Food Advice

cromero49

We have a lab and switched to Natural Balance Ultra Premium a couple months ago.  His gas is terrible...definitely worse than it's ever been.  For awhile his poops were solid and then soft at the end.  His poops are a little better now, but the gas is still awful.  The food we were feeding him before was not a good one, so I thought this food would be a lot better.  Should we keep with this food and just let his system work it out, or is there something in the food that maybe he's allergic to?  I'm not sure what to do.  TIA!

DorothyofOz

Is he full grown?

We got a full grown English Springer Spaniel and he always had a bad gas problem. We switched from the not-so-good food we were feeding him to better stuff that has some type of meat as a first ingredient rather than corn ingredients. It helped and his gas isn't as bad anymore, but he can still be stinky sometimes. I was afraid we were switching his food too often so we're going to stick with what we have right now---I think it's some kind of Purina One that's made with chicken or something, I can't remember (we put it in a bin and throw the bag out so I can't check for you!).

 I think switching to a better food is worth a try.....we can't afford the really good stuff, but this is still better than the corn food.

I tried researching his gas problem and one thing I found was that maybe he's just eating too fast and taking in too much air because of that. There isn't a whole lot you can do about that.....they say to split his food up during the day, and we've always done half in the morning and half at night, so that tip wasn't especially helpful. We weren't going to give him two bites every few hours over the course of the day, you know?

 That's all I got--sorry it wasn't very helpful!

cromero49

1

HelloSweetie1

You could also try giving your dog probiotics.  A bit of plain yogurt everyday should make a difference.  It contains healthy bacteria, and it's possible that there is something off with your dog's intestinal flora.  Our beagle ate Borax (dangerous, I know), and it wreaked havoc on his system.  He had gas/diarrhea for a few weeks, and yogurt helped get everything "balanced" again... and he's a naturally gassy dog.  If that doesn't work, then it is probably the food.  We had our dog on Kirkland and his gas was so bad we couldn't even finish the bag off... now he's on Wellness and can sleep in our room again! 

LuckyAngel07

Few suggestions for you:

1) The food you've switched to is definitely good quality, but not every dog will do well on a certain food. Every dog is different, so it just might not be a good fit for his system. Try a gradual switch to another food option; one I really like for quality at a price comparable to, say, Purina One (ahem, Dorothy, calling on you to find something better!) is the Chicken Soup brand. Go to their site and look up what stores in your area carry it, because the big box stores don't. It's an amazing quality food at an everyday price; it might just be easier for his system to digest, hence less gas.

2) If you think he's eating too fast and getting too much air in his system (which I'd think would lead to more burping than farting, but who knows), try either getting him a dish that's got little nubs or modular areas that force him to eat around them and therefore slow him down. Putting a tennis ball or something in his bowl also forces him to eat around the ball and slow down. Spreading food out on a large cookie tray can work, too, as can putting his meal in a treat-dispensing toy and making him work for it/get a little bit out at a time.

3) A couple of spoonfuls of pumpkin (pure canned pumpkin, NOT pie filling) can help even out digestion also and firm up loose stools. But too much will just swing the spectrum back around and cause more runs, so use sparingly!

cromero49

Thanks for the advice!