# Switching foods, HELP!



## dwr130 (Jul 3, 2011)

Hello,

I have a 21 week old golden doodle named Addie who is just fantastic. We got her from the breeder on Science Diet puppy small bites. I am aware this is not good food at all so I wanted to transition her asap. By all accounts, though, she was doing great on the Science Diet. She had lot of energy, good poops, healthy appetite etc. It's been a bit of a struggle to find something that agrees with her. I have transition her very slowly to a number of foods with no success. Wellness puppy gave her bad diarrhea. So did Innova puppy. Natural Balance LID with chicken gave her bad gas. We now have her on Blue Buffalo Life Protection Lamb and Oatmeal for puppies. Admittedly, because of some serious medical issues in my family, we have not transitioned her as slowly to the Blue Buffalo. We eased her into it over about 6 days and now she is getting exclusive Blue Buffalo. She is doing OK. Her poops are formed but soft. I'd obviously like them to firm up. I have the canned pumpkin and yogurt that everyone suggests. Can people tell me how to use the pumpkin and yogurt to get the poops to firm up. How much should I give them? How long should should I give them to her for?

Also regarding the Blue Buffalo, how long should I give it before I decide to switch her to something else or back to the Science Diet? If I switch her to something else, do you have any suggestion. My one firm criteria that it has to be a food you can get in local pet stores AND in petco/petsmart type places. I want the food to be readily accessible. I really don't want to go back to the Science Diet but am starting to feel like nothing else will work. HELP!!!

David


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## doggiedad (Jan 23, 2011)

you might have to switch brands several times before you
find one that works for your dog. i switch my dogs kibble bag to bag.
i also keep a variety of brands of can food on hand. when you give your dog
yogurt i suggest giving her oragnic/plain yogurt. if you're feeding
your dog pumpkin in a can i suggest giving her the kind
with only water added.


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## swolek (Mar 31, 2011)

How much are you feeding? A common mistake people make when switching to higher quality foods is that they feed too much (which will lead to soft stools, gas, etc.). She needs a LOT less Blue Buffalo than Science Diet. So maybe try feeding less and see how it goes .

Welcome, by the way!


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

If you want to stick to a food that can be found in a pet store, I would suggest using the Blue Buffalo Wilderness Puppy. It has a lot more meat and none of the grains of the regular Blue Buffalo. You pup will eat a lot less of it, and have firmer, smaller stools then when eating the food with all the oatmeal and rice in it. You'd have to transition again slowly, but since they are both Blue Buffalo, it should be okay. If you want to add the pumpkin, be sure and add only about a tablespoon a day. Too much pumpkin can have the opposite effect and actually cause diarrhea. 

Blue Buffalo Wilderness Puppy Ingredients:
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Potato Starch, Peas, Flaxseed (source of Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids), Natural Chicken Flavor, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Dried Egg, Tomato Pomace (source of Lycopene), Potatoes, Fish Oil (source of DHA-Docosahexaenoic Acid), Alfalfa Meal, Whole Carrots, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Blueberries, Cranberries, Barley Grass, Dried Parsley, Dried Kelp, Taurine, Yucca Schidigera Extract


Blue Buffalo Lamb and Oatmeal Ingredients
Deboned Lamb, Oatmeal, Whole Ground Barley, Menhaden Fish Meal (source of DHA-Docosahexaenoic Acid), Turkey Meal, Peas, Canola Oil (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Whole Ground Brown Rice, Natural Lamb Flavor, Whole Potatoes, Alfalfa Meal, Tomato Pomace (source of Lycopene), Flaxseed (source of Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids), Sunflower Oil (source of Omega 6 Fatty Acids), Whole Carrots, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Blueberries, Cranberries, Barley Grass, Dried Parsley, Garlic, Dried Kelp, Yucca Schidigera Extract


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## ShanniBella (Jul 1, 2011)

dwr13o\0 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have a 21 week old golden doodle named Addie who is just fantastic. We got her from the breeder on Science Diet puppy small bites. I am aware this is not good food at all so I wanted to transition her asap. By all accounts, though, she was doing great on the Science Diet. She had lot of energy, good poops, healthy appetite etc. It's been a bit of a struggle to find something that agrees with her. I have transition her very slowly to a number of foods with no success. Wellness puppy gave her bad diarrhea. So did Innova puppy. Natural Balance LID with chicken gave her bad gas. We now have her on Blue Buffalo Life Protection Lamb and Oatmeal for puppies. Admittedly, because of some serious medical issues in my family, we have not transitioned her as slowly to the Blue Buffalo. We eased her into it over about 6 days and now she is getting exclusive Blue Buffalo. She is doing OK. Her poops are formed but soft. I'd obviously like them to firm up. I have the canned pumpkin and yogurt that everyone suggests. Can people tell me how to use the pumpkin and yogurt to get the poops to firm up. How much should I give them? How long should should I give them to her for?
> 
> ...


I wouldn't keep switching her food...... BB is a great food. You just took her off science diet which is lower quality so she is going through a detox type period with the better food and higher quality ingredients. Add about a tablespoon of pumpkin and skip the yogurt for now. Get her system used to the new food and her stools more firm before you start adding more to her dish.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

She's not detoxing, too young for that! I'm guessing that you are over feeding as Swolek suggested! Switching up foods is not a good idea either but Chowder is right if you have a Golden who are very allergy prone to grains I would definitely go with the BB Wilderness and feed a lot less as over feeding is the number 1 case of soft poo and gas. Good Luck!


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## dmgmn (Apr 24, 2011)

Yea, you definately want to allow plenty of time to adjust to any new food, proper transition time, not overfeeding is key!
SD to BB is a step in the right direction, and grain-free is a PLUS with allergy prone breeds
Wilderness would be readily available, but kinda spendy IMO
Another grain-free option to BB Wilderness would be TOTW.

Welcome btw!


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## ShanniBella (Jul 1, 2011)

If you take a dog off crappy food like SD and put them on a better high quality diet they do have some form of detox that there system goes through. It's like a dog that goes from kibble to raw or grain foods to grain free. JMO but I am sticking to it and know plenty will agree with me. This isn't the only dog forum I am on ;-)


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## Jack Monzon (Jul 25, 2010)

I'm no fan of SD , but this is a terrible time in this PUPPY'S life to be on the food roller coaster. How many foods have you experimented and failed with? Four? Five? Poor dog!

I'd be getting my dog back on SD as soon as possible -- which you've acknowledged she was doing great on -- until she's a year old. Then hop back on the food roller coaster.


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## dmgmn (Apr 24, 2011)

Hey I agree 100%
And I wouldn't go back to SD, you just have to stick it out and stay with one kibble that you feel comfortable feeding and allow your puppy to adjust to it.

Last thing you wanna do is keep switching things up, especially for a puppy


ShanniBella said:


> If you take a dog off crappy food like SD and put them on a better high quality diet they do have some form of detox that there system goes through. It's like a dog that goes from kibble to raw or grain foods to grain free. JMO but I am sticking to it and know plenty will agree with me. This isn't the only dog forum I am on ;-)


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

dmgmn said:


> Hey I agree 100%
> And I wouldn't go back to SD, you just have to stick it out and stay with one kibble that you feel comfortable feeding and allow your puppy to adjust to it.
> 
> Last thing you wanna do is keep switching things up, especially for a puppy


TOTALLY agree!!


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## RealDog (Jul 4, 2011)

dwr13o\0 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have a 21 week old golden doodle named Addie who is just fantastic. We got her from the breeder on Science Diet puppy small bites. I am aware this is not good food at all so I wanted to transition her asap. By all accounts, though, she was doing great on the Science Diet. She had lot of energy, good poops, healthy appetite etc. It's been a bit of a struggle to find something that agrees with her. I have transition her very slowly to a number of foods with no success. Wellness puppy gave her bad diarrhea. So did Innova puppy. Natural Balance LID with chicken gave her bad gas. We now have her on Blue Buffalo Life Protection Lamb and Oatmeal for puppies. Admittedly, because of some serious medical issues in my family, we have not transitioned her as slowly to the Blue Buffalo. We eased her into it over about 6 days and now she is getting exclusive Blue Buffalo. She is doing OK. Her poops are formed but soft. I'd obviously like them to firm up. I have the canned pumpkin and yogurt that everyone suggests. Can people tell me how to use the pumpkin and yogurt to get the poops to firm up. How much should I give them? How long should should I give them to her for?
> 
> ...



Well it seems that in your little experiment with that puppy, Science Diet is superior. If you were doing a scientific feeding trial wouldn't that be the conclusion???


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Science diet is full of sawdust, or close to it. This is why the poop is perfect on this food. When you take away a food like that and give a dog a food that is higher in protein and more real food they will have an adjustment period and because it is not full of the stuff that binds the poop up, you need to feed much less of the higher quality food. At 51/2 months old I would not suspect a dog is detoxing from this food, maybe at 5 years but not 5 months.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

RealDog said:


> Well it seems that in your little experiment with that puppy, *Science Diet is superior.* If you were doing a scientific feeding trial wouldn't that be the conclusion???


BAHAHHAHAHHHAHAHAH........ :rofl: You made a funny!!! :rofl:



whiteleo said:


> Science diet is full of sawdust, or close to it. This is why the poop is perfect on this food. When you take away a food like that and give a dog a food that is higher in protein and more real food they will have an adjustment period and because it is not full of the stuff that binds the poop up, you need to feed much less of the higher quality food. At 51/2 months old I would not suspect a dog is detoxing from this food, maybe at 5 years but not 5 months.


EXACTLY! SD(and other shitz for "food" like it) has soooo many fillers and binders that the poop will appear "good"..however it is CRAP, not fit to be used as kitty litter--well maybe, but anyways...

I would stick with what you are feeding now and make sure you arent over feeding!


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