no more purina for Jonesy!

[rottensheperd]

I own an 18 month old Rottweiler/German Sheperd cross, and have owned him since he was about 7 weeks old. When I first got him, I switched him from Purina One puppy formula to Innova Large Breed Puppy and had great results. He steadily gained about 10 lbs a month until he was a year old and looked great with a shiny soft coat and nice looking teeth, eyes, ears, the whole enchilada. About a month ago I (foolishly) switched to Purina dog chow because he seemed to like the taste and I liked the price. Unfortunatly, the new food came with some unbelievable behavioural problems. Jonesy had 10X the energy, and even with increased physical activity, he was still acting like a little puke! His coat became greasy and he developed major dandruff. I decided there might be too many carbs in his new diet so I swiched him to Blue Whitefish and Sweet Potato formula, and in just a few days after reducing the other food, he is back to the same well behaved boy that he was before! I'm so impressed and pleased that I think Jonesy will be Blue for the rest of his life, and would recommed it to anyone!

Does anyone have any science to back up my suspicions of too many carbs causing high energy and naughtiness?

[SubMariner]

I own an 18 month old Rottweiler/German Sheperd cross, and have owned him since he was about 7 weeks old. When I first got him, I switched him from Purina One puppy formula to Innova Large Breed Puppy and had great results. He steadily gained about 10 lbs a month until he was a year old and looked great with a shiny soft coat and nice looking teeth, eyes, ears, the whole enchilada. About a month ago I (foolishly) switched to Purina dog chow because he seemed to like the taste and I liked the price. Unfortunatly, the new food came with some unbelievable behavioural problems. Jonesy had 10X the energy, and even with increased physical activity, he was still acting like a little puke! His coat became greasy and he developed major dandruff. I decided there might be too many carbs in his new diet so I swiched him to Blue Whitefish and Sweet Potato formula, and in just a few days after reducing the other food, he is back to the same well behaved boy that he was before! I'm so impressed and pleased that I think Jonesy will be Blue for the rest of his life, and would recommed it to anyone!

Does anyone have any science to back up my suspicions of too many carbs causing high energy and naughtiness?

Why didn't you switch back to an Innova feed?

[sassymaxmom]

Wow, that is amazing.

Max had greasy ears on kibble and cooked grainy food and now he doesn't get any grains and very few carbs his ears are very clean. I noticed that low carb raw improved his temperament as well. It took me a long time to notice these effects though, not very observant I guess. Hope I don't ever have to prove it was the result of eating grain by putting him back on it! I did figure out wheat gave him eye goobers when a piece of toast went missing and guess who was spouting eye goobers like mad?

[chocolatelabguy]

It stands to reason that the higher carbs will increase energy levels in animals, just as it does in humans. Of course in kibble, typically as carbs go up, protein levels go down. Since most, if not all, lower quality kibbles have high carbs (other side effects being increased appetite, obesity, etc. etc.) they have lower protien levels and of course are missing many of the quality ingredients that promote a healty coat, clear eyes and ears, and on and on. I noticed a huge difference in coat quality in my chocolate lab when I switched from Science Diet to Chicken Soup, and even more improvements in moving up to TOTW. Do you associate most of the behavioral issues with the higher energy level? Perhaps he is simply too wound up on the high carb diet to think about anything else. Yet another side effect of poor quality kibble that we don't hear about as often.
Thanks for your post. Great food for thought (no pun intended).

[buddy97]

Blue Whitefish and Sweet Potato formula?

i would also ask why not just go back to the innova? Blue is actually more costly than innova where i shop.

i would think that the blue fish and sweet potato formula is pretty carb heavy. it looks like a bunch of grain and very little meat (confirmed by only 22% protein).

Whitefish, Whole Ground Brown Rice, Whole Ground Barley, Menhaden Fish Meal (natural source of DHA-Docosahexaenoic Acid), Oatmeal, Canola Oil (naturally preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Tomato Pomace (natural source of Lycopene), Whole Sweet Potatoes, Natural Fish Flavors, Whole Potatoes

[Unosmom]

Agree, Innova is better this this particular line, if you want to feed Blue, stick with Wilderness (grain free)

[CorgiPaws]

First of all: Welcome to the forum!

Thank you for sharing your experience with the switch, as well. Hopefully some Purina-using lurkers will read it and get motivated to make a change.

Blue Buffalo isn't the absolute best of the best, and sure, Innova may be better, but it is WORLDS better than Dog Chow you were using, so I applaud you on that. You made a great choice. I don't have any experience with their dog foods, but Wilderness is in my cat's rotation, and she does well on it.

Don't let everyone else get you down on your decision. If your dog is thriving on Blue, that's wonderful. Is there "better" out there? Sure. There always is.

[rottensheperd]

I switched to Blue Buffalo because it is a little bit easier to find and a little bit cheaper than Innova in this area. Certainly, if I can find Innova a little more locally I would love to put him back on it (I'm figuring gas mileage into food prices here). I picked the variety I did because he is very choosy about what he eats and I thought the sweet potato would be enticing because he loves his veggies so much!

Another thing I forgot to mention that someone pointed out above: he acted like we were starving him the entire time he was eating Dog Chow, which I think contributed to some of his antics.

Thanks so much for the feedback! Its so nice to hear from people who don't think I'm nuts to look for quality dog food. All my neighbors and friends tell me he'll eat anything, just buy Kibbles n' Bits!

[SerenityFL]

I used to have a shepard/rott/lab mix many moons ago so I know that those are some extremely intelligent, energetic dogs, (especially mental energy). I didn't know a thing about feeding raw or different food than what I got at the store with the exception of my vet telling me that bones were "nature's toothbrush" so she got bones to chomp on, keeping her teeth clean.

But the energy level? It was insane. I would take her to to the dog park, (this is when I lived in Seattle and Redmond has, (or had), a fantastic dog park), and let her run for four or five hours. She would be so exhausted I'd have to carry her back to the car. All 75 pounds of her.

We'd get home, she would lie in her crate for about a half an hour and then ka-BAM! The energy was back like I had done nothing with her the whole day.

This is going to be a high energy dog no matter what because of intelligence level, but I have labs now and I'm convinced, because now I feed them differently, that while they have high energy, they don't act like morons like Pandora did--and it's because of the diet.

When I first got them they were out of control and you can attribute a lot of that to them being young pups....but....they are six months old now, have been on raw for over a month and yes, their behavior changed. They still have energy but they don't bounce off the walls and act like fools anymore. It's only a two month difference...it can't be all because of age...it's not like they're old and wise now.

But, no, I have nothing to back that up. I have no proof. All I have is the experience. The puppies I have now, they are extremely quick to pick up on new commands, have high intelligence, just like Pandora. To compare, stupid parlor trick: Pandora learned, "shake" after about 20 minutes. Sakari, (my girl pup), learned "shake" in about 20 minutes. She reminds me a lot of Pandora as far as intelligence. So they will also be high energy.

I've learned a little bit in how to train since Pandora but I did a lot of things right with her, (luckily), yet fed her food that did not help squash that energy. Basically, it was like giving her candy every morning and night for meals....no wonder she bounced off the walls.

I'd say you know...there may not be scientific data to prove it but I am also a believer that experience can prove just as much. If your dog is acting like an idiot on horrible kibble and then, almost in an instant acts like a well behaved dog on the better stuff, why do you need scientific proof? You have your proof.