What's up Guys!

I need some insight on the right brand for my guy. He just turned one year and gets fed 2x a day.

I was feeding him taste of the wild puppy food but wanted to switch him over to an adult food and wanted to give acana a try. Since switching him over his stool has not been consistently firm, it's only firm in the morning after waking up, then after each meal his stool is loose and can hardly be picked up.

I initially fed him 3 cups a day but after constant loose stool I dropped it down to which is now 2 cups a day and still his stool is loose. He is exercised 1.5-2 hours a day.

He has also lost about 2lbs since I switched him over to acana. He is healthy and active.
I cant imagine lowering his food intake even more than 2 cups, as i'm afraid it will cause him to lose even more weight than the 2lbs he has.

I wanted to know why this is happening?...And was wondering if maybe I should switch him over back to taste of the wild, adult one.

Acana is a meat based protein kibble versus TOTW which derives most of its protein from vegetables. I *think* this factors in to why dogs actually need to be fed less on Acana versus say, TOTW. I was feeding my two Acana for awhile and ran into the same problem with loose stool (they were simply getting too much) and after cutting back on their portions, they were fine. I think, per day, they were getting no more than two cups. I stopped feeding Acana though because I was nt happy with what was happening to their coats, Mishka was losing fairly large patches of fur, and both dogs had a harshness to their coats, neither was as soft and always looked “roughed up” which eventually went away when I changed their diets. Kohdi is mostly on Zignature, I switch to Merrick every once in awhile, while Mishka I finally had to put on a prescription diet which was working wonderfully til the last few days, I don’t know what happened.

Ive been on the why is that happening train with my German shepherd. They were on Merrick until 2 of my dogs decided to not eat it anymore went to earthborn which was my if they dont have Merrick go to brand and now my German shepherd has no toe nails and bald spots on his elbows from chewing. Taste of the wild gives spider diarrhea so did 4health. Now i have everyone on essence which is 85% animal based low carb high protein. I like everything but the price of it and the lack of places that carry it. Shadow does great on purina dog chow so that would point at a pea or legume allergy and essence has a pea/legume/grain free formula.

I have heard that alot of dogs have issues when switching to acana. Mine i change the food and flavors on a rotating basis so mine dont usually have switching food issues. I would see if there is a pet store near you that does free samples. I got abput 10 lbs of zignature that way and 4 lbs of essence. Samples are a great way to gauge the dog food

What type of Acana are you on and how long have you been feeding it? At what rate did you switch over? If your dog is losing weight on the current amount then you can't feed less to see if that helps with the looseness. You can add a bit of canned plain pumpkin to his meals to hopefully firm things up a bit and add a probiotic if you believe it could just be stomach upset from the change and not an allergy or intolerance to a certain ingredient.

Acana actually has less protein content than TOTW does so he has less to burn off. Their calorie content is around the same. TOTW is 370/cup and Acana is 388/cup. You may need to swap to a higher protein/higher calorie food. My cats are on Go! Solutions Carnivore and it's been working well for them. My dogs are on Zignature which is 422/cup with a higher protein rate around what TOTW is.

In a nutshell I wouldn't be concerned about going back to TOTW if it was working for your dog and he was maintaining a good weight and doing well. I fed it for years with no issues and only switched when I got a dog that had allergies and we had to start doing the allergy/intolerance dance (now I live where it's hard to get). If you are looking to go with a higher quality food or wanting to take on a rotation diet then you may have a better time rotating through foods that are a little closer in dietary makeup to TOTW. Essence is a fantastic food. I wish I could get it around here, but it is super high protein, on par with Orijen. It will likely put the weight back on that your guy has lost and you will have to feed much less which sometime makes foodie dogs beg more.

Also treats could be a problem with loose stools
Because we are dealing with some type of allergy ive switched from dog treats to raw packs of chicken hearts and gizzards and eliminated table food for all my dogs even though only one is having issues.

@twisterII im going to find out if chow down does shipping because i cant always make it there in winter. They have zignature/essence acana canidae orijen totw victor fromm etc. Ill let you know if they will ship.

Thanks for all the replies guys!

I am feeding the Acana red meat. I initially wanted to switch him over to acana from TOTW because he had some sort of rash/scratches on both eyes which i was strongly convinced was zinc deficiency...If you look it up you'll see what it is.
So I found that acana had 100mg more of zinc in each serving, plus how quality the brand is, so i went with that.
Though later the doctor proscribed a topical ointment that help completely heal the rash/scratches from both eyes!

......SO now i'm not sure if i go back to TOTW, it'll cause his issue to comeback because of the decreased zinc.

Im in agreement about totw not being the best option but i also know acana is not the only other brand. Another option is supplements or a doggy multivitamin.

Your vet would have needed to do a test to know if it was in fact zinc deficiency but it is not uncommon in huskies. It can show up at certain times of year more than others due to stress as well. If it was, there are topical supplements such as Zinpro you can put on their food to assist. Seaweed or kelp powder is also something you can supplement with. Kelp has the added benefit of helping loosen tartar on teeth as well. Mine get SeaDent. But too much zinc can be as bad or worse than not enough so I would be careful if you go the additive route such as Zinpro as it is more concentrated. Kelp has additional benefits and you are less likely to overdose it.

There are a lot of foods out there you can try that are considered higher quality than TOTW but if TOTW works then it just works. I usually give my dogs two bags worth of a food before I call it and move to something else unless they are just having bad reactions such as vomiting, lethargy, or bad diarrhea. Go Solutions Carnivore has a higher zinc content in the food, more like Acana, but has the protein levels more in line with TOTW so it might be a good option to try before going back to TOTW if you want. It's also higher calorie so should assist with weight. Few foods have the level of zinc added that Acana has, but not all zinc additives are created equal. Different types of zinc absorb better than others so you would have to research what type of zinc they add to know if all that extra really means anything.

Guys, I just weighed my guy out of curiosity and he lost 3lbs?!? How is that possible for a puppy that just turned a year....at this age aren't they suppose to be growing, not fast but still growing?
He is super healthy, active, playful and eating.

Is he not absorbing the nutrients from Acana or something?

I am nearly the end of my Acana bag and wanted to know if you guys think i should buy another or try taste of the wild?

Sounds like acana may not be the right food. But even within a given brand you have different protien/carb/fat/fiber contents. Spider has to be on high protein low carb food or she loses weight using totw as an example only the high prairie style was high enough in protein but it was way too high in carbs and starches. Ive always given mine puppy food until 18 months.

I know what spider needs because lots of trial and error and several appointments with a canine nutritionist. If its a mineral or vitamin issue your vet may want to do bloodwork to determine what is lacking or being overloaded.

Lostmaniac wrote:

Sounds like acana may not be the right food. But even within a given brand you have different protien/carb/fat/fiber contents.  Spider has to be on high protein low carb food or she loses weight using totw as an example only the high prairie style was high enough in protein but it was way too high in carbs and starches. Ive always given mine puppy food until 18 months.

I know what spider needs because lots of trial and error and several appointments with a canine nutritionist. If its a mineral or vitamin issue your vet may want to do bloodwork to determine what is lacking or being overloaded.

Thanks!
I'll give TOTW a try!

Haha if im not mistaken is spider the one who is mixed with wolf?
If so, mind posting a pic, i always admire wolf hybrids!!

Yup shes my wolfdog.