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Well, we've had our first bit of good luck with Wellness already.
even if the Wellness firms it up, that won't be evident for another couple of weeks,
Well, that's good news.
On the "evidence" side... you might be surprised but a lot is going to depend on how long/short you make the change-over. Seeing as he likes the Wellness and seeing as his old food has grain which you have reason to believe he is intolerant to... you might find a "faster" changeover is more beneficial to a more drawn out one. See how he goes obviously.
If it's intolerance and it's irritating his bowels, it'll firm up quickly and you can play marbles.
OK, Artie has gone from Science Diet (crap) to Iams (same crap) to premium brands:
Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul: He had loose stools, presumably from the milk ingredient.
Canidae: Still has loose stools, even when mixed with white rice. Now I'm thinking that he has a gluten intolerance.
(Geeeeee, what IS Artie tolerant of?????)
So, I've done MORE research and think that I'm going to transition him to Wellness Core. It's lactose free. It's gluten free. It's grain free. The only thing that's not free (by far!) is the price. Ouch! But the $60 per 26lbs will save me in vet visits to get his anal sacs expressed if he finally gets firm stools.
Anyway! The point of this thread:
What do you think of Wellness Core Original (not the fish one)? Good? Bad? I want to hear stories before I buy it.
Thanks so much. I'm sure you're as tired of hearing about Artie's stools as I am of picking them up. It's a messy job sometimes.
Thanks,
Dawn
We have never tried it, but after doing all of the research we have done on dog foods, Wellness Core was one of our favorites. We tried Natural Balance and were happy with it, but them decided to switch our pups to Canidae. However, because of the recent things that have been going on with Canidae, when we get our next dog, we will start out feeding him/her either Wellness Core Original Dry Formula... For Dogs - Grain-Free, Protein-Focused Formulas or the EVO Dry Dog Food... Meat-Based Pet Food – Premium Dog Food, Cat Food, Ferret Food, Dog Treats – EVO Pet Products (http://www.evopet.com/products/default.asp?id=1485 - broken link)
Aww Devney, what a cutie. I was just looking at Orijen again yesterday on line. But no one local sells it unless I go to Anchorage (I don't want to make that trip for dog food) I still may do it tho. Anchorage also sells the EVO red meat large bites, which I really love and its about the same price as Orijen. Are you using the 6 fresh fish one?
No, not the fish...we have the original (?) adult in the aqua bag. I'm fortunate that there are a few stores that carry it locally.
In fact, the little holistic food store near my work will even deliver it to me at work at no extra charge! The owners are SUPER sweet and really run the store as a labor of love. They lost their cat in the pet food recall a few years ago and that prompted them to open their business.
After you choose your food, they sit you down in the office and the owner calculates how much to feed based on your pet's weight, breed and activity level. They are fantastic.
(And thanks for the kind words about Annie, everyone!)
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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FiveHorses -- Thanks!!!! How quickly do you think we can safely switch over? 50/50 for the first week instead of 25/75? And then go 75/25 for another week before goign 100% Wellness? Do you think that's safe? His first two meals with Wellness (yesterday dinner and today's breakfast), I did 75% Canidae and only 25% Wellness, but I'd be happy to do 50/50 if you don't think it would upset his stomach.
PitBullMommie1206 -- It seems like good stuff. Hey, if Artie's wolfing it down with no "extras" then it has to be all kinds of awesome! By the way, and I didn't post on your original thread because every time I'd read it, I was too disturbed by your MIL... I'm so sorry for what you've gone through recently. It breaks my heart. I'm happy, though, that you still come onto this forum, and I'm even more happy that you're talking about "when" you get another dog. Of course, Brooklyn can never be replaced, but you've got a lot of love to give.
How quickly do you think we can safely switch over? 50/50 for the first week instead of 25/75? And then go 75/25 for another week before goign 100% Wellness? Do you think that's safe? His first two meals with Wellness (yesterday dinner and today's breakfast), I did 75% Canidae and only 25% Wellness, but I'd be happy to do 50/50 if you don't think it would upset his stomach.
Sight unseen (I haven't had the pleasure of inspecting your dog's poop) it's difficult to say. But the logic of it goes like this:
Current food irritating dog's digestive tract. Grain content is suspected. New food is grain-free and dog likes it, will eat it willingly. In small amounts, no adverse effect to new food. So the new food appears to be agreeing with dog and the dog likes it, ergo dog is a happy dog.
Now, this is just my personal opinion based on my personal experiences with dogs (just want to make that clear). I'd up it to 50/50, wait a day or two, up it again, and have the change-over done in a week, max. I personally would not drag it out for two weeks, no. But that's me and how I do things. The reason I would do this would be - why prolong feeding something that you think the dog is intolerant to? The dog likes it, so there's no battle on that front either.
The thing about changing food over to remember is this: it's not a one way street. You can always take a step back should you need to.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FiveHorses
Sight unseen (I haven't had the pleasure of inspecting your dog's poop) it's difficult to say. But the logic of it goes like this:
Current food irritating dog's digestive tract. Grain content is suspected. New food is grain-free and dog likes it, will eat it willingly. In small amounts, no adverse effect to new food. So the new food appears to be agreeing with dog and the dog likes it, ergo dog is a happy dog.
Now, this is just my personal opinion based on my personal experiences with dogs (just want to make that clear). I'd up it to 50/50, wait a day or two, up it again, and have the change-over done in a week, max. I personally would not drag it out for two weeks, no. But that's me and how I do things. The reason I would do this would be - why prolong feeding something that you think the dog is intolerant to? The dog likes it, so there's no battle on that front either.
The thing about changing food over to remember is this: it's not a one way street. You can always take a step back should you need to.
Does this help?
Yes, yes, YES! It helps! And it makes me happy.
I just did a test: I took two pieces of Canidae and two pieces of Wellness. I put out my hand that held all four pieces. Artie ate the Wellness and walked away from the Canidae. I re-offered the Canidae only -- no go; no interest. I took out two more pieces of Wellness and offered the four pieces again. Again, he ate the Wellness and left the Canidae!
It's almost as if he's telling me that not only does he LIKE it better but that the Canidae is going to make him sick. OK, OK, so I'm reading too much into it. But, fact is, it's all good ingredients and if he is grain intolerant, he's not going to have an adverse reaction to the Wellness, but will with the Canidae.
I'm a happy camper. And Artie is a VERY happy camper.
Dinner tonight will be half and half. Every day, I'll up the Wellness a bit more, lowering the Canidae.
Tomorrow I'm making an appointment for his anal sacs to be expressed -- he was doing the bum scootch a lot this morning -- and we'll be working with a clean slate: good grain-free food AND an empty bum.
I shall report back poop analysis! This morning seemed somewhat soft still, but it's only been two meals of Wellness, and not even FULL meals of Wellness.
I'm very hopeful!
Thank you so much for your help. You have no idea how much I appreciate it and how happy I am. When Artie's happy, I'm delirious with delight!
It's almost as if he's telling me that not only does he LIKE it better but that the Canidae is going to make him sick. OK, OK, so I'm reading too much into it.
Not necessarily you know.
Give credit where credit is due... Artie has valid reasons to eschew his current food. You can look at it two ways - a) from Artie's point of view: I eat this, my insides feel yucky, this experience has taught me. Here comes this new food and my insides feel less yucky. New food is good.
Or you can look at it as an instinctual reaction to avoid something that doesn't agree with him.
It reminds me of the old brouhaha that ensued with Dr. Spock made that bold suggestion to let toddlers pick what they wanted to eat (out of a range of suitable foods obviously) and how studies showed that they did, when looked at in the big picture, eat a balanced diet even if it consisted of nothing but bananas for three days straight.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FiveHorses
Not necessarily you know.
Give credit where credit is due... Artie has valid reasons to eschew his current food. You can look at it two ways - a) from Artie's point of view: I eat this, my insides feel yucky, this experience has taught me. Here comes this new food and my insides feel less yucky. New food is good.
Or you can look at it as an instinctual reaction to avoid something that doesn't agree with him.
It reminds me of the old brouhaha that ensued with Dr. Spock made that bold suggestion to let toddlers pick what they wanted to eat (out of a range of suitable foods obviously) and how studies showed that they did, when looked at in the big picture, eat a balanced diet even if it consisted of nothing but bananas for three days straight.
Well, either way, my furry friend is telling me what's going on, and that's great.
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Poop update
So, the last few meals have been 50/50 Canidae/Wellness, on the move towards 100% Wellness.
Artie's poop last night, and again this morning, was fairly soft. If he's grain or gluten intolerant, that could be because he's still getting 50% Canidae. But it could also be because we're still in the transition process, right? Don't most dogs have somewhat soft stool while being transitioned? I'm still hoping that Wellness will firm him up.
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). I'd up it to 50/50, wait a day or two, up it again, and have the change-over done in a week, max. I personally would not drag it out for two weeks, no. But that's me and how I do things. The reason I would do this would be - why prolong feeding something that you think the dog is intolerant to? The dog likes it, so there's no battle on that front either. 
Poop update
