golden retriever food

[jedimaster1138]

Anyone out there with a Golden have any food advice? Penny is 5 1/2 months now and we've been having food issues.

The breeder had them on Purina Healthy puppy something something. We - and the internet - agree that Purina is junk. We've been trying to transition her to Wellness Large Breed Puppy for a while, but her intestines go KABOOM every few days on that. So...yeah. Last night she woke us up at 2, 330 and 530 and they weren't fun trips outside. The good thing was she woke us up and didn't go in the crate and then sprinted to the elevator. The bad thing is the pooper scooper wasn't at all useful for cleaning up what she deposited on the street. A garden hose would have been helpful....

We've been using ID Gastrointestinal Health (wet) to calm down her intestines after those incidents and essentially reboot things. But the long term (dry) food is still the issue. We're completely overwhelmed with all the options... and then there's the whole full spectrum food vs limited ingredients vs grain free and all that stuff.

I know at least one other person has suggest Orijen. Anyone have experience with that and a Golden with a sensitive tummy?

Also, are puppy specific formulas necessary? Or is it all marketing junk and it's all the same thing? Also at 5 1/2 months does it even matter? Not that she's full grown, probably less than halfway, but should she just get "normal" food at this point?

TIA, Penny thanks you more. WOOF

 

[cmantis]

Taste of the Wild Dry Dog Food, Hi Prairie Canine Formula with Roasted Bison & Venison

#1 Best Seller in Dry Dog Food

^^ That's what I used to feed.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

You also might want to give her some pedialyte usually given to children but will give your dog back electrolytes (you can put some in her water). I had the same problem with my boxer when he was a pup and kept having diarrhea when we changed foods...

 

[edd]

you sure he's not eating other things. i have a 8 yr old lab, if i don't watch he will eat sticks and then puke latter that night. been doing it since he's 4 months old. back then we took him to the vet x rays to find nothing. if I'm out hiking with him and i don't watch, i'll be up in the night. i do feed purina but i can see the sticks in the puke. take a close look next time. cause the vet had me feeding expensive food that only they sell.

 

[cmantis]

I used to feed that vet only food to my vegitarian dog what a pia and pi- pocket book!

 

[Archreefer]

My boxer had a very sensitive stomach she would vomit everywere. I started using Buffalo Blue Whitefish and sweet potato, and never had any more issues. All natural ingredients and no byproducts or chicken meal.

 

[Widdy]

+1 Blue Buffalo

 

[Rob&Gab]

wellness and blue buffalo is top of the line. wellness has more choice selection tho.

 

[jcdeng]

My husky was on eukanuba from the breeder and when we got him home we thought to give him the best stuff (blue buffalo). While on that he never had good stool(watery), farts all the time and they smell horrible.

After the last few explosive diarrhea episodes I went on google and search for reviews on blue buffalo and came across this http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/blue_buffalo.html, where a lot of ppl's dogs/cats share the same problem as my husky. So I went to petsmart the next morning and got him the Royal canin maxi puppy and now my dog finally can relax cuz his tummy is no longer hurting.

I know well that blue buffalo and wellness had all natural ingredients and royal canin does contain the 6 undesirable things in dog food but I feel that my dog is much happier now that he doesn't have to go 10 times a day.

 

[albano]

my husky was on eukanuba from the breeder and when we got him home we thought to give him the best stuff (blue buffalo). While on that he never had good stool(watery), farts all the time and they smell horrible.

After the last few explosive diarrhea episodes i went on google and search for reviews on blue buffalo and came across this http://www.consumeraffairs.com/pets/blue_buffalo.html, where a lot of ppl's dogs/cats share the same problem as my husky. So i went to petsmart the next morning and got him the royal canin maxi puppy and now my dog finally can relax cuz his tummy is no longer hurting.

I know well that blue buffalo and wellness had all natural ingredients and royal canin does contain the 6 undesirable things in dog food but i feel that my dog is much happier now that he doesn't have to go 10 times a day.

tmi

 

[akma]

I feed my dog fromm and ziwipeak. Both are highly rated.
If I didn't feed fromm I would have gone with orijen, but my dog is happy with fromm.

 

[Affordable Aquatic]

Everybody knows dogs love chicken nuggets. Everybody!
Proof here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPVUwwrVfs4

 

[jedimaster1138]

LOL good stuff. Thanks all.

We picked up the smallest bag we could of Taste of the Wild High Prairie Puppy. Perhaps the grain free is exactly what she needs. Fingers crossed that it sits well. We gave her a few pieces to see if she liked it and the result was a definite...ZOMG MORE NOW. lol

I hate experiments though. Mutter.

 

[MeanGreenEyes]

The very best that you could ever do for your pup is the "Raw Prey Model Diet." There are several forums out there that can help you with the info on it. It is the only way to truly ensure that your pup is eating the highest quality food without junk fillers. It isn't as hard or expensive as people assume.

Here's one with good info:

http://rawfeddogs.org/rawguide.html

Commercial raw is garbage...IMHO and the opinion of many other raw feeders. I feed in his crate so that he doesn't drag it around the house and then just spray the crate pan down with a vinegar and water solution to disinfect.

I take one day a month to prep daily meals for Big Boy and pop them in the freezer. Switching to raw requires a 24 hour fast before starting while so the dry kibble can be worked out of the system because raw and kibble digest at different rates. Big Boy never had upset stomach during the transition to raw. His excrement is now the size of a small dog and doesn't smell like a pile of death because his body is digesting the food v.s. expelling all the fillers that are in dry kibble.

Usually for any dog with an upset stomach it is best to give them boiled boneless chicken and plain white rice to stop the upset stomach. Whenever you switch a dog's diet you need to gradually do it by adding the new food to the old food slowly over the course of 2 weeks to transition their stomach to the new food to prevent upset stomach.

Big Boy (who will be 8 this year) developed severe food allergies @ 6 months. I mean if you so much as sneeze in his direction he gets hives, ear infections, loose bowls, etc. Nothing helped except the raw diet. He was on Eukanuba when I got him at 6 weeks. Any pet food where the first ingredient is anything except meat is garbage. Or where the first ingredient is listed as "chicken by-product" for example.

I'm not sure if you ever heard of the huge pet food recall that killed well over 3,000 pets a few years ago, but it put the spotlight on pet food and the fact that many of the higher end foods still source low quality ingredients. In the case of the recall, it was ingredients sourced from China that were contaminated with melamine.

This:

http://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/safetyhealth/RecallsWithdrawals/ucm129932.htm

http://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/safetyhealth/recallswithdrawals/ucm129575.htm


Sorry for writing a book...pet food is a major passion that I hold near and dear because of having to watch my baby suffer. They wanted to put him on steroids and a crap well known-prescription diet that was also included in the above recall.

Best of luck with your pup.

 

[Paolissimo]

Blue buffalo, fish and oatmeal. I started my lab with wellness and it gave him diarrhea. Once I switched to blue buffalo, it got better. You can try a lil bit of banana which can help with the diarrhea. Honestly all the pups i see at the park, their poop is always a lil loose.

 

[tangy84]

I use health extensions. Great stuff. For my cockerpoo. I boil chickens, steam beans and carrots, and some rice. And I put it in a tray and put some soup on top and stick in the fridge. That's his food for 5-7 days.