# Dog with dog foods



## IronWolf (Aug 23, 2010)

Hey All,
I am new here and have been reading a lot of information on foods, it's hard to disseminate what food I should be going with.

We recently got a goldendoodle (75% standard poodle, 25% golden retriever), and he is a big boy! At 3.5 months, he's about 19-20" tall, and 30 pounds. I'm guessing he will end up in the 70+ range, and his parents were only in the 50-60 pound range.

We started him on innova large breed puppy food, and after about 4 weeks, he got really bad diarrhea. Not sure if this was caused by the food, or these Zuke's salmon treats we got.

We switched him to ground beef and rice and then tried the innova again after a day. He was firm on the rice, but runny on the innova again. It was anywhere from liquid to melted ice-cream in texture. We then went 2 more days on the ground beef and rice, and he firmed up. We then switched to California natural lamb and rice. He was firm for 3 more days, then had diarrhea again. We gave him no treats in this time period. He went to the vet, and was clear of any parasites, but was given some pills, and some flora to help and put on medical gastro. He is firm now, and after 4 days on the medical, I gave him 6 small salmon treats during training, and he started to go a bit soft, but not diarrhea, so maybe it's the treats?

We were going to try the california natural again to see, but I've been doing some reading, and I don't know if the Cal Natural lamb and rice puppy food is good for a larger breed dog? Am I worrying too much about the large breed stuff, or should I look at another food. Was also looking at Acana.

Thanks in advance! Just want to find something he will do well on and grow at a proper rate!


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

I would add some probiotics/enzymes to the food to help with digestion as well as canned pumpkin (not mix). I think acana is a good choice, better then cali. natural (more meat) and since Natura has recently been aquired by P&G, I'm not inclined to reccomend any of their products anymore.


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

My guess is he has an intolerance to grains as do alot of Golden Retrievers, I would definitely try the Acana line and make sure you aren't overfeeding as wel, as soft runny poo is a sign of too much food. Good Luck


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## ubershann (Jul 29, 2010)

You could also try Evo red meat. Very high in protein (42%) and it's grain free. If you want to try California Natural grain free take a look at the chicken flavor. It's much higher in protein than the lamb or venison kinds. I wouldn't worry too much about the large breed puppy thing. In fact I don't even feed my pup puppy food, just regular "all stages" food and she does great. Concentrate on protein, calories and fat and you'll be just fine


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## buddy97 (Mar 29, 2010)

ubershann said:


> You could also try Evo red meat.


id consider that a large breed puppy and as such would stay away from any foods with higher Ca levels, of which EVO and Cali Natural grain free are particularly high.

if going grain free, id say look at acana or orijen.


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## baggie (Jun 2, 2010)

ubershann said:


> You could also try Evo red meat. Very high in protein (42%) and it's grain free. If you want to try California Natural grain free take a look at the chicken flavor. It's much higher in protein than the lamb or venison kinds. I wouldn't worry too much about the large breed puppy thing. In fact I don't even feed my pup puppy food, just regular "all stages" food and she does great. Concentrate on protein, calories and fat and you'll be just fine


Not to get off topic, but I was curious about the significantly higher protein in the chicken formula. Why is this? Could it have a large percentage of plant protein?


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## Mitchell (Aug 16, 2010)

i had same concern with large puppy. it may effect them may not they prob be fine but y risk it.v its the calcium and phos thats the problem for large breeds. use orijen large puppy. than u can use orije big red or orijen 6 fish. hope this heps


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## IronWolf (Aug 23, 2010)

Thanks for the reply's everyone. I've heard some people say to stay away from the grain free stuff until he is older, due to the high protein content. I was thinking about the Acana Large Breed Puppy. It has steamed oats, has anyone had any experience with it? 

Also, we gave him 6 small zukes treats (they are really small), the salmon kind, and his stool went a little soft. Could it be something with the salmon treats, and maybe the second bout of diarrhea was just the food changes?

Acana has always interested me, and he really seems to dig the cal. natural lamb and rice over the innova LBP so maybe he's a red meat kind of guy haha.

We are looking to transition him in the next couple days back to either cal. natural, or to something else, so that's why we are wondering what to switch to.

Edit: Also wondering if it would be worthwhile switching away from Cal. Natural given the circumstances. After 4 weeks he seemed to develop diarrhea, and then 2 days on ground beef and rice he was solid. 3 more days on the Cal. Nat he was fine, then back to diarrhea. Could this be something with Natura and we should look at a different company all together?

Also he seems to be fine with rice, as it hardened him up before, and the medical gastro is corn based that he's on now, so not sure if it's actual a grain problem. We don't mind using a grain product, but want to stick to a higher quality grain, instead of corn or wheat.


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## buddy97 (Mar 29, 2010)

IronWolf said:


> Thanks for the reply's everyone. I've heard some people say to stay away from the grain free stuff until he is older, due to the high protein content.
> 
> .


no, the high protein content has nothing to do with it. the problem is most of them have a cacium contrnt that is too high (for many peoples comfort). higher protein in istelf is fine for a large breed pup.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

maybe lay off the salmon treats for a bit and see if he firms up.....do an elimination diet.

if it's the treats, then the food is fine....if the dog still has soft/runny stools, you may want to look into feeding another food.


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## harrkim120 (Feb 2, 2010)

Have you ever considered just keeping him on ground beef and rice with some suppliments?

And, no, I'm not trying to push anything. It's just a thought since that seems to do the trick everytime.


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## IronWolf (Aug 23, 2010)

The ground beef and rice worked, but we would prefer to put him onto a kibble. He really likes the lamb and rice cal nat flavor wise vs. the chicken Innova LBP. I guess it's just trying to decide: Do we give Cal Nat one more shot, now that he's stabilized, and if it's bad, try something else, OR do we switch to something like acana now?

For a large breed dog, is the California Natural lamb and rice puppy ok?


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I'm still voting for the Acana grasslands, lamb and grainfree!


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## buddy97 (Mar 29, 2010)

IronWolf said:


> For a large breed dog, is the California Natural lamb and rice puppy ok?


its over 2.1% Ca. personally, i wouldnt use it for a large breed pup.


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## IronWolf (Aug 23, 2010)

buddy97 said:


> its over 2.1% Ca. personally, i wouldnt use it for a large breed pup.


Isn't it only 1.25% or am I missing something? I'm new to all this stuff, so I probably am.
Dog Food Reviews - California Natural Lamb Meal & Rice Puppy - Powered by ReviewPost

Would trying the acana large breed puppy be a better alternative?

Edit: Also I see on there site now 2.2% Ca. 
http://www.californianaturalpet.com/products/default.asp?panel=na&id=4


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## IronWolf (Aug 23, 2010)

Also, would anyone recommend Canidae All life stages? I've heard with some larger breed dogs, the all life stages can be good. There's just so much info out there, and I'm sure we will have to try him on different things, just looking to see what others know or have experienced.

Some seem to think of going straight to the acana adult foods?


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## IronWolf (Aug 23, 2010)

Hey all, just wanted to say that now we started to move him over to acana large breed, one day on it, and his stomach was rumbling at night, and had to go out to poop. It's been kind of soft. This is after a full day of feeding 1/4 of the acana to 3/4 of the medical. Is this normal?


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Well, if he is still having issues I'd cut way back on the amount of food you are feeding. Start with 1/8 of Acana to the prescription diet food and slowly add more but not until he has normal poo. How much are you feeding? The feeding guidelines on the side of the bags are always way more than they should be. Good Luck


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## IronWolf (Aug 23, 2010)

Right now, we are only feeding 2.5 cups a day of the medical, and mix. I think the bag says 3 1/4, so I don't think it's over feeding? Although I used about 7 more kibble as treats.

1/4 of the kibble is the new acana. Just not sure if it's normal, as an introduction of the new food. His poop isn't coming out liquid, but is more soft with like a mucus liquid layer on it. It is soft though, but it's not like a puddle of water or anything.

Maybe that's just normal?


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Its not normal of the Acana food, but as introducing a new food to a sensitive dog it is definitely a possibility, just don't push things too fast, go very slow, and try not to give any treats throughout the day. Remember this is a grainfree dogfood with a higher level of protein which is a good thing but needs to be introduced slowly to a sensitive dog who has had nothing but grains in his diet.


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## IronWolf (Aug 23, 2010)

Ok thanks, we will keep feeding him 1/4 of a cup until he seems good with that. Also the large breed puppy isn't grain free, so it shouldn't be too hard of a switch.

It's just weird, the breeder fed him beneful, and we moved him cold turkey to innova, no diarrhea. And then 4 weeks later...diarrhea...unless it is something else, but he was on meds, and the tests for parasites came back negative.


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## IronWolf (Aug 23, 2010)

Hey All,
We've been mixing the acana in slowly, and are trying up to half a cup now. And it just doesn't seem to be working. He's had diarrhea the entire time. It's been frustrating trying to find what may be the actual source of the issue. He does fine on medi-cal gastro, so I don't know if it's a grain issue? Anyone have any experiences like this? Is it possible that a high protein count doesn't agree with him? Any other foods to try?

Thanks!


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 16, 2008)

IronWolf said:


> Hey All,
> We've been mixing the acana in slowly, and are trying up to half a cup now.


Don't go up to half a cup until he is solid on 1/4 cup.



> He does fine on medi-cal gastro, so I don't know if it's a grain issue?


Medi-cal gastro is almost nothing but grain so it's not a grain issue.



> Is it possible that a high protein count doesn't agree with him?


I doubt it.



> Any other foods to try?


I'm not a kibble feeder, I don't have a clue. When you give up on trying to find a kibble he will tolerate, let us know and we will help you.


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