My siberian husky doesn't tolerate dog food we have tried several brands..?

Question

He is 5 months old and he gets diarrea with dog food, he´s been wormed several times, but still any brand of dog food doesn´t seem to suit him, is it too bad to give him home made food (such as chicken and rice)? the vet says he'll get use to dog chow but it´s been 5 months... how long can it take him to get used to it? Also, he likes to hunt little animals and he eats them, once he ate a little bird and another time he ate an iguana!!! I worry that he might catch a desease. Is there a way to stop this?? thanks !!!

It is not that he doesn't eat it, he eats it all right, he would eat me if i let him (LOL-just kidding) he's got a huge appetite. but he's stomach gets really upset.

When he arrived home he was being fed pedigree by the breeder and according to him, "it was fine" but a couple of weeks after being home the diarrhea started. It only stops when we feed him home made food, but I'm worried he's not getting all the nutrients he needs. I have tried Pedrigree, Purina Dog Chow and a bunch of other brands which he actually didn't like so much, none of them worked.

Unfortunatley I don't live anywhere near US so some of the brands you've mentioned are completely unknown to me. As for the iguana, it wasn't regurgitated and don't worry, it wasn't anyone's pet, it was a "wild" iguana and apparently he liked the taste cause he's done it several times again since then.

Thank you very much for all your answers, it's gonna be hard to pick out the best one.

Answer 1

Huskies are specifically known for their prey drive you may never stop the hunting without professional training.

Hamburger and rice is good for them too. Be sure to drain all the grease. I would mix Hamburger Rice and Purina Dog Chow. Fancier dog foods tend to loosen stool on some dogs.

Answer 2

Check out this site:
http://www.rawdogranch.com
I feed my dogs Nature's Recipe Venison and Rice.
Van Patten has a Natural Balance Venison and Potato recipe that is excellent too.
Also check out Royal Canin because they have some breed specific foods to meet the specific needs of some breeds.
I'd think a German Shepherd brand would be good if they don't have Husky.
Otherwise, check out some Husky sites for their specific dietary needs.
I know the Nature's Recipe Venison and Rice, their Fish formula and the Rabbit and Duck would be good ones.
Along with that you'd want to ask your Vet about adding 3V Caps Skin Formulation supplement. It's a capsule with Omega 3, Vit A, D and E which is a combination supplement where the ingredient mixture helps get the maximum benefit from each ingredient.
Huskies have a strong prey drive and I don't think there is much you can do about anything that comes into your yard if your dog is out there for any length of time and something comes into it like a squirrel or other critter. Even when supervised, can you outrun your husky?
Generally speaking, if they catch something they don't tolerate well they will throw it up. I would imagine the iguana was regurgitated..

Answer 3

Are you sure it's the food that is making him sick and not the water? I have a siberian husky who is 3 now and he gets bad diarrhea and throws up if you give him any kind of water that isn't filtered. He has a very sensitive stomach when it comes to water, but he can eat most anything.
Home made food is fine for a dog as long as it is nutritionally balanced and doesn't contain harmful ingredients. The only way to stop you're dog from eating little animals is to keep him penned up or on a leash at all times which he should be anyways because husky's are known for loving to run. Good luck!!

Answer 4

Hum, this is a tough one. How long are you waiting before changing the brand of food your giving him? Most dogs will get diarrhea when their food is changed. It can take several days, to a week before they adjust to the new food. Did you acquire the dog first hand, or from a previous owner? If from a previous owner, then maybe the dog was never fed dog food, only human food, which could be why he does not like it. He will eat dog food if he is hungry enough, don't give in. Is it possible he might be eating a certain plant, or plants in your yard? this can cause diarrhea.
As far as hunting small animals, this is a trait in the husky breed, and really there is no way of stopping a husky from doing it. I have been a dog trainer for 25 years, and have owned 2 huskies, one which is my current dog, and I have curbed his drive to chase small animals for the most part, but its in their genes, and can not be stopped, just as Huskies are born to run, you cannot stop them from running when they want to. Good luck.

Answer 5

Sounds like my Sundance Blue.
She ate everything as a puppy! And we had issues with it.
There are a few things you might try all at once. Hopefully something will work (even if you don't know exactly what it is - just having it stop will make you happy!)

Try food that has less "fillers" - more protein. You want the protein to be at least the first two ingredients on the list. Be careful with "people food" it can have too much fat and other components that are not healthy for them, and their nutrition needs are different than ours. Be patient, simply changing food can cause diarrea for a bit - so find a food that is acceptable and try to stay with it for awhile (the same brand and type of food).

Make sure you let your vet know that his stool is not solidifying, you may need to get some of the sample to the vet to be tested to rule out any bacteria - sometimes a simple bacteria can cause issues that an antibiotic will fix. Make sure the puppy stays away from his own feces and the feces of any other animals you may have.

As for the other stuff - good luck! My Sundance ate all sorts of things as a puppy - sun glasses, popcicle sticks (which came out whole), and small pieces of metal!! Oh and the mice were her favorite! - and even now, at age 7 1/2 she will get bored and go digging in my laundry or my husband's closet - we still find wrappers and cloth and all sorts of stuff around the yard and in her bed. Be sure to keep allot of approved chew toys around and do everything you can to keep them occupied - lots of playmates, playthings, and playtimes.

Sibes are a challenge - but they are great!! And once he turns 2-3, you will see a different dog.

Answer 6

If you can go to home cooked, that's the way to go. Boiled chicken, rice, etc. If you have a bison farm nearby, bison meat is great too. And most huskies love fish. I boil rice and/or potatoes, and whitefish for my guy. I add some greens and some liquid vitamins and he's good to go. I make the fish and potatoes up a week at a time and store it in the refrigerator. Then at feeding time I warm it up in the microwave for 30 seconds or so.

If you want to stick to commercial dog food, go high grade and make sure meat is one of the top three ingredients listed. My husky had problems with diarrhea until I switched her to Eagle Natural:
www.eaglpack.com

Also look into Blue Buffalo:
www.bluebuff.com

Answer 7

Some Siberians tend to suffer from chronic digestion problems. This often clears up by the time they reach adulthood (1-2) years, but it's pretty frustrating til then!

Some suggestions from the Siberian Husky Health Foundation:
http://www.siberianhuskyhealthfoundation.org/puppies_diarrhea.asp

Keeping him on something bland (i.e. boiled chicken and white rice) will help clear it up, but shouldn't be done permanently, as those two things alone don't contain enough nutrition for a growing dog. I like the Nutro Natural Choice Turkey and Barley, and we also use Purina ONE Sensitive Systems dog foods -- neither of these are a puppy food, but will still work.

Siberians are *very* prey driven dogs. This means that if something smaller than them runs from them, their instinct kicks in and they will chase, capture, and sometimes kill it if they can. The best thing to do is keep him away from small pets (like Iguanas!). Hopefully any wild birds will be smart enough to stay away from him. If he catches one, I doubt it will give him a disease.

Please do not keep worming him in hopes of clearing up the diarrhea! Continually pumping toxins into his system (and dewormers of any kind are toxins!) will only make his problems worse. Try giving him some plain yogurt (a blob on his food at mealtime) -- this will help reintroduce healthy bacteria to his gut.

Good luck!

Answer 8

There is no way to stop him from hunting, as that is a strong part of his breeding.
However, there are so many great formulas that will be more digestible.
Go to your local (not a chain) pet supply, and ask what they carry in easily digestible formulas.
He should do well on several of the Wellness, Innova, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, Canidae, Wysong and other really premium kibbles..You sure won't find a decent one at the grocer's.
feeding a premium kibble costs LESS per month than feeding Purina..by at least 23%...I know..I feed several huge dogs, and have saved so much since switching to a good holistic dog food, even though it costs more per bag..It costs less per month, as they eat about 1/2 as much..

Answer 9

What was he eating when you bought him? I have had this problem with Pomeranians. They will get upset by any change in their diet. If you want to change food, you must do it very gradually, a little at a time, mixing the new food in with the old, till it's all new. As for the hunting problem, I'm sorry, I wouldn't know how to prevent this, except by containing the dog in an area free of other animals.

Answer 10

Giving ur dog something like chicken or beef and rice will not hurt him...that's what my vet told me to give my dog whenever she got diahrrea. We even mix it up a little and make her beef and macaroni (just plain boiled elbow macaroni) and we give her like 1 cup a couple of times a day....
What you COULD do is gradually start mixing in some dog food with the regular food to wean the dog off the people food and try and get it to eat dog food.