Varying Diet

[Rowanfae]

My little Ollie is having so much trouble with his tummy. He has been treated for Giardia and hopefully that worked. He and Tilly will be retested next week. But I have been reading the threads on diet here and notice a lot of you vary the diets frequently, even weekly. I have had dogs for over 50 years and was always told to gradually switch the foods so it doesn't upset the dogs systems. How do you vary diet so much with out messing with their GI systems?

I feed 50% Wellness Sm Breed Complete Health Puppy Turkey Oatmeal & Salmon and 50% Dr. Marty's Nature's Blend Healthy Growth. Both dogs were on regular Wellness, but Ollie's breeder said chicken is one of Cavaliers top allergies. So they have been switched over. But I would like to add other ingredients at times. And wisdom you can share?

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[Cavalier Matters]

Welcome. I'm so sorry you are having so many issues at a time when you should just be enjoying your puppy.

I've had some Cavaliers with cast iron constitutions that could switch between diets and proteins wtih no issues, and others that needed the 10 day switch over for any change, ie 75% old food/25% new food for 3 days, 50/50 for 3 days, 25/75 for 3 days.

I usually try to rotate between 4 proteins and use different brands. Once they are used to those particular foods you can usually change between them, without issues.

Chicken is a common allery for many dogs, our dermatologist vet said that it's becuase most puppy foods are chicken based and that is the only protein many dogs have been exposed to; it helps to expose them to a variety from an early age.

Giardia can be extremely difficult to eradicate, not only do you need to treat the dog, you need to thoroughly clean the environment to stop them becoming reinfected. There's some useful information here https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/giardia-in-dogs

 

[Rowanfae]

Thank you. I’ll look for some other proteins.
The test for both Ollie and Tillie for giardia was negative. Thank goodness, all that hard work to clean everything was successful.

 

[Karlin]

Chicken is a common allery for many dogs, our dermatologist vet said that it's becuase most puppy foods are chicken based and that is the only protein many dogs have been exposed to; it helps to expose them to a variety from an early age.

This is a really interesting comment from your vet, especially regarding chicken as I've seen most food intolerance problems happen with chicken over the years. Makes me think about how so many vets really will push for a dry food diet of a particular brand and many popular brands just do one protein type/flavour. It's also why I do like having wet food as part of a dog's diet, puppy through adult, so that they are also getting foods that are much less processed. There are so many ways to go with a diet that can also remain nutritionally valid (good nutrition is the key point).

I'd echo the experience of cast iron vs sensitive tummies. Some dogs we've never had an issue with and they can eat almost anything without issue and no changeover needed, and some are like our pyr (who also had the Giardia problems) who remains quite sensitive to food changes/new treats/whatever, at nearly age 2.

 

[Cavalier Matters]

Thank you. I’ll look for some other proteins.
The test for both Ollie and Tillie for giardia was negative. Thank goodness, all that hard work to clean everything was successful.

Thats such good news, well done you on getting it cleared, it's not easy.

Hope the little ones keep well now.

 

[Cavalier Matters]

This is a really interesting comment from your vet, especially regarding chicken as I've seen most food intolerance problems happen with chicken over the years. Makes me think about how so many vets really will push for a dry food diet of a particular brand and many popular brands just do one protein type/flavour. It's also why I do like having wet food as part of a dog's diet, puppy through adult, so that they are also getting foods that are much less processed. There are so many ways to go with a diet that can also remain nutritionally valid (good nutrition is the key point).

I'd echo the experience of cast iron vs sensitive tummies. Some dogs we've never had an issue with and they can eat almost anything without issue and no changeover needed, and some are like our pyr (who also had the Giardia problems) who remains quite sensitive to food changes/new treats/whatever, at nearly age 2.

This is the amazing vet whom has just operated on Dylan! She really is brilliant. When she said it, it made perfect sense.

 

[Rowanfae]

I have an update. Ollie’s still parasite free and no other physical problems that we can find. But the soft stools are continuing. He will go outside (a lot) but come in and in 5-10 minutes have little accidents with small drops of diarrhea. I can only think it might be food sensitivity. I have switched him to ProPlan for sensitive for puppies. I am hoping that works.
But as I’ve told you before, having dogs for over 50 years, I have a few engrained ideas. One is an adversion to Purina. To me it was always considered an inferior food. I know a lot of breeders use the ProPlan, but has anyone got any other favorites? Has anyone used Go dog food?