Puppy food for a sensitive stomach?

[cslafferty]

Lola is 7 mo old and we've had her on Blue Buffalo puppy formula. She has been having what the vet's office termed "soft serve" stools for over a month now. They have run all the tests, and all came back fine, so we're thinking food allergies or sensitive stomach. The breeder we got her from reports no known allergies in either the mom or dad, and she doesn't have any itching or skin irritations that our last bully had with his allergies. The vet would like to see her continue on puppy food until she's at least 10 mo old, so I'm looking for a puppy food for sensitive stomachs. We had similar issues with our Boston Terrier when she was a puppy, and ended up putting her on SD lamb and rice puppy food and honestly she did great. Now that she's 2, she's on Blue Basic and is doing great with that. I would like to avoid SD (although the owner of our pet store said that the lamb and rice puppy formula is the best of the SD formulas as far as quality goes, but agrees that SD should be avoided if possible) but the stool issues are getting worse. She is now getting up several times around 4am because I think she has a tummy ache - after she has her morning poop she settles right down and goes to sleep. Any help would be deeply appreciated, as I am exhausted!! Thanks!

 

[Sarah]

rather than a strictly puppy food you could try a food that is good for all stages. then you won't have to make another food switch down the road. The natural balance alpha is what Brooklyn has been eating since we got her from the breeder at 11 weeks, she is now 7 months and still loves it and is doing great health wise. it doesn't have the extra fat that puppy foods have which keeps her leaner and will hopefully only help out her joints, which heavy bulldogs have more issues with.

 

[Davidh]

Holistic Select or FROMM both are good foods, and both have good puppy foods, we usually switch our pups to adult food around 6 to 7 months of age.

 

[Dayna524]

I had my puppy on the blue buffalo because my adult dogs were on it. He was fine at first, then the same issue you are describing. After searching the website there was a voluntary recall. There was too much vitamin d. After that I switched to a grain free all stages. Everyone is on the same food and doing well. Hope this helps you.

 

[GatorRay]

You can probably switch now. At least to an all stages food if it makes you more comfortable. She is probably getting to the point where the puppy food is too rich for her.

Also, soft serve can also be a sign of over-feeding. Maybe you just try cutting her back a *tad* like maybe a 1/4 c. or so and see what happens? Won't hurt and just might help

 

[GatorRay]

You can probably switch now. At least to an all stages food if it makes you more comfortable.  She is probably getting to the point where the puppy food is too rich for her.  <br><br>Also, soft serve can also be a sign of over-feeding.  Maybe you just try cutting her back a *tad* like maybe a 1/4 c. or so and see what happens? Won't hurt and just might help As they grow older, they actually need less food so maybe she is at the age that you can start cutting back a bit?

 

[cslafferty]

Thanks for all of the advice. I decided to try Natural Balance Fish and Sweet Potato formula, as that was recommended by quite a few who had similar problems as this. Good news - she loved it and her stools were great; Bad news - it made her pee, poop, and breath smell sort of like cat urine, which is NOT a smell I can tollerate on my baby!! So, we are now trying Royal Canin Bulldog puppy formula. I'll let you know how it goes!