# Puppy has diarrhea on Fromm's... need advice on new food



## Torbitudes

Hello,
We've been feeding Cookie Fromm's Large Breed Puppy for 7 weeks now (she is now 14 weeks old). She loves it, but keeps having the odd bout of diarrhea. Her fecal tests come back clean and she has no other symptoms. When she has an episode of diarrhea, we switch to the bland chicken and rice diet and she instantly has solid poop again. We've been transitioning her back to kibble again (over the course of two weeks), but she has diarrhea again when we switch back to 100% kibble. 

We are looking for a new high-quality food to feed her, but keep reading mixed comments about all of them. We are considering the following (recommended by our puppy trainer): 

Orijen
Acana 
Petcurean ("Go!" and "Now!")
Wellness (CORE if you want grain-free), 
Canidae
Taste of the Wild
Blue Buffalo
Innova Evo (or just "EVO")

Would love some comments about your experience with these foods (considering we have a golden with a sensitive tummy!). Thanks!


----------



## Enzos_Mom

What kind of food did your breeder have her on? If she was doing fine on that, then I would change back to whatever that was. That said, my dad has a golden that does great on Canidae. Enzo was on Blue Buffalo and did well on that for a long time. His littermate is on it now and is doing well. He's now on Fromm's 4 star line. Right now, he's eating a mixture of Whitefish and Potato, Duck and Sweet Potato and Surf & Turf.


----------



## Torbitudes

Enzos_Mom said:


> What kind of food did your breeder have her on? If she was doing fine on that, then I would change back to whatever that was. That said, my dad has a golden that does great on Canidae. Enzo was on Blue Buffalo and did well on that for a long time. His littermate is on it now and is doing well. He's now on Fromm's 4 star line. Right now, he's eating a mixture of Whitefish and Potato, Duck and Sweet Potato and Surf & Turf.


The breeder had her eating Royal Canin Large Breed Puppy. Cookie wasn't a fan of it - she didn't seem keen about eating it. We will look into Canidae & Blue Buffalo - thanks!


----------



## Enzos_Mom

Don't look into Canidae and Blue Buffalo because just because it's worked for me. What's good for one dog doesn't always work for others. You need to choose a company and ingredients that you feel comfortable with. Have you considered choosing a less "premium" food, at least until your puppy's stomach is a little more mature and can handle the rich ingredients? You could look at the Purina Pro Plan All Life Stages Chicken & Rice. Or maybe the Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy. There are SO many more options than the ones you have listed. You could also put her back on the Royal Canin. You could try putting her food down for her at meal time for 15-20 minutes or so. If she doesn't eat it, pick it back up and don't put it back down until the next meal time. Repeat. She'll soon understand that she needs to eat when food is offered. A healthy puppy won't starve herself.


----------



## Dallas Gold

Enzo's Mom has some good ideas.

My almost 7 year old Golden suddenly started having issues with soft poops about a year ago. We first got him checked out medically and tried him on different formulas, after slow mixing the new kibble with the old. In reading the food labels of dog food bags in the store I realized most of the ones we tried had much too little fiber for him. We switched him to a higher fiber formula of 8% and it worked. Maybe your pup is one that will need a fiber boost to firm him up.

One other suggestion: what types of treats are you using? Is it possible the treats are causing the issues, especially if they are too rich?


----------



## MyBentley

From your list, Wellness Core and EVO are not recommended by the companies for dogs younger than one-year-old; so I would X those off your list for now.

As you suspected, diarrhea is often caused by parasites in puppies so it's good you checked that out. It may just be something in the current dog food that doesn't agree with your dog and/or the amount being fed could be a little bit too much.

If it were my dog, I'd be trying the Acana Wild Prairie kibble. It's a good "all life stages" food and should be easily available where you live. I've fed it in rotation to both my dogs with success. Of course, that doesn't mean it will work for your dog. Keep in mind that the feeding guidelines on the back of the bags tend to be on the high side.


----------



## California Blonde

Had my girl on Formm for about 6 months
But she was always hungry and looking for food one hour after she had finished eating.
So we switched her to ( ORIJAN ) she dosen't go looking for food like she did with the ( FORMM ) food.
She is eating the new ( REGIONAL RED ) Orijen right now.
She was on there ( GRASSLANDS ) for a while but i like to change the flavor around with in the same brand.
My girl is not a puppy she is 7 years old.


----------



## sadie2013

I know this is a few years later, however this is exactly what we have experienced with our golden for the past month. If you still get this, what ended up working for your dog?


----------



## CarolinaCasey

Has she been treated for Giardia or Coccidia? Sounds like she may need some flagyl for a course of treatment. It is hard to find on a fecal but causes diarrhea. I find Fromm is very easy on the dog's stomachs. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Tahnee GR

I second Carolina Casey's comments. Unless you are overfeeding or have just switched foods, I find that diarrhea in a very young puppy is usually coccidia or giardia, both very difficult to diagnose.

In my puppies, I look first at coccidia, because I have had it in the past.

Coccidia (Coccidiosis) in Dogs: A Cause of Diarrhea

It is certainly worth looking into.

So often I hear puppy owners say that their puppy had diarrhea and after months of trying different foods, they have finally found one that seems to work. I think that what has often happened is that it was a mild case of coccidia, and the pups immune system finally caught up with it.


----------



## spockles

This is so weird! I was just coming on to post a similar post. Fecal tests negative, but given 5 days of metronidazole two separate times just in case and is on fortiflora probiotic. Our pup is 5 months old.


----------



## CarolinaCasey

spockles said:


> This is so weird! I was just coming on to post a similar post. Fecal tests negative, but given 5 days of metronidazole two separate times just in case and is on fortiflora probiotic. Our pup is 5 months old.


I think your dog needs a longer course of treatment-- 10-14 days maybe. Consult your vet! Coccidia and Giardia can present during times of stress so teething definitely falls into that category. Just because a puppy has either giardia or coccidia doesn't mean your breeder did anything wrong or puppies were kept in poor condition. These things can harbor in the ground and can also be picked up from other places you've been or water they've drunk. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Mr. Bojangles

My breeder (Dichi Goldens in Wisconsin) swears by Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy and Adult. It is readily available in stores and online, not terribly expensive, and I can't argue with the results they get.


----------



## sadie2013

Thanks for the reply. We did go through and had the fecal- was negative, but still had diarrhea, so they did give a round of antibiotics. We used hills I/d till firm stools.

Enen after treatment and firm stools, when we transitioned a week later she got diarrhea with Fromm. I just put her back on the food we started with (earthborn holistic) and she has not had a single issue. Phew! 

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Heather Roehl

I know this thread is pretty old but did anyone find anything that worked. My 4 month puppy is on Fromm large breed and gets diarrhea at least 2-3 days a week and has had this since I brought her home at 8 weeks. She is also always wanting to eat grass. The vet gave her some medication that works great but the diarrhea always comes back. I am thinking of trying a different food to see if this helps. Any suggestions?


----------



## drew510

We are feeding our 11 week old Fromm and her stools are firm, BUT, she will not touch her food unless we sprinkle some Purina Fortiflora on it. I suspect the Fortiflora is helping to keep her stools so firm. I think we are going to try and transition her to something else as we get through the bag of Fromm.

You may want to try some of the Fortiflora and see if that helps.


----------



## mylissyk

One of the things I prefer to use for puppies is a food with a single protein source. The Fromm large breed puppy food has Chicken, Duck, Fish and Lamb in the ingredients list. 

Look for a single protein food, only Chicken or only Duck, etc. I think all that mix of meats is too much for a puppy to process in their little baby, and growing, digestive system. Remember to transition over a couple of weeks when you start a new food, and give the new food a solid month before you decide it's not working - unless it makes the diarrhea worse of course.

Some foods are just too rich for some puppies.


----------



## Smcbride3

My 3 month old puppy was on the Fromm gold and constantly had diarrhea. A few days of chicken and rice and she’s back to normal. So looks like we are going to switch too.


----------



## pawsnpaca

For anyone coming back to this thread from a few years ago...

Be aware that, although many of the food discussed in this original thread are, or were considered, great foods with good reputations (e.g., Origin, Acana, Wellness, Taste of the Wild, EVO, etc.), there has a been a relatively recent rise in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM - a potentially fatal heart issue) that seems to be connected with the grain-free, so-called "boutique" foods ("Boutique" pretty much referring to any food not made by Hills, Purina, or one of the other big manufacturers). No one yet (so far as I know) has isolated the cause, but until they do I would caution against grain-free foods, regardless of who makes it (one theory is the use of legumes - peas, lentils, etc. - or potatoes/sweet potatoes instead of grains is somehow reducing the available taurine - but again, this has not been proven). 









FDA Grain-Free Diet Alert: What Dog Owners Need to Know


Understand what the FDA is telling dog owners about grain-free dog food and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) so you can make informed decisions for your pet.




www.akc.org




.

Anyway... please use caution when considering grain-free foods until the scientists figure out what's causing the DCM issue.

That said, I'm not a big fan of most of the "big name" foods (Science Diet, Royal Canin, most of the Purina products, etc.). The quality of the ingredients and the amount of meat in the food is just too low for my standards. If you want to play it safe, I've come around to accepting that the Purina "Pro Plan" line seems be fed by many people I respect and the dogs I know who are on it seem healthy and with no more "issues" than most (BUT... do stay with the Pro Plan line... it's among the highest quality food Purina produces). 

My own dogs are raw-fed but I do supplement with kibble. Recently, I've been using a new line of foods from Earthborn, which has been formulated with the suspect ingredients for DCM in mind. Here's a link if you want to check it out... Earthborn Holistic® Pet Food

Also, for what it's worth, I too have/had a puppy with a sensitive tummy. In my case, she'd have diarrhea once or twice a week but it always self-corrected without any intervention from me. The issue has continued into adulthood, and seems to most often follow a training session or class where she got a large number of (healthy) treats, but sometimes the source is just a mystery. You have to be careful with a puppy for sure, but it might be worth seeing if the diarrhea self-corrects with time (e.g., within 24 hours or so) even without resorting to chicken and rice. Just a thought...


----------

