do i need a food change?

[ellir0305 9]

my pup is almost 5 months old now and growing fast, he is a colliexspringer. he has been fed on alphafeeds sporting puppy since 8 weeks old and has been fine on it but over the past couple of weeks he has developed slowly softer stools which are lighter in colour and smell more.

 

up to them he has been fine and currently has no other sysptoms to suggest he is ill, which is why i am assuming the problem is food based.

 

so does anyone know if he needs a change of food to an adult mix or what?

 

thanks in advance

 

regards

 

rob

[riohog 5,750]

give the pup some raw flesh and bone ...chicken wings and carcasses , or /and rib bones

[ellir0305 9]

give the pup some raw flesh and bone ...chicken wings and carcasses , or /and rib bones

 

i simply cannot afford to feed raw food, he gets meat gravy on his kibble made from scraps but this is a very efficient way of making it,

plus when i tried him on meaty bones and he got dihorieahas he ate the whole bone.

 

thanks

 

rob

[Guest TERRIERCENTRAL]

you go rabbiting dont you give it them go to the butchers and ask for off cuts scraps a lot cheaper than the dry food you got at the moment mate

[Rainmaker 7]

I find it very hard to believe raw is more expensive than feeding kibble. Even from a supermarket, you can still feed 100% raw for less than a lot of dry foods. Get your yellow pages out, and start looking for Poultry Wholesalers, Abattoirs, Butchers, Wholesale Caterers and all those types of places. Ring them all and see what the craic is, and you'll soon find suppliers even in (especially in?) rural areas. Places like that, and butchers, have to PAY to have their waste products and bones taken away. You're doing them a favour and not many refuse someone lightening their load for free!

 

For example, I pay £2 for a 5KG box of chicken frames, get pigs' heads and tails for free, lamb necks still attached to the meaty rib cages for pennies, whole fish in a supermarket or off a fishmonger cost about 25p each... Tripe and offal is dirt cheap, literally pence a week. Not to mention all those free range rabbits, hares, pheasants, deer and all manner of goodies sitting around waiting to be collected free of charge. If the worst came to the worst, there are several nationwide suppliers (mail/internet order) of raw meaty bones you can look up (AMP, TPMS, Landywoods etc).

 

All in if you're paying more than £3 to £5 a week to feed your average dog you're doing it wrong! They do sometimes get diarrhoea for a day or two when they switch to raw 'cold turkey' (pardon the pun), but that's mostly attributed to their body purging all the crap and toxins built up during the assault commercial junk mounted on their bodies as well as the fact it takes the gut flora ('good' bacteria) time to adjust. They soon firm up and you won't look back.

[skycat 6,174]

I'd have to say that anyone finding it cheaper to feed complete must be buying the worst of the worst cheap food: like Rainmaker says: get out there and start looking: a cheap shit cereal based food won't do your pup any good at all in the long run: can't remember where I read it now, but there seemed to be eveidence to suggest that food high in cereal matter could actually damage a dog's gut lining if fed over a period of time.

[riohog 5,750]

give the pup some raw flesh and bone ...chicken wings and carcasses , or /and rib bones

 

i simply cannot afford to feed raw food, he gets meat gravy on his kibble made from scraps but this is a very efficient way of making it,

plus when i tried him on meaty bones and he got dihorieahas he ate the whole bone.

 

thanks

 

rob

well lad i sugest if you cant afford to feed a dog/pup correctly , you should have thought of that before you got one , mybe you would have been better off getting a pet rabbit instead !!

[sandymere 8,263]

I'd have to say that anyone finding it cheaper to feed complete must be buying the worst of the worst cheap food: like Rainmaker says: get out there and start looking: a cheap shit cereal based food won't do your pup any good at all in the long run: can't remember where I read it now, but there seemed to be eveidence to suggest that food high in cereal matter could actually damage a dog's gut lining if fed over a period of time.

 

Lordy as soon as a diet post is made the raw police are out and at em. Skycat I'd have thought you would know better.

 

Ellir there are a few things that may be going on. First how pale are the stools? if they are very pale then it will be a trip to the vet(with dog and stool sample).

Edited November 28, 2009 by sandymere

[watchman 256]

give the pup some raw flesh and bone ...chicken wings and carcasses , or /and rib bones

 

i simply cannot afford to feed raw food, he gets meat gravy on his kibble made from scraps but this is a very efficient way of making it,

plus when i tried him on meaty bones and he got dihorieahas he ate the whole bone.

 

thanks

 

rob

well lad i sugest if you cant afford to feed a dog/pup correctly , you should have thought of that before you got one , mybe you would have been better off getting a pet rabbit instead !!

and that pretty much somes it up my friend

[Hannah4181 260]

I think your all being a little harsh here, since getting this puppy all the posts i have read by ellir0305, have been accurate, sensible and mature. I feed my dogs raw and understand the benefits, however there is thousands of dogs fed on utter crap that thrive on it, so to suggest the lad shouldn't get a puppy if he can't afford to feed it raw is very narrow minded. How about giving him some advice on the ways he can feed instead. I pay for my raw feed to be delivered from a raw dealer, i pay more yes, but i simply don't have the time to trawl my butchers collecting meat. It works for me and thats what matters.

 

If the dogs stools are changing then i recommend that you look into a more holistic based complete food. It may be that the dog has a sensitive stomach and needs a specialist diet, that said if this was the case i would suspect the stools would be very loose and not just soft. You would probably also see a reaction in his coat as well. Have you checked all areas of his lifestyle, i.e Dodgy water source he may have access too?? Someone feeding him treats excessively?? Horse/stock muck that he may be eating??

 

If after checking all this and you draw a blank, then i would try the dog on a different feed, Chappie complete food is excellent for sensitive stomachs and is reasonably priced. Be sure to adjust the dog gently onto the new food, mixing it with the current food over a couple of days until the old food is fazed out. I would cut out the gravy aswel to see if this has an effect. If you can speak to your butcher,he will probably do you a bag of bones once a week, bones that don;t have enough meat on to be classed as a meal, but as a recreational chew aid will help to bind the dogs stools.

 

Good luck.

Edited November 28, 2009 by Hannah4181

[ellir0305 9]

thank you very much hannah!:-)

 

i know that raw is probably the very best diet for a dog andi am doing my best to make it a realistic one but for the time being until i can get it sorted i want some pracital advice NOT abuse

 

i susspect that he may have a sensitive stomach, as well because my friend whohas a dog of the same cross (same dam as well) has that problem.

 

i will have a look his whole life and see about anything else that could be causing it. he keeps picking up bits of coal but i take them off him asap

 

anyway i may try chappie to tide me over but we are slaughtering 5 hens tommorow which will last a while.

 

another thing someone said about feeding rabbits, the reason i go rabbiting is to help feed our family a bit goes to the dogs as well

 

i am confused by portions when it comes to barf, how do i work it out?

 

thanks

 

rob

[Rainmaker 7]

thank you very much hannah!:-)

 

i know that raw is probably the very best diet for a dog andi am doing my best to make it a realistic one but for the time being until i can get it sorted i want some pracital advice NOT abuse

 

i susspect that he may have a sensitive stomach, as well because my friend whohas a dog of the same cross (same dam as well) has that problem.

 

i will have a look his whole life and see about anything else that could be causing it. he keeps picking up bits of coal but i take them off him asap

 

anyway i may try chappie to tide me over but we are slaughtering 5 hens tommorow which will last a while.

 

another thing someone said about feeding rabbits, the reason i go rabbiting is to help feed our family a bit goes to the dogs as well

 

i am confused by portions when it comes to barf, how do i work it out?

 

thanks

 

rob

 

You'll not get any stick off me lad, as above I offered you some reasonable advice, as did some others in this thread. When it comes to raw feeding (barf is a commercial term for minced veggie concoctions btw, don't confuse the two) about 2% to 3% of an adult dog's bodyweight in food a day is reasonable. For pups, feed 3% of their expected ADULT weight in raw meaty bones, offal etc a day. Giant breeds tend to have slower metabolisms, especially being lazy as most are, and only need around 1.5% of their bodyweight a day.

 

So for a 20KG dog, 20000x0.03 = 600g a day, and so on.

[the_stig 6,614]

thank you very much hannah!:-)

 

i know that raw is probably the very best diet for a dog andi am doing my best to make it a realistic one but for the time being until i can get it sorted i want some pracital advice NOT abuse

 

i susspect that he may have a sensitive stomach, as well because my friend whohas a dog of the same cross (same dam as well) has that problem.

 

i will have a look his whole life and see about anything else that could be causing it. he keeps picking up bits of coal but i take them off him asap

 

anyway i may try chappie to tide me over but we are slaughtering 5 hens tommorow which will last a while.

 

another thing someone said about feeding rabbits, the reason i go rabbiting is to help feed our family a bit goes to the dogs as well

 

i am confused by portions when it comes to barf, how do i work it out?

 

thanks

 

rob

 

You'll not get any stick off me lad, as above I offered you some reasonable advice, as did some others in this thread. When it comes to raw feeding (barf is a commercial term for minced veggie concoctions btw, don't confuse the two) about 2% to 3% of an adult dog's bodyweight in food a day is reasonable. For pups, feed 3% of their expected ADULT weight in raw meaty bones, offal etc a day. Giant breeds tend to have slower metabolisms, especially being lazy as most are, and only need around 1.5% of their bodyweight a day.

 

So for a 20KG dog, 20000x0.03 = 600g a day, and so on.

i like your style sound advice to a genuine lad feeding on a budget is eaiser than you think rob talk to your local butcher .

[ellir0305 9]

i ike the equation rainmaker, nice and easy and for his expected weight too lol. i am going to get in touch with some contacts who might be able to get stuff from the abbatoir. i am also going to give the vet a ring tomorrow if they are open, if not make it monday. about taking him in for a check up with a pot of shit. and see what advice they give me. so do you chaps give veggies as well like spinach and greens or not? he loves apples which he nicks when we are making cider so i let him have one to chew every couple of days.

 

thanks so far guys and hopefully i will sort this proble out and get a good diet thats best for the dog

 

cheers

 

rob