Changing Food

[Oscar's Mom]

Oscar has been on a science diet food from the vets and I’ve been wanting to get him off this food because its full of junk. So for the past 2 weeks I’ve been doing 50/50 science diet & Nutro Natural Lite. He’s been spitting up foamy spit, not everyday but almost. He was really sick a few weeks back. So, I’m wondering if something is still wrong or if that food is making him sick. He’s totally normal otherwise. He was on Nutro before with no problems. I’m thinking I’m going to move him back to 100% SD to see if the spitting up continues. Any thoughts?

[Owen's Mom]

When is he vomiting? After he eats, or when his little belly is empty? And the best thing you can do for him is get him off the Science Diet. It's terrible food. Here's a GREAT nutrition board link for you http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/biggrin.gif
http://216.34.232.28/club/bboard/nutrition/

There are some really sharp posters there and they'll help you work out the food questions if you can't find answers here.


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~~Amy & Owen~~
22.8 lbs of Black and Tan Standard Muscle!!
www.dachshundrescue.org

[Oscar's Mom]

He vomits when is tummy is empty, usually early in the morning.
Oscar needed a food higher in fiber to help him with this anal glands. I know SD is not a great food but I listened to our vet. I cant believe they sell, they really don't know anything about dog foods.
Thanks so much for link!

[Owen's Mom]

Tell them what you need over on that board and see what kind of suggestions you get. I've just given in to the fact that I have to express Owen's anal glands myself from time to time, and don't really want to increase the fiber in his food, because fiber usually means filler. I do find that a nice raw marrow bone increases the hardness of his stools and helps him express his anal glands... and it seems to clean him out a bit too http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/biggrin.gif



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~~Amy & Owen~~
22.8 lbs of Black and Tan Standard Muscle!!
www.dachshundrescue.org

[Krista]

If he is vomiting foamy stuff on an empty stomach this usually means his tummy is just too acidic. It is likely that the NNlite just isn't filling him up as long as the SD with fillers is.

Try a dog biscuit or a very small meal before bedtime and see if that helps.

Rudy always has to eat a biscuit before bed or he'll vomit and I have to feed him at least twice a day. These were my vets suggestions and they solved the problem so no tummy meds were needed.

I'd say switch too....I read that board amy suggested too and agree you might want to ask there.

[Augie Dog]

Aug did the same yellow foam puke thing. Empty belly, happend when we went from 3 feedings to 2 and then 2 to one. We started to slowly cut down on the serving size but when we cut the serving, yellow foam. he got over it in time and is now on 1 cup of innova a day.

[Krista]

Really, The way that works best for me to keep Rudy's Tummy acid under control, is to do a version of free feeding.

I started out feeding meals. I'd put the food down for 20 mins each time. I measured what he ate. I saw that he was neither gaining or losing weight, so I knew he was getting the right amount. I did that for three months or so.

Now I just put that amount in his bowl every morning -he is the kind of dog that will not eat it all at one time. He usually eats about 1/3cup in the am beofore I leave, and he'll eat about 1/3 cup through the afternoon, and then he'll eat the last 1/3 when I get home from work. This works for me and Rudy, but if your dog would just gobble it up right then, it obviously won't work for him.

I know a lot of people say free -feeding is bad for dachsies...and I agree for the most part. This is not true free feeding though, since I only give him a measured amount per day equal to what he was eating as meals before.

I think as he gets used to his new food, the vomiting will subside, because his stomach acid levels should adjust to it. A biscuit at night though might just do the trick to avoid the AM vomit though while you are switching him over.

[Oscar's Mom]

I did notice when I started to switch that he would ask for more food. I think your right that it's just not filling him up enough. Right now we're still at 50/50 mix, I like to change it slowly.
I think I remember reading some where that Lamb can be difficult to digest. The nutro is lamb, they dont have a chicken in kind I picked out. Anyone know anything about lamb vs chicken?

[Owen's Mom]

Do you have access to some of the premium foods... i.e. Pinnacle? www.avoderm.com (http://www.avoderm.com) has info on them. Please ask the chicken/lamb question over at the nutrition board I gave you a link for. I'm not too sure of the answer, and would love to learn with you.

[Oscar's Mom]

**REVISED**
Just posted my questions to that board you suggested Owens Mom. After I posted I looked thru some messages and someone had just asked chicken vs lamb, I think there that just said chicken is easier to digest. Someone else gave digestibility %'s from their vet; Chicken in the 90%'s, Beef just behind it and Lamb is in the 70%'s.

<FONT COLOR="#00FFFF" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by Oscar's Mom on November 16, 2000 at 05:15 PM</font>

[Oscar's Mom]

The acmepet nutrition board is really helpful. 3 people have responded back saying there dogs also vomited while on Nutro Natural Choice. No one there seems to be a fan of Nutro. I noticed last night while re-reading the ingredients on NNCLite that they list 'Natural Flavors', what the heck is that?? I emailed Nutro and they responded back this morning say its part their secret recipe but it does not contain any chemicals. Do other dog foods have secret ingredients? I'm definitely going to switch, back to the drawing board on what food to get. I did a search on avoderm & Solid gold and they are not sold near me. But it looks I'll be able to find Sensible Choice in a nearby town so I'm going to check that out. I know the food topic comes up all the time, but any one here feed Sensible Choice?

[Krista]

Jen does.

I have checked it out ingredient-wise too, seems like a pretty decent food at a reasonable price. I would prefer it over nutro.

I have heard that a groomer might start retailing it near me, so I might be looking into it too.

[Meemoo]

I used to use Nutro, but a knowledgeable woman in a pet store told me to try Wellness food -Mother Hubbard. It's pretty natural and Chiefy just loooooooooves it. They have a web site..www.oldmotherhubbard.com. Maybe you want to investigate. Just a thought.

Loren

[Lili's Mama]

Someone suggested FFR for Lili and I ordered it, both the dry water and kibble. She likes it pretty well but has had the yellow vomiting several times since then. Should I supplement it with some sort of filler? If so, what? She will eat anything she thinks I'm eating. What to feed and how much is a real problem because I'm very interested in doing the right thing for her to avoid later health problems.

[Oscar's Mom]

Lili's Mama - you could try giving a few dog cookies if she's vomiting on an empty tummy, this could help with an acidy tummy. Is FFR lamb? I would think about switching her off, even though its a good food it may not be the right one for her. I'm having a though time trying to decided which food to switch to, I don't want to do mail order. I was interested in California Natural but I cant find it anywhere.

[Lili's Mama]

Lili is a picky eater when it comes to dogfood and refuses the dog biscuits most of the time. She just plays with them. The Flint R. Ranch she likes but maybe not enough fiber. I hate to order but we live in a small town and I have to or buy at the grocery. What's a mother to do?<IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm12.gif" border=0>

[Oscar's Mom]

I know its difficult, we are always trying to do the right thing for our little ones and driving ourselves nuts in the processhttp://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/nuts.gif