Hodor is almost done with his current bag of food and I'm wondering what we should do next. Here's the story, I'll try to keep it brief:
We picked up Hodor from the breeder mid January when he was 11 weeks old. Breeder had him on Iams puppy food so we kept him on this when we brought him home. He did surprisingly well on it - coat was good, no tear stains, good stool, etc.
A day or two after bringing him home, Hodor broke out in hives. We still have no idea what caused it, but I think it had something to do with the stress of the move. The hives never returned, but our vet recommended putting him on Eukaneuba puppy formula, and not knowing anything about dog food, we did.
Hodor also did great on the Eukaneuba food, but the breeder had told us that we should switch him to adult food between 3.5 - 4 months of age. She said that puppy food has a high protein content to promote growth and we should switch him to adult food with less protein to avoid bone/joint problems while he grows. Having finally done some research, we switched him to Fromm Salmon a la Veg.
Hodor did ok on Fromm Salmon & Veg. His coat was noticeably better, stool was still good, but his tear production increased a lot and his eyes were a little red - not to mention he didn't really love eating it. Every morning I would wake up to gunky crud in his folds which was not there before Fromm. His tear stains had gotten progressively worse since we brought him home (he had no stains whatsoever at breeder's the two times we visited), but Fromm Salmon seemed to make them much worse.
We then switched Hodor to Fromm Pork & Applesauce, which is what he's currently finishing up. He's been on it for about 3 weeks now. Tear stains have gotten a bit better, coat is still great, but his stool is not good. It's light brown and very soft.
He's about done with the Pork & Applesauce and I'm wondering what to do next. I'm not sure if he's having digestive problems because we've changed his food so many times or because something in the Pork & Applesauce doesn't agree with him. My wife and I are hesitant to put him on grain free food right now because the grain free food has a high protein content - around the same as his puppy food which the breeder recommended we switch him off of. We also don't want to create a grain intolerance if he doesn't even have grain allergies.
Any suggestions? We're thinking of trying Fromm Duck formula next as it's one of the few non-grain-free foods in the Fromm line we haven't tried. I'm also wondering if it's worth keeping him on Pork & Applesauce a bit longer to let him adjust...or maybe we should try a different brand...
Probably worth noting that we give him some greek yogurt with breakfast and dinner and he's also on NuVet (started both of these after we put him on Pork & Apples).
Sorry, that wasn't brief!
We picked up Hodor from the breeder mid January when he was 11 weeks old. Breeder had him on Iams puppy food so we kept him on this when we brought him home. He did surprisingly well on it - coat was good, no tear stains, good stool, etc.
A day or two after bringing him home, Hodor broke out in hives. We still have no idea what caused it, but I think it had something to do with the stress of the move. The hives never returned, but our vet recommended putting him on Eukaneuba puppy formula, and not knowing anything about dog food, we did.
Hodor also did great on the Eukaneuba food, but the breeder had told us that we should switch him to adult food between 3.5 - 4 months of age. She said that puppy food has a high protein content to promote growth and we should switch him to adult food with less protein to avoid bone/joint problems while he grows. Having finally done some research, we switched him to Fromm Salmon a la Veg.
Hodor did ok on Fromm Salmon & Veg. His coat was noticeably better, stool was still good, but his tear production increased a lot and his eyes were a little red - not to mention he didn't really love eating it. Every morning I would wake up to gunky crud in his folds which was not there before Fromm. His tear stains had gotten progressively worse since we brought him home (he had no stains whatsoever at breeder's the two times we visited), but Fromm Salmon seemed to make them much worse.
We then switched Hodor to Fromm Pork & Applesauce, which is what he's currently finishing up. He's been on it for about 3 weeks now. Tear stains have gotten a bit better, coat is still great, but his stool is not good. It's light brown and very soft.
He's about done with the Pork & Applesauce and I'm wondering what to do next. I'm not sure if he's having digestive problems because we've changed his food so many times or because something in the Pork & Applesauce doesn't agree with him. My wife and I are hesitant to put him on grain free food right now because the grain free food has a high protein content - around the same as his puppy food which the breeder recommended we switch him off of. We also don't want to create a grain intolerance if he doesn't even have grain allergies.
Any suggestions? We're thinking of trying Fromm Duck formula next as it's one of the few non-grain-free foods in the Fromm line we haven't tried. I'm also wondering if it's worth keeping him on Pork & Applesauce a bit longer to let him adjust...or maybe we should try a different brand...
Probably worth noting that we give him some greek yogurt with breakfast and dinner and he's also on NuVet (started both of these after we put him on Pork & Apples).
Sorry, that wasn't brief!