Need Some Food Advice. . .

Roo92

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#1
So for the longest time I was feeding my beagle mix Ronny and my Beagle pug mix Lola Canidae. I would also rotate with California Natural and tried innova once both brands I like as well but Canidae was always cheaper.

About 8 months ago Lola started getting these episodes of pain and crying and whining, refusing to eat in the mornings sometimes. She also was experiencing a lot of gas, the vet thought food intolerance or allergy but she has no skin / ear problems, the episodes got worse so I went to a new vet for a second opinion and he ran tests and her blood work was fine and the XRay looked fine except she had food sitting in her stomach undigested for over 3 hours and she was extremely constipated. I'm thinking it has something to do with Canidae's formula change but not totally sure.

She was put on canned pumpkin, cat lax jelly and Science diet W/D canned for a couple weeks then to move her to a better canned dog food brand.

She did great on SD I then moved her to Innova Senior Canned and she did ok but I feel a little uneasy about the whole menu foods thing and I want her on a canned/dry diet if possible or just dry. Now she's on wet Wellness Senior and Pet Promise and dry Pinnicle, she is still having the episodes just not as often only once every week or so.

I guess with her constipation and gas issues she needs a low fat, low protein, high fiber diet? (I always thought the opposite was best)

Is Innova Senior wet and dry my only option? (she's only 3yrs.)

What about grain less would that be helpful with her digestive issues?

I hate to see her in pain anymore-I want to make the episodes stop but I don't want to have to feed her Science diet the rest of her life.

I'm very picky about my dog food and want good organic meats, no menaodine, limited ingredients for allergies (just in case), obviously no corn, soy, wheat, etc.and a company that maybe manufactures their own food-at least dry but would prefer wet and dry.
 

Zoom

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#2
How long has it been since you've switched her away from Canidae? I spent a few months clearing up Canidae-related issues in one of my dogs, but they did eventually get better.

Innova is still a safe choice and one of the better ones out there. However, until you figure out what might be causing this, I would go with something like California Naturals. Made by Natura, same company as Innova but it's a very simple formula, one protein, one carb and so it's very easy to digest. See how she does on that, maybe add in some canned pumpkin to increase the fiber and get things moving again. Also, perhaps some digestive enzymes as well in order to help her get things back on track.

I don't know where you are located or what is available, but Horizons is another great one to look at. It's produced in Saskatchewan Canada using locally sourced ingredients and made in their own facilities. I'm just not sure how easy it is to get here in the US.
 

Roo92

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#3
Zoom thanks for the advice, she's been off Canidae for about a month and a half. I did rotate a bag of California Natural after she started having these episodes-I think she improved a little but still had them even on that food however if it takes a few months to clear out of her system then it would make sense that she's still having issues. It's so sad because Canidae use to be such a great product.
 

shazbot

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#4
I had nothing but problems with California Natural when I put my dogs on it. I know lots of people have had nothing but good luck with it, but for some reason I didn't. I switched them to the Eagle Pack Holistic lines and loved how well they did. Because money is tight right now I'm feeding a cheaper brand that works pretty well, Premium Edge. I feed the lamb & rice formulas for both Eagle Pack and Premium Edge.
 

dogaddict

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#5
I know, sometimes a fantastic food thats great for everyone else just doesn't seem to work. I would personally recommend Addiction, I know they have their own plant, great ingredients, and I've always had very positive experiences with their food. They have both grain and grain-free foods although I'm currently giving my dog their grain-free salmon dry. If you'd like to read more they have a website and you can order online, I believe they're having an online special, I ordered some before christmas and got a sweet 20% off.
http://www.addictionfoods.com/usa/index.php
 

jack1020

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#6
new to here

hello, i am a new member, I have this red chow dog, and a couple of yrs ago
she got real sick, and i was scared because of alot of the top ten brands of food getting recalled, so i took her to this vet, and he just happened to know
about this food called lifes abundance, and he highly reccommened it. I now
know that this food saved and maintained my dogs life, so if you want all the
info, go to healthypetnet.com/miko and you will be very shocked and surprised!!!
 

Shadow945

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#7
does your dog vomit ever? Some options you could try to see if it's a problem with dry foods, or just certain foods is to buy another dry food kibble and feed it, then feed raw and see if that causes a problem as well. For dry food I would suggest Taste of the Wild, since my dog has never had problems on it.
 

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