Never ending qwest... Candidae ALS *vs* Diamond Naturals

[chelle]

I'm on a never ending qwest to get my dog to have firm stools. Sorry that I'm probably making people nuts with my food posts.

He came home on nasty Purina puppy chow. Ixnayed that and started on Innova LPB... stayed on that for months... even after a bout of coccidia was cleared, kept with it. Added pumpkin, probiotics but never could get a good stool.

Changed to Blue Buffalo Chicken and Brown Rice. Better. Some improvement, but still going runny at the end. Still needing to add pumpkin and continued with the probiotic.

I'm sick of this. Tonight, again, I had to go to the vet for an anal gland expression and yes, again, they were full.

I've given the BB about six weeks.

I hate to jump ship too soon, but I've come to the conclusion we need to do another food change.

At this point, my narrowed down choices are: Canidae ALS or Diamond Naturals -- but not sure which flavor. My worries with the Diamond Naturals are that I CANNOT find information on calcium and phosphorus levels.! Protein is min 26% for the chicken/rice.

The dog I'm switching is 8 months old, 1/2 WGSD.

What would you choose?

(And yes, of course, a very slow transition. All switches have been very slow transitions.)

And no, no, no, I am not overfeeding. I've actually cut him below the recommended feeding amounts and he's becoming quite lean. Perhaps too lean.

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

What about fecals - looking for things that are a bit harder to catch like coccidia and particularly giardia? As well as typical worms. I like the Mar Vista vet site information library on those things.

Or something like what used to be called SIBO and is now ARD? You can read about that here: Overview - EPI * Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency

I have liked foods like Pinnacle (their more limited ingredient ones) and California Natural to help (like the Herring) firm things up. Fiber in the kibble helps. But I would be thinking of those things first....Good luck. No fun for the dog or the person.

[Emoore]

I will tell you that my dogs never had consistently solid foods on anything made by Diamond. They'd get diarrhea every time I opened a new bag, then have firm poops for a week or two, then more diarrhea as soon as I finished the old bag and started a new one. Yes I could have gradually switched bags just like when you're switching food brands, but I just decided to stop using Diamond products instead.

[gagsd]

My dogs eat Canidae Lamb or Chicken.... Not the ALS. If theyhave been off it, it takes a few days to have firm stools again.
My working dogs are eating Canidae Core.... But very expensive and may have to go back to TOTW. Doing really well on it though.

[chelle]

Originally Posted by JeanKBBMMMAAN

What about fecals - looking for things that are a bit harder to catch like coccidia and particularly giardia? As well as typical worms. I like the Mar Vista vet site information library on those things.

Or something like what used to be called SIBO and is now ARD? You can read about that here: Overview - EPI * Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency

I have liked foods like Pinnacle (their more limited ingredient ones) and California Natural to help (like the Herring) firm things up. Fiber in the kibble helps. But I would be thinking of those things first....Good luck. No fun for the dog or the person.

His last fecal was clean. About a month or so ago, maybe six weeks. I do think we're in the clear there. Now, though, I wish I would've done one again tonight since we were already there.

Thanks for the link. I'll do more research. Thankfully, he has none of the symptoms listed there, though I noticed it did say some dogs don't show any symptoms. His stools are never as runny as the example. And thank God he certainly doesn't look like those poor dogs with their ribs so prominent.

[shannonrae]

I have had good luck with Diamond Naturals in the past. I have fed Canidae to my dogs, and found the coat to become coarse.

[lisasroughdrafts]

I used to feed my GSDs Canidae Grain Free, until the price jumped through the roof. I've swithed to Taste of the Wild since, with no problems, and the food is still high quality. I also like to add Nupro with joint support. Really improves the quality of their coat and I like to think contributes to their overall good health.

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

SIBO - EPI * Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency this link on that site
small intestinal bacterial overgrowth
I have not had a SIBO dog that vomited.

[LaRen616]

I have not tried either of the brands you mentioned but I have tried Solid Gold Wolf Cub, Blue Buffalo LBP and Wellness Super5Mix for LBP, I had great results for all 3 and would recommend then all.

I am feeding Malice Wellness Super5Mix for LBP and she really likes it, she looks great and I liked it so much that I put Sinister on Wellness Core.

[1sttimeforgsd]

Have been feeding Diamond Natural lamb and rice for 3 or 4 months now and have not had any diarhea. It seems to be working for my 3.