# dry food conundrum....



## Lucyfur (Jun 21, 2010)

hello everyone, 
I have a 4 and half month old pup who is a mixed breed. I got her at the SPCA. They sent me home with science diet, so I fed her that for awhile. She was fine on SD, but I started reading about all the crap that went in this food and decided to get something better. 
I tried TOTW salmon (slowly) and on the third day I came home to explosive diarrhea and vomiting. I dont know if it was too much protein or what.
Now, I have her on Natural Balance LID potato and duck and she is doing fine on it. But, now reading that it might not have enough protein for her. (20%)
My question is: should I just leave it well enough alone or go for something with a little more protein. I like the idea of grain free but not married to it.


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## buddy97 (Mar 29, 2010)

Lucyfur said:


> hello everyone,
> I have a 4 and half month old pup who is a mixed breed. I got her at the SPCA. They sent me home with science diet, so I fed her that for awhile. She was fine on SD, but I started reading about all the crap that went in this food and decided to get something better.
> I tried TOTW salmon (slowly) and on the third day I came home to explosive diarrhea and vomiting. I dont know if it was too much protein or what.
> Now, I have her on Natural Balance LID potato and duck and she is doing fine on it. But, now reading that it might not have enough protein for her. (20%)
> My question is: should I just leave it well enough alone or go for something with a little more protein. I like the idea of grain free but not married to it.


since she is doing ok on that, id let her stay with that for a while. she has had a big change in her life so she could probably use some "mellowness" for a while. true, the Natural Balance LID's are low in protein and meat content, so maybe after a month of stable eating and stools you could look into some other foods and do a slow transition. many of us like grain free foods for their higher meat/protein content...however if she is a larger breed pup, the grainless foods like TOTW arent well designed for large breed pups.


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## ghostrunner (Mar 24, 2010)

First off, congrats on rescuing a dog! 

You said you moved her over to TOTW salmon slowly, but how slowly? Some dogs may required up to two weeks of very gradual introduction to a new food -- adding just a bit more of the new food each day. Plus, when that new food is richer than the prior one, the dog may need even more time. 

Second question: how much TOTW are you feeding? There could be a possibility of overfeeding here, as she'll need much less TOTW than Science Diet. The vomiting suggests less of an overfeeding issue and more of a adjustment problem, but I just wanted to throw that out there.


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## Lucyfur (Jun 21, 2010)

i was/am feeding 3 times a day/2 cups a day. I was feeding 25% TOTW and 75% SD at the time of the vomit/diarrhea. 
I think she is a small breed dog. She is almost five months old and is 20 pounds. 
I want her to have the best dry food possible, but I thought too much protein might be a little much for her system. I'm new to all of this.


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

Lucyfur said:


> i was/am feeding 3 times a day/2 cups a day. I was feeding 25% TOTW and 75% SD at the time of the vomit/diarrhea.
> I think she is a small breed dog. She is almost five months old and is 20 pounds.
> I want her to have the best dry food possible, but I thought too much protein might be a little much for her system. I'm new to all of this.


For comparison, my GSH Pointer who is 50 pounds eats 3/4 of a cup twice a day of TOTW bison formula. Maybe try cutting the amount of food at each feeding back some and see if that helps.


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## buddy97 (Mar 29, 2010)

Lucyfur said:


> I want her to have the best dry food possible,.


what is best for one dog may not be for another, but if you want to go grain free and price is not an object, then Orijen is as highly regarded as dry dog food gets.......doesnt mean it will work for your girl.............but at any rate, i agree a very slow transition when you do change and feed as little as necessary.

still, having just been rescued, it wont do any harm to leave her on the NB for a few weeks until she settles in to her new home.


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## kevin bradley (Aug 9, 2009)

buddy97 said:


> what is best for one dog may not be for another, but if you want to go grain free and price is not an object, then Orijen is as highly regarded as dry dog food gets.......doesnt mean it will work for your girl.............but at any rate, i agree a very slow transition when you do change and feed as little as necessary.
> 
> still, having just been rescued, it wont do any harm to leave her on the NB for a few weeks until she settles in to her new home.



certainly agree than NB is probably better than what she's been on. But as Derek said, I'd move her into something like Orijen/Acana if possible.


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## harrkim120 (Feb 2, 2010)

Lucyfur said:


> i was/am feeding 3 times a day/2 cups a day. I was feeding 25% TOTW and 75% SD at the time of the vomit/diarrhea.
> I think she is a small breed dog. She is almost five months old and is 20 pounds.
> I want her to have the best dry food possible, but I thought too much protein might be a little much for her system. I'm new to all of this.


Wow...sounds like a case of over-eating. When I first got my 40 pound, 5 month old GSD, she was eating about 3 cups a day total.


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## ghostrunner (Mar 24, 2010)

Lucyfur said:


> i was/am feeding 3 times a day/2 cups a day. I was feeding 25% TOTW and 75% SD at the time of the vomit/diarrhea.
> I think she is a small breed dog. She is almost five months old and is 20 pounds.


Just to be clear, does she get a total of 2 cups/day or 6? Even 2 may be a bit much. When our retriever was a 50lb puppy he was on about 2.75 cups/day of Orijen.


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## Lucyfur (Jun 21, 2010)

Im sorry, I didnt clarify, I've had the dog for almost 3 months now. I was feeding her SD for about two and a half months before trying to switch to TOTW. I would love to try Orijen or Acana puppy, but I think their like 42% protein compared to the 20% of NB. Would that be too much of a protein jump?


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## Lucyfur (Jun 21, 2010)

she gets 2 cups a day of Natural Balance


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

Lucyfur said:


> I would love to try Orijen or Acana puppy, but I think their like 42% protein compared to the 20% of NB. Would that be too much of a protein jump?


No, I don't think so. We are feeding our pup Orijen Large Breed and before he was eating Nutra Nuggets. He did great with the switch and is now doing wonderful. 

Just do a gradual change, nice and slow. :smile:


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## chowder (Sep 7, 2008)

I have both a 17 pound dog and a 3 pound dog on Evo which is very high protein so you don't really have to worry about high protein in small dogs. Just make sure you don't feed too much. My 17 pound dog gets no more then 1/2 cup a day. She was getting more then that and gained weight so we have cut her back now. She is a little pig and will over eat so we have to measure it with her. The big dogs have more self control! 

I switched my rescue dog from Science Diet to Innova and then to Evo and Orijen. He had some diarhea issues at first but it was because of other health problems. He adjusted to the better food just fine after a few weeks of some gassiness which is normal. Good luck with your girl!.


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