# Looking for some advice



## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Is he gaining weight and has normal activity level? He may have hit a slow spot in his growth, and doesn't need as much food as he did before. If that's the case he will pick up on the amount he eats again. He could also be teething and have a little gum discomfort when he eats.

I would not start switching food to entice him to eat. Just offer the food at regular meal times, and if he doesn't eat all of it, pick it up after 10-15 minutes and don't offer more until the next meal time.

Unless a dog is sick they won't starve themselves.


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## jwemt81 (Aug 20, 2008)

Yes, you definitely want to avoid any grain-free formulas as they have recently been linked to DCM in a study conducted on Goldens by UC Davis. They also are totally unnecessary in general, especially in puppies. Both Eukanuba and Pro Plan are excellent foods. We have used both, but have mainly used Pro Plan over the past decade. However, the last thing you want to do is constantly change your pup's food. This can only worsen/encourage picky eating behaviors. I do think it's a good idea to get him away from grain-free. At his age, I would be inclined to go with either Pro Plan Large Breed Puppy or Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy and then switch over to the adult formula when he is 6 months old.


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## Hmorgan (Dec 11, 2016)

Thank you for your reply. He does have a normal activity level and he looks like he's gaining but I will weigh him just to see. He has a waist and you can feel ribs but not see them. He finished breakfast but it took about an hour. I left it down to see if he'd finish it but I guess I should go back to picking it up after 15 minutes. Is the Earthborn Holistic food a good choice. I had never heard of it before meeting his breeder. Sometimes he has mushy poop but most of the time it's firm. I wonder if it's the training treats doing that and perhaps I should just use kibble for training. He likes the kibble a lot more if it's hand fed to him. 
I recently bought the Zukes brand training treats in chicken. Is there a better choice for training treats? Freeze dried liver?
Thank you again very much for your time.


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## jwemt81 (Aug 20, 2008)

Hmorgan said:


> Thank you for your reply. He does have a normal activity level and he looks like he's gaining but I will weigh him just to see. He has a waist and you can feel ribs but not see them. He finished breakfast but it took about an hour. I left it down to see if he'd finish it but I guess I should go back to picking it up after 15 minutes. Is the Earthborn Holistic food a good choice. I had never heard of it before meeting his breeder. Sometimes he has mushy poop but most of the time it's firm. I wonder if it's the training treats doing that and perhaps I should just use kibble for training. He likes the kibble a lot more if it's hand fed to him.
> I recently bought the Zukes brand training treats in chicken. Is there a better choice for training treats? Freeze dried liver?
> Thank you again very much for your time.


I'm really not all that familiar with Earthborn since we have never used it and have never known anyone who uses it. I did look it up and it appears to be grain-free, so I wouldn't even consider this food. Not only is it dangerous with the recent studies that have been done, but it is especially dangerous for puppies. 

As far as the loose stools, I looked at the protein levels on some of the Earthborn formulas and they are incredibly high! The few formulas that I looked at are 31% protein. That's WAY too much for a puppy. I wouldn't even feed that high of a protein level to an adult. No wonder the poor thing has loose stools! I'm also very turned off that they use peas in their formulas, which are a starch and can contribute to cancer development. I would absolutely 100% get away from this stuff.


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## Hmorgan (Dec 11, 2016)

Thank you for looking into Earthborn for me.
The crude protein minimum in the puppy food is listed as 28%. It does not appear to be grain free. It has oatmeal, barley, and brown rice. 
What protein % would be ideal for puppies?
I had not heard that about peas so thank you. 
I will certainly consider Pro Plan lg breed puppy. 
Thank you for your response.


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## jwemt81 (Aug 20, 2008)

Hmorgan said:


> Thank you for looking into Earthborn for me.
> The crude protein minimum in the puppy food is listed as 28%. It does not appear to be grain free. It has oatmeal, barley, and brown rice.
> What protein % would be ideal for puppies?
> I had not heard that about peas so thank you.
> ...


26-28% is ideal for puppies, which is what I believe Pro Plan and Eukanuba are and have many decades of science behind them.


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## Yaichi's Mom (Jul 21, 2012)

This may be helpful for those feeding and trying to choose a kibble:






I have been feeding Brisby a raw diet for the last 2 years, however if I was able to turn the clock back, I would have started her on a complete balanced raw diet when she was a pup.


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

Yaichi's Mom said:


> This may be helpful for those feeding and trying to choose a kibble:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkRxDxVDbVw
> 
> I have been feeding Brisby a raw diet for the last 2 years, however if I was able to turn the clock back, I would have started her on a complete balanced raw diet when she was a pup.


I feel the same way too! I wish I started my dogs on a raw diet when they were just puppies, but at least young Teddy Bear grew up on raw food. Thinking of Teddy Bear, he finally loves his raw food diet...and he is not picky anymore  

Those days are long gone now and I'm a happy camper that Teddy loves his food. Any future puppy that I add to the pack, will start on a raw diet. I am very happy with the results, and I'm glad to be off kibble dog foods.


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## Nicoleandjake (Oct 20, 2017)

I've had both my dogs on raw since I took them home, one at 8 weeks and the other at 9 weeks. I switched cold turkey straight to raw and would never feed anything else. Jake didn't even want to look at his kibble the breeder gave me when he came home but I put his raw food down and it was gone in 5 seconds. It is not as expensive as people think it is. I pay less for my raw than my friend who pays for high quality kibble. I don't really agree that puppies only need 28% protein. My raw food is only meat, bones and organ so mainly protein and both my pups are 100% healthy. Dogs were born to eat meat, not processed kibble that has grains and other additives that aren't natural to a dogs diet.


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## Borisdog (Jan 18, 2018)

Hmorgan said:


> Hi All
> My 15 week old golden boy is turning his nose up at his kibble. He came home to us at 10 weeks on Earthborn Holistic puppy vantage. 3 cups a day divided into 3 meals.
> He is now fed 1 1/2 cups twice a day.
> He ate well the first few days of being home and then stopped finishing his meals immediately. I'd leave the bowl down for 20 minutes and then remove what remained.
> ...


Yes, that is very unusual for a retriever not to wolf down his food! It could be a reaction to his booster shots, especially if the vet is using a nasal spray. However, if you are considering grain-free dog food, PetShop.co.uk is doing a grain-free awareness month to celebrate a New Year - New Dog, there's stuff on Pro Plan and Eukanuba as well.


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## Hmorgan (Dec 11, 2016)

Thank you for everyone who posted a reply.
We've had him now for 5 weeks and his stool goes from normal to pudding intermittently. This started the day after we brought him home. Just when I think we've gotten past it the loose stools will start again. He's had 2 negative stool samples. The last one was just yesterday. 
He did get boosters yesterday and his stool was pudding consistency today. Since this has been going on for a while the vet suggested a bland diet. Either boiled chicken and rice or the commercial bland that the vet has. Then perhaps switch from the Earthborn puppy to something else.
I spoke with another vet today who is the mom of my son's friend and she said just start him on Purina one or Pro Plan without even transitioning gradually. I've always heard gradual transitioning is best. 
She also said not to bother with a bland diet or adding pumpkin or rice. 
Needless to say, I'm pretty confused. 
I won't do grain free but want to feed something of quality. I only have one dog so cost isn't a huge factor. 
I have heard good things about Merrick and Life's Abundance too. 
The most pressing issue is if I should do bland for a few days like my vet advises or listen to the other vet who says don't bother. 
Thank you everyone.


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## usually lurking (Apr 21, 2017)

Immediately putting him on a new kibble doesn't seem like it would help his system, at all. Feed boiled chicken or beef with white rice. Feed it for at least a week (make sure you see solid, consistent stools for several days), then slowly - over the course of 1-2 weeks, transition from the bland diet to the new kibble. Pro Plan is a good choice. Don't feed anything other than the bland diet and the kibble until you are certain that his GI tract has recovered. You can use bits of boiled chicken, then pieces of kibble (once he transitions) as treats. Be careful with pumpkin, as too much will cause diarrhea.

Edit: You can also feed more frequent, smaller meals, which will be easier on his stomach.


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

Nicoleandjake said:


> I've had both my dogs on raw since I took them home, one at 8 weeks and the other at 9 weeks. I switched cold turkey straight to raw and would never feed anything else. Jake didn't even want to look at his kibble the breeder gave me when he came home but I put his raw food down and it was gone in 5 seconds. It is not as expensive as people think it is. I pay less for my raw than my friend who pays for high quality kibble. I don't really agree that puppies only need 28% protein. My raw food is only meat, bones and organ so mainly protein and both my pups are 100% healthy. Dogs were born to eat meat, not processed kibble that has grains and other additives that aren't natural to a dogs diet.


I also use the prey raw diet model for my dogs as well. That, and the BARF model to keep things interesting for my pups. Rusty is my golden, and he was starting to have issues on the kibble foods. Rusty could not handle any of the grain food lines, and he was throwing up during the night. 

During this time, I was able to find one lamb grain free line that was working, but I knew I had to get my dogs off kibble dog foods. Once I switched over to a raw diet, all of Rusty's issues went away over a few months. He no longer throws up anymore, and I love the results I have seen with my dogs.

As for the cost of raw food diet is not that costly like you said. All you need to do is look for sales, and stock up in bulk to save a ton of money. I invested into a good grinder, and a freezer to store more food at a time, but people don't really need to do the same thing tho.


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## CodysDad (Dec 17, 2012)

Have you tried spreading some kibble on the floor rather than putting it in a bowl. It sounds silly, but I’ve seen it work with countless dogs that aren’t eating. Another option is putting there food in one of those treat balls that they have to knock around to get the food out. Every single dog we’ve tried it with had eaten (and we’re dog sitters so it’s been ALOT of dogs). There’s something about these methods that makes eating more appetizing for them. I love it because it’s effective and doesn’t involve changing their diet. Best of luck with the little pup!!


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