Advice needed for Mertz's sensitive belly!

[Kaitlin Sara]

Hi guys! This is my first post in the forum and I am looking for some advice on food for our little guy Mertz. We got mertz in July when he was 6 months old. We are absolutely in love with him! I was never a dog person, but I am head over heels for mertzy. We were told that he is 94% (or so) bulldog and has a little bit of beagle in him.

In July- we had him on Nutro. He pooped a lot and had diarrhea here and there but we thought it was just an adjustment issue, but decided to switch food anyway.
In august- we had him on iams grain free (I was excited because iams has coupons but after some research I was worried about our food choice). Towards the end of the month mertz was throwing up a lot. We ended up at an emergency vet on a Sunday to get him checked. Everything turned out ok (I was worried about aspiration) but she told is to reset him with a bland diet, and I decided to switch to a higher grade food.
Since then- Mertz has been on merrick grain free pork and potato. I chose this because of the high reviews, and one of my best friends has her dog in it so I trust her opinion. At first he seemed to be doing really well, but still his poops were pretty soft. Then he started to become uninterested in his food for about a week or so, but then bounced back from that. Sometime in late September he was having frequent diarrhea again, so I called the vet. He prescribed us a 30day powder to put on his food and suggested the bland diet for about a week. He did great! Once the medicine stopped (I think forti flora or something ) the diarrhea came back.

So now- here we are end of October and the poor guy still doesn't have a steady diet. This past week we've been doing a mix of bland diet foods (chicken rice pumpkin eggs and very little kibble) and the poops are becoming more solid.

I am am thinking all of his poo issues are related to the kibble , but merrick is a highly rated food so I don't know where to go from there. I did some research on IBD, which he may have, and it seems that treatment is all through diet. We chose to go with grain free because of the bulldog tendencies for skin, coat, ear, tail, wrinkle infections.

Do you think mertz is reacting to the grain free food??? What would you recommend???

Right now, I have an order out for the new purina (I know...I'm starting to worry about this decision now) Just Right customizable dog food. I thought maybe if I could control it, that we would have better results. I also decided to go grain free with this food.


Any any and all experienced bulldog owner input is welcome! I am clearly overthinking this and need some major advice!!!


THANK YOU!!!
kaitlin & mertz

 

[brutus77]

Hi and welcome to EBN. I would stick with the Merrick for now. I feed my Frankie this food and he does great. You can switch the type of protein without doing a slow transition. I have my guy on the grain free buffalo and sweet potato. He loves it. Have you done a slow transition when you switched food previously? While he is on the bland diet, I would slowly add the kibble to it. start with a quarter cup of kibble to three quarters cup bland and then every few days increase the amount of kibble while decreasing the amount of bland. How often are you feeding per day? At 7mos is when I started giving one cup twice a day, usually one cup in the morning and one cup in the evening. Maybe he is getting too much food? This will absolutely cause loose poops. Good luck and keep us posted of your progress.

 

[2BullyMama]

to EBN

I agree with Rosalie.... how did you transition and I would stick with the merrick

 

[Kaitlin Sara]

Thank you for the responses! We had changed protein from duck to pork and he is definitely enjoying the pork more. We have always done a slow transition, especially when coming off to the bland diet. We are feeding Mertz 2x a day, usually one cup at 6am and one cup around 5-630pm when we eat dinner. He doesn't usually show too much interest in his breakfast meal.

We would appreciate any other suggestions that you have! Thank you!

 

[brutus77]

My Frankie doesnt always show interest in his morning meal either. Thats ok, just offer it a bit later. At 6mos he needs both meals. I would try the buffalo protien and see how he does. Is he cleared from the vet for any issues?

 

[cefe13]

Castor didn't do well on kibble. During his first year, he tried several brands of kibble but his stools were always loose. When we switched him to raw, there was a big change. Now he can eat a lot more and his digestion is fine.