Lamb Based Foods

[Mike516]

I think the lamb and rice isn't the right food for our needle nose. I've read a lot of good thing about the Iams green bag on these forums so we're thinking about switching to that. I hate to switch her again but the Iams red bag lamb and rice isn't right for her I think.

[Guest greyers]

I think the lamb and rice isn't the right food for our needle nose. I've read a lot of good thing about the Iams green bag on these forums so we're thinking about switching to that. I hate to switch her again but the Iams red bag lamb and rice isn't right for her I think.

If it isn't right, and you have given it a few days minimum of ONLY feeding that food then you are probably right.

The precise sensicare lamb was NOT a good fit for us, however Rego's sensitive tummy is absolutely responding to Precise Foundation with chicken. It is a great thing to find a food that works!

[Mike516]

We didn't exactly time the switchover very well. We were switching her very slowly from the prescription food to the red bag but when we hit a cup and a half red bag to a half cup prescription, we were going to do that until we ran out of the prescription so we just mixed the two at those proportions (3/4 red bag to 1/4 presc). Our timing was so far off that we still have a lot of the mix left but I think I want to switch her this weekend. If you're getting confused, don't worry, I'm confusing myself lol.

 

Ok, so the long weekend is the perfect time to do this. What do you all think about switching her from the 3/4 - 1/4 red bag to prescription mix to the green bag using the mix as the "old" food? Does this make any sense whatsoever ?

[Guest greyers]

We didn't exactly time the switchover very well. We were switching her very slowly from the prescription food to the red bag but when we hit a cup and a half red bag to a half cup prescription, we were going to do that until we ran out of the prescription so we just mixed the two at those proportions (3/4 red bag to 1/4 presc). Our timing was so far off that we still have a lot of the mix left but I think I want to switch her this weekend. If you're getting confused, don't worry, I'm confusing myself lol.

 

Ok, so the long weekend is the perfect time to do this. What do you all think about switching her from the 3/4 - 1/4 red bag to prescription mix to the green bag using the mix as the "old" food? Does this make any sense whatsoever ?

 

I am actually VERY confused!

But in general when you food switch, you do so in 25% increments. So first couple days 75% old, 25% new, then 50%, 50% for a couple days, then 25%, 75% for a few days... etc. You usually do it over a week long period, sometimes more. If a pup has a tendency toward upset tummies, then you really want to make sure you are taking the time to switch properly and you need to be cognizant of whatever else you are feeding your dog in terms of treats, etc that might interfere with you knowing if the food is working or not.

 

was she doing well on the RX food? Did you give the red bag a long enough chance and in high enough quantities to really know that the red bag doesn't work or was she not doing well on the RX food and then you added another food on top of that and now have know way of knowing which food is causing her problems? Always use caution when switching as it can really foul up a sensitive dogs guts. Half the greys I have owned I could do cold switches and the dogs could eat almost anything, the other half had bad bellies or allergies and it was always a joy doing food trials! You can end up not knowing heads from tails and having no clear concept of what truly does work well!

 

As an example we were waiting for the Precise Foundation to ship and after a week on plain chicken and rice because of bowel blowouts. I didn't want to go back to the old kibble that might have caused the initial problem, So we bought another precise formula that is almost identical except that it has lamb instead of chicken but it was in stock. I gave that for a few days with the remaining chicken and rice I had cooked up and then we tried JUST the lamb food for a couple days and his bowels got WORSE when it was only the kibble. But I truly had to give him only that food for a few meals just to be certain it was the lamb kibble and not something else interfering. I can now say with 99% certainty that it was the lamb kibble that his belly didn't like and now on the foundation with chicken he is doing wonderfully well thus far.

I hope that helps clear up some stuff n what to do for Ginger.

[Mike516]

I was afraid I made it sound more confusing than it had to be.

 

She was on the prescription stuff for a couple of weeks and was doing great on it, but it's a prescription and not something we'd prefer to keep her on if we don't have. So, at the vets recommendation, we started switching her to the red bag Iams. We did the switch as you are suggesting in 25% increments over the course of a little over a week and it seemed like as we added more and more red bag, the poops got looser and looser (note: we also believe that the avoderm lamb food also made her have loose poops). We are now at 75% red bag and 25% prescription so we mixed together 75% red bag and 25% prescription in a food storage bucket and still have a good bit left of the mix but I would like to try the green bag Iams everyone was raving about and this long weekend is a perfect time as we'll be around and can watch her closely as we switch. So, the question is: what are thoughts on switching her to the green bag using the mixture of 25% prescription and 75% red bag as the old food to mix with the new food?

Edited November 10, 2011 by Mike516

[Guest greyers]

I was afraid I made it sound more confusing than it had to be.

 

She was on the prescription stuff for a couple of weeks and was doing great on it, but it's a prescription and not something we'd prefer to keep her on if we don't have. So, at the vets recommendation, we started switching her to the red bag Iams. We did the switch as you are suggesting in 25% increments over the course of a little over a week and it seemed like as we added more and more red bag, the poops got looser and looser (note: we also believe that the avoderm lamb food also made her have loose poops). We are now at 75% red bag and 25% prescription so we mixed together 75% red bag and 25% prescription in a food storage bucket and still have a good bit left of the mix but I would like to try the green bag Iams everyone was raving about and this long weekend is a perfect time as we'll be around and can watch her closely as we switch. So, the question is: what are thoughts on switching her to the green bag using the mixture of 25% prescription and 75% red bag as the old food to mix with the new food?

 

OK, I thought I just needed to be less busy to understand this... but I am a tad confused still!

 

Where does the avoderm fit into this? And why are you still feeding that to her if she didn't do well on it?

 

So the red bag iams and the RX food are already mixed together as 27/75 right? And this is the mixture you want to use when you try the iams green bag?

 

If she isn't doing well on what you have her on then I think a switch would be good, but just be aware that all this switching that has been done in what sounds like a really short period of time may not be tolerated well if she has a sensitive tummy. Some of my greys I can switch cold turkey to almost anything at any time with no problem. Whereas some of my greys have had horrible upset tummy and can't tolerate most foods nor the switching well. In a dog like that all the switching is really rough on their gut and it can take awhile to settle.

 

If you have given the iams red bag enough time to "trial" it and it isn't working then switching would be ok. Just make sure that if you decide to switch to the green bag then you truly DO give her enough time for her body to try to adjust on it before you decide to try another food because you think that one isn't working.

IMO this is the main problem people get into is they do not switch slowly enough or allow the new food adequate time to "work". And then people with sensitive dogs end up with no real awareness of what their dog actually tolerates well or not.

Edited November 11, 2011 by greyers

[Mike516]

The Avoderm was what we thought she was eating at the kennel (she actually wasn't, but we thought she was) so that's what she started on. She did terrible on it so we stopped giving it to her. I only mentioned it as an example ie. the avoderm was lamb and rice also just like the Iams red bag so maybe it's the lamb she's not doing well on. We're not giving it to her anymore, we gave it away.

 

In any case, the point is moot. She had diarrhea in her crate today. She wasn't doing great, but her poo wouldn't be considered diarrhea, and as you say we didn't want to keep switching her from this food to that food to the other food so we were trying to give it a chance to settle. But as we feared, the red bag isn't right for her. I really think it's the lamb. Unfortunately, we think she ate the poo in her crate because she threw up something that smelled like poo and the vet said it's not uncommon for them to do that. So, as would be expected, her stomach is upset now as well.

 

So nothing to eat for tonight and probably nothing until tomorrow night and then she's back on the low residue. When we get her straightened out we'll try switching her to the Iams green bag everyone has had so much success with or we'll just keep her on the low residue.

 

Thanks anyway for the advice but the situation has taken a turn

[Guest greyers]

I'm so sorry. Keeping her on the low res diet for awhile sounds like a good idea. Let her tummy settle in. Even with dogs that have an occasional bout of diarrhea they say to give no food to for a meal and then boiled chicken and rice for up to a week so the gut has time to calm. I think trying a non lamb kibble option with her after she is settled and pooping much better would be a good idea. I hope gingers tummy gets to feeling better.

[Mike516]

Thanks greyers. Yea we're doing chicken and rice then the low residue. We'll just take it slow and see how it goes. Back to square one :/

[Guest greyers]

Thanks greyers. Yea we're doing chicken and rice then the low residue. We'll just take it slow and see how it goes. Back to square one :/

Yep... its stinks to do the dog food circus route. That is why I always tell people that if their dog is doing well on the food, best not to change unless your pup has a good solid tummy or you have a very specific and good reason for wanting to change. Been through the circus with an allergy doggie, with a dog that had horribly sensitive tummy to almost all foods and now with Rego man who has what we do not know. Its never fun!

Good luck!

[Guest FordRacingRon]

Leia used to eat the Candidae Lamb and Rice. Always loose stools, plenty of gas and she really stopped eating it. Tried, for the heck of it (a foster we know fed it to her fosters) , the Kirkland Lamb and Rice. Been eating it 4 1/2 years now. Fine stools, never tires of it.

[Guest Lmw626]

I've been dealing with the food issues since day one. Oddly mine did terribly on Avo Lamb/Rice, lots of lethal gas and soft stool, but his stool/breath/gas is perfect on his current Nutro Lamb/Potato. However, now we have a urination issue going on that may or may not be related to the Nutro. I am switching back to BBWilderness tomorrow to see if it's the food causing the problem.

 

As a side note, all the other foods we've tried have been either fish or red meat based and he's done poorly on any food that contained grains... usually terrible diarrhea and/or vomiting within an hour of eating. One the super high protein "ultra premium" brands he has terrible gas and soft serve. I've started to give more serious consideration to going raw.

 

I certainly wish lots of good luck to all those looking for a food their grey can tolerate and thrive on... I know the "square one" feeling very well!

[Mike516]

Ginger is back on the prescription Iams and is doing well on it. Even had a big road trip for Thanksgiving and got spoiled by her grandparents and is better than on anything else to this point.

 

Most of the treats she gets don't seem to effect her, and the ones that do are gone.

 

I'll keep her on the prescription and be happy about it if it keeps her regular and healthy.

 

May still try the Iams green bag or kirkland brand but haven't decided yet.

[Guest Ross_a_Roo]

Very interesting... both foods we've tried with Ginger so far are lamb based (Avoderm & Iams). As a general rule her poop is soft. We are still searching for the perfect food, but don't want to change things up too often or too fast.

 

My Ross-a-roo enjoyed the Lamb and Brown Rice by Avoderm the best when we were trying trial sized bags of pinnacle and avoderm. We didn't want any filler crap so we went with these premium choices. Ross doesn't have any issues with inordinately soft poo, of course it varies b/c we sometimes give her scraps from the table. But she usually has great poo. Though I will say that it took her a month or so after settling down on this one food for her stool to be consistently "healthy."

 

So Ross has been eating Lamb since September 2011 and loving it. She does fart sometimes, but they are few and far between with no noticeable smell.

 

That has been my experience, I hope it helps!

 

[Guest mbfilby]

I voted 75%. We had always fed Lamb and Rice. Although our hounds did well on it, Cy had a recurring yeast infection in one ear but it was likely the grain content not the lamb. When Myka came along, she did not do well on anything but grain free chicken. Again with her It is likely the grain, not the protein. We switched everyone for ease of use. Cy's ear has cleared completely.

Edited November 30, 2011 by mbfilby

[GeorgeofNE]

Your poll is missing "I do not feed lamb based food"!

 

My last dog, a mix, didn't do well on it, so I've never used it on George.

[Guest driser]

Lamb was the KEY to getting our guy's tummy issues under control. Once he was off poultry based foods and treats he was like a new dog on all lamb!

[Guest june]

My first grey came to me eating Iams lamb and she did well. When I got my second she couldn't tolerate the lamb so I went to Iam's chicken and they are all doing fine.

[Guest kydie]

I feed TOtW lamb product with no issues