Food Frustrations

Brilloluna

New member
Jul 20, 2014
28
2
Northern California
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Cricket (2014-) Willa: (2001-2013)
Hi-
I'm hoping someone can help- I got Cricket from the pound (at 16 weeks- she's now 6 months). They had her on Science Diet, which I immediately took her off.. Had her on Simply Nourish for a short time, because her stools never firmed up past the soft-serve ice cream stage with that food... Put her on Science Diet Grain Free, at her vet's recommendation. That didn't work, either, so I tried Fromm's puppy formula. I saw no real improvement. I decided to try Avoderm- I met someone who has a bulldog and swore by it. I thought I'd give it a try..

At the same time, Cricket picked up a bug at the beach and her butt completely broke. She was on cottage cheese, rice, and chicken for two weeks. I gave her some time for her stools to firm up and stay firm for at least a week. Every time I tried to transition her to Avoderm, her butt broke again, so I gave up on that (on top of that, her skin became pink and she was super-super-itchy every time she had Avoderm). My roommate's dog is on one of the Kirkland brands from Costco. I figured I had nothing to lose. Boy was I wrong. Her butt broke again...

I switched her over to Honest Kitchen's beef line for all stages two days ago. Her stools have firmed up somewhat, but then after 2 days on it, she threw up a bit this morning, from dinner last night.. it looked like it had just sat in her stomach for a while and gotten darker, then come back up.... (she didn't throw up her entire dinner- maybe 10% of it came up..)

I feel like I'm grabbing at straws, trying this and that, and I might be doing more harm than good. I had my previous bully, Willa, on a raw food diet because of her extreme sensitivity to processed dog food... And I'm starting to think I might need to do the same for Cricket, but am hoping to buy a few more weeks' time on "regular" food...

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I've had no luck with this and that, and I figure the more information, the better...

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, especially from people who have experienced something similar- would like to know what works.
 

cefe13

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2013
3,714
205
Country
Sweden
Bulldog(s) Names
Castor (2013-2021 RIP)
Not that bad, but on and off the same experience here. We tried several types of kibble during Castor's first year and only when we tested raw did we see a drastic improvement.
 

2BullyMama

I'm not OCD....now who moved my bulldog?
Staff member
Community Veteran
Jul 28, 2011
48,580
3,670
Gilbertsville, PA
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Chelios (Frenchie), Nitschke (2004-2011) Banks (2005-2014) and Lambeau (2014-2024)
how quickly are you making the changes? also, what protein source are you using in eachof the changes you made?
 
OP
B

Brilloluna

New member
Jul 20, 2014
28
2
Northern California
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Cricket (2014-) Willa: (2001-2013)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #4
Each transition- about 4-5 days (I feed her twice a day- she usually gets about 1 cup of kibble per meal). The only food I didn't transition to was Honest Kitchen (what she's on now). This was because she'd been eating rice, cottage cheese, and boiled chicken. I "transitioned" over maybe 3-4 meals.

I don't know what kind of protein was in the Simply Nourish..

Science Diet-I can't remember for sure if it was chicken meal or salmon- I'm pretty sure it was the chicken meal formula from their grain-free line.

Fromm's- it was the puppy formula- in the pink bag. That would be. duck, chicken meal, chicken...

Avoderm- it was turkey. She had the strongest reaction to it (I gave her a bit of Honest Kitchen made from turkey this morning, and she was itchy all over again, so I'm pretty confident turkey isn't a good protein source for Cricket..). She only had avoderm for a few meals- her reaction was so strong I stopped giving it to her pretty quickly.

Honest Kitchen.. aside from this morning, she's been on beef. Her stools have been REALLY DARK on it, but much more shape than with the other foods. Just perplexed why she threw up this morning. I could chalk it up to her being a puppy and still in the chewing phase, but...

Does this help?.. :)


how quickly are you making the changes? also, what protein source are you using in eachof the changes you made?
 

cali baker

Worlds Greatest Chef
Feb 25, 2011
8,925
851
The Crown City (Pasadena)
Country
United States
Bulldog(s) Names
Tate Rory & Finn Paddington
Hi there!
You mentioned that Cricket had a stomach bug--is this totally cleared up now? did she get a recent stool check to make sure she doesn't have some underlying cause for the GI distress?

How about giving her a bland diet again until her tummy gets back in balance...just some boiled rice and boiled ground beef with the fat taken out (or the boiled chicken u gave her before)? I don't know if you're up to giving her home cooking on a regular basis (I see you did raw food for your other bully), but that's something I do and my bully's seem to respond well to it.
 

Vikinggirl

Norwegian Rose
Community Veteran
Oct 8, 2012
9,740
597
Burlington, ON Canada
Country
Canada
Bulldog(s) Names
Bulldozer and Blossom
Hi, I also have a female bully named Blossom who suffers from allergies to chicken, salmon, corn and grains. Many bullies are either allergic or sensitive to chicken. I switched Blossoms food 4 times before we tried Fromm's Beef Frittata. When she was on chicken or fish based foods her symptoms were itchy paws, excessive licking of her paws, she had red acne on her chin, pink skin, and red warm ears, as well as tear stains. They have been on the Fromm's Beef for a little over two years, and were doing well on it, until recently, Blossom and now Bulldozer are licking their paws, and Dozer is shedding like crazy. I switched their food to the Fromm's Lamb and Lentil last week to see if a change in protein makes a difference. So far we are having good results. It can take up to a month before you see improvements or benefits to a food change, as it can take this long for the old food to leave their system. When you do a food change you should always do a slow transition over two or more weeks to avoid tummy upset and diarrhea. The first week mix 2/3 of the old food to 1/3 of the new food, then mix 1/2 and 1/2, for a week, and finally all the new food. All of the foods you have been feeding Cricket including the Fromm's Puppy Formula have chicken as their protein source, so this may be what is causing her problems. It's really trial and error to find a food that they tolerate. I hope you find a food that agrees with her. The good thing about switching between the different flavours of Fromm's, is you don't have to do a slow transition, they are all interchangeable with each other.
 
OP
B

Brilloluna

New member
Jul 20, 2014
28
2
Northern California
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Cricket (2014-) Willa: (2001-2013)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #7
I'd forgotten- When I got Cricket, she tested positive for Giardia. She took a course of medicines. When the time came near to re-test her to see if she was clear, she started having diarrhea, so I had her re-tested. She tested negative for giardia the second time around, and there was one hookworm in her stool sample. The vet chose to put her through another course of anti-parasite medications, just to be on the safe side, even though it wasn't medically required...
Should I have her tested again for parasites, including giardia, even though she tested negative the second time around?
 
OP
B

Brilloluna

New member
Jul 20, 2014
28
2
Northern California
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Cricket (2014-) Willa: (2001-2013)
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #8
OK. I might consider trying Fromm's again one more time before I go all-out raw, because I've heard many good things about that food. I'd definitely avoid chicken and turkey...

I think I'll give Honest Kitchen a little more time before looking into raw food or another dog food line, just so Cricket's system has time to adjust...

Thanks for all the help. I'll keep you posted! :)
 

2BullyMama

I'm not OCD....now who moved my bulldog?
Staff member
Community Veteran
Jul 28, 2011
48,580
3,670
Gilbertsville, PA
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Chelios (Frenchie), Nitschke (2004-2011) Banks (2005-2014) and Lambeau (2014-2024)
I'd forgotten- When I got Cricket, she tested positive for Giardia. She took a course of medicines. When the time came near to re-test her to see if she was clear, she started having diarrhea, so I had her re-tested. She tested negative for giardia the second time around, and there was one hookworm in her stool sample. The vet chose to put her through another course of anti-parasite medications, just to be on the safe side, even though it wasn't medically required...
Should I have her tested again for parasites, including giardia, even though she tested negative the second time around?

I would. Also, Honest Kitchen is a great food... just try to avoid the poultry, that seems it could be an issue
 

HTX Bully

New member
Aug 6, 2013
290
9
Houston, TX
Country
USA
Bulldog(s) Names
Holly
I would stick with honest Kitchen for a bit and see how your bully does over a couple weeks. If you do change foods again follow [MENTION=6311]Vikinggirl[/MENTION] suggestion above and switch foods slowly. I just switched food with my bully and I transitioned to the new food over two weeks. If you do it faster than that you can really mess with their tummy.
 

dunky

New member
May 31, 2014
21
0
Country
United States
Bulldog(s) Names
Allie
What did they use to treat the giardia? When one of my pups had it metronidazole (flagyl) didn't work and we ended up having to do multiple 7 day courses of fembendazole. Even then I had to disinfect every spot he pooped on (inside and out) and give him a bath between treatments. Also, are they testing for it using a fecal float or a snap style test?
 

Most Reactions

📰 Latest posts

Staff online

Members online

Top