Struggling with what food to feed my dog

Hi all.

I have a staff x American bulldog, he's about 7 months old now. From the day of having him we have had trouble finding a food that suits him. Pedigree didn't agree with him, wainwrights salmon & potato was even worse. Then we tried pets at home advanced nutrition puppy which he likes and has been pretty much ok apart from smelly farts.

Now, the reasons I'm wanting to take him off it is because its puppy food and I was advised to put him on junior, the recipe has changed and doesn't agree with him no more, has very soft poo's. I managed to get the last bag of old stuff for now but nearly ran out. Finally the protein is quite high. Someone suggested James wellbeloved turkey and rice, he eats it but takes him longer as he eats some goes away and comes back but this gives him very soft poo too, even when introducing slowly.

Can anyone give me any ideas on what i can try? thank you
Dave

The James Wellbeloved could be okay. Even if you introduce the food gradually they can sometimes have soft stools until their systems fully adjust.

If there is an allergy involved it's a different issue and requires a bit of experimentation

I feed James Wellbeloved myself and I find it to be fantastic. It is hypoallergenic. Logan gets the Ocean Fish, and the Duck and Veg.

When introducing new foods it should be done gradually or they can have upset tummys for a few days.

Everything I've heard about James wellbeloved has been good, we where introducing it very slowly over 7 days but never let it go more than half n half as he didn't seem to be getting any better with it. Do I need to give it longer or was that enough time?

It's quite possible although it's very good food that it doesn't suit your boy. Finding a food that suits is very difficult and takes ages, it's took me 14 months and I've only just got myself sorted.

Do you mix anything in with his food?

I'd still give it a few more days though, puppies can be tempermental with their food.

Jesus that's took you a good while then! No we don't mix anything feed him dry biscuit only. My only worry is we don't have much of his normal food left now so when that runs out I would have to get the 'improved recipe' which doesn't agree with him anyway. It's looking like he's going to have an upset tummy either way

If you want try giving him a few boring meals for a few days and see if it helps him, like boiled chicken and rice.

I had a nightmare finding something to feed Logan. I went through 4 or 5 of the big brands and JWB is the only thing that has worked. That said it won't work for every dog.

Boring meal chicken and rice? I've never seen a dog eat so quick when I give him that haha. Think it's his favourite. I really dont know if its worth trying him with it again because his poo was like cow pats lol. Sorry for choice of words

Have you thought about a fish based food? Something like Fish4dogs or Fishmonger (you can get that one from Pets at Home).

No I've not thought of that, because I know he likes chicken I've keeping I'm on that or as close as.

Have you considered feeding raw, we have some members and staff members who feed raw very successfully. Please have a look at the link below by Ella who feeds both her dogs raw, one of which is an American Bull dog I think, please put me right Ella if I got it wrong. There are some graphic images in there so please be aware of that:

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t19197-what-s-in-the-bowl-today-graphic-photos-raw?highlight=wats+in+the+bowl

Thanks very much for that ill have a look into it

As other have said really.

Changing food nearly always results in soft stools and you should keep with it for long enough to see if its the food your dog does not agree with or simply the change over that's causing issues.

How long had you given it on the new food?

It could be an allergy which most cases is due to the protein source in good quality dog food, poor quality food could be anything as they stick all sorts of crap in them. We are pretty sure our Molly has an allergy to Lamb, Chicken and Beef. So have her on a fish and potato diet, used to be fish 4 dogs but changed over to Simpsons after fish 4 dogs decided it was a good idea to change their recipe and not tell anybody.

Actually I tried giving him a beef bone and he had constant diarrhoea for 2 days, he was even up during the night twice crying to go out and he's never like that.

We where slowly Introducing it over 7 days and it was just constant soft stools, pretty much like cow pats so I thought it didn't agree with him

daveylaa wrote:Actually I tried giving him a beef bone and he had constant diarrhoea for 2 days, he was even up during the night twice crying to go out and he's never like that.

We where slowly Introducing it over 7 days and it was just constant soft stools, pretty much like cow pats so I thought it didn't agree with him

If it was a large beef bone then there will have been quite a bit of marrow in it, and marrow is very rich. That could easily upset his stomach. You could try raw chicken wings or raw lamb spine.

Kathy wrote:Have you considered feeding raw, we have some members and staff members who feed raw very successfully. Please have a look at the link below by Ella who feeds both her dogs raw, one of which is an American Bull dog I think, please put me right Ella if I got it wrong. There are some graphic images in there so please be aware of that:

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t19197-what-s-in-the-bowl-today-graphic-photos-raw?highlight=wats+in+the+bowl

Yes kathy chance is an American bulldog dont worry

Yes I would try a grain free food or raw personally my ambull cannot tolerate grains and gets awful runs if he has them. Alot of ambulls have sensitive stomachs and do tend to do better with minimal or no grain foods

Thanks for the replies peeps. Ill look into no grain foods when I get home from work, need to get him some food today.