Anybody switch to Wellness from a different food?

[Maryellen]

from what my friend told me who did alot of research for her earth dachunds, Innova causes loose stools it is higher quality and richer. have you tried acidopholus and slippery elm in your dogs food to help with the stool? or pumpkin? and maybe adding Prozyme or Unleash?

[Erika]

Moto: how long has he had the runs now?

Food allergies CAN pop up suddenly as the dog matures. I had the Doctor that I work for caution me about switching foods all the time because not only is hard on thier system, if a food allergy DOES crop up later it is that much harder to diagnose.

Have you tried a bland diet on him yet? This is what we reccommend for doggie diarrhea. the formula is feed 1 part cottage cheese or other mild protien source like tofu (not hamburger!!) to 3 parts white rice (not the minute kind, slow cooked) for a few days until you see improvement. You feed 1/2 the proportions he would normally have, only twice the amount of feedings. So, normally he gets 2 cups of food a day, 1 in am, 1 in pm. you should feed 1/2 a cup of the bland, 4 times a day.

If you arent seeing improvement, something else is going on. you should run a fecal next, to check for not just worms, but parasites like giardia and coccidia. they only show up under the microscope and cause diarrhea and digestive upset.

If the fecal comes up negative, then it is probable to say that we are dealing with a food allergy.

Sorry about the lecture, i hope that it helps!

[moto1320]

I had him on a bland diet of boiled chicken and a small amount of rice. It is possible that the chicken as a protien source could cause a reaction...but IMO not as probable as a diet of soy and rice. Anyway, it didn't help. I had a fecal run for everything. Dogs with giardia usually have it super bad. It's not quite that bad. The tests were run for everything under the sun. Nothing yet. Since going to a twice a day feeding and switching to Wellness he is getting some form at least in his stool. But only in the morning. Not enough or consistent enough to be hopeful about. Sooo, it will be either a raw diet or Wellness Fish and Sweet Potato next. I dunno....it makes my head hurt.

He firmed up a little for the last three days of the small bag of Wellness Super 5 I had him on, resulting in me buying a big bag only to realize that it wasn't going to help. :wallbang:

[concreterose]

Maryellen,
I have fed three Solid Gold formulas. All the dogs started off on Hund N' Flocken, where the main protein source is lamb. I then switched my puppy to Beef and Barley because it has a higher fat/protein content and she is very active and has a high metabolism. I put Pookie on the Holistic blend because she's not as active and a bit overweight. I never had any problems with any of the formulas, I was very happy with them. I really just switched them to Canidae for a change, but it looks like it wasn't a good one.

This is what is says on the back of the Wellness bag of Fish and Sweet Potato I have:

Healthy stools are formed and moist not hard and dry. So I guess if you use Wellness, you can kiss those nice dry stools goodbye.

My vet also told me that it can take up to 4-6 weeks to see a change when dealing with a food allergy AND that dogs can be on a particular food for years and then develop an allergy to it.

[Erika]

Well, then it looks like you might be in for expensive allergy tests. that sucks, sorry I wasnt able to help more. good luck.

[barbponys]

I understand the concept behind the 4-6 week time frame for change when dealing with food allergies but I have never seen it take that long personally. When going from a food they don't react to to one they do it usually takes 2 weeks to 2 months to see the symptoms crop up. 3-4 weeks is about average. If the allergie is profound it's usually closer to the 2 weeks. When going back to a non-allergenic food the change doesn't take as long, in my experience. As short as 4 days and as long as 2 weeks.

I have heard people say that when testing for allergies if they haven't had a particular food for a while they may not test positive for it, my pug has never had catfish in his life yet he registered a 3 for that.......go figure. They will also change, sometimes drastically. Some dogs don't develop the allergies till much later in life, it takes time for the histmines to pile up to the point where they are symptomatic. 4 years for my boxer as opposed to Goliath who was already symptomatic at 18 months and his changed after 5 years. So it's not necessarily the food that "causes" the allergy but the fact that the food has ingredients the dog is allergic to.............. I have only run into one other dog, a GSD, that had the extreme protein sensitivities like Goliath, it's more often grains mixed with environmentals.

[Maryellen]

Thanks Millicent,

i had her onCanidae for 2 years now, i am still waiting for the bloodwork to come back. it was the only food i could feed her and not have any allergic reactiontoo. i went out and bought Wolfking by Solid gold, its bison and salmon, and has less stuff than the canidae. i am switching all the dogs to solid gold now. the only other thing about the canidae is that their stools were less. but then again i have mr pooper scooper come to the house twice a week to pick up the stools now

i think she might have a fungal infection in her feet and ear, i have been doing research and karen said to get a test done for fungal as cuddlebuns had the same feet and ear problems. now if only i can figure out the muscle loss and odor :wallbang: