[evansme]

I just got a registered black lab puppy and he's two months old. I have had him for three weeks. He came to us on pedigree and now we switched him to purina, now he has the runs! So should I switch him back or is there a better brand I should feed him?
Thank you

[labman]

If you check the ''What does a puppy need?'' sticky, you see I suggest sticking to what the breeder was feeding or switching gradually. There is nothing wrong with Purina puppy chow. I never had any problems with the Lab puppies I fed it to. Likely you switched too quickly or it is an unrelated problem. If you are happy with Purina, stick with it. The only down side to it and other regular chows is the larger, softer stools that are harder to clean up. That is a problem for you. He will thrive on it, likely happier for the larger amount you have to feed. He won't read all the unappetizing descriptions of what goes into it. He will snarf it down, and look for more

There will be other answers disagreeing with mine. If yo do not subscribe to the organic food myths, there is no reason to feed your dog special, expensive chow. Nobody has ever directed me to a well crafted study showing dogs do better on the more expensive chows. The dog guide program I am familiar with and other service dog schools all feed concentrated, meat based chows similar to the Pedigree the breeder was feeding. If you are blind or in a wheelchair, ease of cleaning up the stools is a huge issue. In the past, the dog guide school did feed Purina, and the dogs did just fine on it.

If his system doesn't settle down soon, you might try this:

Bland recovery diet for dogs.

3 parts cooked rice, one part boiled hamburger or chicken, or cottage cheese. I think you can substitute boiled potatoes for the rice. Once in an emergency, we bought a plain baked potato from Wendy's.

This is meant for short time settling a dog's digestive tract. It is not the complete and balanced they need long term.

And please read the stickies at the top of the Dog Forum, you should find plenty of good material. Post back with any more questions.

[animal advocate]

There are many other brands of dog food that are higher quality and have no corn, wheat or preservatives that have been proven to be carcinogenic. True, if you change food too fast it can cause diarrhea but also your dog (along with many others) could be allergic to one or more of the ingredients, such as corn.

I am sure Labman will disagree with what I have said, but there are many opinions on diets and I suggest you educate yourself by looking around on the internet and reading about all kinds of diets including homemade, raw, organic etc.

Then make an educated decision about how you want to feed your dog. I think that Natura products are some of the best for processed pet food. You can read about them at Naturapet.com All my dogs (including my lab) eat California Natural and my cats eat Innova along with fresh veggies and sometimes raw meat. I believe in a diet as close to nature as you can get, which is a diversified diet. Wild animals do not eat exactly the same thing everyday.

Just my humble opinion and advice ;)

Hope this helps.

Molly

[labman]

Yes there are many opinions on dog diets. Some of them are based on controlled, scientific feeding studies, and the health of thousands of dogs like the dog guide program I am very familiar with where the dogs are eating Pro Plan. Same thing in many other programs I am less familiar with, feeding Iams or other conventional dog chow. Even in service dog schools' breeding programs, the only special diet is puppy chow for pregnant and nursing mothers.
Some are based on little but speculation, junk science, and anecdotal evidence.

Junk science is Aristotle speculating that heavy objects fall faster than lighter ones. Everybody believed that until Galileo lugged those balls up the tower at the dawn of modern science. Real science confirms its theories with testing.

Dogs aren't wolves. It is well accepted that sudden changes of diet give dogs diarrhea. Apparently wolves manage better. Of course, for an animal that is free to withdraw from the den anytime, diarrhea isn't as much of a problem.

It is easy to show many dog chows contain corn and find websites condemning it. What is harder to find, is a site with real evidence that there is anything wrong with corn. Yes, it is true that many dogs do develop allergies to corn. Dogs aren't born with allergies, although perhaps genetically predisposed to developing them. If barley, millet, or some of the other less common, highly touted ingredients were as common as corn, likely they would be just as big of a problem. Best to start a dog on a common protein source and stick to it, so if it does eventually develop an allergy, there are plenty of alternatives it wasn't exposed to.

You can find a website backing almost any opinion. You need to look at who is behind the website. It may be some non profit organization with a nice sounding name, but maybe funded by somebody selling specialized dog chow including frozen BARF. You have no idea of the financial interests of those posting to a forum either. I have been accused of working for Purina. If I did, if my boss ever saw all the things I post supporting Pedigree, Iams, Science, etc. I would be in trouble. Not to mention all the time I spend helping with behavior problems, housebreaking, crates, and trying to discourage irresponsible breeding. That is an important issue, and I am disappointed how little support comes from somebody calling herself the Animal Advocate.

When it comes to who backs or opposes what, I frequently give links to the American Veterinarian Medicine Association. I trust them much more than unknown organizations. Go to American Veterinary Medical Association and do a search on raw. You will find out the federal government has condemned the raw diets for dogs, not because of the dogs' problems, but because the increased handling of raw meat is giving people food poisoning. All the people pushing raw diets never bother warning people to use good sanitation.

[animal advocate]

I must say that opinions on nutrition certainly can become passionate. The debate regarding fresh/home made/raw diets vs processed diets is a hot one. I have been on both sides of the issue.

Whether you believe it, there are many veterinarians that DO recommend feeding dogs and cats fresh foods rather than processed foods. Some oppose the raw diet but mostly because of the people safety issue. Which makes no sense to me. If people eat meat themselves why can't they feed it to their dogs? If they know how to handle raw meat before cooking it what's the difference between putting it in a pan to cook or putting it in the dog dish?

You must realize that when they talk about feeding raw meat they are talking about the best quality you can afford and recommend human grade meat. So again, what's the difference? They still have to handle the meat either way.

If you like, I can go on the internet and compile a list of veterinarians that are members of the AVMA that recommend foods other than processed. If this would give more credibility to my opinions then I will take the time to do it.

Respectfully,
Molly

[animal advocate]

Labman wrote
"You can find a website backing almost any opinion. You need to look at who is behind the website. It may be some non profit organization with a nice sounding name, but maybe funded by somebody selling specialized dog chow including frozen BARF. You have no idea of the financial interests of those posting to a forum either."

Funny you should mention that. I found a link on the AVMA website called Veterinary Nutrition Education Program. It is a course for vet students. Guess what it says on the first page? "Development of this program was supported by an educational grant from: Ralston Purina Company"

Labman wrote
"Not to mention all the time I spend helping with behavior problems, housebreaking, crates, and trying to discourage irresponsible breeding. That is an important issue, and I am disappointed how little support comes from somebody calling herself the Animal Advocate"

I AM an animal advocate, everyday of my life. I don't understand what you are saying. Do you mean I don't support YOU? Because I certainly try to help pet owners with those same issues. I do it everyday in my work. Believe it or not I do agree with you on many issues.

Respectfully,
Molly

[1EarthMother]

I feed my dogs Nutro Ultra... period, but any dog food with chicken MEAL or lamb MEAL listed as the first ingredient is a good product. A dog food that lists chicken, chicken by-products, lamb or lamb by-products as the first ingredient is on the second tier of quality.
The Nutro Ultra is pricey, but they eat far less, the waste is a fraction of what it would be with most grocery store garbage. For the health and happiness of your pets, they're worth the extra cost. In the long run, you end up saving the additional expense by less vet visits.

[labman]

Do you have any objective proof of your statements? What is in the Neutro may sound better to people, but it provides no better diet than most other foods.