Baloo not tolerating the Solid Gold well any more

heavyjay

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#1
Hi,
Baloo has been on Solid Gold Hund n Flocken his whole life (he just turned 5).
Lately, he just doesn't tolerate it like he used to. He has loose stools at least once a week. He doesn't seem to be in any discomfort, but the clean-up is a chore.

The vet says he's healthier than I am (he eats better than I do), so we're pretty sure it's something in the kibble he's not tolerating.

I'd like to try a different food, but I don't want to switch him without some idea of what I need to avoid.

Could it be one or more of the grains that's causing it? Solid Gold does contain rice, barley, oatmeal and millet.

Should I try him on something grain free and see how he does?


Thanks
John
 

JacksonsMom

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#3
I wouldn't even think it's necessarily grain causing problems. I think grainfree is great, but sometimes I also think it can be over-rated. Though from my experience, I think Jackson may have some issues with barley and maybe millet. I'd be more concerned with Solid Gold being made at Diamond (and they have had a few issues lately, plus big ones in the past). They voluntarily recalled a lamb & rice formula of Diamond and are temporarily closing their plant in SC just to clean everything up, etc. Just something to be aware of. Maybe, if you still have the bag, see if your SG bag was made at the SC plant. There's plenty of grain inclusive foods that I'd probably choose to feed over certain grain-free formulas, depending on the manufacturer.

If you want something a little simple on the tummy... I'm feeding Acana Singles (lamb & apple at the moment) with great success. It's a single protein source food with only one grain (oats). California Natural also has some grain-frees now that are very simple. I really like Fromm too.
 

heavyjay

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#5
Thanks for the responses.
This started some months ago, but who knows how long the food may have been tainted, if at all.

I think I'm going to try him on Acana grain free and see how how he does.
 

PWCorgi

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#6
Solid Gold changed their formulas recently and started adding egg and more salt into their formulas. I would look for another food without egg, see of that clears things up.

I can recommend Pure Vita grain free varieties, canine caviar, wellness core ocean fish, and Acana Pacifica off the top of my head as egg free.
 

heavyjay

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Called the feed store and gave her the lot no. She made a call, then called me back. No problem with this lot. I'm lucky to have such great people at this feed store. She was about to leave when I called, but she went the extra mile to make sure we were ok.
 

ihartgonzo

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#8
My Border Collie does not tolerate lamb well. It's not my favorite meat source for dog food, as most people say it's healthier & causes less allergies just because it's a novel protein source... when it isn't generally that digestible. Chicken, turkey, duck, etc are usually much more easily digested.

My favorite kibble is Nature's Variety Instinct. It doesn't have insane protein amounts (like Orijen, which has made many dogs ill) and it's not packed with potato like most grain free foods. They use tapioca instead. The company is reputable and not subject to constant recalls like Diamond. Plus, they have many great formulas. My dogs do super well on the duck & turkey formula, and the rabbit formula.
 

naturalfeddogs

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#9
We feed raw now, but before that we were feeding Solid Gold as well. None of our dogs did well on it. They kept runny poops constantly, and pretty regular vomiting as well. I have heard of several people whose dogs haven't done well on it. Solid Gold really isn't what its made out to be. Just a so-so food IMO. You can do a lot better.
 

PWCorgi

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My Border Collie does not tolerate lamb well. It's not my favorite meat source for dog food, as most people say it's healthier & causes less allergies just because it's a novel protein source... when it isn't generally that digestible. Chicken, turkey, duck, etc are usually much more easily digested.
Truth!

People are always recommending lamb for allergy dogs at my current store location and it drives me nuts, I rarely see dogs with legitimate issues do well on lamb. And then when they come back and say it didn't work, I have to try and tell them to switch to something that probably WILL help without making it seem like my coworkers don't know what they're doing. And in this day and age, it's NOT a novel protein source anymore. Kangaroo is novel, beaver is novel, for some dogs bison is novel, but lamb really isn't.

And if you believe in chinese medicine at all (which a lot of people don't, and that's fine) lamb is one of the WORST protein sources you can put a dog on.
 

naturalfeddogs

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#12
Some dogs are more tolerant to one protein over another, but when there are food allergies going on, most of the time its not even really the protein causing the problem. Its generally one of the other added ingredients in the food.
 

PWCorgi

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#13
Some dogs are more tolerant to one protein over another, but when there are food allergies going on, most of the time its not even really the protein causing the problem. Its generally one of the other added ingredients in the food.[/QUOTE]

Do you have a citation for that? I'd really like to read it!
 

naturalfeddogs

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#14
Some dogs are more tolerant to one protein over another, but when there are food allergies going on, most of the time its not even really the protein causing the problem. Its generally one of the other added ingredients in the food.[/QUOTE]

Do you have a citation for that? I'd really like to read it!
preymodelraw.com
 

PWCorgi

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Nevermind then :rolleyes:

I LOVE raw diets, I wholeheartedly believe in them, but I'm not even getting started with turning this into a debate, which I feel it will if we get into "what counts as evidence/studies/blahblah"
 

naturalfeddogs

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#16
Normally, when a dog fed kibble is said to be allergic to a certain protein, they are either allergic to the cooked version or one of the other bunches of ingredients added.

Fed that same protein raw, and as a single protein the outcome tends to be different 9 times out of 10. Been there, done it with three who had chicken and beef "allergies".

With kibble, I would say the most limited ingredient diet possible is the way to go.
 

ihartgonzo

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#17
I have to admit, Gonzo does just fine with raw Lamb ribs (when I splurge and buy them from Whole Foods)... but if I gave him Lamb-based kibble, it would be diarrhea city!!! :eek: So I can agree with the statement that cooked/processed/dog food quality Lamb is different.

I do believe in Chinese medicine, though. And I have heard that Lamb is not a digestible meat in general.
 

PWCorgi

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#18
Oh I totally agree that tolerances for dogs eating cooked vs raw can be different. When people switch to raw I always tell them they can re-try proteins if they want. Though it doesn't always work that way, there are a couple proteins that Frodo doesn't react favorably to, whether it be raw, cooked, or extruded.

And I was doing this absolutely as the only ingredient. It wasn't premade with a bunch of fruits/veggies, it was a local pet deli that does meat/bone organ.

I disagree with preymodelraw.com being portrayed as an unbiased, literary citation for a claim like the above made.
 

JacksonsMom

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#19
Hmmm... this lamb thing is interesting to me. Honestly, Jackson has always done the best on lamb with kibble. I've noticed he enjoys it the most too.

Right now he's been on Acana Lamb & Apple for a while and doing great. I've never had his poos sooo consistent; always a hard little poopie (but not TOO hard). Hehe. In the past though, I'd noticed he did best on lamb-based kibbles as well.

I'm curious about the chinese medicine (I don't know anything about it).

I'm starting to believe in limited ingredient kibbles, even for dogs who may not NEED it. Sometimes some of the food can just seem SO unnecessarily complicated. Like, WHY do we need 5 different kinds of meats in food? Orijen is famous for this, and I know some dogs do GREAT on it, but I don't know. Having bison, lamb, chicken, pork, beef all in one food or whatever just seems a bit excessive.
 

PWCorgi

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#20
I'm curious about the chinese medicine (I don't know anything about it).
In Chinese medicine certain foods have different temperature properties. Like lamb and venison are considered to be "hot" proteins, meaning that they heat the body up. I have a friend who feeds her dog "hot" meats in the winter and "cold" meats in the summer. For dogs with allergies (environmental or food related) eating a "hot" meat can be like putting a pot of water on to boil, it heats up the whole system and can make other issues worse. "Cold" meats on the other hand cool down the whole system, which is why even if dogs don't have food allergies, but have environmental ones, I recommend duck or rabbit, which are "cold" foods, because they can make a huge difference with the environmental allergies. People with aggressive/reactive dogs will sometimes also choose to feed "cold" foods to help with issues.

Every protein, fruit, vegetable, and grain has a temperature property, but most people just pay attention to the protein source.

Frodo can eat cold and neutral foods without issue, warming foods he can tolerate as a treat (like a piece of chicken from our dinner), but he can't eat chicken in any form on a regular basis. If he touches venison or lamb, even a small amount, he starts ripping hair out and non-stop licking.

For people without allergy dogs it's really not a huge deal. Some people believe in it, some think it's utter crap. I'm not going to argue with people about it, but I know it holds true with Frodo.
 

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