Your thoughts on Food

[ann4280]

Over the last 5 months we have a real battle with food. The girls came home from the Breeder on Eukanuba small breed puppy and graduated to the small breed adult at 1 year old. They were fine on it ( although they had allergies last summer and take a 1/2 and 1/4 Clariton daily). I noticed that Eukanuba had changed the kibble size last fall and I wondered if they had changed their formula.

In October Sadie started throwing up and have loose stools, one day later so did Daisy. Our vet (who is wonderful) tested their stool and there was problem other than a high bacteria count. Started them on medicine and hamburger and rice. Well they loved the hamburger and rice. After a week, their stools returned to normal and the vet had me start adding their Eukanuba (a tablespoon or two) into the rice and hamburger. Well that did not work. Just made their stool really bad. So we continued with the hamburger and rice and more medicine.

Several weeks later I started to introduce Dick Van Patton's Synergy and they did just fine. Gradually we got rid of the hamburger and rice and continued with the Synergy. But.....5 weeks later we started this all over again. Loose stools, high bacteria count when tested.....back on hamburger and rice and medicine.

When it was time to gradually introduce kibble back into their diet i got a bunch of different sample packets of grain free and single ingredient kibble. Some we have tried are: Fromm, Call of the Wild, Zignature, Nurtisca, Solid Gold wee bits plus others.

I would introduce a couple of tablespoons into their hamburger and rice and they would pick out the hamburger and rice and leave the kibble. This went on for several weeks as we tried different kinds.

Finally they are eating Fresh Pets Vital Complete meals in the resealable bag. It is beef, chicken, salmon, spinach and cranberry. They have also been talking a probiotic pill daily for several weeks. All seems to be good so far. They eat 1/4 to 1/3 cups twice a day which is on the lower side of the recommended amount.

I really would like them to get to the point that they have some kibble mixed in but they turn up their noses at kibble. Any suggestions?

For treats they have Lean Treats that I get at the vet and fruitables.

[Kathleen]

Your girls are just beautiful! I am sorry you have been having such a hard time with food. I know it can be so frustrating.
Did the vet say what was causing the bacteria? That seems kind of scary.
If they are doing well on Fresh Pet, would you consider just sticking with that for now? It is so hard when they have allergies or a food intolerance to find something that they like that works, so it seems like once you find it maybe you could stick with it.
One of my dogs has allergies and I avoid kibble because it is so processed and has preservatives in it. Once they are used to "real" food, I think it is hard for them to go back to kibble. It is so dry.
I wasnt familiar with Lean Treats so I just looked them up. Please be aware that they have a lot of ingredients that can cause allergies, and also two ingredients known to cause cancer in animals. (corn, chicken by-products, high fructose corn syrup, and wheat all can be related to allergies, and propylene glycol, which is in anti-freeze, and BHA, which have been shown to cause cancer). I think I would definitely stop giving them these treats. I know you got them from the vet, but many vets don't pay a lot of attention to nutrition. There is a good site, dogfoodadvisor.com, that rates dog foods and also tells you what ingredients to look out for, if you are interested.
I hope that the girls continue to do well. It sounds like they have come a long way.

[ann4280]

Thanks for your thoughts. I give them their probiotic pill in the lean treat. They are soft and I can mold the capsule around the treat. Any suggestion for a soft treat?

[Kathleen]

Zukes has small jerky syle ones that are soft. They have them in Petco and Petsmart. I sometimes use a little cream cheese to hide pills.
I give my dogs a chewable probiotic (Vetriscience) that is flavored like a treat. They think it is a cookie. That could be another option.

[Bailey&Me]

Honestly, I would say if they are doing well on Fresh Pet, stick with that and ditch the kibble. Foods with more moisture (like Fresh Pet, canned food, dehydrated food that you add water to before feeding, etc) are much healthier for our pups than kibble, and much easier on their systems.

I was also going to say that I remember looking at the ingredients in Lean Treats and saw that they have propylene glycol in them...so I would definitely suggest not feeding them! I think Zuke's treats are similar in consistency, if you'd like to try those instead:

Amazon.com: Zuke's Mini Naturals Dog Treats Roasted Chicken Recipe, 16-Ounce: Pet Supplies

Amazon.com: Zuke's Mini Naturals Dog Treats Roasted Chicken Recipe, 16-Ounce: Pet Supplies