Changing food - what to do?

[PugInTheHouse]

I thought it would be better to start a new post rather than full up the Puppy survival thread. Also may be useful for others in a similar situation.

I was using Wainwright's mixture of dry and wet food. Was ok, pup liked it but it didn't really agree with his tummy and also the feeding guides are not particularly good so I think he was eating too much. Weight wise he looks ok compared to the guides but vet said top end of ok and could do with dropping a kilo as ribs starting to be less easy to feel than at last vets visit.

Bought some of the vets dry food, transitioned over 5 days (vet gave no guidance but just said mix a small amount in and increase daily which I did). He seemed to eat it ok mixed in, day 5 had all the new food and was ok. Day 6 same but was sick in the evening. The only good thing was that the new stuff stopped him having dodgy poos and also he stopped having wind like he did before.

Since then he won't eat the vets food at all though. I went back to mixing in the old food and he will eat that but spits out the new stuff. However his tummy is back to being not good.

I have bought some Royal Canin breed specific to see if that's any better, on advice I have put in 2 separate bowls , tiny bit of new stuff in one, normal amount of the vets food. He will now only eat the new stuff, this morning he went to the old food but spat it out and barked at it. He's hardly eaten anything as outright refuses the vets stuff.

I am not sure what to do, hes had 15g of dry food last night and again this morning. He's hungry as he keeps going over to his bowl and sniffing it but won't eat it. He also keep going over to the new bowl and licking it so it seems he is looking for more of that.

I guess there could be something else going on and he is ill rather than its the food, but the fact he is well in himself and will eat other stuff suggests that's not the case.

Sorry this is long but I thought I should explain properly to help get the correct advice.

Have you tried hand feeding the new food or giving it as ‘treats’ for sit/paw etc ?

Royal Canin isn’t great either! There’s a site (allaboutdogfood?) that rates food.
Switched mine to raw because of allergies. Don’t know if you’d consider that.

Yes he will eat a small amount that way but then after a few bits he won't eat it. I have tried softening it also as the pieces are quite big and round compared to the other kibble. I could maybe increase the frequency of doing that but obviously I don't want to do that if it means he will end up expecting to be fed all day.

It feels wrong to force him to eat something he doesnt like, I would never do it to a child on the back of 'if they are hungry they will eat'. I get its a dog and not a human but just doesn't feel right.

@Wolfiefan not great in what way? I always thought it seemed to be talked about as a really good one? I would consider it if it was the best thing for him.

Nutritionally. That’s all. It’s a popular brand stocked by many places. Marketing is good but it’s not great quality.
My older dog came to me on kibble. RC funnily enough. She hated it. Boring stuff!

A good food is what the dog will eat, and what you can afford.
Royal Canin isn’t the best, but it’s not the worst, and it’s what my dog will eat. I got some samples of really good food but she wouldn’t eat them !
I don’t use the breed specific RC as the kibble pieces are too big, I use the one for her size - mini adult.

Not all food suits all dogs dinosaur. But dogs need to be fed something that is nutritionally decent. It doesn’t have to be the priciest food but I wouldn’t feed crappy stuff full of fillers because of price. Animals depend on us to meet their nutritional needs.

Anyhow, your dog won’t eat it so go back to what he will eat for now - to get him to eat - then look at the website mentioned earlier and email for samples. I got 3 samples easily.
But as I said earlier, there’s no point feeding what he won’t eat.
And remember that treats are part of his daily allowance, so if he’s eating lots of treats you need to reduce his meals.
If you feel he’s still hungry you could always bulk his meal out with some veg from your tea. Mines favourite is green beans and sweet corn.

Really pisses me off that Royal Canine gets sold and plugged by vets and sold to loving owners at inflated prices.

My dog has sensitive tummy, we've settled on James Wellbeloved duck and rice, but it's probably not brilliant.
I top it with a little grain free wet from Sainsbury's.

It's been trial and error. It's tricky cos she's bored of it some days but gets bad reactions to change.
I give her cooked veggies and chicken in it too a few times a week
to make it more interesting.

Royal Canin has a lot of junk in it - imho it's expensive for what it is.

If the vet is telling you that yours is a tad overweight, just feed him a bit less of a food that suits him. You don't have to feed what the vet recommends. Personally I'd find something cheaper than Royal Canin that suits his digestion and that he enjoys.

@DinosaurDiana the vet food he won't eat is called Specific, he really hates it but nutritionally it is good i think. We feed treats out of his allowance and reduce meals.

Regarding the RC he seems to love it, the pieces are smaller which suits his breed but of nutritionally its bad then I dont really want that one either.

I am happy to research more into the nutritional info of various foods but I guess the advice I need is how to switch over, if I follow the guidelines of mixing new stuff in slowly with the vets Specific brand I have then this won't work as he won't eat it, so he will be just only eating new stuff anyway. Or does that not really matter as long as his tummy isn't upset?

RC isn't particularly cheap so I am surprised its so crap, really annoying. I now have several bags of different food I cant use but I'd still rather waste it all than feed him the wrong thing.

Sorry, I’ve read your post wrong. So he does like the Royal Canin but won’t eat the old stuff ? If so, just feed Royal Canin.
My dog occasionally has a tub of wet food and she’s ok, no issues.

@GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman he likes the RC and also the Wainwrights. The Wainwright's is what seems to not agree with his tummy but he'll happily eat it. The RC he likes but he's only had a small amount so far, his tummy has been OK.

The vet recommended Hills or RC and obviously their own one they stock.

I think I havent explained well in my OP, its the vets food called Specific he refuses to eat. The RC he's happy with but literally no point in paying loads for a crap food.

People can get a bit snobby about dog food but as I said earlier, the most important thing is that your dog will eat it, and that you can afford it.

@DinosaurDiana yes sorry, in my attempt to explain properly I think I have confused matters. He literally inhales the RC stuff so seems to like it, it's the Vets stuff (Specific) he dislikes.

My issue is that every guide says to switch over slowly but that is a problem if he won't eat the current stuff. I tried to bring back the original food but it just upset his tummy and also he then wouldn't eat any of the vet stuff.

Nope. The most important thing is that what the dog is actually eating is the best for them. I wouldn’t feed my kids something because it was cheap and they would eat it. It’s not snobbery to want to keep your pets healthy. No I wouldn’t insist on feeding the priciest food if my dog wouldn’t touch it. But neither would I feed Bakers just because my dog didn’t refuse it and it’s cheap.

[quote PugInTheHouse]@DinosaurDiana yes sorry, in my attempt to explain properly I think I have confused matters. He literally inhales the RC stuff so seems to like it, it's the Vets stuff (Specific) he dislikes.

My issue is that every guide says to switch over slowly but that is a problem if he won't eat the current stuff. I tried to bring back the original food but it just upset his tummy and also he then wouldn't eat any of the vet stuff.[/quote]
Feed him what he will eat.

Eden, Orijin and Acana dry seem to have the best ratings nutritionally if you wanted to give any of those a try?

You're DDog has not read the guide. Feed him the RC.

Give it a few weeks or months and then try changing him over slowly to a food that meets your requirements. Right now it seems likely that RC is meeting the dog's requirements.

Don't worry too much.

The swapping over slowly... that’s to avoid upsetting their stomach, but if he’s already having issues - you might be better to just swap completely and ride out a couple of days of him having a bit of an upset stomach.

It shouldn’t make him ill, the most likely thing that’s happen is he’s a bit loose. Also, not all dogs react like that, some don’t mind at all.

Thanks @KenAdams I will look into those also. I think I will have to just feed him whatever he'll eat for now then get a better quality one and start introducing it slowly otherwise it could do all sorts for his tummy.

I never thought it would be so complicated. To be honest I didnt really realise that his original food wasn't that great for him, I just assumed he stunk poor boy, thats definitely not the case. I think nutritionally it was ok but it clearly has something in that doesn't agree with him.

Our cats stink if not on grain free!
I also keep pro biotic powder in case of dodgy doggy tums.

Thanks @Postdatedpandemic @tabulahrasa I will do that for now. I have no idea why I am so anxious over it all, I guess with children it is so much easier as you know what is good for them, with dogs its so much harder. There are also so many differing views on it all!

@Wolfiefan I bought some probiotic stuff yesterday so hopefully that will help.

Brilliant. I always keep it in after the pup found and ate rotten fruit.