Not sure about changing food?

[betterxthanxnew]

Hi All! I have a couple questions about potentially changing Effie's food. When we first got her at 9 weeks she was eating Nutro Max. We gradually changed her over to Blue Buffalo Wilderness Bison (for puppies). She seems to really love the food, and her stools were harder (she had very soft serve style poo when we first brought her home on the Nutro).
She's 15 weeks now, and all has been well until recently. Over the last 3-4 days I've noticed a light pink color emerging on her chin, and she's been chewing on her back leg a lot, as well as licking herself a lot more than usual. She's also had really soft poo again the last few days. I am wondering if it could be a food allergy? I hate to change her food again...but I'm not sure what to do. She does have a vet appointment today for her next set of shots, so I was thinking off talking to the vet about this as well, but I wanted to see what you all think.
Has anyone else used this food and had any negative experiences? It's a 6 star, so I really thought we were purchasing something top notch for her. And she does really seem to enjoy it a lot.

 

[dolphin]

@betterxthanxnew It is great food but it's the protein in the food that could be the problem. I've been through 7 different foods in the 3 years we've had Buster it's a heck of a journey figuring it out and there are many many peeps on here that have been though the same. Maybe try her out on a different kind of Blue Buffalo in their own puppy line something other than Bison? Or consider Fromms? Their 4 star line is all grain free and there's no wait time if you switch between them and you can feed it to them as a pup straight thru to senior years. I know it sounds like a commercial but it truly is the best dog food line out there.

Just a btw, most vet's aren't very well versed in dog food, they'll try to push whatever food line is picking up the bill at the time.

 

[betterxthanxnew]

I've read a lot about Fromms, it seems to come highly recommended. I was thinking of switching to it once we're close to running out of her Blue Buffalo (which we unfortunately just bought a HUGE bag of ). It's frustrating because you never know if it's food allergies, environmental allergies, puppy acne, type of food dish, etc. etc. etc. lol! I just wish there was an easier way to tell, before changing her food. I'll drive myself crazy with all the wondering...

 

[dolphin]

haha everyone goes though it that has the greatest breed in the world

I thought we had environmental but once I found he could stomach Salmon-Tunalini without any effect it made my life heavenly lol Stainless steel bowls only.

 

[boo boo butts mom]

My boo is 3 and since owning her from a baby puppy I have had to change her food so many times from the very best grain free and extremely expensive dog food out there. She gets so itchy,red,yeasty,and i have gone to all fromm ect to latest try with natures raw boost kibble which totally messed her bowel movement up bad. So bad that i had to take her to vet because it was horrible on her digestive system that she was straining to have a bm. I felt so bab and it cost 90 something a bag too. Her vet put her on prescription formula to help with bm and immediately it helped and she is no longer eating these great dog foods ect and now eating the prescription kibble that i had to order online with a script of course. Its not cheap but cheaper than some of what i have paid for. She is happy and doesnt seem to ever have any skin issues or yeast break outs and she is happy having normal bm's lol. I use this canned food when doing her transition of change of food which is great on her system. Thats how i initially came across the food when speaking to her vet but she is a bully who has a sensitive stomach who doesnt do well on all these great foods. This food is also good on dogs who have runny poo also, works super fast. I hope you find a food for your bully.

 

[betterxthanxnew]

Well, last night Effie started having diarrhea. Bad. Like poop lava. It was horrible. She was yipping every time she tried to poop. I felt so horrible. She wasn't throwing up. No fever. She ate dinner like normal (right before we found out she had diarrhea). And she's been drinking plenty of water. My mom recommended putting her on a bland diet for a couple of days, of white rice and baby food chicken. I was so worried she was going to have diarrhea all over herself in her crate today that I left work early to run to the store to get some bland diet ingredients. We did not feed her breakfast this morning before I left for work, but did give her a small dose of kaopectate. When I got home from work around 1pm I fed her some rice and chicken baby food. I waited about an hour and took her outside. She had a normal firm bowel movement. Now, I know this probably had nothing to do with the rice..I doubt it would have gone through her system that quickly. Maybe the kaopectate? I am wondering if it was just a stomach bug and it's possibly passing now. She's had all of her shots and deworming, she's also on sentinel- so I don't think it was anything like that. I am going to continue with the bland diet atleast tonight and tomorrow- just to be sure. Probably start mixing her normal kibble back in on Sunday. Does that sound like a good plan? If the diarrhea picks back up again I am going to take her to the vet- I was already starting to seriously freak out. We're going to hold off on switching her food for a while because now we have to transition back from the bland diet, and I don't want to do too much changing at once. When we are closer to running out of her current food I may still consider transitioning to something new if the chewing on her back leg persists, and the redness on her chin continues :/
Right now I'm just so happy she had a normal poo! I ran in the house screaming about it to my husband- who looked at me like I was a crazy person, haha

 

[harveyspecter]

sounds like heading in the right direction.

 

[dolphin]

the kaopectate definitely did its job and this sounds like a great plan but what may have caused the diarrhea do you think? Also, if you're going to do a food change now is the prefect time unless you want to get through that bag.

 

[betterxthanxnew]

I wish I knew what caused it, but I really don'. She doesn't get scraps of our food. She hasn't had any new treats or food in weeks. I wish I could figure it out :/ She has a bad habit of grabbing up everything outside to eat. I'm constantly pulling her off stuff!
She seems to be feeling well this evening, she's been running around acting like her usual self. I had also wondered if it might make sense to go ahead and transition to a new food after the bland diet. But, I wasn't sure. If that's the case I'm going to pick something new out tomorrow! :D Thanks!

 

[2BullyMama]

Sorry if i missed this in the posts, but how much are you feeding Effie?

 

[Vikinggirl]

I've read a lot about Fromms, it seems to come highly recommended. I was thinking of switching to it once we're close to running out of her Blue Buffalo (which we unfortunately just bought a HUGE bag of ). It's frustrating because you never know if it's food allergies, environmental allergies, puppy acne, type of food dish, etc. etc. etc. lol! I just wish there was an easier way to tell, before changing her food. I'll drive myself crazy with all the wondering...

Hi Tasha, Dolphin gave you very good advice, it may still be the protein base or it could be the grains that are causing the allergy or intolerance issues. It is a very frustrating period trying to find a food that is both a high quality and one that they tolerate. It's really just trial and error and waiting to see which one works for your dog, every dog is different.
Pit also can takenupmto a month before you see any changes or benefits to a food change, as it can take that long for the old food to leave their systems. I went through 4 food switches with my guys before finding Fromm's Lamb and Lentil, due to allergies to chicken and salmon, then I switched them to Fromm's Beef Frittata, and they were on that for almost 2 years before they developed an intolerance to the beef as well. They have been on the Lamb and Lentil for about a 8 months, with good results so far. When you are switching foods, it's best to do a slow transition over a couple of weeks, to avoid tummy upsets and diarrhea. Start with 2/3 of the old food mixed with 1/3 of the new food for 3 or 4 days, then mix 1/2 of the old food with 1/2 of the new food for a few days, and then mix 2/3 of the new food with 1/3 of the old food, and finally all new food. This would be a good time to do the switch, as you still have a bag of the old food to mix with the new food. If you have any leftovers of the old food after the switch, you can donate the rest to a shelter or SPCA, they are always looking for donations and will accept opened bags of food, or give it to a homeless person who has a dog with them
Also many stores will take back an opened bag of dog food if it is at least half full, and will exchange it for you. Good luck with finding a food that Effie tolerates.

 

[dolphin]

Sorry if i missed this in the posts, but how much are you feeding Effie?

Was going to ask this same question.

 

[ddnene]

I'm so sorry to hear about your baby… I used to feed my bullies Blue Buffalo (Wilderness I believe) and like your story they were doing fine at first, and then all of the sudden lots of gas and loose stools!!! It was pretty bad… I would continue on the bland diet until you see the vet. He could have a stomach bug, but you may want to switch out his food and by that I mean a very slow gradual change. I recommend going to Dog Food Reviews and Ratings | Dog Food Advisor to check out their ratings. It really depends on what your budget will allow, I use Fromm's for my Walter but I have also used Earthborne Holistic. I hope he feels better, and please keep us posted!!!

 

[betterxthanxnew]

She gets 1 cup in the morning around 6am and 1 cup again around 5:30pm. I didn't think we were overfeeding her, we were following guidelines on the bag. Since starting the bland diet on Friday her bowel movements have all been very solid...almost too solid. Seems like it's just a little difficult for her to get it out. So I went ahead and started mixing her regular kibble back in last night. I will let you all know how it goes! My husband isn't convinced that it was the food that gave her diarrhea as it seemed to come on so suddenly. But she had been having soft poos for a few days. I'm going to wait about a week or 2 and make sure she's having normal bowel movements again. If they're still soft were just going to get something new at that point and do a normal slow transition.
I'm wondering if the pink in her chin and the chewing could be coming from plastic? She has a stainless steel food and water dish. But we did just recently give her a plastic coke bottle to play with, and over the last few days her mouth has gotten much pinker. Now I don't know if that's from the bland diet with the chicken baby food...or if it's from the coke bottle! So confusing! Either way I've removed both at this point. Just mixing a little rice with her kibble for now, and tomorrow going back to all kibble. I also picked up some nonfat plain yogurt to start giving her as well starting this week.
Thanks for all of yall's help!!

 

[betterxthanxnew]

Well, since I've been mixing her kibble with the rice...her stools are awfully soft again. I think maybe it really is her food causing the loose stools. I've been trying to research different foods. I think we are going to try Canidae Life Stages, Lamb & Rice. From what I've read it's good for sensitive stomachs, and it's limited ingredient..so I should be able to better judge what is affecting her. I wonder if Blue Wilderness is too high in protein, and we need to dial it down a notch? Canidae also makes a grain free line. I'm not sure which would be better to try at this point?
Since I have been mixing her kibble with the rice....how do you recommend I transition her to the new food? We're going to pick it up tonight. Should I mix both kibbles with the rice for a few days, and then switch to just the new kibble with rice...then just the new kibble by itself?
Thanks for all of your help, I really appreciate it!!