My daughter was at a slumber party yesterday, so taking the dogs out after school became my son's responsibility. Unfortunately, after he brought them back in the house, he retreated to his room and let Suka roam the house without supervision. As a result, I came home to a mess of trash all over the floors from Suka raiding the trash cans around the house.

After cleaning up that mess, I gave the dogs their dinner. I knew something was up when Suka ate slower than the other dogs. When I let him out of his crate, he had left some kibble in his bowl (something he's literally NEVER done before). I thought he might've had trouble reaching it since I just bought them new bowls and his is smaller than the old one. I dumped it out on the floor, and he just sniffed at it and then walked away. I called him back over to me, and he didn't show any interest in the remaining kibble, so I let my daughter's dog, Jack, eat it. I was petting Suka and noticed his stomach was quite round and hard. I became really concerned.

That's when I realized when I was weighing the dog's food, I had noticed the new bag had been tampered with. Suka had gotten into it and eaten his fill to the point of being uncomfortable. I kept an eye on him all evening, and I thought for sure he was going to have diarrhea. I was still in the process of switching all the dogs to the new food, and Suka was only at a 3 to 7 ratio. I thought for sure this would cause some stomach upset because he had engorged himself on food his digestive system wasn't used to.

Surprisingly, he didn't get diarrhea. His stools were a little loose, but it was more along the lines because he overate rather than having an upset stomach. That's when I started to put several pieces of the puzzle together about his food sensitivities. (His food sensitivities is why I've been switching his food every month because I'm trying to find something he does well on.)

The first two brands of food I had him on contained chicken as the primary ingredient. I had been avoiding beef-based foods because I know a lot of dogs have sensitivities to beef more than any other meat. I had to be super careful about what Suka was fed because he'd get diarrhea very easily, especially if he got a chicken nugget or unseasoned cooked chicken. I told his breeder about this, and she said her dogs get diarrhea as well whenever they're given cooked chicken. This new dog food I'm switching Suka to (Victor) has beef as the primary ingredient, and it didn't upset his digestive system at all.

BINGO! Suka is very sensitive to chicken!

You would think I'd figure this out sooner, but I kept thinking it was the fault of a filler or something else, not the meat source. I figured he got diarrhea from the chicken nugget because it was from McDonald's and I get stomach issues from that food too (don't ask why I still eat it once in awhile, I have no excuse). It wasn't until he ate the beef-based kibble yesterday without any problems that the final piece to the puzzle finally slid into place.

I wasn't going to feed Suka breakfast this morning because he overate yesterday, so I put him in his crate and fed the dogs in a room where he couldn't see. But he got upset because he knows the morning routine and he wasn't being fed when he expected it. So I caved and gave him a half cup of food. That was enough to settle him down. He's only getting half cup for dinner as well. He'll resume his normal amount tomorrow. I also rearranged the dog food. Since the old food is almost gone, I was able to fit it into a plastic bag and dump the new food into the storage bin. The bag of the old food was set on top and the bin sealed. So Suka won't be able to get into it again.

I'm glad I finally figured out what ingredient I need to avoid in his food going forward. Now I just need to figure out if it's all poultry or just chicken. I think I'll just stick with the Victor as their dog food since he's clearly able to handle it well.

I had a boxer with severe food allergies! He was over a year before I figured out what the issue was and his ribs stopped showing.

I've heard food allergies are very common on Boxers. What did the problem turn out to be?

I'm wondering if I can switch Suka to the new food altogether now that I've determined what the problem was and that he did fine with the new food. If it doesn't give him diarrhea, is there any other reason that I should transition him slowly?

It's been awhile back and I can't remember all the specifics but it was several different things he was allergic to, I think chicken was one of them, the only food he could stomach was a salmon and sweet pea formula that we used to get from our groomer, I can't even remember the name of the food... Dick van something. We tried every commercial pet food under the sun trying to find a good one for him.

There are a few dogs on the forum that are allergic to chicken. I really think it is more common than some might expect. If he didn't have any issues eating an unknown and potentially large portion of the new food then I would go ahead and make the switch. If diarrhea happens then start the transition over again but I don't imagine that will happen.

He definitely ate a huge amount of it. It made me wonder if I'm feeding him enough. He always acts really hungry, even after he's been fed. While his ribs aren't showing, I feel like his stomach is more concave than it should be. I don't like the look of an overweight dog, but I don't want them underweight either. My Chihuahua always used to be underweight because he doesn't like kibble much. Since meal feeding, that problem was taken care of. He eats all of his kibble when it's given to him and now he looks really good at his ideal weight.

I decided this morning to increase the amount I'm feeding Suka from 125 grams to 150 grams twice per day. This is about 2.6 cups per day. I feel like that's a bit much for a Husky, but since he's a puppy, I think it's okay. Most dog food companies recommend feeding puppies more. I was putting his current weight into a calculator to figure out how much to feed him, and since doing that, his growth has slowed down drastically (almost to a halt) compared to when he was free feeding. Slow growth is contributing to my worry I'm underfeeding him. He only has about 10-12 more pounds before he's at his adult weight (his breeder said her lines stop growing around 6-7 months). He's 4 1/2 months old and weighs 38 pounds. His older brother is 50 pounds.

So I put Suka's anticipated adult weight into the calculator (50 lbs) and started feeding him this morning according to that amount. I won't feed him more than that because I don't want him overweight either (even though his vet said puppies are really hard to overfeed, I don't quite believe that). I'm going to monitor his weight and back off again if he's gaining too much (or getting diarrhea). He seemed content after breakfast this morning rather than hungry, so I feel better about it.

I hope this is the right thing to do. I don't want him constantly hungry but I don't want him sick either. Any advice?

Jessie, with most kibble bags it will say increase between 5-8 months old, this is the time most kibble packages will have you feed the most food to your puppy. At around 8 months they recommend lower the amount fed. Feeding less and adding treats I see nothing wrong. Slow steady growth is much better on a dog. As long as he is not underweight, there should not be any major affect on him, feeding him less. I think 2-3 cups of kibble a day for a husky puppy is more than sufficient. Many self regulate, and most require 20-25% less than recommended. My gsd puppy is quite smaller than her siblings, the max amount I have fed her, and still feeding at 8 months is 3 cups. To me she is not underweight, and is growing slowly which is important to bones and joints. You have the right ideas, monitor his weight, and make sure he doesn't get diarrhea. I hope that helped you out.

Thanks, Renee! That reassures me I'm doing the right thing.