Henley and the change of dog food. UGH!
Ever since the first Sheepdog came into my life back in the 60s we always gave them a good grade commercial food and meat scraps and rice. ...NO PROBLEMS and they all lived to be a ripe old age. Well, now Henley is nearing age 11 and, in January, we went to Pet Smart and a woman - a representative from a specialty "Human grade" high end dog food company - was SHOCKED that I would feed my dog that kind of diet -- especially at HIS age!!! Frankly, I felt terrible after the mini-diatribe and thought, well... maybe I need to make a change.... maybe it would be better for him. And so... I bought the chicken and sweet potato food and the fish and rice food and within a week I had a very sick dog on my hands. He was throwing up, his stools were way too soft and he was lethargic. He was so sick, in fact, the day I took him to the Vet he couldn't even get out of the car. I had to carry this 90 pound dog into the office!!!! Well, he had a complete blood work up, he was x-ray'd and given mri's and everything else you could do for a dog. It all boiled down to some severe gastro problems... Anyway, the good news is that... he was given some meds, and we immediately put him on a organic rice and organic chicken, meat, etc... diet and finally 3 months later, he is totally back to normal... back to his old self and feeling wonderful... better than ever, actually! Truth be told, as soon as I took him off of that "great specialty dog food" he showed improvement. When the day comes to have another Sheepdog.... I'm stickin' with what works and I won't be pressured into what was REALLY only best for a dog company representative... and not for my Old English "Sweetdog" 
~Judy |
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| Wow!! glad you are back on track.
Sometimes though it isn't the food, only sometimes. Last year I had put our oes on a cheaper food which she was eating really well, and then stopped, really poorly, got some wellbeloved she refused to eat it. She was really sick poor baby. I think if you find a food that suits stick to it. Both mine are on arden grange and they are OK. But I darent even change flavours... 
(I wish I could eat chocolate and be really well, not put on weight... tee hee) |
Judith Kristen wrote: When the day comes to have another Sheepdog.... I'm stickin' with what works and I won't be pressured into what was REALLY only best for a dog company representative... and not for my Old English "Sweetdog"
~JudyActually - and we seem to spend an awful lot of time discussing food and weak OES stomachs here   - the consensus seems to be that you feed what works, whatever that is. I think a lot of us stick with the higher end foods, especially in the wake of the pet food recalls, for their (generally) superior transparency in sourcing and manufacturing. But the bottom line is whatever works and we've found that every dog is different in their nutrional needs. Too bad for the dog food manufacturers, but there you have it
The other thing that has changed in the last few years is that old warning, usually by vets and dog food company reps (hm!) that switching food is bad for dogs is out the window. Many of us rotate quite intentionally. I have 5-6 brands that I know my dogs do well on and that I trust and I switch them all the time from puppyhood on and no gradual switching either. This works for us. Happy Henley made it through his ordeal OK and smack the pet food rep if you ever run into her again 
Kristine |
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