Okay, so some of you know that we recently switched Koda over to Evo from Eagle Pack holistic. On Eagle Pack he was getting soft stool quite often, even though everything else seemed to fine. I found out later that Eagle Pack was mixed with lots of rice and oatmeal, so we tried a switch.

Since he's been on the Evo, I've noticed that his stool looks great, but now his eating habits are all erratic. He's only eating about 1 cup a day versus three and that's completely self-regulated. If he ate his food in the morning, we would feed him again at night, but he isn't doing that. I expected a drop since Evo is much richer than normal foods, but he's also getting a lot of tummy gurgling sounds (which remind me of what my stomach sounds like when my digestive system is in distress). I'm wondering if this food is too much for him and it's not agreeing with him?

What do you all think? I'm leaning very much towards switching him either back to Eagle Pack, or I am open to suggestions. I would feed BARF but it's not realistic up here since our food prices are jacked up very high and we travel a lot (once we move downstate I am thinking of making the switch to BARF).

NOTE: I am not taking him to the vet because his stool is perfectly normal. If he were experiencing diarrhea, I would obviously have taken him a while ago. I'm just thinking between his stomach sounds and his eating habits, that maybe this food is not agreeing with him?

Comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

I have heard that Evo doesn't have a very strong scent, i'm not sure if eagle back does. Maybe try warming the evo up with some soft food and see if he will eat more of it. I know you probably know this, but it could taste to him like food tastes to us when we have a cold, if he can't smell the food. I'm not sure of the protein levels of eagle pack but I do know Evo is a lot richer, so I would suggest try heating it up and seeing if that works, if not switch back. I am assuming you properly switched the food gradually from Eagle Pack to Evo. So that shouldn't be the issue. You might actually want to ask Huskyluv though since I know she feeds Evo and swears by it.

Yeah- I posted on another forum about it too... I didn't know that bit about the scent, so I will definitely try the warming up! He does seem to like it when he eats it, but he does it so erratically that it had me worried combined with the tummy noises. I'm waiting to see if anyone replies on the other forum too.

We did switch him gradually and when we finally got him to all of the new food, he was eating it regularly at first. But he gradually started eating less and less frequently, etc. So I don't know. I just want him to like his food and for it not to bother his tummy! Cause I'm lactose intolerant, but I will still have ice cream without the pills if they're not handy even though it bothers my stomach. I just don't want him to have to go through that. I hope that made sense. LOL.

Yea if it wasn't for the tummy rumblings I would have told you not to worry about it. My 2 are on TOTW that has a pretty strong scent, I switched them from Royal Canine and Sirmiq's eating went down drasticly. So much that I paid the 30 dollars for an exam when I went to get his shots the other day because I was worried he was like anorexic. HIm and Kiwi weigh about the same. But the vet said he was healthy, that Kiwi is supposed to have a stockier body time, while Sirmiq is supposed to be more slender, he said he felt healthy, and he hasn't really lost any wieght, he just looks so skinny, but then agian he did just lose his winter coat.

Feeding a better quality food will result in him eating less, since there are no fillers that will leave him hungry. Try giving him some plain yogurt to regulate his digestive system. If his poop is firm and he seems okay, I wouldn't worry about it.

Tori, any update on how Koda's doing or if you switched his food again?

We're on week 3.5 (I think) of TOTW. He's still doing well on it and eating it twice a day, which makes me happy. I do try and mix an egg or yogurt in it once in a while to mix it up and he's really enjoying it. Stool is also staying dark brown and solid.

I talked to Romeo about the Diamond brand with TOTW and also spoke with some other experts on the subject... I was definitely hesitant, but we've decided that it's the first thing that he seems to be doing really well on so we're going to stick with it for a while. He eats it consistently, his stool is staying healthy and he seems excited for meal time again. I also like that it's the fish base.

If I notice ANYTHING off or if Diamond goes back into the news, I don't care how well he's doing, we're switching. However, Romeo and I decided that we're willing to take the chance since it's grain-free, it wasn't one of the implicated formulas and he's been doing so well.

Oh that is such great news. It's always so exciting to finally find a food that they do great on.

Yeah, it is definitely a bit of a relief I just hope it stays this way!

does rice and oatmeal cause loose stools? i don't think Jack has had a solid poop since we got him was told we needed to add fiber to his food and it would help.

jbealer wrote:

does rice and oatmeal cause loose stools?

Rice generally does not agree with many sibes, including mine. A little bit of rice will give my boy the runs and even the smallest amount of yogurt gives him the most offensive gas ever!

Huskyluv wrote:

jbealer wrote:

does rice and oatmeal cause loose stools?

Rice generally does not agree with many sibes, including mine. A little bit of rice will give my boy the runs and even the smallest amount of yogurt gives him the most offensive gas ever!

Agreed! I've heard rice is a problem for a lot of sibes, again, mine included. That's why we decided to go grain-free and it cleared that right up! Koda never had solid poops. They were also formed, but mushy.

Maybe I do need to change his food then, he has the worst gas it clears us out of the room not to mention picking up the messes in the yard is not fun and takes twice as long as it should. Jack walks and poops at the same time and they are always soft mush. Suck cause I just bough a new bag of food!

Just as a side note, oatmeal is give or take with many sibes. It depends on how sensitive his stomach. When we were looking to switch to something from the Evo, I considered brands with oatmeal in them, but NONE with rice.

jbealer wrote:

Suck cause I just bough a new bag of food!

I know that Nutro has a 100% Satisfaction guarantee so if that's what you just bought you can return the unused portion to wherever you bought it for a full refund. The same goes for Kirkland dog food too, Costco is excellent about returns so I have no doubt they would not give you a refund for their dog food either. I've bought treats at Costco before gave a few to my sibe, they upset his stomach and returned the remainder and received a full refund so I doubt their kibble would be any different.

Also for what it's worth, my sibe has an extremely sensitive stomach and cannot have rice but I do give him treats with oatmeal and he has no problem whatsoever with it.