Holistic dry when i get it from the pet store. They were apparently feeding this to her at the store (dry) where i got her from. If she does well on that - i'm going to keep her on that for a while, with slowly adding in just a tablespoon of canned food.

Do you recommend anything else to add in? I've bought plain yogurt from the store, as well as some cottage cheese. I couldn't find the canned pumpkin, unfortunately. Is the pumpking to harden the stools or to soften the stools?

Housebreaking started off well, and then got a bit tough the past few days. She had a few accidents on my carpet in the living room - and even after scrubbing the rug, i believe her urine scent was still there - therefore this is why she was continuing to pee on the rug. I've removed the carpet, and she's been going outside for me now. I have her in the crate for 2 hours or so while I'm at work, and then as soon as I get home the first thing i do is have her follow me outside until she pees. SHe's been doing well in the crate as I've been rewarding her with a stuffed kong every time I put her in the cage (frozen w/ PB). She occupies herself with that and doesn't even realize when I leave - I hope this will eliminate separation anxiety - it's been working thus far. as soon as she pees I feed her a liver treat. I'm going to continue this until she eliminates 100% of the time. What is the next step after this? How can I train her to alert me when she has to relieve herself outside?

Final question (I apologize if this is in the wrong form). Sometimes she walks with me without any problem - then after a block she gets stubborn and turns on the brakes. I end up having to carry her home, because I don't want to create a negative experience by pulling her collar. Any tips on getting her to move besides using liver treats? I'd like her to start walking so that she maintains a healthy weight through her life! I love this little girl more than anything in the world!

Thanks All.

 

[grecoroman]

My question is why are you changing from Holistic Selects Puppy? It is a good food and if your pup is not having problems with it I would leave her on it, plus when she gets between 6 to 8 months old you can change her to Holistic Selects Adult with no transition. We used to feed Holistic Selects and they did well on it but Buddy got to were he would not eat it, but he is a picky eater. Plus 1 1/2 cup twice a day would be good for know and when she gets 6 or 7 months you can start to lower the amount. We feed our adult females 3/4 cup twice a day.

Perfect! Thanks for the advice on the quantity of food to give her! I'll slowly transition to 1.5 cups twice a day of the dry when she starts to transition off of the chicken&rice. I usually give her 3/4 a cup at a time, because she gobbles it down so quickly. This seems to help a bit. When I called they said they feed all puppies there Holistic Select Puppy Dry Kibble - i'm not sure how reliable this information is - I got her from a pet store.

 

[webster03]

Refusing to walk home is just her bully stubborness! Lol

 

[grecoroman]

Hi there-

Thank you all so much for the help. I've got Lucy back on track with the Pumpkin - that stuff does wonders. I'm going to continue on the Holistic Select as she seems to do really well on it - and LOVES IT - gobbles it up quickly.

Just a few questions: There are two puppy varieties of Holistic Select - 1) Lamb & Oatmeal for Large Breeds and 2) Anchovy, Sardine & Chicken. The adult versions are Lamb & Oatmeal and Anchovy/Sardine/Salmon. Would you all recommend one variety over the other? I'm leaning towards the Anchovy mix as it has Omega 3 & 6 Fatty Acids. Does anyone have any experience on this? She'll be 5 months on 1/3/12, so i'm wondering when I can start to transition to the Adult blend?

As for the amount to feed, based on her weight it is recommending 2 cups total daily amount. When i stick to this she seems to be STARVING ( i know all bullys are always starving), but always looking for more kibble. Should i up this to 2.5 or even 3 cups daily amount?

THanks as always-
Grecoroman

 

[2BullyMama]

As for the amount to feed, based on her weight it is recommending 2 cups total daily amount. When i stick to this she seems to be STARVING ( i know all bullys are always starving), but always looking for more kibble. Should i up this to 2.5 or even 3 cups daily amount?

Great to hear she is coming along... I am tagging [MENTION=2291]cowsmom[/MENTION] for the variety question. How old is your girl? If under 8 months -- you could give her three meals a day... 3/4 AM... 3/4 mid morning and 3/4 PM. If that is not an option - then up her to 1.5 AM/PM

 

[Biogirl71]

You are getting the best advice here for sure! I just wanted to say congratulations on your beautiful new bullie and welcome to EBN!

 

[Fontanafox]

Lucy sure is a pretty girl. Be sure to post pics of her as she grows up.