My dog food choice still gives my two dogs the runs?

Question

We started to mix in Nutro Natural Choice with my dogs food roughly a month ago now. However, my dogs a Husky and Malamute still seem to be getting runny stools.

The vet isn't really sure what it can be, since there blood test results have come back normal and they aren't showing any signs of sickness, other than the runny stools.

We can't afford a food that is more expensive than the Nutro Natural Choice as that was $36 for a 40 pound bag. We also don't want to go the raw route as it's not something we want to feed our dogs.

I have heard that Costco sells a decent dog food that is pretty high quality, but there isn't a Costco anywhere near here, store locater doesn't even turn up one store and they don't ship that particular food out.

We are running out of ideas on what to feed our dogs.

Anything that we can try and isn't very expensive?

huntergirl, Ol'Roy does the same thing to my dogs.

crazy_beautiful, $24 for a 20# bag is very expensive. A 20# bag will only last me a week as we do have 2 other dogs, they just don't have the runny stools. So $24 x 2 is $48 every two weeks.

Now if it was $24 for a 40# bag, that's a different story.

please_count_p's, we don't feed any treats.

dobiegang, Natural balance is also pretty expensive around here. It's $42 for 10# less than what I am currently getting.

star-Gazer, thank you for the BARF info, but we are not interested in feeding the BARF diet.

meggz21, if you read my additional comments, you would see that I have 2 other dogs as well. They are smaller dogs, but eat a fair amount of food. Twenty pounds will not last very long here.

Answer 1

Try Candiae all stages....it's better than anything Nutro has to offer and is even less expensive than Nutro at times. I've not found anything at Costco or Sams that is of any quality. I believe Costco offers Kirkland brand . I wasn't impressed with the ingredient list of Kirkland kibble.

Answer 2

I understand about the expense situation, but you will not go through a 20# bag of Canidae in a week. It is a MUCH higher quality food than Nutro, and being higher quality with less fillers and no grains, you end up getting more calories and real food per # of dog food. So while it does cost more, you feed much less. A 40# bag of Canidae should last you at least 3.5-4 weeks, even with 2 dogs, unless they are EXTREMELY active. If that is the case then they should definately be on something more nutritiuos than Nutro.

Regardless of what you feed, if you have 4 dogs it won't last long. However, a bag of higher quality food that is say 27#s will last just as long as a 40# bag of lower quality food. In the end it may only be a couple more dollars, but your dogs end up being healthier. Other than the brands I've mentioned, especially with the arctic dogs, you may want to look at Eagle Pack dog food, they have a regular line and a hollistic line. If you go to their website you can get a $2 coupon every month to use towards the purchase of the dog food. Someone once told me if dogs are having trouble digesting the food you should add a couple tablespoons of yogurt to the food so they can get the probiotics to help with digestion. You may want to try this with their current food and see if it helps the situation. Just be sure to use plain yogurt, no flavorings. Cottage cheese can have the same effect and dogs love it.

Answer 3

Nutro isn't any better than Ol' Roy. They are virtually from the same manufacturer, just different names. When you buy dog food, make sure the first three ingredients are meat. I'm sure Nutro has this, but try different brands. Do not switch foods too quickly, or this will have the same effect. Switch food over a course of a couple of weeks, adding slowly to the old food.

I am not a supporter of supermarket dog food. In fact, I had the same problem with my Chesapeake Bay Retriever, and I switched him over (and my other dogs) to the BARF diet. People think that this diet is more expensive, but in fact, it is cheaper because your dogs do not consume as much. And you have the bonus of less dung to clean up! Here is a website for FAQ's and how to get started if you are interested.:

http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm

It has not only improved the poop situation, but my dogs are healthier, have more endurance, and have a beautiful shiny coat! Give it a try!

Answer 4

Hi, In the May issue of Dog Fancy on pg. 61 there is a natural tip for dogs with diarrhea it says that "pureed pumpkin is an incredibly effective anti-diahrreal, and you should have a couple cans on hand just in case. Not the "PUMPKIN-PIE MIX" which has sugar and spices--you want plain pumkin. Add a teaspoon or two of fiber rich pumkin to his food or feeding it straight from the can--most dogs love it-- can soon bring the runs to a stand still. Also try on the herbal front, slippery-elm. It is a tried and true remedy for soothing the digestive tract. It is available as a tincture and aside from rare alergic reactions it is considered to be safe for use in animals." Quote from the issue of Dog Fancy listed above. Also ginger has stomach settling properties...see link below.

Answer 5

Canidae. It's much better then Nutro. It's about $24 for a 20 pound bag, and it should last much longer..

Ol' roy is ****. You shouldn't even own dogs if your going to feed them that crap. It's full of fillers and dyes. Same with Science Diet, and they charge you more for that also..

Your still being charged alot for Nutro. My neighbors dog eats Pedigree, and it's about $30 for a 40 pound bag, and it lasts 2 weeks. I have 6 dogs, they all eat Innova EVO, a 28 pound bag is $60 and lasts 2 1/2 to about 3 weeks.

When your dogs food has less fillers and grains, they digest more and therefore eat less. Innova EVO has no grains, so they hardly eat anything, there's also alot of bonuses to feeding it.
-their stools are smaller
-their coats are shiny
-their teeth are white as ever
-their breath doesn't smell
-they're all very active

Answer 6

Try mixing some cooked white rice in with the food mixture. This has helped my dog in the past with a food switch. Good Luck

PS. The worst food on the market is Ol' Roy do not try it! Our breeder we get our dogs from asked us what brand dog food we were planing on using and when we said Purina Dog Chow he said we could have the dog. I asked him why and he said If I had said Ol' Roy he wouldn't allow us to have the dog. He believes that strongly that it is the worst food on the market.

Answer 7

I have the best luck with Purina dog chow when the foods are too high in protein many fosters get loose stool.

Answer 8

Hi,
They are many dangerous dog foods today , at a look at http://www.dogfood.co.nr , commercial dog food might be killing your dog , this site has a great guide for what food is health and right for your dog

Answer 9

I feed purina pro plan and it gives firm stools. Sounds like vet checked them out which is good. Are you giving any treats? My dogs get diahreah from pupperoni. If you give treats you might use string cheese -- it also can help with runny stools and it's the only kind of cheese that's okay to give dogs.

Answer 10

Natural Balance by Dick Van Patten is a good choice!!! Good luck!!