Food help
 

Okay friends, I really need some help. Harley is about eight months now. I cannot get him on a food that is right for him… I've had him on all different sorts of blue wilderness puppy mixtures, I think it's too rich for him he's got gas that's terrible and his poop always comes out hard at first but then is super soft. Too much information, I know. But please help he's my baby.

Hiya,


have you been to the vet to check that all is A-OK with health?


I don't think poop consistency is usually a problem as long as its not super hard and the frequency is good i.e. 1-2 times a day.


My vet recommends that I don't keep switching food around and especially when the puppy is not even a year old yet...


I hope some others can give more advice but I would:
1. Check with vet that health is ok
2. Check with vet re: poop consistency etc (it may be perfectly normal and you're worried for nothing like a good mommy)
3. Check w/vet re: food recommendations if he/she thinks you should try alternatives


Basically, check with the vet and see what they say!

If you've only had him trying different Blue Wilderness brands and there are issues, then I'd def try a different brand and compare labels so that you're changing actual ingredients too.

If ya do switch, I recommend Wellness as an option, it's been really good with us and my girl doesn't get gas from it ^^; Or you might even get the formulas for sensitive tummies.

Firmer stools also serve the purpose of helping to evacuate anal glands. I thank God I do not have the issue of continually searching/trying/rejecting/searching/trying/rejecting over and over, trying to find a food that my dogs like/eat/tolerate/keep them healthy or that is "right" for them. That is such a merry-go-round trap that would have me slap dab crazy.

My group is on Royal Canin. We have NO issues with allergies, loose stools, not eating, gas, bloating, vomiting, so it obviously works very well for me and my dogs, and has for over 35 years. (I had an issue with a delayed development in immunity in one of my litters, but that had nothing to do with the dog food. Putting that affected puppy, along with his momma, on a grain free diet has solved that issue.....he is on a grain free diet and doing great.)

If you are interested, they start out on Puppy Starter Mouse, wean onto starter kibble, advance to puppy kibble at 14 weeks of age and at a year of age, they go to either the breed specific kibble, or mini adult. You may want to give it a try....they all love it around here, and if your pup likes it/ eats it, and chances are he will, he will do super on it. If he doesnt tolerate it, you can always climb back on that dog food scavenger hunt....but if you DO give it a try, you will need to give him and his system a minute or two to adjust to some stability in his feeding. All this switching around at this early age seems to lend itself to total confusion and upset systems and eating issues. Good luck!

Thanks for all the help!!!! It's weird actually, the vet said everything was fine, try blue wilderness (we had him on something else before) so we went there, still loose stools, and bad gas not just "oh the dog tooted" I mean it's bad, and so then they said it's probably Too rich get grain free, so we got puppy mix grain free. It's just turned into this big thing and I have been referred to a "dog nutritionalist" which is a 300$ advice session pretty much.

I'm not a vet but this is what I would do:
Feed half boiled white meat chicken and half sweet potato along with a tablespoon of canned no salt green peas - it's ok to cook sweet potato in microwave) and see if this firms up the stools and rests the GI track. Give it about 2 days and if the stools are firm, then you can introduce the "next" kibble. I would suggest trying the Royal Canin mini. See how he does. I bet this will work :)

Hope this helps!

Wow thanks for the help! So it seems that royal canin is the popular brand for yorkies huh? So do any of your yorkies have sensitive stomaches? And which one worked best for the sensitive belly issues? Because I see there's many different brands.

I don't know if you get Royal Canin in the UK by they do a Yorkie one. Both Junior for puppies and adults.


Mine loves it!!

Interesting thread. Clark was on some cheap supermarket brand when we got him and he had very loose stools and horrible gas on it. So I switched him sooner than the breeder recommended and it helped immensely with the loose stools, but the gas is still there. Better, but really bad when it does happen. Clark can clear a room. I also feed the Blue Wilderness puppy stuff to him, so wonder if that's causing the gas? Maple is totally fine on it, but she's never had so much as a toot even though I've switched her food several times (looking for one that had oral health in mind, we settled on Blue, but switched her to puppy temporarily while Clark is a pup, then they will both go on Toy adult).

It's just strange to me that Clark is so smelly, I've never had a small dog with so much gas. I thought it was just a big dog problem (our big dogs always had that issue, my brother's lab is particularly nasty, lol) but here's Clark, clearing a room. I wonder if the puppy stuff is too rich?

Royal Canin is all over Europe! They get lines over there we cant get here.....Baby milk formula, for example....and I am SICK I can not get it here for my babies!

Why will they not allow that brand there?

And to the owner of Clark with the gas issues: I think it is just too rich, I've tried every puppy formula they own for small dogs.... And it's ABnORMaLLY bad gas, poop starts out firm but immediately squirts after that. I know it's the food too, he was handling some cheap store shelf food before that better than this, but I wasn't happy with the ingredients/fillers etc. I wAnt whas best for harley though even if it takes some trial and error. Only reason I haven't switched him again is because he has switched so much and I can't imagine that is helping his situation either although I do do it super super gradually. He hasn't had any issues with anal glands needing drained, YET. I know he will if I can't figure somethig out for him. He hasn't had any issues with not liking food either he's not picky he will eat anything and everything. The lady there warned me that some dogs like it but just can't tolerate it, and others it is a miracle food. I'm stuck!

They do not have a facility built here in the USA that can produce the milk formula under the quality control that they have in the original facility, as well as facilities in Canada. I have been told perhaps in the future they will make the changes necessary to allow that here in the US.

I totally wrote that comment wrong, I am in the UK and get Royal Canin. So do they not do it in the USA?

can you not maybe get it online?

I can't get the yorkie one in Scotland but I buy online and shipping isn't too expensive. Poppy likes the normal Junior Mini anyway if for whatever reason I couldn't get the yorkie one.

Ahhhh I see, I stopped by and asked my vet before she said that some people have great luck with it, and that it used to be like bi product free and all that bad stuff but two years ago they snuck it back in and kept price the same and some dogs still do wonderful on it but if I'm super paranoid about that kind of stuff I should steer clear, I decided to go with some nature wellness or nature choice natural thing for sensitive Tummys and so far so good after one meal! We shal see! Thanks for all the help!