Should I change again?

[Rocky D]

Hello all! I have a question...my Rocky had been eating Candidae for about 2 years (yes I know this is a long time). At one point he had really bad diarrhea and took him to the vet and actually got a clean bill of health. They couldn't find anything wrong with him and just gave him an antibotic. After that we decided to change his food for some variety. We switched to Innova Evo. He has been on that for hmm about 2 months or so?? His stool has never been the same since. It has not really been hard at all. Its not diarrhea-like and nothing seems to bother him. He is not dying to go potty all the time or anything. We switched him over very slowly too.

Anyway, I'm thinking that maybe this just isn't a good food for him. I'm now thinking of switching him to Chicken Soup. Any thoughts, comments, or suggestions?

 

[gmacleod]

It's possible that Innova just doesn't suit him. Other general possibilities are that you might be feeding a bit too much (very common cause of loose stools) or that it's just a lasting effect of whatever gave him the diarrhoea, or even lingering effects of the antibiotic.

If you feel inclined, you could test/rule out the 'too much food' concept by reducing slightly the amount he's fed, and the 'lingering effects of the antibiotic' one by giving him a probiotic for a few days (even just a spoonful of natural yoghurt - the sort with active cultures - for a few days. Only time would provide an answer on the 'lingering effects of whatever gave him the diarrhoea' question, and also on whether or not the food simply doesn't suit this individual dog.

Anyway, with all those possibilities out there, my general suggestion would be to try feeding just a little less each day and to add a probiotic for about a week. See if those two things make any difference. If they don't, then you're probably down to figuring that the food just doesn't suit him, or else there's some lingering sensitivity there. Swtiching foods would tell you which one.

Only suggestion I'd make if you do switch foods though - is to try a different food. It's not that Chicken Soup is bad, but that it's so similar to both Canidae and Innova that there's very little benefit in switching. It would be of greater benefit to the dog, in terms of dietary variety, to switch to a food that's very different in terms of the ingredients it uses (i.e. isn't based on rice and chicken/turkey).