How Long for Transition

[DocPMD]

I have been trying to transition my four-month-old puppy from Hills Science Diet to one of the four-star kibbles. Admittedly we transitioned too fast and his poop became a bit runny, not what I would call diarrhea, but runny. I started adding pumpkin to the food and it firmed up a bit. But he has been itching, too - not excessively - but definitely itching.

After about two weeks I thought there might be an allergy issue, so we transitioned him from the chicken & rice formulation to the lamb & oatmeal formulation, but nothing has changed.

It's been about a month now and the itching is a little worse and he is starting to shed.

I was going to take him to the vet to get his opinion, but I thought I would start here first. I omit the brand of dog food to avoid brand bashing, but it is a good brand.

My question is whether his symptoms are just typical of the food transition, or if this is an allergy issue. I've read testimonials online about dogs being miserable during a food transition and once through it they do great.

I do not want to start playing musical dog foods, I have a feeling that it may be too soon to try something new. But I don't want to keep feeding him pumpkin forever, either.

Opinions?

[Jack Monzon]

Your situation sounds somewhat similar to mine. My dog has been itching excessively for several weeks. I transitioned him from the rescue food (Purina Puppy) to Nature's Variety Instinct first (in mid June), then when I saw after a month or so that he wasn't taking to that at all, I transitioned to Nature's Variety Prairie. His stools firmed up for the most part on Prairie, but he's still itching constantly, so I'm switching him once more right now, to California Natural. I'm going to do it over a week or 10 days, depending on how vile his movements are each day. Like you, I'm adding a tablespoon or so of canned pumpkin to each meal.

My hunch is that there's some ingredient in the Nature's Variety brand that he might be allergic to, so that's why I'm switching again. If he's still itchy after a 3-4 weeks on CN, then I'll ask my vet, who'll probably chalk it up to seasonal allergies. The guy at the pet store told me he feeds his German Shepherds raw, and one of them is still is itchy and sneezy this time of year, so he just waits it out. I've heard of people giving their dogs human allergy pills (over-the-counter), which seems like an odd solution to me.

How long has he been on his newest food? Six weeks? I don't think it's playing Musical Dog Foods to switch him again, if he's miserable on this food. When I saw my dog was doing poorly on Instinct, I'd cook rice and boiled chicken several times a week to help out.

[whiteleo]

Well. I'm a firm believer that dogs are carnivores and should be fed as such meaning they don't need all the fillers like rice, or oatmeal in their food, which can be a cause for allergies.

I like to see dogs on a grainfree food like Orijen or Acana as these are great foods.

Yes, you can give dogs benedryl tablets at 1 tablet per 25lbs for severe allergy symptoms, my dogs who are fed raw were given this earlier in the summer but are now doing fine.

[luvMyBRT]

^^^I totally agree. Have you tried a grain free kibble? Orijen and Acana are awesome kibbles. Good luck, I hope you find something that works for your dog.

[DocPMD]

Thanks to everyone for their responses. I agree with everything that was said.

But my main question is really whether I ought to give this food more time or not. Or is this long enough to establish that he just can't tolerate it. If I read between the lines, your answer is yes, it has been.

BTW - I had planned to transition him to a grain free formulation when it came time for adult food. I didn't do it now because the only puppy food that I saw in the grain free category is the Orijen, which isn't as readily available. I'll probably try it.

Thanks again.

[whiteleo]

Shedding can be a sign of an allergy or detox from the hills food which is an awful full of crap food, the diarreah can be a sign of too much food as over feeding is a common problem if you go by the guidelines on the bag.

Some breeds of dogs have more sensitivities than others and need more time to adjust and some just won't do well on a grain inclusive food.
I would suggest trying the Orijen and spreading the feedings out to 3 times a day and when you transition use 20% new to 80% old for a few days until there is no issues with loose stool then slowly add in more of the new food until you are 100% on the new food, slow transitions make for happy owners and happy puppies!

[GermanSheperdlover]

Try Orijen. I also would make sure your dog does not have fleas. It is that time of year. I use advantage, but near the end of the time line with the product, my dog starts having issues. German Shepherds are known for having issues with fleas, so that is why I always look there first. Many dogs also have issues with Chicken and grains. I try to stay away from chicken products.

A good time line in changing dog foods is "21" days. Start with about a tablespoon and go from their. If you rush it, you need to back up and start all over.

Nature's Variety contains Montmorillonite Clay and the clay contains two ingredients that are toxic to dogs. I suggest anyone feeding this product to research the clay.

http://3toestony.shutterfly.com/

[3feathers]

Nature's Variety contains Montmorillonite Clay and the clay contains two ingredients that are toxic to dogs. I suggest anyone feeding this product to research the clay.

I had posted on another post about the use of this clay and it's use as a detoxifier and how it had helped my dog. Can you please post links that prove it is toxic? I did a search, but did not find anything negative. Thanks in advance.

[DocPMD]

Thought it would be time for an update.

Turns out that my new puppy (a rescue dog) had not been entirely cured of his Mange. So after trying another transition to "better" food with no success, a trip to the vet cured everything.

So, in summary, it wasn't the food at all. But your suggestions did get me pointed in the right direction. Although it is hard to dispute that the Orijen food looks great, at $3/lb it's just too expensive. Right now he is happy on his Blue Buffalo, so I'm either going to keep him on that, switch to Acana, or do a mixture of the two to keep costs down.

Thanks again for all of the replies.

[whiteleo]

I'm so glad that you got things worked out for your little guy, I am a Acana fan so I'm all for you switching it up between the two, keep us posted on how things are going and good luck with the new addition!