Help Needed! 11 week old puppy...changing food...soft stool

[pcchenard]

I know this has been discussed a lot, but I'm not sure what to do here. The breeder I got my puppy from was feeding her "Sportmix High Energy Mini Chunk" food, which is not a very good food according to the food list. I kept her on it for the first week I had her and now I have been gradually switching her over to "Blue Buffalo Life Protection Puppy Food - Chicken & Brown Rice". I have done a gradual switch over the last 7 days and I'm now mixing 1/4 of the old and 3/4 of the new food. I'm feeding her 0.5 cup of food 3x per day for a total of 1.5 cups of food per day. She will be 11 weeks old tomorrow and this morning I weighed her and she weighs 8.4 lb. The problem is that her stool is now like soft serve ice cream.

Should I back the mixture down and include more of the old food for a longer period of time?

Am I feeding her too much?

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!

 

[kristimorrill]

Nope, its the food. Did the same thing to ours and same with the Fromms puppy. We have great success with natural balance limited ingredient diet in the sweet potato and vension flavor as duck and lamb were way too rich for their tummies. A lot of people talk about natures variety brand as well.

 

[pcchenard]

Has anyone had luck with "Taste of the Wild™ High Prairie Puppy™ Formula with Roasted Venison & Bison"? I was thinking that might be what I try next. It's a 4 star food according to the food list on this site.

It's kind of frustrating to spend money on food and then have to throw it away. Especially since the small bags don't really save you much money.

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[Sarah Elizabeth]

Hulks been on Taste of the Wild puppy bison and venison since we brought him home. His stool was soft the first week but have been perfect since then. Just an FYI, we give less than the recommended serving because the recommendation was too much for him.

 

[bullmama]

I would back off just a bit, their digestive systems are very sensitive at that age. Even just a Tablespoon too much food, especially during a switch, can cause soft stool. Go to 1/3 c instead of a half cup until you get totally switched over., let us know if that helps.

Also, puppies can get diarrhea for other reasons too, including worms/parasites, shots, and training treats.

 

[Manydogs]

I feed my dogs Taste of The Wild-but the Pacific Salmon. It just happened to be what I got in the beginning when my Frenchie needed grain free. All of them eat it, and are doing okay-so far! I imagine the venison/bison is okay,too. The amount of food you are feeding does not sound like a lot to me. You will have to switch slowly again-chuck the sportmix, and switch slowly from blue buffalo to TOTW. Sportmix is enough to give any dog the "poops!" Quality food produces "quality poop!" and usually less of it, as they will get more benefit from the food. Junk just goes in one end and out the other! I would also give her a teaspoon of yogurt each day. Plain,active culture yogurt. Hope this helps with your decision. Sometimes it just takes awhile to get the right "formula".

 

[pcchenard]

I would back off just a bit, their digestive systems are very sensitive at that age. Even just a Tablespoon too much food, especially during a switch, can cause soft stool. Go to 2/3 c instead of a half cup until you get totally switched over., let us know if that helps.

Also, puppies can get diarrhea for other reasons too, including worms/parasites, shots, and training treats.

2/3 is more than 1/2. Did you mean 1/3?

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[pcchenard]

I feed my dogs Taste of The Wild-but the Pacific Salmon. It just happened to be what I got in the beginning when my Frenchie needed grain free. All of them eat it, and are doing okay-so far! I imagine the venison/bison is okay,too. The amount of food you are feeding does not sound like a lot to me. You will have to switch slowly again-chuck the sportmix, and switch slowly from blue buffalo to TOTW. Sportmix is enough to give any dog the "poops!" Quality food produces "quality poop!" and usually less of it, as they will get more benefit from the food. Junk just goes in one end and out the other! I would also give her a teaspoon of yogurt each day. Plain,active culture yogurt. Hope this helps with your decision. Sometimes it just takes awhile to get the right "formula".

Thanks for the advice.

Her stool was fine on the Sportmix (except that it smelled rank!). I just didn't want her eating that low quality food any more. Her stool didn't get soft until it was mixed half and half.

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[pcchenard]

Hulks been on Taste of the Wild puppy bison and venison since we brought him home. His stool was soft the first week but have been perfect since then. Just an FYI, we give less than the recommended serving because the recommendation was too much for him.

Thanks for the info.

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[Vikinggirl]

Hi, I'm not familiar with those two brands of food, my two guys were on Royal Canin from the breeder, but we switched them to Fromms Beef Fritatta, after switching 4 different times. It turns out that Blossom is allergic to chicken, salmon, grains and corn. Beef is the only protein she tolerates so far. It was a food decision for you to switch her to a better quality food, but it is very frustrating to find one that is a higher rated quality food, that is both nutritious and healthy, and that our guys can tolerate without any allergy issues or tummy upsets and diarrhea. Maybe it's the chicken that is causing the problems, as a lot of bullies are allergic or sensitive to chicken. When our guys were puppies, we fed them 1 cup of kibble 3 times a day, until they were 7 months old, and then we switched them to an adult dog food formula, and reduced their feedings to 1 cup of kibble twice a day. It's best to do a slow transition when switching foods, it generally should take about 2 and 1/2 weeks to do a food switch. Start with 1/4 cup of the new food with 3/4 of the old food for 1 week, then feed 1/2 of the old food, with 1/2 of the new food, for 1 week, then a full switch to the new food, you can add a Tbsp or two of pure pumpkin to help with the diarrhea. It can take up to a month to see any changes or improvements for the new food, because it can take up to a month for the old food to leave their systems. It's a really frustrating process to find a food that they tolerate, it takes patience, time, and consistency. Also as for unused food, I don't know about your area, but many places here will take back and exchange opened bags of food, if they don't agree with your dog, and a lot of places also will give free sample bags to try out on your dog to,see if they like it, before you buy. Good luck, I hope you find something that works for Lola.

 

[pcchenard]

Hi, I'm not familiar with those two brands of food, my two guys were on Royal Canin from the breeder, but we switched them to Fromms Beef Fritatta, after switching 4 different times. It turns out that Blossom is allergic to chicken, salmon, grains and corn. Beef is the only protein she tolerates so far. It was a food decision for you to switch her to a better quality food, but it is very frustrating to find one that is a higher rated quality food, that is both nutritious and healthy, and that our guys can tolerate without any allergy issues or tummy upsets and diarrhea. Maybe it's the chicken that is causing the problems, as a lot of bullies are allergic or sensitive to chicken. When our guys were puppies, we fed them 1 cup of kibble 3 times a day, until they were 7 months old, and then we switched them to an adult dog food formula, and reduced their feedings to 1 cup of kibble twice a day. It's best to do a slow transition when switching foods, it generally should take about 2 and 1/2 weeks to do a food switch. Start with 1/4 cup of the new food with 3/4 of the old food for 1 week, then feed 1/2 of the old food, with 1/2 of the new food, for 1 week, then a full switch to the new food, you can add a Tbsp or two of pure pumpkin to help with the diarrhea. It can take up to a month to see any changes or improvements for the new food, because it can take up to a month for the old food to leave their systems. It's a really frustrating process to find a food that they tolerate, it takes patience, time, and consistency. Also as for unused food, I don't know about your area, but many places here will take back and exchange opened bags of food, if they don't agree with your dog, and a lot of places also will give free sample bags to try out on your dog to,see if they like it, before you buy. Good luck, I hope you find something that works for Lola.

Thanks for the info. Both foods are chicken based, which was one reason I chose the food that I did. You may be right though. My last Bulldog could only eat beef based food.

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[Davidh]

I would just cut down on the amount just a bit to see if that helps.

 

[Vikinggirl]

You're very welcome. A lot of Bullies don't tolerate chicken, it makes my Blossom miserable, she had red warm ears, itchy skin and paws, pink skin, an itchy red chin. If you continue to have issues with the chicken choices, maybe you can try the Fromm's Beef, all of the Fromm's flavours are an all stages dog food, and can be interchanged without doing the slow transition. I would give it a full month on the new food to see if there are any improvements, and if not try the Fromm's Beef.

 

[pcchenard]

Just an update. I completely dropped the Sportmix but I cut the amount of food from 1/2 cup 3x per day down to 1/3 cup 3x per day. Her stool has firmed up a lot but it is still a touch on the soft side towards the end of her bowel movement. I'll keep the food at this volume for a few more days and see if it firms up more. If it does then I'll try increasing the volume back to where it was.

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

 

[pcchenard]

Her stool has firmed up nicely. I'll increase her food back to 1/2 cup 3x per day starting tomorrow and see what happens.