Changing a puppy's food.?

Question

OK, as I said in my last question, my 9 week old puppy has gas somethng terrible. I am fairly sure that it is a food related issue. I have another puppy, 14 weeks old, and two 3 year old Shih Tzus also. They are all eating the same food, which is Eukanuba Small Breed Puppy Formula. I have always feed Eukanuba to my dogs, and have never had a problem before. I understand that it has corn meal, which may be causing the problem.

I have done some research on picking out a better food. (My vet says Science Diet, but i know he earns money, every time he sells some.) It seems that every brand out there says that they are the best. Does anyone have any experience with a similar problem? Can you tell me what worked for you?

The other puppy is fine and the two adults are OK too.

Answer 1

Toy/small breeds should receive puppy food until they are a year old, medium/large breeds until they are 6-8 months old and Giant breeds never.

Your adult dogs should NOT be getting puppy foods.They need to be getting a good quality adult food. Puppy food is far too high in proteins, calcium, etc for adult dogs unless they are pregnant or debilitated from illness, malnourishment etc.


Eukanuba/IAMS, Science Diet, Pedigree, Purina Dog Chow and other "supermarket" brands are low quality foods..they all contain cheap fillers..corn, wheat, soy, beet pulp ... and by products. They contain very little meat protein. Dogs are designed to extract nutrition from meats not grains. It takes up to 3 times more of the low quality grain based foods for a dog to receive proper nutrition then it does a good quality meat based food. Corn and wheat aren't easily digestable, they are high allergens and they add very little nutritional value to foods. Soy is a major gas producer as well as a filler..beet pulp has no nutritional value and only serves to add unnecassary sugars to the diet.

Dogs are designed to eat & process mainly meats. Foods fed to them should have more meat then grain.

Some very good quality foods to consider:
Canidae, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul, Wellness, California Natural, Solid Gold, Blue Buffalo, Innova, Timberwolf..just to name a few.


Vets do most certainly get nutrition classes and they DO have to take classes however they are general classes that take in all species from cats to rats, dogs to hogs..the nutrition classes are NOT taught by any pet food companies nor are they sponsored by any pet food companies (including Hill's). Vets do NOT get perks or kickbacks or anything else for selling Science Diet (despite what Hill's would love to have everyone believe)or any other particular pet food.(I would love to have been give all this free food and incentives/perks that we all supposedly get when I was a struggling student in school with pets....I guess I should have attended their "Optional seminars" and maybe I would have.I bet one of our vets who just graduated from vet school 7 years ago would love to have had all those things too as would our new techs who have graduated within the past couple of years or our tech who is currently in vet school. I've worked in the vet field for 34 going on 35 years and I've worked for/with several vets and not one of them ever got anything from the sale of Hill's products.Every single vet clinic/hospital I know has to fight to get free samples of Science Diet just to give to clients..as for incentives/perks well gee... a $10 coupon to each tech/vet twice a year that is only redemable on the largest bags they carry I guess could be called an incentive/perk, or maybe it's the tons of literature and literature holders they send or bring in to us throughout the year or maybe it's those Pizza Hut lunches they try to get us to hold once/twice a year so we can listen to theri reps rattle on on how great the food is. Vets have to buy the pet foods they sell just like any other business that sells pet foods. They buy wholesale just like everyone else and sell retail just like everyone else..no difference. I get so tired of the false info concerning vets & kickbacks etc on foods...

Answer 2

well, when you change your puppys diet at all it could cause you puppy to have an upset tummy. Gradually change your puppies food, add the new puppy food little by little untill finally you have all the new kind of puppy food. It's great to start your puppy off on a real high quality food, high in protein and calcium, but not so high in fiber and fat. Puupies are very intergetic and will need a high quality food to keep up with them, and fat in dog food is like sugar to people, it's them all hyper and then sends them crashing at the end of the day, plus it isn't a healthy way for the puppy to add weight to grow. In my honest opinion I've tried all types of food, and this is just my opinion, Purinan 1 is a great puppy food, so is Iams and Science Diet, and i know they are expensive but won't you rather spend a little extra on dog food and not so much on expensive vet bills. That how I look at it, I hope that you have fun with your new puppy.

Answer 3

first i have to point out i am so tired of everytime someone gets advice to buy something from their vet people say they are saying it to get money. your vet probably reccomends science diet because it's what they feed their dogs (no the company does not pay for the vet's food either) and science diet is the dog food company that comes out to the vets, shows them their research and offers them their product. trust me your vet is not making much over the cost of the bag of food you purchase. most vets only mark the food up 10% from what they pay, that does not even cover the computer and the employee's time being used to sell you the food. places like petsmart often offer this food cheaper than your vet because of the amount of bulk they buy the food in. any brand of food you buy is going to benefit someone.


now for your question. your 3 yr old shih tzus should not be eating puppy food unless your vet has told you so. i have found with most of my dogs eukanuba and iams cause gas and stomach upset. i feed my dog's proplan, they make a small bite puppy and an adult dog food in small bites. you're better to switch the food slowly and gradually and not all at once this will cause more tummy trouble. and your 9 week old puppy could have gas from internal parasites, was he dewormed recently? it may take a few dewormings for the parasites to be comepletely gone. and i just have to say i'm a vet employee and i feed purina. we sell science diet. my dog's don't like it and i don't usually reccomend it, i am honest with clients when they ask what i feed and what they should, because we make no profit on the science diet and i give an honest opinion when asked. which is probably all your vet was doing.

Answer 4

The food could very well be the problem. Your dogs should all be on a high quality diet. Most of your better known brands do NOT fit into this category.

Here's some information in choosing a high quality dog food.

Anything by Purina is pretty low on the high quality foods list. In fact most of your better known brands are, this include Eukanuba, Iams, Science Diet, etc.

Vets are great sources of medical information but they very POOR sources of nutritional information. Vets are required to take very little in the way of animal nutrition courses, in fact these are usually just an elective. The few classes they are offered are either taught by or sponsored by major dog food companies. No bias in that teaching huh? Vets also of course make money on the foods they sell, as well as recieve 'perks' from dog food companies for promoting a certain food. And I've heard this from vets and vet students themselves as well. Here is a link from Hill's stating these very facts http://www.hillspet.com/zSkin_2/company_info/company_info_general.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302051875&bmUID=1168120685797

So when looking for a high quality food, I'd stay away from your better known, highly advertised brands, and look for the following:

Here is some information on finding a high quality food for your dog.

Nothing you find at a grocery store is going to be a good food. High quality foods can be found at large pet store chains, or online. A couple of foods I like are Nutro Natural, Innova, and Cannidae.

There are other high quality dog foods. Here's how to spot them:

A high quality food will have little or no fillers such as corn, wheat or soy. These aren't very digestable for dogs, and are common food related allergens. Since you were seeing corn meal in the first few ingredients, those are not high quality foods. Foods list ingredients by content, with the ingredient it contains most of at the top.

A high quality food will not contain BHT, BHA or Ethoxyquin, these are all chemical preservatives that have been linked to cancer.

A high quality food will not contain by-products of any kind. Meat meals are ok as long as the source of the meat is listed, such as Chicken Meal.

A high quality diet should have meat as at least the first ingredient., and be made from human grade ingredients. Foods that don't use human grade ingredients often get their ingredients from less than desirable sources, such as meat from animals that were diseased, or euthanized.

There is another diet option other than dog food. Some people choose to feed a raw diet. This involves feeding the dog raw meaty bones and organ meat. However it is not as simple as throwing a couple chicken bones in a bowl everyday. If you wish to feed this type of diet, do lots and lots of research first. Switching to this diet without knowing what your doing can lead to nutritional problems for your dog. I'll give you some links as a starting point in research if you are interested in this type of diet.

http://www.willowglen.com/barf.htm.........

http://www.bestfrisbeedogs.com/diets.htm...

http://www.rawlearning.com/rawfaq.html.....

http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html.....

http://www.rawdogranch.com

What's Really In Pet Food
http://www.api4animals.org/facts?p=359&m...

Answer 5

This puppy just might have a more sensitive system than your other dogs.

Hill's Science Diet is a good food and there are other places to get it besides the Vet. Prescription diet (also by Hill's) is another story, but I believe Science Diet is carried at: Petco; Petsmart.

Here's the link to their website: http://www.hillspet.com/zSkin_2/owner/buy_science_diet.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302025371&bmUID=1168117269864

You can look there and see where it's sold.

Answer 6

it might just that particular dog that's getting it cuz it could be just genetics cuz my dog got gassy from a food he ate. it would be either Science Diet or Eukanuba that made that. my dog enjoys iams and got rid of gas. eating human food can cause that also so don't feed him that.

Answer 7

Avoid any food with corn, (doesn't digest ) soy (beans!) or beet pulp ( pushes food though before complete digestion) I recommend Canidae (my fave) Innova, Wellness, Natural Balance, or Solid Gold..Wysong is great, but pricey. These brands can be found at most pet supply shops (local shops, not chains)

Answer 8

Raw Feeding prey model diet helped my dog.

Answer 9

my sister's dog had a really bad rash.we switched her to "Ultra" (you can get it at Petsmart) and now the rash is disappearing! you dont know some of the stuff they put in some dogfood.chicken beaks, feet, intestines, etc. that may be the problem.

Answer 10

solid gold and science diet worked for mine.
one of my dogs always released gases too. after i switched to these, both are quite ok.