can't eat any dog food - Page 1

He everyone,
I am new to this forum and have a question.  My 6 month old puppy seems to get sick on any dog food I buy.  When I first got him, I used Eukaneuba puppy food but he would often throw it up.  I switched to Blue buffalo and he threw that up and sometimes didn't even want to eat it.  I tried other brands of food only to have the result of vomiting or diarrhea.  I did take him to the vet and they couldn't find anything wrong.  No parasites or other stomache issues.  When I give him boiled chicken and rice or chicken chop meat or turkey chop meat and even eggs, he does good.  Should I just give him that kind of food or does he need a supplement also.  First dog since I was a kid so I don't have a lot of experience with it.  Thanks for your help.

My first thought is: Where did you get your pup from? Sounds like an inherited digestive disease. GSDs are now plagued with digestive disorders from indiscriminant breeding. It sounds like your pup has some sort of inherited problem. I am not familiar with the digestive disorders, I have healthy dogs. I have heard of IBD. I know there are others.  I would go with a raw diet. There are several commercial products  you can buy. You can also make it yourself, but you might want to purchase first, while you learn about raw diet and whatever condition plagues your pup.

Hi Berniemac and Welcome to the forum, glad to have you! In regards to your question... You said your pup was only months old? That sounds like an awful lot of different types of dog food to try, how often are you switching brands? Some GSDs have VERY sensitive digestive systems. So when switching foods it can take them awhile to get used to it and until they do you can get diarrhea and upset bellies.  If you are switching too often and there is nothing wrong with her then that could be your problem.  I don't know how it is now but years and years ago when I got my first GSD "Wendy" I tried Eukanuba and had the same reaction, then they used to have a lot of things like avocado oil etc so it was just too rich for her.  Another reason to not be switching foods all the time is that you will end up with a VERY picky eater.  Purina has a food that has no corn and is VERY bland, Purina EN you can get it probably online or from a vet clinic they use it a lot for dogs with super sensitive digestive tracks.  But before going that route since it can be inconvenient, try picking a food ( what was he on when you  bought him?) and over the course of a week try mixing a little of the kibble in with the rice mixture you are feeding him now and gradually increase kibble amt and decrease rice mixture amt.  That will allow his system to get used to the food on a gradual basis. I have found with some dogs when switching their food especially when I first get them it helps to add a probiotic like albon, you can also use a little yogurt with live cultures, there are several out there, and if the get the runs canned pumpkin for a snack will fix that for you, nothing worse than one of these big guys getting uncontrollable poops! Hope that helps.

Natural Balance makes a limited ingredient dog kibble that is specifically for dogs with sensitive GI tracts. We've started our girl on the Sweet Potato & Herring since she suddenly started having trouble with Canidae, & she's doing very well on that, solid stools again, no vomiting. And it's easy to find at pet stores. I wouldn't say it's the greatest food, theoretically, but Bitty likes it, & it likes her....& that's what matters. I go to Pet Supplies Plus, they even have Orijen now.
jackie harris

I think you do a great job cooking for your dog. The protein content in kibble you used might be too high. If you want to go kibble again, try a food with under 23% of protein.
Otherwise I would continue cooking your own dog meals. Chicken and Turkey are the mildest choices for pups.

If your considering raw you can try dehydrated raw which is very easy and works well for my dogs with sensitive tummies. It seems expensive at first but a 10 pound box makes about 40 pounds of food. By itself it is enough nutrition, but you can supplement with raw chicken, turkey, beef or whatever. I use Honest Kitchen and I get it on Amazon with free shipping because we have Prime. You can also get it through Leerburg.com. I was spending about $50/month for Taste of the Wild for my puppy, dehydrated raw for my older dogs plus Taste of the Wild kibble for them too so I was spending a lot, now it's easy. One product for all three, no more kibble, no more diarrhea, vomiting or constipation. They are worth it and any money I spend on their nutrition now will keep them around that much longer. Good luck.

I believe in raw prey diet as well. My pups have eaten raw since they got teeth. Healthiest GSD's I ever had. Check out these links.     Take Care   Pete
http://www.saveourshepherds.org/raw.html
http://preymodelraw.com/       Good Luck!

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your replies.  I think I am going to try to raw dehydrated diet and see how he does.  I went to the link and watched the video and it sounds interesting and makes sense.  I noticed on one of the dog wisperer shows that Cesar Milan was feeding that food to his dogs Daddy and Junior.  They sell it in a pet store only 10 minutes from me.  He had diarrhea again this morning and I am waiting for the vet to call me back.  Some of the diarrhea at the end was clear water.  I hope he is o.k.  He is still playful and otherwise seems fine.  This has me really worried.

I just bought K9 Natural (Lamb and Beef ones) since we are going hiking in Algonquin Park (Ontario, Canada). Whoa --super expensive! My husband made a strange wheezing sound when the cashier rang it up (ching!). Other than for hiking, this is not a sustainably priced product for my budget. This was the dehydrated raw diet that I could find at a local pet store (I phoned around.); I didn't order online since I wanted time to try it out for a few days before we went hiking.

http://www.k9natural.co.nz/

Well the vet just called me back and is giving him more flagyl and also a probiotic.  She seems to think that it is dietary in nature and recommended a bland diet for now and then wants me to try Iams for sensitive stomache or Eukaneuba for sensitive stomache.  I am nervous about putting him on these kinds of foods because everytime I give him these kinds of dog food he goes back to being sick.  She didn't know about the honest kitchen food and said it may be too rich for him.  What do you guys think about that?  Anyone have this kind of problem in the past?  Did you switch to the honest kitchen, and if so, did the stomache problems go away.  She also said she doesn't recommedt a raw diet because of samonella and stuff.  I thought dogs ate raw meat in the wild?  Don't they eat stuff thats been lying around?  I don't know, this is all so confusing, I just want to do the best thing for Ryder.  Any thoughts?