# Which grain free food?



## klke (Apr 24, 2009)

Our puppy is 16 weeks old and has been having loose stools. We have been working with the vet to figure it out. Her stools have been tested 3 times and nothing is showing up. 

He has switched her to a grain free food. The only one I could find on short notice in my area was Natural Balance. She has been on that for about a month and I'm not sure it is the right food for her. I have been doing some reading online and found other brands available. Any suggestions.


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## baumgartml16 (Jun 19, 2011)

We are just switching to California Natural. So far it hasn't posed any problems!


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

Nature's Variety Instinct is a wonderful grain free food!


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## rhondas (Sep 10, 2010)

My now 16 week old puppy is doing great on Acana Grain Free (an ALS food) - Grasslands and Ranchland) and a probiotic recommended highly by the integrative vet (Wysong's Pet Inoculant). 

The breeder was feeding the litter Solid Gold Puppy Lamb & Rice and was adding pumpkin and rice because of loose stools - all tests came back negative and were even sent out to the University of Illinois.

I transitioned over a period of 4 weeks so he's been completely on the Acana and the probiotic for 4 weeks.

Before you switch foods again I would suggest adding a probiotic. Has your vet talked to you about probiotics?


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## klke (Apr 24, 2009)

rhondas

She was on a probiotic and went off about 2 weeks ago. They are running a stool sample again today just to be sure. They did one that they sent out before they put her on grain free. The test came back clear. Today he put her on IAMS veterinary formual intestinal low residue food for a week or so. Then I am going to slowly put her back on grain free. I need to call him in a few days to see if she is doing better. I know that Taste of Wild, Canidae and Natural Balance are available in my area. I need to look up the other suggestions to see if they are available in my area.


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

How many foods has she been on in the time you've had her?

My mom had the exact same problem with her golden that she adopted from me as a puppy. She was concerned about his stools and kept changing his food every few weeks. The vet changed his food twice to prescription diets. I finally convinced her to stop changing the foods and give it 6-8 weeks for him to adjust to one food. His stools finally firmed up. Some puppies/dogs can't handle having their food changed too much or too quickly.


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

We've been having great luck with Solid Gold Sundancer.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

rhondas said:


> My now 16 week old puppy is doing great on Acana Grain Free (an ALS food) - Grasslands and Ranchland) and a probiotic recommended highly by the integrative vet (Wysong's Pet Inoculant).
> 
> QUOTE]
> 
> Has your vet ok'ed the Grasslands? It has a very high calcium (min of 2%) for puppies. Phos is min of 1.2%.


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## Rainheart (Nov 28, 2010)

Has your puppy actually been dewormed? Sometimes parasites don't show up in stool samples... Get on some kind of heartworm preventative if you aren't now (which will deworm for a few parasites) and talk with your vet about the possibility of getting a dewormer anyway.


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## Amberbark (Oct 5, 2011)

*Natural Balance Potato and Duck*

Ours are all on Natural Balance Potato and Duck kibble. Someone did respond to my post that the NB is 21% protein and 10% fat and that he/she felt that was too low of percentages on both. We have had no problems to date and the NB corrected a two year stomach issue with my Papillon. :wavey:


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## Darenka (Jan 18, 2012)

I did a consultation with this nutritionist and it was very useful and informative. It's a lot more detailed than just recommending a particular food, it's an explanation why, things to look for, etc.. Probably 20 pages of solidly researched information that was applicable to my dog with her specific needs and health issues. I just did the 25.00 consult but it was a lot more valuable than that as I've seen some unexpected, but real improvement. 

Better Dog Care, Better Dog Nutrition - Creating Healthy Lifestyles for Canines: Canine Nutrition Consultations

This is her web page as well: The Dog Food Project - How does your Dog Food Brand compare?


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## klke (Apr 24, 2009)

Foster mom: She was eating Science Diet puppy at the breeder. The vet told me to switch to grain free because she was going outside every 2 hours with watery stool. She is better on grain free but still really soft stools. He wants to try the Iams low residue food to see if that helps her feel better. Then back to grain free.

Rainheart: She has been dewormed.

Thanks for all the advice. It is very appreciated. This is our 3rd goldie and never had issues like this. Seems just like having a baby


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Darenka said:


> I did a consultation with this nutritionist and it was very useful and informative. It's a lot more detailed than just recommending a particular food, it's an explanation why, things to look for, etc.. Probably 20 pages of solidly researched information that was applicable to my dog with her specific needs and health issues. I just did the 25.00 consult but it was a lot more valuable than that as I've seen some unexpected, but real improvement.
> 
> Better Dog Care, Better Dog Nutrition - Creating Healthy Lifestyles for Canines: Canine Nutrition Consultations
> 
> This is her web page as well: The Dog Food Project - How does your Dog Food Brand compare?


FYI, if you're talking about the author of that site, she's not a nutritionist by any professional definition. On her "about the author" page, she claims some coursework in nutrition and a "certification" in animal care. She claims none of the degrees of a nutritionist nor any professional experience as a veterinary nutritionist or anything remotely close to that.

I'm glad she was able to help your dog, but it's a pretty big stretch to call this person a nutritionist.


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

klke said:


> Foster mom: She was eating Science Diet puppy at the breeder. The vet told me to switch to grain free because she was going outside every 2 hours with watery stool. She is better on grain free but still really soft stools. He wants to try the Iams low residue food to see if that helps her feel better. Then back to grain free.
> 
> Rainheart: She has been dewormed.
> 
> Thanks for all the advice. It is very appreciated. This is our 3rd goldie and never had issues like this. Seems just like having a baby


I agree that the food may be an issue, but it also sounds like sh.e's been on at least 4 foods in the 3 months she's been on solid food. That's a lot of change. I would suggest finding one food and sticking with it. Actually, since the vet put her on this prescription diet, unless you had been feeding another food for a period of time, I'd keep her on it for 6-8 weeks to allow her system to adjust to all the changes she's been through. It can be very tough on their systems to be changed so much in such a short period of time


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## jimla (Oct 9, 2008)

rhondas said:


> My now 16 week old puppy is doing great on Acana Grain Free (an ALS food) - Grasslands and Ranchland) and a probiotic recommended highly by the integrative vet (Wysong's Pet Inoculant).


Roxy had loose stools on several brands of food we tried including one grain free product. Our trainer suggested Acana and Roxy has been doing great on Grasslands.


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## rhondas (Sep 10, 2010)

@ Penny & Maggie's Mom

The vet and I had a discussion of the food. It was oked.
My older one (4.5 years old) has been on either Orijins or Acana for most of his life with home cooked.


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## cgriffin (Nov 30, 2011)

I like Taste of the Wild lamb formula. My golden had digestive problems as a pup. Once I put him on a diet with lamb as a protein, he was doing great. At that time, TOTW had not been out yet or I would have started him on that. Good luck to puppy!


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## newport (Aug 8, 2011)

I would suggest adding THE MISSING LINK and (or) or maybe just ground chia or flax seeds to her daily diet. It is a soft bulking agent which is also good for them( omega threes etc.)


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

Perhaps you should stick with a food for 3-4 months. That is the time to really see if the food is working for that dog.

I might suggest buying a quality food WITH grains (the good ones! No corn or wheat!) I would suggest Fromm, Go!, Canidae as starting points.


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## Darenka (Jan 18, 2012)

tippykayak said:


> FYI, if you're talking about the author of that site, she's not a nutritionist by any professional definition. On her "about the author" page, she claims some coursework in nutrition and a "certification" in animal care. She claims none of the degrees of a nutritionist nor any professional experience as a veterinary nutritionist or anything remotely close to that.
> 
> I'm glad she was able to help your dog, but it's a pretty big stretch to call this person a nutritionist.


While I am the one who used the term, it's not actually a stretch at all to call her a nutritionist. I suspect the term you are looking for is a "Dietitian"; they are subject to professional regulations and certifications. In most areas a nutritionist is simply someone who advises on food, and even self-taught individuals can use the title. 

This certainly is not meant to be a smear on vets, but most of them receive little to no nutritional education in their course work. But the same is true for an MD. I suspect my vet is too busy to keep up with the 100+ different dog food manufacturers and the ever increasing field of supplements. This woman has educated herself on such matters and it saved me from having to spend the time to research it myself. 

It was simply a suggestion to the OP as another line of inquiry to pursue if they were interested. No one was attempting to deceive or mislead anyone.


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## KatieBlue'sMidnightSky (Feb 22, 2011)

I've had my now 11 month old golden on a blend of Orijen (currently Regional Red, prior, a mix of Puppy & Large Breed Puppy) and Nature's Variety Raw Medallions. We've had great success with this food. (Love Orijen) I must say that the transition was hard. First off, the food she was on when I got her was C-R-A-P (won't mention brand, so as not to offend anyone who uses it), and I went a bit too fast in my desire to get her off the said c-r-a-p, lol ~ she got very runny stools. I almost decided to quit and try something else, but the food person encouraged me to stick with it and to increase the new Orijen food. I did, and I am so happy I did because the awful runny stools cleared up quickly as soon as she was 100% on Orijen and off the, well, you know what.  (I started the Raw when she was just a little older...4 months old or something like that)

Good Luck! Hope you find whats best for your pup!


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## SterlingValleyGoldens (Jun 13, 2011)

We feed Nature's domain grain free food from Kirkland. It's really helped our dogs with stomach issues and poop issues.


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## Garfield (Apr 7, 2009)

cgriffin said:


> I like Taste of the Wild lamb formula. My golden had digestive problems as a pup. Once I put him on a diet with lamb as a protein, he was doing great. At that time, TOTW had not been out yet or I would have started him on that. Good luck to puppy!


TOTW has puppy formulas now too. But I do agree with folks about not switching puppy's diet too often as that in itself can cause issues.


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## elly (Nov 21, 2010)

Sometimes its not the grain but chicken and chicken 'products' in the food...once we removed all those he seemed better..we will soon reintroduce a little to check it wasnt coincidence but duck or venison and potato or tapioca formulas plus some raw have been the way forward for us.


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## klke (Apr 24, 2009)

I made the switch to Taste of the Wild Puppy. No more runny stools. She is doing great. Thanks for all the advice.


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