Food problem -aka Apollo stinks.

S

squall

Forums Regular
Hi all, I haven't been too active on here, but some of you may remember me from a thread about a timid rescue named Apollo.

Well, I had never known much about dog food quality and ingredients, etc, but a few months ago I started looking into food types. Originally I had typically been giving him Kibbles N' Bits, and then a version of Alpo (trying to save money as a newlywed with a new house, plenty of bills on a not so good salary, and a wife in college). That was around the time I looked into dog food quality and realized I was feeding him some very poor quality food (what with all the corn, soy, wheat, etc.) and decided his next bag of food would be higher quality.

I looked at dogfoodanalysis.com and dogfoodadvisor.com and decided on Diamond Naturals Extreme Athlete...as it was rather highly rated, seemed to have pretty good ingredients (I decided on the Extreme Athlete as it had ingredients for the joints, which my previous sheltie had problems with), was available locally and of course, reasonably priced.

Unfortunately I was nearly out of his old food and unable to transition properly. After 2 days or so, things had been fine, but then he had some terrible diarrhea. Wow, did that smell and make a horrible mess. He was confined to the basement for 2 days, and I got another bag of the Alpo to transition him properly from then on.

It's now been over a month, and all the farther I've gotten is half Alpo and half Diamond Naturals. His stool is still often soft and sometimes quite wet, and it smells horrible. Unfortunately this leads to him smelling terrible...even if he doesn't have anything clinging to his back-end fur. It seems to just radiate from his back-end, even if it's not on him.

He seemed to be a little wet back there today, not sure if he actually had any diarrhea or what, because it just seemed wet...not necessarily any sort of fecal matter. This got on the couch, and a blanket before we noticed the awful smell and bathed him.

I can't deal with the smell, and we also can't bath him every day or two (which I know wouldn't be good for him anyway). I don't want to feed him low quality food, but I don't see how feeding him something that makes him smell so terrible is supposed to make for a proper human/canine relationship.

So, should I just ditch Diamond Naturals and try something else? I have probably at least 30 lbs left of a 40 lb bag. Has anyone had a similar situation? Does anyone know of a good quality food that won't make Apollo smell like a water treatment plant?

Thanks for any help!!
 
Can you try Taste of the Wild or a Petcurean food - Now, Go, Summit? They are not that expensive. I would probably add pumpkin to the food as well. Definitely get off the Alpo.
 
Not sure if any of those are locally available or not. I live about an hour away from any true civilization. Haha.

I believe Taste of the Wild may be available at Tractor Supply here in town. The only place within an hour that sells any sort of dog food that isn't full of corn gluten and wheat.

Whatever I try, I'm buying a smaller initial bag next time!


---On a similar note:

If any of you also have cats, I'm trying to decide what to switch our new kitten to. We just got her from some friends Friday night. They've been feeding Purina Kitten Chow, which I know cat food has the same problems as dog food, so I plan on switching her off of Kitten Chow to something of higher quality. I've not had as much luck finding as good of a website with cat food reviews though as there are for dogs though. So if anyone here has any recommendations for cats, I'm open to that as well. :)
 
I would try adding the pumpkin and see if it helps with the loose stools. If you try it make sure it's pure canned pumpkin and not the pie filling mix.

The seeping and smell seems like it might be an anal gland problem. You might want to have them checked to see if they are full and/or infected. The smell from anal glands is nasty :dead: and seems to linger long after the evidence has been cleaned up.
 
Easy problem to fix.

Alpo is 9% fat, the Diamond is 25% fat. The Diamond food is really meant for athletes, not pet dogs. Dogs who hunt, work, etc. that causes them to burn calories at a significantly higher rate than regular dogs. As soon as you get him back on a regular adult food, things should settle back out.

No, pumpkin is not species appropriate, and all it does it potentially cover up an existing issue that needs to be fixed. In this case, the fat content needs to be dropped significantly.

If you have a Costco near your house, the food in the green bag (the Select Lamb and Rice) is a fine food to feed. My dogs have been on it since I got laid off, and they lost some muscle tone, but overall are doing just fine. It's made by Diamond, and it's inexpensive.
 
Lots of people here use TOTW with good effect. I would take him of the Athlete Diamond and start him on something else, but do the transition slowly. If you need to go back to the Alpo and start again, that's fine. I normally transition over a 2 week period. I start with a high mix of the old food and gradually decrease it every day.

I check stools constantly to ensure no mishaps.

It would be worthwhile to check his anal glands. A high quality groomer or vet tech can do that easily enough.

Good luck. And yes, as soon as you get the dog off Alpo and the kitten off kitten chow, the better.
 
1- I don't feel any dog needs to be on an athlete formula,unless it is a " true working" dog. (Lab,retriever,spaniels) for just a few. And thier activities truely warrent the extra fat, protien.
2- try transitioning much,much slower ( 2-3 weeks) once you decide which food you will stay with.
3- Tractor suppy does sell all ranges of food,differant price points,many smaller pet stores will even offer trial sizes,or smaller bags.
4- Offering pumpkin with his diet now,should firm up the stools,but then again his GI tract,colon might need a rest. If he is that bad with cannon butt, have you thought maybe there could be an underlying issue? Giardia,cocksidia, can also ( be horribly smelly)
5- I would try mid range protien, maybe something mild like chicken,rice formula,then over a period of time introduce another formula of the same brand,to get the gut used to differant formulas. TOTW, offers I believe 5 differant formulas,which we rotate thru each,with every new bag.
6- Try using baby wipes,to cleanse and freshen him up,instead of a full bath,if you can. No its not the ideal thing for any dog to be bathed many times,but in cases where they need it,it wont hurt,especialky since he is lingering oders. A wider poop shute trim will help also.
7- Also,any switch from grain to grain free,done quickly will send any digestive tract into a spiral. The system cannot adjust quickly. The food you have been feeding,is nothing but corn,fillers. So a switch from that to any premium food is enough reason for belly upsets,or cannon butt.
8- If he is that bad, he needs to be seen by a vet,that can prescribe something to help,light diet,(no kibble) may be needed.
9- There could be allergy issues as well to think about.
 
Everyone had great input.

Think about what would happen if you ate McDonald's every day, every meal, the exact same thing. Then, you starting eating salads, chicken, and other healthy things. I imagine your body would consider itself detoxing as it tried to adjust to the drastically different diet. I agree that switching from the Alpo immediately is the best thing to do, but it sounds like the Extreme Athlete formula might not be the best choice.


And as a side note, we just switched our cat to Blue Buffalo. He is doing really, really well on it. But, with cats it is very important to at least add some wet food to their food. Cats are carnivores 100%, and need a significant amount of water in their diet. I think I even read somewhere that feeding a lower quality wet food is better than no wet food at all. If you search the forums for "cat food" I think you might find a thread that I started where someone posted some great resources (I can't find them now)
 
wow, lots of input quickly, thanks!

well, as i mentioned after the initial far too abrupt change to diamond (for about 3 days until the diarrhea, then i bought the alpo on day 3 or 4), we then switched him gradually -- starting with approx. 1/4 diamond, 3/4 alpo proportions for about 2 weeks, and then the last 3 or so weeks 1/2 and 1/2. since then, i haven't felt he was ready to go past that to be honest. he hasn't been having diarrhea since the first days when it was diamond only...but it has looked soft..often very soft on the end.

unfortunately i didn't realize the huge difference in other areas of the "extreme athlete" other than that it had glucosamine & chondroitin for joint health. my previous sheltie had deteriorated joints and bad arthritis when he got older, and i was hoping to avoid that. i paid the extra $10 from regular chicken & rice diamond thinking i'd be making the "better" choice. i guess i thought that was the main change from regular diamond naturals and the extreme athlete. oh well.


after reading the comment about the anal glands (which to be honest i knew nothing about, never having had an issue with them, and not generally reading up on anal glands just for fun) i did a little searching, and from the sounds of it, i am assuming that was what the wetness was on the couch. from my understanding (small as it is) his soft stools from the change in diet are not putting the proper pressure on the anal sacs, and they are not excreting properly...building up and then apparently today (and the other days he smells) excreting on the couch, or on his fur. now that i think about it, i don't think it's necessarily his feces that smells so bad - as that is typically outside and i don't smell it. it's just that occasionally he smells and that was what i assumed the smell came from, having no prior knowledge of anal glands and their proper functioning. i also figured maybe the ingredients made the feces smell worse, since it seemed the smell started after changing foods. so, while the change likely caused the smell, it just probably did it in a different way than i thought.

i will try switching him to something else. most likely TOTW since it is carried by tractor supply, which i will also try for the cat.

the nearest COSTCO is 1.5 hours away. the nearest pet supply store of any kind (and that one HIGHLY overpriced) is an hour away. we have 2 grocery stores, a walmart, big lots, tractor supply, and some "feed" shops, mostly feed for cattle, hogs, chickens, horses, etc. along with about 4 dollar stores. i live in a backwater, redneck town in appalachian foothill ohio. :)

as for the cat, yes, i've read about how cats need to get a good supply of water as part of their food intake, as they don't by nature drink often, or enough. which of course coupled with most dry foods being packed full of carbs leads to the problem of obese cats and diabetes. while i can't say i've ever had a fat cat - even before knowing about this - i know plenty of people with fat cats. i plan to give some wet food, and honestly probably some tuna from time to time.

thanks everyone for the input. i gave him a little pumpkin with his food tonight, and hope that will help as a stop-gap measure before the next transition phase.
 
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I have been feeding my pups Life Abundance which is delivered to your door. Great food, initiated by Dr. Jane Bicks, DVM, excellent customer support and decent pricing. They produce nice cat food as well. Something to look into if you really live far from stores.
http://www.lifesabundance.com/Pets/PetsHome.aspx?realname=10077853
watch the video there too, pretty educational.
One thing for sure, it is always fresh and never been on any store shelf. I believe it might be produced somewhere in OH too...
 
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