What and how much to feed?

[MommyOfCali]

Hi all! Boy.. Cali and I have been on a food and poop journey in the past 2 months! When we got her at 9 weeks she was on little bites health extension which she obviously loved and poops looked great... Firm but not too hard not loose. Then we decided to change her food (dumb move!) because we were told by professionals she couldn't be on that food forever.. So we weaned her onto blue wilderness puppy, hearing wonderful things about it.. Let's just say that the poop was like soft serve ice cream and applesauce (sorry for the graphic detail) and she was a gassy mess! We talked with the vet and he told us that when changing food it's normal but it went on longer than it should have. So we concluded it was too heavy for her and to stop the extremely loose stool we did yogurt, rice anything you could think of to bind her up and nothing was working. She was not sick or going uncontrollably but the poop definitely should have been more firm. So we had Cali on prescription diet wet food for a few days after bringing her to vet, so we could try to rectify the situation and decided to change Cali to Royal Canin bulldog puppy digestive health. She loves it but the poop is inconsistent STILL! I am so exhausted! Our trainer suggested a bit of canned pumpkin which we have been doing but sometimes we get great poops sometimes loose. UGHHHHHHHH!!! I'm reading on here that Royal Canin isn't great.... I can't bear to switch her again! This poor pup! Suggestions?

also Cali is 4.5 months how much do you suggest she be fed? We started with 3/4 cup 3x a day and now give her 1 cup a day. And if she devours it (which is more often than not) we give her another half cup, vet said it's perfect amount. But I don't want to be over feeding her to be a sloppy fat bully! We want a strong healthy lean bully! Any input would be fabulous thanks EBN!!

 

[kristimorrill]

1 cup twice a day and get ger onto something better.. natures varity or I swear by natural balance limited ingredients diet brand...sweet potato and venison...we tried everything until we found that food...miracle worker!!!

 

[ddnene]

I had my bullies on Blue Buffalo before I joined EBN, and they had the same issues… loose stools & gas!!! It was horrible… I switched them to Fromm's and we did pretty well on that. If you check out dogfoodadvisor.com they give you a list of higher quality dog food to try out. Food is a complicated issue… what works for one bully, may NOT work for another. It can become a guessing game at best… Good Luck!

 

[MommyOfCali]

Really? We heard vension and sweet potato was recommended and is easy to digest and lower protein which is key. She can have the natural balance as a pup? And you would suggest giving her 2 meals a day now at 4.5 months @ 1 cup per meal?

 

[Marine91]

Really? We heard vension and sweet potato was recommended and is easy to digest and lower protein which is key. She can have the natural balance as a pup? And you would suggest giving her 2 meals a day now at 4.5 months @ 1 cup per meal?

Every bully is different but you have to remember they will eat less w8th a higher quality food. My Harlea is a little over 8 months old and she only get 1 cup of kibble 2 times a day and she is very healthy and growing nicely and is right around 36lbs right now and gains about 4lbs a month right now which has her on pace to hit 48lbs at 1 year.

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[Davidh]

Cut back on her food, when you feed them too much, they will have soft serve poop.

 

[bullmama]

Cut back on her food, when you feed them too much, they will have soft serve poop.

Agreed ! Hope it works, don't switch again until her poops are more firm. Give her half her normal amount for one of her meals and cut back the other two a tad. How much is she eating a day right now?


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[MommyOfCali]

Giving her 1 cup 7am, 1pm and 6 pm. I can't bear to switch her again. So should we do 3/4 cup at all 3 meals? She licks the bowl clean w 1 cup and we have been giving her a table spoon of canned pumpkin which she loves (what doesn't she love she would eat dirt and be happy with it) should we 86 the pumpkin? Ugh so stressful. I want my baby to be happy and have firm poops. I pick up grass along with it every time! I also would love for her to not exceed 50lbs (even if she did I would still love her but want her to be healthy!) thoughts ?

 

[SMeyer13]

Like others have said, cut back on the food. Tucker has been on blue wilderness puppy since I switched from RC bulldog. He only got 1.5 cups a day up until 7.5 months because he couldn't handle any more. I would supplement with other snacks, but any more than 3/4 a cup per feeding and I was asking for trouble. As he has gotten older, I slowly brought up his intake until he is now at 2 cups a day (1cup per feeding). When you switched foods were you slowly doing it, or making a quick transition because that will lead to a mess in itself.

 

[MommyOfCali]

We did it gradually. Blue was too heavy for my Cali girl she has such a sensitive stomach. We have been feeding her 2x a day for only 3 days now and her poops have gotten so much better!! I'm so happy I joined this forum!

 

[luvmybully]

Cali is adorable ! Give it some time, if no improvement then slowly switch.The whole food thing is scary and it takes time, the good news is there is so much to choose from.


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[NewEnglandBully]

Hi there! I am new to the wonderful world of bullies also and have done massive amounts of research before purchasing. I was over whelmed w/just researching the proper food but learned that each bully is different and I really just need to see what works/doesn't work for our boy. Sebastion is almost 15 weeks and we are still in the transition stage of his breeder's food (puppy chow). We went w/Blue Wilderness Puppy and Newman's treats (to help w/potty training). Too soon to know how new food is as he is still getting 1/3 cup of Puppy Chow in w/it, but the treats started to constipate him so we had to give him canned pumpkin (which really worked well to soften). Wish I could offer more, but we're learning as we go too. Unless our boy starts developing any type of bad reaction, I am just going to maintain his pooping consistency w/a fine balancing act... If his poop is too soft he gets a whole treat to firm it up next trip outdoors, if it's normal he gets a half of a treat and if it's too hard (which only happened once) he got a tablespoon or two of pumpkin...So far it's worked out great. If you can't bear to do another switch, maybe try the Newman's treats to firm up the poop? Good luck! laurie