argh - what to do - food troubles

weinyrhymer · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 1:01 am Post subject: argh - what to do - food troubles

I am in a pickle food-wise .. and am hoping for some advice.

I've fed Atlas Merrick kibble for about a year now. He loves it, and has done well on it. Well .. his bag ran out 2 weeks ago and I bought a new bag. When I opened it, it smelled much stronger than usual - really fishy, I think. I fed him dinner; a few hours later, he was outside with the runs. I skipped breakfast and tried again the next night - same thing.

Let's just say the next week and a half was pretty miserable for us both. One day, I came home to one of the worst messes I've ever seen/cleaned up [poor pup, I wasn't there in his hour of need]. I cooked him chicken and mashed potatoes every day for meals. And I finally brought him to the vet and paid lots of money for antibiotics and x-rays (just to make sure it wasn't something else) because his tummy still wasn't back to normal.

Finally, towards the weekend, I thought all was well and I could slowly start him on kibble again. I bought a new smaller bag and started feeding him small bits. He was doing ok, but not great. I can usually switch between Merrick flavors so decided maybe it was the salmon in his food - so I bought a chicken one and mixed them - now he's getting worse. Horrid runs again and, tonight, he threw up his completely undigested dinner.

Argh ..

Does anyone have any thoughts? I'd be tempted to switch his food, but he has such a sensitive stomach that it's hard to do, and since he's not even eating his usual food, I am at a loss.

Gradyismyman · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 9:19 pm Post subject:

Hey, I too am in a pickle about food. My weim Grady has been on Science diet large breed since he was a puppy and he's 2years old now. I have been reading lately how dogs need to eat all natural foods where the first ingredient is a protein and not a by product or "meal." I have researched Wellness, but they don't make one for large breed dogs. I have heard good things about Royal Canin. I am skeptical about changing his food because he has a very sensitive coat and it will react with any stress or upset. Anyway, have you found a good food yet?

LunaBrown · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:18 pm Post subject:

We switched Luna to Canidae All Life Stages (chicken & rice) when she was about 12 weeks old due to a very sensitive stomach. She has predictable solid stools, a shiny soft coat, and she seems to really like it. There are quite a few other weimies on the board that are on Canidae and doing really well with it. It has a great ingredient list, made with USDA "human grade" meat and as far as good natural foods go, the price is really reasonable.

We tried the Solid Gold Wolf Cub (bison) food before she got sick and she was a very gassy little girl with runny poo. Now she's 8.5 months old and we tried to go with the Solid Gold Hund-n-Flocken (lamb) because we wanted to be able to rotate foods, but the gassy stinky butt dog came back so we switched back to all Canidae. She seems to do well when we just supplement her kibble with yogurt, unsweetened applesauce, mashed up bananas and other "healthy" things mixed in to add variety.

The food game is NO fun; we've come to the conculsion "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" - good luck! Smile

NenaGunther · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:28 pm Post subject:

I feed Omas Pride Raw Diet along with chicken necks, some salmon, beef marrow bones, buffalo bones, etc.

They have great coats, great teeth and good poops. Smile

DukesMom · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:49 pm Post subject:

My Duke has a sensitive stomach and is doing great on Canidae! All of my dogs coats are so shiney and beautiful since I switched and great poops too! I add yogurt and pumpkin too.

harpbonefran · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:40 pm Post subject:

I had a similar problem with my girl Gracie a year or so ago. She eats Blue Buffalo brand kibble and I was switching between chicken and rice and lamb and rice flavors. Then I got the fish and sweet potato flavor and it was a mess! She got the runs very badly. After trips to the vet and tests to rule everything else out, the vet said she thought it was the fish oil. She said the especially sensitive stomachs can be overwhelmed by the fish oil and she suggested switching back to chicken or lamb flavor. I threw out the fish bag and Gracie was back to normal in a few days.

Now Gracie gets Blue Buffalo Wilderness formula (it's got higher meat content) and she does really well. I just keep her away from fish flavors! Maybe your boy needs some more time to recover and then you can get him on a non fishy flavor. I highly recommend the Blue Buffalo...we were at the vet today and she said Gracie looks fabulous!!!

Their web page has a picture of a Weim with a cookie on its nose!

Gradyismyman · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 10:09 pm Post subject:

Thanks! I looked up the Blue Buffalo food and saw the cute weim with the cookie on his nose. I will certainly try this food for Grady. I love that they have a large breed formula. Most of the "all natural" dog foods that I have seen do not have a large breed food. Thanks! Smile

anne · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:28 pm Post subject:

You will have to switch foods until you find something that will not upset his stomach. This can take time with a lot of trial and error involved.

weinyrhymer · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:49 pm Post subject:

Thanks, all. It most likely was the fish oil in it - the bag smelled so very very fishy. If Merrick ever calls me back and refunds me for the bad bag, I'll switch him to a non-fish based version of their food. Otherwise, I'm going to give them up and will look at Candidae or raw.

Switching brands for him is pretty much a mess in general - it takes well over a month to do it without upsetting his stomach and he has to be eating normally first - so I hate to do it unless I absolutely have to.

Idaviruma · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:41 pm Post subject:

it might be a bad batch, I know merrick makes a cheap dog food for sams club that was recalled recently, who knows how its regulated. Theres been some issues with Canidae lately, people finding corn and peanuts in food and hard black masses in canned, theres always that risk with commercial pet foods unfortunately and probably raw or homecooked is the safest route to take.