# HELP! My dog had violent problems with Acana



## rexxe (Jul 11, 2012)

Hello,

First I want to say how helpful this forum is for people like me learning about foods. Thanks!

I adopted my dog in late March and continued him on the same food he was on when I got him (Kirkland Super Premium Chicken and Rice). All was fine, his poops were of solid consistency, but he did have lots of gas. When I started running out of the food, I stepped things up and bought him Acana Wild Prarie and slowly migrated him over using pumpkin to help him out. He was on only Acana and pumpkin for a little over a week and his stools turned into this toothpaste-like consistency and eventually changed to diarrhea, which was very violent (and caused me hours of grief to clean up). He couldn't go the night and I'd wake up finding a complete mess, whereas with the Kirkland he could go for a very long time. I took him to the vet and they found no sign of parasites, but did find a specific white blood cell count was high signifying allergies.

So couple questions:



Has anyone else experienced this with Acana?
Does anyone have other recommendations on foods I can try? Does it make sense to try the Pacifica or to switch to a new brand?
Once I get the new food, how can I slowly introduce it? He's currently on boiled chicken and rice, should I mix it in with that?

Thanks for any help or opinions!

Andrew


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## SaharaNight Boxers (Jun 28, 2011)

How big is he and how much were you feeding? You might want to try a less rich formula (easier proteins like chicken, fish) or one of their singles line.


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## rexxe (Jul 11, 2012)

He's a 2 yr. old Lakeland terrier weighing roughly 17 lbs. I was giving him 1 cup a day (1/2 in morn, 1/2 at night).


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## Shamrockmommy (Sep 10, 2009)

It sounds like overfeeding. 1 cup a day is quite bit of food for a 17lb dog.

Kirkland has around 350 calories and acana has nearly 500 per cup. Try backing of to 1/4 or 1/3 cups twice a day and see if things firm up. Otherwise, Acana might not be for him. My dogs do fine on Acana, but if I overfeed at all- loose poo or cannon butt result for us as well.

Hope this helps!


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I also would say that you were over feeding and it is easy to do if you go by the guidelines on the bag, they are way too high. Acana is a great food and I would give it another try.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

Going from a grain inclusive food like Kirkland to grain free formulas like Acana Wild Prarie with varying amounts of legumes, different fiber sources, a battery of functional ingredients and MOS+FOS isn't always easy. The transition should be done *very very very* slow! How active is he? A 17lb terrier can burn through a lot of calories per day but if he is not that active I suggest reducing the amount to around 3/4 cup or thereabout. Anyway, I don't think it is the amount causing violent cannon butt but rather *very* different formulas.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

I agree, 1 cup is too much, I give 1 cup to my 25 lb dog and its not even grain free. Try cutting back to 3/4 of a cup and adding digestive enzymes.


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## Brian 6 (Jul 22, 2012)

Shamrockmommy said:


> It sounds like overfeeding. 1 cup a day is quite bit of food for a 17lb dog.
> 
> Kirkland has around 350 calories and acana has nearly 500 per cup. Try backing of to 1/4 or 1/3 cups twice a day and see if things firm up. Otherwise, Acana might not be for him. My dogs do fine on Acana, but if I overfeed at all- loose poo or cannon butt result for us as well.
> 
> Hope this helps!


This is a very good point! Foods vary greatly in energy density. If you feed one cup of food A it doesn't follow that you should feed 1 cup of food B.

It sounds like your dog has colitis which is often caused by changing the diet too quickly. Sometimes they require medication to restore balance to the gut microflora and clear up the diarrhea. 

Other times you can withhold food for 12 to 24 hours to give the gut a rest. Adding a little fibre to the diet when you resume feeding helps as well.

I advise clients to take 10 days to switch. Day 1, 10% new food and 90% old food. Day 2, 20% and 80% etc...

We see this a lot. 

Best of luck. 

Oh, a 17 lb dog being fed Acana Wild Prairie should get about 1 cup per day.


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## lauren43 (Feb 6, 2011)

I have to agree with what others have said, 1 cup seems like a lot to me. My parents 12lb dog eats 1/2 cup per day. When I switch her she may have to eat even less.


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## rexxe (Jul 11, 2012)

Thanks for all the advice, guys! I moved him over to the Acana over a period of 7 days and included the pumpkin at every meal. I starved him yesterday for 12 hours to clean his gut out and put him on the boiled chicken and rice. Should I slowly mix in the Acana with the chicken and rice and kinda start the process again? I'll make sure to lower the food amount also, but he can be pretty active at times, but I'll just give him a tad more on those days. I just cannot have the cannon butt he had. It was soooo awful to clean up!


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## SaharaNight Boxers (Jun 28, 2011)

Mixing it in slowly should be fine. I wouldn't use the pumpkin this time though.


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## riddick4811 (Nov 2, 2011)

It is possible you were overfeeding, but that is not always the cause. Sometimes, some foods do not agree with a dog and overfeeding is a common excuse people like to give and not always the case. You just have to gauge your dog and his body condition. I switch my dogs food, cold turkey and if doesn't agree with them, I don't feed that food b/c very rarely do I have a problem switching and I feel if I can feed multiple foods w/o issue, no reason to feed a food that causes an issue. He may also be sensitive to an ingredient in the food. My Dogo gets major diarrhea if eats anything with chicken. You may try another formula w/o chicken for starters. Casper is doing great on the Duck and Bartlett Pear. 

But for amount my 16lb Boston Terrier eats 1 cup to sometimes 1 1/4 cup a day of Acana. He is super active and he looses weight on less food. For comparision my 22lb JRT eats 1/2 cup, but he is a senior and lazy and 22lb Rat Terrier also eats 1/2 cup as she gains weight easily despite being super active. 25lb Frenchie eats 1 cup. And my 65lb Amstaff eats 1 1/2 cups not much more than the Boston, but she is a easy keeper! My 115lb Dogo Argentino eats 3 cups and my 75lb Greyhound eats 3 1/2-4 cups. So it all varies depending on the dog and their needs.


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## kaliberknl (May 9, 2012)

My 45 lb English setter eats 1 cup/day of Acana. She needed 2 cups/day of wellness core. I first fed her 1.5 cups/day and she gained 8 pounds in a few weeks. Two other setters were 60 lb and eating 4 cups/day of purina pro plan. They are now eating 2 cups/day of Acana.


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## rexxe (Jul 11, 2012)

Thanks again for all the replies!

So it's been a couple days now and I have started him back on the Acana. He's at 1/2 cup per day with 1/4 cup at each meal with the rest being boiled rice and chicken. He is also getting probiotic supplement (Purina Microflora) once daily that the vet gave me. His poops are well-formed and consistent in color, but they are not hard at all and are a bit mushy when I pick them up. He hasn't had cannon butt (phew) so far, but I am worried about the consistency of his poops not being harder.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Andrew


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