Many of you know I switched Poe to a low protein grain free diet (sweet potato and duck) but I had to switch back, she had diarrhea the ENTIRE time she was on it!!!
That's 3 weeks folks! NOT PLEASANT! She had 4 accidents in the crate to boot which was even less savory.
Could that have been an allergic reaction? Or was that just her saying "no thanks mom, gimme the old food!" "Mais tu ne dois pas l’oublier. Tu deviens responsable pour toujours de ce que tu as apprivoisé." - Le Petit Prince
Some dogs can't properly digest poultry. The other thing to look out for is milk products. At some point puppies stop digesting milk proteins. I'd suspect that first. Cut out any milk, cheese, yogurt and the likes. If that doesn't work, try switching proteins.
Keep in mind she's still young and may not be ready to digest something so complex and rich. We tried Grim on Solid Gold with the same results you're having. He's on Eagle Pack Holistic now, and is doing much better.
I'm not sold on the grain free diet. I think as long as you use something thats highly digestible, like rice, it's OK. There's a book by Donald Strombeck called Home Prepared Dog and Cat Diets you might want to check out. It's pretty straight forward about how to develop a diet for a dog, and is not based on any current trends in feeding. Since you are interested in nutrition , I think you might find it helpful. Beth
uti's, runny poop...you always pick the good stuff anna, lol.
beau eats %$£&^* van patten with other add-ins and does fine. not the sweet potato version though. looking at upping his protein with royal canin. Anthony
What made you choose that diet? You do not want to deprive a puppy from protein. You gotta remember that a dog is a carnivore. Thrives on Protein. They eat meat. They are not omnivores. Depriving a puppy from protein is not good for a growing dog. Not only are have you deprived your dog from nutrients it needs but you dog probably didnt get much nutrients for the last 3 weeks as it had the shits.... Stop talking to people that dont know anything about dogs or stop reading sites written by people that are clueless. Do you think the mastineros feed/fed their dogs duck and sweet potatoes? You gotta treat and feed a dog like a dog. Start with that and you will have a well behaved dog and a healthy dog.
Choose premium dry dog food. Make sure it has chicken or lamb as the first ingredient.
Anna...Just wondering...Have you done fecals on Poe to be sure that she doesn't have any parasites? Wroms...Giarhdea...Sometimes one sample can come back negative, and then the next week it can be positive when the little bastards are increasing in numbers... Kate and the zoo
Back on 50/50 Evo and Natural Balance (so I don't have to chuck the rest of the huge bag) and she's doing fine again. C'est la vie?
Anthony -- You get pictures aplenty too, don't forget those! It's not ALL gross and ookey.
Sparky -- Thanks for the thoughts, I think I'll be sticking to red meat protein diets from now on. Just to be safe.
Kate -- She was screened a month ago, I'm bringing her in to get a tooth pulled (she has like 4 extras and her mouth is crowded) in a week and I'll have them do another one. She is obsessed with rolling in/drinking gutter puddles so it's highly likely she's picked up something. Even though her stools doing better we'll check it out. Thanks for the thought.
And last:
Latinomasti -- You're consistency amazes me. While I doubt you've read and absorbed much of what I've had to say anywhere on this board I am finishing a degree in animal nutrition (focused on dogs and cats) so I assure you the information I follow is not based on the whims of others. You find me someone else who can break down any food label and tell you what every ingredient is there for and how high the quality of the nutrient is and perhaps I'll listen to them too.
Secondly, dogs are indeed omnivorous. Omnivores require animal proteins (technically, the amino acids that can only be found in animal products ie: tryptophan) but do not need to survive solely on those products. The omnivore/carnivore debate has LONG been over when it comes to both cats and dogs, perhaps you should update your research. The purpose of potatoes (sweet or otherwise), along with rice, wheat, corn, veggies all the other non-meat ingredients serves as calories, fiber, and filler so that our beloved pets have energy, regulated GI tracts, and are left feeling full, respectively. What Potato brings to the table is that it is much more easily digested than corn or wheat. High quality foods will NEVER contain wheat, corn, or soy products because they are used out of convenience (human food by-products) and to lower the price point (Ol' Roy)
I hope you can find the grace to be more constructive [and informed] the next time you choose to respond to my posts. "Mais tu ne dois pas l’oublier. Tu deviens responsable pour toujours de ce que tu as apprivoisé." - Le Petit Prince
Just because your finishing a degree in animal nutrition doesn’t mean a damn thing. I did not post to flame you but to inform you. Trust me you don’t impress me with all your studies. I am simply telling you that a dog is a CARNIVORE! Just by stating the fact that you think a dog is a Omnivore.. tells me enough. I am not going to change your mind since it is pretty obvious you are already convinced.
Wolves and dogs DNA are 99.8% Idenitical. We evolved dogs from wolves. Wolves are dogs… dogs are Wolves.
Let me state some facts. These facts are from another website. I have just shortened it for you. Hopefully you may learn a few things.
1.) Dentition:
Look into your dog mouth. Those huge impressive teeth (or tiny needle sharp teeth) are designed for grabbing, ripping, tearing, shredding, and shearing meat. They are not equipped with large flat molars for grinding up plant matter. Their molars are pointed and situated in a scissors bite (along with the rest of their teeth) that powerfully disposes of meat, bone, and hide. Carnivores are equipped with a peculiar set of teeth that includes the presence of carnassial teeth: the fourth upper premolar and first lower molar. Contrast this with your own teeth or the teeth of a black bear. A black bear is a true omnivore, as are we. We have nice, large, flat molars that can grind up veggies. Black bears, while having impressive canine teeth, also have large flat molars in the back of their mouth to assist in grinding up plant matter. Dogs and most canids lack these kinds of molars. Why? Because they don't eat plant matter. Teeth are highly specialized and are structured specifically for the diet the animal eats, and the difference between a bear's teeth and a dog's teeth (both species are in Order Carnivora) demonstrates how this can be. One can logically ask: If a dog has the dentition of a carnivorous animal, why do we feed it pelleted, grain-based food?
2.) Musculature and external anatomy:
Dogs are equipped with powerful jaw muscles and neck muscles that assist in pulling down prey and chewing meat, bone, and hide. Their jaws hinge open widely, allowing them to gulp large chunks of meat and bone. Their skulls are heavy, and are shaped to prevent lateral movement of the lower jaw when captured prey struggles (the mandibular fossa is deep and C-shaped); this shape permits only an up-and-down crushing motion, whereas herbivores and omnivores have flatter mandibular fossa that allows for the lateral motion necessary to grind plant matter.
This translates to a simple fact: everything about a dog body design says they were designed for a carnivorous, hunting lifestyle geared toward killing prey. However, humans have done some major tinkering with this body design (resulting in varying sizes and conformations), but we have done nothing to change the internal anatomy and physiology of our carnivorous canines.
3.) Internal anatomy and physiology:
Dogs and cats have the internal anatomy and physiology of a carnivore. They have a highly elastic stomach designed to hold large quantities of meat, bone, organs, and hide. Their stomachs are simple, with an undeveloped caecum. They have a relatively short foregut and a short, smooth, unsacculated colon. This means food passes through quickly. Vegetable and plant matter, however, needs time to sit and ferment. This equates to longer, sacculated colons, larger and longer small intestines, and occasionally the presence of a caecum. Dogs have none of these, but have the shorter foregut and hindgut consistent with carnivorous animals. This explains why plant matter comes out the same way it came in; there was no time for it to be broken down and digested (among other things). People know this; this is why they tell you that vegetables and grains have to be preprocessed for your dog to get anything out of them. But even then, feeding vegetables and grains to a carnivorous animal is a questionable practice. Dogs do not normally produce the necessary enzymes in their saliva (amylase, for example) to start the break-down of carbohydrates and starches; amylase in saliva is something omnivorous and herbivorous animals possess, but not carnivorous animals. This places the burden entirely on the pancreas, forcing it to produce large amounts of amylase to deal with the starch, cellulose, and carbohydrates in plant matter. Thus, feeding dogs as though they were omnivores taxes the pancreas and places extra strain on it, as it must work harder for the dog to digest the starchy, carbohydrate-filled food instead of just producing normal amounts of the enzymes needed to digest proteins and fats (which, when fed raw, begin to "self-digest" when the cells are crushed through chewing and tearing and their enzymes are released). Nor do dogs have the kinds of friendly bacteria that break down cellulose and starch for them. As a result, most of the nutrients contained in plant matter—even preprocessed plant matter—are unavailable to dogs. This is why dog food manufacturers have to add such high amounts of synthetic vitamins and minerals (the fact that cooking destroys all the vitamins and minerals and thus creates the need for supplementation aside) to their dog foods. If a dog can only digest 40-60% of its grain-based food, then it will only be receiving 40-60% (ideally!) of the vitamins and minerals it needs. To compensate for this, the manufacturer must add a higher concentration of vitamins and minerals than the dog actually needs. Is the dog an omnivore? Its dentition, internal and external anatomy, and physiology say it is not. Even its evolutionary history says the dog is a carnivore.
Now the question to you… What about a dog makes you think it is an omnivore?
I hate to break it to you...But did you know even a wolf is an omnivore? Yes...The diet is mostly meat, but there are greens as well. Wolves will feed in wheat fields...Have you never seen your dog eat grass? HELLO...It's a plant Kate and the zoo
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