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ericandmarie
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Pet question
We switched Bentley from Purina One (I know, I know) to Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul about 3 weeks ago. Since then I've noticed he goes to the bathroom double the amount he used to (and it's quite a bit softer than it was) and his gas has definitely gotten worse. His coat absolutely looks better and he isn't shedding nearly as much, but I don't know if the bathroom/gas issue is normal?
TIA!
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Re: Pet question
What was the primary protein in the Purina and what's the protein in the new food? How long did you take to transition him?
The gas is normal in some dogs when switching their protein. The softer stool is common, but can really irritate the bum. Depending on the protein and transition time, I'll have some recommendations for you.
Old food:
Lamb (natural source of glucosamine), brewers rice, corn gluten meal, whole grain corn, poultry by-product meal (natural source of glucosamine), oat meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), soy flakes, soybean meal, glycerin, animal digest, calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, salt, potassium chloride, caramel color, Vitamin E supplement, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, ferrous sulfate, sulfur, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, copper sulfate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, garlic oil, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), sodium selenite.
New Food:
Chicken, turkey, chicken meal, cracked pearled barley, whole grain brown rice, oatmeal, millet, white rice, turkey meal, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), potatoes, tomato pomace, duck, salmon, egg product, flaxseed, ocean fish meal, natural chicken flavor, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, glucosamine hydrochloride, dried chicory root, chondroitin sulfate, kelp, carrots, peas, apples, tomatoes, blueberries, spinach, dried skim milk, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake, yucca schidigera extract, L-Carnitine, dried fermentation products of Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.
I took about 7 days to transition him.
AHA. Lamb is a much 'softer' protein, fewer allergies, and it's much easier to digest. His tummy is probably getting used to working harder to digest poultry. My second thought is that the new food has higher quality fiber (vegetables), so that could be the cause of the soft stools, however, I'm gun shy about allergies and I can tell you the eggs, apples, and peas in Chicken Soup would all create major poo problems at my house.
If your original food were of better quality, I'd suggest sticking with a mix, but to avoid Purina, I'd suggest giving your pup a tablespoon of plain yogurt after each meal (that dramatically helps the gas) and some cooked squash (we use butternut or acorn) or plain canned pumpkin, like a tablespoon with one meal. I'd give that about three days and see how he's doing.
If within a few weeks he's not doing better, I'd consider switching to a different but comparable food, like Blue Buffalo Wilderness, which comes in a salmon formula. You could even switch up and do salmon for breakfast, chicken for dinner. He just might not be cut out for poultry at every meal.
Should I mix the pumpkin or squash in the food or just give it to him after? About a year ago we tried to get him off Purina and tried Blue Buffalo Wilderness and he got a horrible skin reaction from it that required multiple visits to the vet. I've thought about just making his food.
Thank you!!
Ya know, Bandit got itchy paws from the BBW and my best guess is that it's from the potatoes. Rudi's allergic to potatoes too so we just don't even bother with BBW anymore.
I normally mix the pumpkin/squash into the food because Rudi doesn't like it by itself, but it doesn't really matter provided you get it into the dog somehow or another. As for yogurt, we freeze ours in ice cube trays. Sometimes I stir in a little peanut butter or some mushy banana. The dogs each get one pupsicle after their meal.
We recently added beef to our protein rotation and Wilson had some seriously foul gas for about two weeks. We went back to half chicken, half beef, and were more consistent about yogurt and squash. Now every fourth meal is all beef, and we'll keep working our way towards decreasing chicken. It's insane how smelly such a little dog can be.