Hi. I have a 15month old DDB. He had diarrhea so I took him to the vet who gave him a shot of penicillin and antibiotics and said to feed him rice and chicken until he was better. Well, he's better, but he's underweight and was since I got him 2 weeks ago. So I have started incorporating the BB wilderness back into his diet with the rice and chicken. However, he was eating BB wilderness adult but I think he should be eating puppy. In addition, I will continue feeding him the rice and chicken with the BB to get him up to weight where only 2 or 3 ribs are showing, not all of them as well as the bones in his rear. My question is, can/should I continue giving him the rice and chicken with the BB or change it up with other things like veggies? Thank you for your advice.
Why did the pup have diarrhea? How long had it had the diarrhea? Can you post a pic of him standing from the front, side and rear? It's best to go with body condition rather than focus so much on weight.
It could be the food causing the diarrhea. Does he have any other symptoms such as itching, scaly skin, black guck in the ears?
Blue Wilderness is a good food.
Generally, mastiffs are allergic to grain and chicken found in kibble. You can check
www.dogfoodadvisor.com for dog food ratings and customer feedback. Mastiff puppies should eat Large Breed adult food because puppy food has too much calcium which causes fast growth. Slow and steady growth for a healthy mastiff. Protein in the food is not an issue unless the pup has kidney issues.
Check out Acana Regionals, Wellness Core, Earthborn Holistics, Fromm*s or Taste of the Wild. Chewy.com is a great place to order dog food.
You may want to check out the raw diet for your pup. Check out the sub forum on raw diet that has a wealth of information. It is not recommended to feed the pup kibble (one with grains) and raw food. Dr. Becker talks about this in one of her videos. Search Dr. Becker*s videos on youtube.com for a lot of great information regarding the raw diet. There are 3 parts to the series. Well worth the time to watch the videos.
Slow transition to the new food is as follows to prevent diarrhea. If at any time during the transition, the pup has diarrhea return to previous amounts of food per feeding. If you are switching flavors made by the same manufacturer, you should not have to do a slow transition.
Amount per feeding:
Day 1-4 ¾ cup of old food and ¼ cup of new food.
Day 5-9 ½ cup of old food and ½ cup of new food.
Day 10-14 ¾ cup of new food and ¼ cup of old food
Day 15 Start 100% of new food
