Why oh why did we switch her food?

[Krazy4Kenzi]

We'd been feeding Kenzi Acana wild prairie, which is chicken based and tis what he breeder was feeding, and she was doing well. Maybe a little dandruff but olive oil seemed to be fixing that. After reading that many mastiffs are allergic to chicken we decided to switch her to orijen 6 fish. We've been giving her 25% fish and 75% chicken for 4 days now and her stools are very loose. That wouldn't be so bad, but she had just started sleeping through the night (she's 13 weeks old) and now she gets up 2-3 times a night to go #2. We bought a 30 pound bag of the fish but I'm starting to question if the transition is worth it. Maybe we should toss it and keep her on the chicken. Both of her parents eat the chicken based food and they are doing great. Or maybe we should have stayed with Acana for fish. The Orijen has a higher protein content. Any suggestions?

 

[ruthcatrin]

Switch her back to 100% Wild Prarie and see if the loose stools clear up in a week or two. If they do then yah, the Orijen 6fish probly isn't for her. Whether its the fish or the protein content there's no way to tell without trying another fish based food.

 

[Iymala]

Acana is a great food and so is Orijen. Puppies tend to have pretty sensitive stomachs and a switch can take awhile. I normally plan the first 2 days to be rough and try to do the switch on a weekend to be able to give all the potty time needed.

I have known other mastiff owners to feed 6 fish and love the results. I know when they transitioned to it they had soft poos for awhile but it got better. You could try adding 1Tb pumpkin to the meals to help firm up during the transition.

I personally feed Orijen large breed puppy and love it. Claymore loves chicken, heck I use cooked chicken for training treats. Not all mastiff's are intolerant to chicken, but if you are dealing with allergy or intolerance issues then chicken, corn or wheat are good places to start.

 

[Iymala]

If you are dealing with very loose stools I would go ahead and just make the switch to 6fish 100% without the mix. The purpose of the transition is to avoid stomach upset and very loose stool, but it could be something in the foods are not jiving. I would also try reducing the amount you are feeding her by half a cup until she firms up. The 6 fish is a bit richer and you dont want to overload her digestive system.

 

[Krazy4Kenzi]

Thanks for the quick responses! I also forgot to mention after steadily gaining 0.4-0.6 pounds per day, she hasn't gained an ounce in 4 days. We started the switch 6 days ago.

We're going to try 100% 6 fish for a few days with pumpkin and see how it goes. If she doesn't adjust we'll go back to chicken.

 

[Krazy4Kenzi]

So we switched her to 100% 6 fish with a tbspn of pumpkin per meal (3 tbspn per day). Her stool is firmer but very large! Is that from the pumpkin? Are we giving her too much pumpkin?

 

[NeSaxena]

Yeah, pumpkin will make her poo more... BUT if the stools are firmer, I recommend continuing to add pumpkin till the stool is completely firm, and then reducing the amount

 

[sharp1]

We also feed our pup Orijen large breed and could not be happier with the results, although I do remember when we moved him over from what the breeder had him on, it was a solid week of taking him out in the middle of the night 2-3-4 times to go #2. We also did start giving him pumpkin and mixing his food with some plain white rice worked wonders until his tummy adjusted, he's doing great on Orijen now and has been since he adjusted to the food, it is very rich in protien.

 

[Krazy4Kenzi]

It seems like Kenzi has finally adjusted to the 6 fish. . It took a little over a week, reducing the amount of food we give her, and quite a bit of pumpkins but now her stools are solid and she's sleeping through the night again. Thanks for all the tips everyone.