Need advice on finding the right dog food for our new dog

[nbg13]

Hello!

My wife and I got a new dog about 8 months ago. Her name is Harper, when we got her she was a little over a year old and we were already her third family as people have been giving up on her due to her having high anxiety. My wife and I are committed to giving her a forever home, but she has had a lot of issues. She is a pitbull/terrier mix (from what we’ve been told) and is about 35lbs.

For a little medical background, within the first few months of getting Harper she needed to be treated for 2 ear infections as well as loose stools including an instance where there was mucous and blood mixed in for a few days. She also has a red bumpy chin and acne issues, and we believe she has yeast issues as she is constantly licking her feet for extended periods of time.

In terms of her history with food, her second owner told us she was grain-free because of allergies and they had her on a grain-free, dry blend poultry based kibble. I forget the brand as we’re 7 months removed from that. She immediately started having her bowel issues a few weeks after we got her, and we temporarily put her on a bland diet of poached chicken breasts and rice. Her issues improved but she went back to having pretty loose stools quickly. After another bout of diarrhea and another talk with the vet, we did a diet of rice and ground beef and things went better. Once she recovered we were told by the vet that she probably shouldn’t be grain-free, and that poultry allergies are very common in dogs so we should switch her to something else. They recommended Purina Pro Plan, so we’ve been giving her the Purina Pro Plan Salmon and Rice shredded formula. She gets about a cup and a half of this for breakfast and for dinner. The consistency of her stools has improved, however every time she poops it starts with solid poop and ends with very soft, pudding like stool. Sometimes it’s all soft as well and she’s had a few random bouts of diarrhea and a few accidents in the house. I also constantly hear her stomach gurgling and I feel like this is all adding to her anxiety. I realized today that the Purina Pro Plan is a “high protein” food, so I’m wondering if she’s just not getting enough fiber. But I also see that all Purina Pro Plan seems to be marketed as “high protein”, so I don’t know if that’s really a factor. Regardless, I don’t think this food is right for her but I don’t know what to change it to. In terms of treats, her regular treats are Charlie Bear grain free dry treats in a few different flavors and her high value treats are Trader Joe’s Salmon and Sweet potato soft treats. She also gets a little bit of fresh fruit every day, normally a few pieces of apple, a frozen strawberry or two in the morning, and occasionally a little piece of banana.

So I’m here asking for advice. I’m trying to do everything I can to make her happy, reduce her stress and make life for my wife and myself a little easier. We really want to dial in the right doors for her. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[theonemelly]

@nbg13 Have you tried the purina pro plan sensitive skin and stomach? Bullies (and mixes) have notoriously sensitive stomachs and skin. They make a salmon and rice formula and a lamb and oat formula if you’re avoiding chicken. I used to use it with my bully mix but have transitioned her to the sport formula recently for the summer. Admittedly I do add Bernie’s perfect poop as well (recommended by my vet) and she’s improved so much. She used to get the runs if you looked at her the wrong way I swear lol… the SSS food really helped. She doesn’t have a chicken issue so I was able to feed any of the flavours but they definitely have options for dogs with chicken sensitivity as well.

 

[jesusjesusjesus]

@theonemelly That was the food that helped my dogs with their skin and stomach issues. Also, consider allergy testing. If she has extensive allergies, food alone may not be curative.

 

[nbg13]

@theonemelly We were thinking about doing that, but once I saw that they were all “high protein” it got me wondering if we would have these issues with all Purina Pro Plan varieties.

 

[theonemelly]

@nbg13 The SSS has additional ingredients to help with sensitive stomachs like probiotics etc

Might be worth a shot to try it and see if it helps it may not be the actual protein content of the food that’s causing the issues… other WSAVA compliant brands will also have sensitive formulas as well (iams, eukanuba, hills and royal canin) if you really want to steer away from the purina but I can’t say much about their protein levels as I’ve stuck with purina personally.

The Bernie’s does also add a bunch of fibre (through pumpkin and grass) and has digestive enzymes and probiotics as well but I saw a big change in my girl just from the SSS food the Bernie’s just took her that last 10% of the way

 

[nbg13]

@theonemelly Thank you, we’ll give the SSS a shot

 

[theonemelly]

@nbg13 Good luck! I remember the tummy upset days and they’re super stressful I hope it works for your baby

 

[dane1778]

@nbg13 Talk to your vet.

 

[otsikow]

@nbg13 My pit mix had demodex mange as well as sensitive GI sustem. We did Iams Lamb and Rice with her.

 

[cy4nide]

@nbg13 Hey vet student here! I also have a pitty mix with similar issues! We’ve had great luck with a couple of things but I’ve got a bit of a tiered approach for you!

I suggest the miconahex+triz shampoo/spray/pads for wiping feet. It’s pricey but so worth it becusss it’s antibacterial and antifungal. So many of our pitty friends have grass allergies so try to keep her feet as clean as possible after coming inside and even use t shirts if you need to! Chances are a lot of her chin issues are from licking. And I’m sorry to say she may need the cone of shame for a couple days to break that cycle of licking all the time.

I’d also suggest trialing Zyrtec or Benadryl because while they aren’t are best options in the veterinary world they often do help and I’ve had great luck with them! And because you don’t need to go into the vet for this, it’s an easy thing to try on your own. If she’s having both she may be having environmental allergies that is causing a lot of generalized inflammation as well.

Since she somewhat improved on the proplan I’d say stick to it for the time being. Get fortiflora - which is a doggie probiotic powder (which they usually love) again on the pricier side but super worth it! It’s helped my dog’s on/off diarrhea immensely. And get some canned pumpkin and up her fiber a bit until you start seeing fully solid stool. The high protein marketing does not mean that the food is an incomplete diet, it’s still very appropriate. Also cut out the Charlie bear treats specifically, I’ve had a couple dogs get diarrhea from this brand.

If you don’t see improvement with these changes I suggest talking with your vet about a hydrolyzed diet which takes away all allergens but this means committing to no more outside treats entirely. You also might consider medical management with apoquel which is a daily allergy medication or cytopoint injections which is a once a month monoclonal antibody.

And then it’s going to sound so dumb but look for dust under beds, couches, etc. These sources of dust can also really kick up their allergies being low to the ground and it’s definitely something that’s happened to me!

 

[lorduguideme]

@nbg13 Purina pro plan generally is recommended along with hills science.. I’ve used pro plan with my Jack Russell and usually switch between flavors to spice things up and in his 7 years of life he’s probably had diarrhea less than 10 times total. I’m willing to save it’s more likely something else causing the loose stools rather than the pro plan, but they do have a pro plan for sensitive stomach as well so you can try that. Maybe eliminate all the other stuff so you can determine exactly what’s causing it and slowly reintroduce foods to test it out.

 

[hokalee]

@nbg13 We had an issue with hills low fat digestive care for our Dutch but now she’s on food sensitivities low fat hills. Trying it out and hoping her tummy stops making so much noise! It’s been better. Hydrolyzed protein diet is sometimes what’s needed. Talk to your vet. They should guide you in the right direction.

 

[dotecoat]

@nbg13 Have you tried a proper hydrolysed protein diet?

 

[finding_faith]

@dotecoat This is what I was thinking too. A prescription diet that targets protein allergy dogs. Royal Canine has two variations of their HP diets and Hill's has the Z/D. Expensive but yields great results for dogs that need it.

 

[hovsepit]

@finding_faith My boy has been on purina proplan HA hydrolysed for 6 years now, cleared up his allergy issues

 

[professorab]

@nbg13 My girl was sensitive to wheat, the list of possible sensitivities is petty long. I did have a gsd chow cross that just needed fiber. Any and every food he had poop like that until i increased his fiber. Weight control is usually higher fiber.

 

[myjesus]

@nbg13 I’d recommend looking into Addison’s disease (it’s not scary, I promise)! Occasionally it’s the culprit in these dogs with chronic inappetence/ GI issues, and it’s rare enough that vets don’t always think of it. It’s more common in poodle than other breeds, but any dog can get it.

 

[samuelidowu]

@nbg13 I would simply add a probiotic first. It's much easier than trying to fiddle around with foods and there's no negative effects from giving a probiotic. Most are really simple.to.gove on a powdered form. Zamipet has a great one that's only 1.2g in a sachet and it does a great job!

 

[disciplebrady]

@nbg13 My wife and I adopted a border collie and lab mix from the shelter a few years ago. We give her mid tier dog food such as science diet and tried Arcana because of our budget. ( we are poor teachers) but our dog seems to eat it and has a healthy digestive system. Was thinking of trying Kirkland from Costco but heard some negative things about the brand.

 

[kasie]

@nbg13 The top three WSAVA brands (hills science diet. Purina pro plan and royal canin) all have formulations for sensitive stomachs. You can try the pro plan formulation in your current flavor to see if that helps.

But I think it'd be a big help to keep a journal. Write down everything she eats during the day, what her emotions were like, what her activity level is, and what her bowel movements are like. You may find that issues are caused by a particular treat, or a particular activity that causes her to be anxious, or something else. Or if you don't find a pattern, it may mean there's another allergy issue with the kibble, or an internal illness causing the problem, like IBD.

The fact that her bowel movements have improved shows you're on the right track. You just need to do a little more detective work to help narrow down the possible causes.