[NAGDU] Introduction and question

Danielle Sykora dsykora29 at gmail.com
Thu May 21 15:50:59 UTC 2020


Hi Asia,

I'm working my second dog, a female Golden named Jackie from GDF.

As Tracy mentioned, I've spent way too many hours of my life
researching dog food. I'm a graduate student in the field of
dietetics, and reading ingredient labels is practically my hobby. haha
I have literally researched hundreds of dog food formulas, and here
are my thoughts.

First of all, most veterinarians have little to no training in canine
nutrition. They study medicine, not nutrition in most cases beyond
things like (feed Hills prescription kidney diet to dogs with kidney
disease). If you are really serious about getting an opinion from a
veterinarian about dog food, consult with a veterinary nutritionist or
holistic vet (holistic vets usually put more effort into researching
nutrition on their own time). I compare this to people who are serious
about making dietary changes speak to a dietitian, not their general
care physician.

I've never had a dog do better (stool quantity/consistency, coat
quality, allergies, etc) on Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Diamond, Hills, or
Royal Cannin compared with other brands. These brands use a lot of
filler an poor quality ingredients in most of their formulas, which
means for most dogs they will poop a lot. Because of the new concerns
with DCM, I also do not like dog food formulas with high legume
content. It is not as simple as grain free is bad and grain inclusive
is good. Here are my top brands/formulas I recommend due to their high
meat content, lack of plant protein fillers (legumes, pea protein,
soy, gluten), and generally reputable companies.

* Farmina (specifically the Ancestral grain options)
* Nature's Logic
* Sport Dog (K9 or Active series)
* Victor (High Pro Plus, Performance, Professional, and Nutra
ProActive formulas)
* Natures Select High Protein formula

It is not true that high protein causes problems for dogs with
sensitive stomachs. There is also no magical formula that will work
for all dogs with sensitive stomachs. It does tend to take some trial
and error to find something that works for each particular dog. Some
dogs just do better with certain protein or carb sources. Some need
high fiber diets, and some do better with low fiber diets. A food with
limited ingredients and minimal filler is a great idea though.
Probiotics also are pretty much a must try for sensitive pups as well.
Another options is to feed a higher calorie formula, which requires
your dog to eat less and therefore poop less.

My one dog with a sensitive stomach (actually a guide dog puppy in
training) relieved mushy poop 4-6 times a day on Purina ProPlan and
Iams ProActive, often on route. Switching her to Sport Dog caused her
to relieve solid poop twice per day. Adding probiotics resulted in
inappropriate relieving wasn't eliminated 100%, but drastically
reduced.

My current guide also has a sensitive stomach. Her intermittent nausea
and vomiting was reduced by eliminating chicken from her diet. I
noticed that for her, high fiber diets caused her to relieve on route.
Low fiber diets drastically reduced her need to relieve on route, and
when she does, she indicates rather than just pooping in harness. She
does fantastic on Farmina Ancestral Grain, as does my dog with a
chicken allergy.

Side note: You would be amazed how many products have chicken in it.
Reading the entire ingredient list of every treat is a must with a dog
with a chicken allergy. My particular chicken allergic pup is fine
with chicken fat and eggs.

I hope that helps!
Danielle, Thai, and Jackie

On 5/21/20, Newton, Cherie via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi Asia,
>
> Nice to meet you. My name is Cherie and my retired guide Windy, a white
> shepherd also has chicken allergies. Her stool was often a challenge to pick
> up as well. At one point I put her on Taste of the Wild Lamb and things got
> a lot better. I'm also very careful with treats-no chicken. You'd be
> surprised how many treats are basically chicken.
>
> I get my food from Chewy and they're great about helping me look at
> ingredients if things get too confusing.
>
> Now I have 3 dogs, my current guide, Astrid, a 55lb. GSD from TSE, Windy and
> an 11-month-old Siberian Husky pup pet. I wanted a decent food with grains
> after all the articles I read last year. Since white rice is a filler and
> tends to solidify things where brown rice is fully digestible by dogs, I put
> them all on Purina One Lamb & Rice. It's white rice and all output from
> every one of my pack is good. HTH.
>
> Good Luck!
>
>
>
> Cherie
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tracy Carcione
> via NAGDU
> Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2020 11:03 AM
> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net>
> Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Introduction and question
>
> Hi Asia.
>
> Nice to meet you! I’m Tracy, and I’m working my 7th guide dog.  His name is
> Krokus.  He’s a 60-pound yellow lab/golden from The Seeing Eye.
>
>
>
> Yeah, overprotective family are a problem, but sounds like you’re bringing
> your dad around.
>
>
>
> Krokus has allergies to chicken, and had loose stools on Purina, but, when I
> switched him to a grain-free, chicken-free diet, he did better and hasn’t
> had any real problems since.  But it sounds like you’ve already done that.
> A friend of mine has a dog who’s had serious digestive issues for a long
> time.  The only thing that’s worked for her is making all his food herself,
> which is a pain.  I think he’s getting turkey with oatmeal and vitamins.
>
> There are lots of foods with very few ingredients.  Have you tried any of
> those?  Dogfoodadvisor.com has many lists of dogfoods, including
> ingredients.  Chewy.com also has ingredient lists.  Poring over dogfood
> ingredient lists makes my head spin after a while, but it’s worth it to find
> the food that makes your boy feel good.
>
> Hopefully, Danielle S will chime in.  She’s had good success researching
> dogfood.
>
>
>
> Krokus also has to empty on route.  It’s a pain in the neck, but that’s how
> he is.  However, his stool is good, so it’s easy to pick up.
>
> Have you heard of or considered using a relieving belt, which some people
> call a toileting harness?  You can buy one at onthego.com.  It’s a belt with
> clips on it.  You put it around the dog’s hips, then attach a bag to the
> clips.  The poop falls into the bag.  I put it on Krokus when I think he’s
> going to poop.  I don’t leave it on him when he’s walking.  It really helps
> with pickup when the stool is loose.
>
>
>
> Good luck.  Sometimes finding the right food is a real pain, but it’s such a
> relief when you do.
>
> Tracy
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Asia
> Quinones-Evans via NAGDU
> Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2020 10:17 AM
> To: James Boehm via NAGDU
> Cc: Asia Quinones-Evans
> Subject: [NAGDU] Introduction and question
>
>
>
> Hello my name is Asia Quinones-Evans and I have been on this list for a
> while and I do not think I introduced myself. I went blind 6 years ago due
> to a brain tumor cutting off my optic nerves. I went blind in less than a
> week so it was not a process for me and I had to learn new things very
> quickly. I knew nothing about the blind community or even the guide dog
> community the only thing I did know was there were dogs out there to help
> people with disabilities. I learned everything quickly though because I
> wanted to get back to sports and doing most of my daily things. I will be 23
> in October so I lost my sight just before I could learn to drive. I actually
> am not that upset about it because I was not a person that was really
> excited to drive but now I do wish that I could run errands much easier
> without depending on someone else. I live in Ohio in a city that has public
> transportation but it is not accessible for the blind to use it is barely
> accessible for the sighted community here to use. So majority  of my
> transportation is walking, my dad driving me, or Uber. I also had to attend
> with an over protective dad that did not want me walking around our
> neighborhood by myself with just my cane. Next month will be 2 years I have
> been partnered with a wonderful Leader dog named Greyson. He is a yellow lab
> and is around 80 pounds. With having such a large dog now my dad does not
> mind so much that I go out to the stores around me. His opinion is that
> since most people where we live are scared of large dogs and will think
> Greyson will bite them then it is fine for me to go out. At first though I
> had to convince my dad that I could not just go out with him behind us and
> only on set routes. My dad works long days a lot of the time and we would
> not have been able to go out until he got home from work. I finally
> convinced my dad that I needed to go out with Greyson to build our
> partnership and work at different times of the day to encounter different
> things.
>
>
>
> After that long introduction I would like to ask a question about digestive
> problems. As long as I have been working with Greyson he has had stool
> problems. I have put him threw several food changes and we have also tried a
> food that is ment to  help with digestive problems but that did not work.
> The food he was on for a while in training and when I got home with him was
> Purina Pro Plan Sport 26 16 formula. I eventually changed him to Diamond
> Naturals Beef Meal and Rice Formula because he would throw up sometimes and
> it was just bile. I learned that sometimes that if a food has too much
> protein in it that can cause tummy upsets. The Purina food also eventually
> made him poop stewy stool which means that it was partly solid then the rest
> was messy and his schedule was very inconsistent. Like sometimes he will go
> at the same time for several days and then not want to go at the same time
> the next day. I have also worked with my local vet and Leader’s vet to think
> of ways to solve it. First they suggested a general deworming and a steroid
> round. Both of these did nothing to help him. They showed improvement for a
> few days on them and after that his stools went back to being stewy. My
> local vet also put Greyson on Hills ID prescription food for about a month.
> After a week though his stools went back to being stewy even on that food. I
> have finally put Greyson on Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Venison Limited
> Ingredient formula thinking that the issue was chicken products in the other
> foods. It has been about two weeks with Greyson on this food and his stools
> are stewy once again after improving for a little while. I will be going to
> my local vets office after its been 60 days. Another issue is that he always
> wants to go poop while on a walking route. I do not find this to be much of
> a problem because I have taught him to tell me when he has to go but the
> poop that comes out has no form to it at all when this happens. It does not
> matter if I make him go right before we go on a walk he will still want to
> go after several minutes of walking. Any treats that he gets I have changed
> to treats that only are one  protein type to eliminate that cause. I do not
> feed him treats while working because he gets distracted from his work and
> starts demanding the treat before he completes the task. This is one thing I
> will not put up with from any dog so he just gets petting and verbal praise
> while working and does fabulous work with both of these.
>
>
>
> With this whole explanation I was hoping that someone on this mailing list
> could give me any ideas that I could bring up to my vet to think about. Or
> anything I could do to help my puppy not have so many bad poops. If someone
> wants to email me privately so not to clutter up this list you can email me
> at: asiaevans102897 at gmail.com
>
>
>
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